The Influences of Grain Size and Morphology on the Hot Tearing Susceptibility, Contraction, and Load Behaviors of AA7050 Alloy Inoculated with Al-5Ti-1B Master Alloy

Abstract

The influences of grain size and morphology on the hot tearing susceptibility of AA7050 alloy inoculated with Al-5Ti-1B master alloy were investigated by the authors. It was found that with the optimal addition of Al-5Ti-1B, coarse columnar grains were transformed into fine globular equiaxed grains. Moreover, due to the changes of grain size and morphology, the hot tearing susceptibility was decreased remarkably, which was attributed to the lower mechanical coherency temperature, better feeding ability, lower strain, and strain rate imposed to the mushy zone and more meandering propagation paths of hot tears. But the excess Al-5Ti-1B additions did not affect the grain structure, and greatly promoted hot tearing susceptibility due to the agglomerations of secondary phase particles from Al-5Ti-1B master alloy. The formation of massive secondary phases at grain boundaries hindered the interdendritic liquid flow and substantially deteriorated the feeding ability in the last stage of solidification. Meanwhile, TiB2 agglomerates would also act as stress raisers and cause the formation of voids. The contraction and load behaviors of AA7050 alloy influenced by grain size and morphology would be explored and connected with the hot tearing occurrence in this study.