ar t ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t
Article history: The effects of rare earth (RE) containing Ce and La elements addition on the microstructures
Received 10 December 2013 characteristics, tensile properties and fracture behavior of A357 alloy under as-cast and T6 conditions
Received in revised form were systematically investigated in this study. Obtained results showed that the addition of RE obviously
1 January 2014
reduced the sizes of the α-Al primary phase and eutectic silicon particles as well as SDAS value and
Accepted 3 January 2014
improved the morphology of eutectic silicon particles. The optimum level of added RE content were
Available online 10 January 2014
0.2 wt%, and the aspect ratio of eutectic silicon particles of the A357 modified alloy under as-cast and T6
Keywords: conditions decreased 142% and 174%, respectively, compared with the unmodified alloy. In addition, the
A357 aluminum alloy addition of RE greatly improved the tensile properties of A357 alloy as result of the significant
Rare earth
improvement in microstructure, especially in elongation under T6 condition. The fracture surfaces of
Microstructure characteristics
the A357 unmodified alloy tensile samples showed a clear brittle fracture nature, and its fracture path
Tensile properties
Fractography passed through the eutectic silicon particles and displayed a transgranular fracture mode, leading to
poorer ductility. The fracture path of the A357 modified alloys passed through the eutectic phase along
the grain boundaries of the α-Al primary phase, and the fracture generated by dimple rupture with
cracked eutectic silicon particles, and it showed an intergranular fracture mode, resulting in superior
ductility.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2014.01.009
238 W. Jiang et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 597 (2014) 237–244
phase, secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) and eutectic silicon 3.1. Microstructural characterization
particles as well as the correlation of microstructure with mechanical
properties and fracture behavior of A357 alloy. Fig. 2 shows the optical microstructures of A357 alloys with
In this study, the mixed RE containing Ce and La elements were different additions of RE under as-cast and T6 heat treatment
added into A357 Al–Si alloy. The aim of present work at system- conditions, and the optical microstructures of the eutectic zone are
atically investigated the effects of mixed RE elements addition on also exhibited in order to demonstrate a substantial microstruc-
the microstructures characteristics including the morphology and ture difference in the morphology and size of eutectic silicon
size of α-Al primary phase and eutectic silicon phase as well as particles.
SDAS, tensile properties and fracture behavior of A357 Al–Si alloy In the microstructures of the A357 unmodified alloys under as-
under as-cast and T6 conditions. Moreover, the correlation of cast and T6 conditions, it is evident that the coarse dendrite are
microstructure with mechanical properties and fracture behavior observed, as shown in Fig. 2(a and e). Meanwhile, it can also be
of A357 alloy were also studied. seen from Fig. 2(a and e) that the plate-like silicon particles are
showed. In contrast, the microstructures are significantly
improved when the A357 alloys are modified with the addition
2. Experimental procedures of RE, and the coarse dendrites are fined and the plate-like silicon
particles become fine fibrous structure. Because the spheroidiza-
The chemical composition of A357 Al–Si alloy used in this study tion efficiency of eutectic silicon particles mainly depends on the
is shown in Table 1, named Alloy 1. The RE containing 65 wt% Ce initial size of eutectic silicon particles [1], the eutectic silicon
and 35 wt% La elements was added as Al-10%RE master alloy. particles of the A357 modified alloys are obviously spheroidized
Firstly, the A357 aluminum ingot was placed inside a graphite and homogeneously distributed in the grain boundary after T6
crucible and melted at 730 1C by using the electrical resistance heat treatment, as shown in Fig. 2(f–h). Nevertheless, when the RE
furnace. The Al-10%RE master alloys with different additions (0.1, addition is 0.1 wt%, some the plate-like silicon particles can also be
0.2 and 0.3) were then added into the molten melt at 740 1C, seen in microstructure. With the addition of Re up to 0.2 wt%, the
named Alloy 2, Alloy 3 and Alloy 4, respectively. Subsequently, the morphology and size of α-Al primary phase and eutectic silicon
molten metal was refined using argon gas for 15 min using a particles are further improved, and the α-Al primary phases
rotary graphite degasser when the temperature reached 750 1C, display a finer structure, and the eutectic silicon particles exhibit
and the slag was then skimmed. When the melting temperature a granular and globular structure, as shown in Fig. 2(g). With the
was 720 1C, the molten metal was finally poured into a metal further increase of addition of RE content, the morphology and
mould, which was preheated for 250 1C. size of α-Al primary phase and eutectic silicon particles are
The metallographic samples were etched using 0.5% hydrofluoric deteriorated, and some eutectic silicon particles with acicular
acid solution after polishing. Microstructures were observed using needles morphology are observed, as shown in Fig. 2(h).
the OLYMPUS-MG3 metallographic microscope. The secondary Table 2 depicts the quantitative metallography results of
dendrite arm spacing (SDAS), average length of silicon particles as microstructure features including α-Al primary phase, eutectic
well as average width of silicon particles were measured by using silicon particles as well as SDAS of A357 alloys with different RE
the ImageTool metallographic analysis software. The measurement additions. According to the results obtained from the microstruc-
was done on 50 different areas of each microstructure in order to tural parameters in Table 2, it is clear that the addition of RE
minimize the errors. The aspect ratio of silicon particles was remarkably reduces the size of α-Al primary phase and SDAS value.
calculated according to the ratio of the average length of silicon Meanwhile, the average length, average width and aspect ratio of
particles to the average width of silicon particles. The grain size of eutectic silicon particles are also greatly decreased compared to
the α-Al primary phase was defined according to the following the unmodified condition, and the morphology of eutectic silicon
equation [20]: particles looks more round. With the 0.2 wt% addition of RE, the
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi reductions under as-cast and T6 heat treatment conditions in the
D ¼ 2 A=π ð1Þ
size of α-Al primary phase and SDAS value are 48.1%, 162.2%, and
where A is the average area of the α-Al primary phase, which was 26.6%, 84.4%, respectively, compared to the unmodified condition.
measured using the ImageTool software. Furthermore, the aspect ratio of eutectic silicon particles of the
The as-cast and T6 heat treatment specimens were subjected to A357 modified alloy under as-cast and T6 conditions decrease
investigate in this study. Fig. 1 depicts the shape and dimensions of 142% and 174%, respectively, compared with the unmodified alloy.
W. Jiang et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 597 (2014) 237–244 239
Fig. 2. Optical microstructures of A357 alloys with different additions of RE: (a and e) unmodified, Alloy 1; (b and f) 0.1 wt% RE, Alloy 2; (c and g) 0.2 wt% RE, Alloy 3; (d and
h) 0.3 wt% RE, Alloy 4; (a–d) As-cast condition and (e–h) T6 heat treatment condition.
It can be noted that the T6 heat treatment has a profound effect on The mechanism of RE modification on the α-Al primary phase
the spheroidization of eutectic silicon, and it is consist with the can be explained by follows. The eutectic reaction of RE occurs
previous studies [21–23]. at 637–642 1C, and the reaction equation is presented in the
240 W. Jiang et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 597 (2014) 237–244
Table 2
Quantitative metallography results for the microstructures of A357 aluminum alloy with different RE additions.
Sample Alloy Grain size of α-Al SDAS (μm) Average length Average width Aspect ratio
primary phase (μm) of silicon particles (μm) of silicon particles (μm) of silicon particles
as-cast Alloy 1 (unmodified) 118.82 7 7.1 37.65 7 2.8 39.517 3.6 3.79 7 0.7 10.4 7 1.8
Alloy 2 100.05 7 4.1 23.16 7 2.0 24.777 3.1 3.17 0.2 8.0 7 1.4
Alloy 3 80.22 7 2.8 14.36 7 1.1 14.86 7 1.4 3.42 7 0.3 4.3 7 0.5
Alloy 4 97.81 7 3.5 23.78 7 2.0 19.95 7 2.0 3.667 0.4 5.5 7 0.6
T6 Alloy 1 (unmodified) 117.89 7 6.8 38.78 7 2.5 23.717 2.8 3.79 7 0.7 6.3 7 0.9
Alloy 2 110.277 4.7 31.97 7 2.9 17.067 1.7 4.517 0.8 3.8 7 0.3
Alloy 3 93.157 3.9 21.03 7 2.0 10.707 1.2 4.65 7 0.7 2.3 7 0.2
Alloy 4 106.107 4.2 25.83 7 2.8 15.09 7 1.9 4.677 0.8 3.2 7 0.4
Fig. 3. SEM microstructure and EDS analysis of the A357 modified alloy with 0.2 wt% RE: (a) morphology and (b) EDS of the intermetallic compound containing Al, Si and RE.
3.3. Fractography containing Al and RE are prone to act as crack initiators and
weaken the mechanical properties of the A357 modified alloy
Fig. 5 exhibits the SEM fractographs of A357 alloys tensile [4,23].
samples with different additions of RE under as-cast and T6 heat Fig. 7 shows the optical micrographs of side views of fractured
treatment conditions. As can be seen, the fracture surfaces of the A357 alloys tensile tested samples with and without modification.
A357 unmodified alloy tensile samples in both as-cast and T6 It can be evidently seen from Fig. 7(a) that many elongated
conditions show a clear brittle fracture nature, and the quasi- eutectic silicon particles present in the microstructure of the
cleavage feature can be observed, as shown in Fig. 5(a and e), A357 unmodified alloy. The eutectic silicon phases as a brittle
leading to lower elongation value. After T6 heat treatment, few phase are easily to crack and separate from Al matrix under
dimples exhibit in the fracture surfaces of the A357 unmodified applied loads, particular the elongated eutectic silicon particles,
alloy tensile samples. It is noted that the addition of RE obviously as they are the main sources of stress concentration [27–29]. For
increases the number of dimples, and the fracture surfaces of the the A357 unmodified alloy, the elongated eutectic silicon particles
A357 modified alloy tensile samples with the addition of 0.1 wt% are prone to rupture compared to the modified alloy with finer
RE display a mixed quasi-cleavage and dimple morphology. With eutectic silicon particles, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 7(a).
the RE addition increasing, the number of dimples sharply On the other hand, the A357 unmodified alloy has larger SDAS
increase. When the addition of RE reach 0.2 wt%, the SEM value than that of the A357 modified alloy. The elongated eutectic
fractographs of the A357 modified alloy tensile tested samples silicon particles cluster along both cell and grain boundaries so
exhibit an obvious morphology of dimple fracture, and the that there is a nearly continuous wall of eutectic silicon particles
dimples are very deep and distributed uniformly with high around the dendrite cell. The dendrite cells behave similar to
density, as shown in Fig. 5(c and g), resulting in a significant grains and strong interaction between particles and slip bands
improvement of elongation. In addition, the fracture surface of the giving rise to at the cell boundaries when the plastic deformation
T6 heat treated alloy also indicates a much more ductile failure generates. The final fracture paths then tend to pass through the
mode compared to that of the as-cast alloy. With the addition of eutectic silicon particles. As a consequence, the tensile sample
RE up to 0.3 wt%, the SEM fractographs give rise to deterioration. without modification shows a transgranular fracture mode.
The EDS spectra in Fig. 6(b), presenting the presence of alloying For the A357 modified alloy, the smaller SDAS value and
elements in the intermetallic compounds, implies the existence of finer eutectic silicon particles make the grain cell boundaries more
the intermetallic compounds containing Al and RE in the fracture discontinuous, compared with the A357 unmodified alloy.
surface of the modified alloy. The intermetallic compounds Thereby, a stronger interaction between slip bands and plastic
flow produces in the grain boundaries. The fracture of eutectic
silicon particles generates in the grain boundaries, and the final
fracture path tends to pass through the eutectic phase along the
grain boundaries of the α-Al primary phases [27,30]. Thereby, the
fracture take places mostly by dimple rupture with cracked
eutectic silicon particles, and it exhibits an intergranular fracture
mode, leading to superior ductility [31].
4. Conclusions
(1) The addition of RE greatly reduced the sizes of the α-Al primary
phase and eutectic silicon particles as well as SDAS value. And
the morphology of eutectic silicon particles was also clearly
improved, especially in T6 heat treatment. When the addition of
Fig. 4. X-ray diffraction patterns of the A357 alloys with different additions of RE: RE up to 0.2 wt%, compared with the unmodified alloy under as-
(a) unmodified; (b) 0.1 wt% RE; (c) 0.2 wt% RE; (d) 0.3 wt% RE. cast and T6 conditions, the reductions in the size of α-Al primary
Table 3
Tensile properties of the A357 alloys with different additions of RE under as-cast and T6 heat treatment conditions.
Sample Alloy Tensile strength (MPa) Yield strength (MPa) Elongation (%) Hardness (HBS)
Fig. 5. SEM fractographs of A357 alloy tensile samples with different additions of RE: (a and e) unmodified, Alloy 1; (b and f) 0.1 wt% RE, Alloy 2; (c and g) 0.2 wt% RE, Alloy 3;
(d and h) 0.3 wt% RE, Alloy 4; (a–d) as-cast condition and (e–h) T6 heat treatment condition.
phase and SDAS value were 48.1%, 162.2%, and 26.6%, 84.4%, (2) The addition of RE significantly improved the tensile proper-
respectively, and the aspect ratio of eutectic silicon particles ties of A357 alloy owing to the remarkable improvement in
decreased 142% and 174%, respectively. microstructure. Compared to the unmodified A357 alloy, the
W. Jiang et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 597 (2014) 237–244 243
Fig. 6. SEM fractograph and EDS analysis of the intermetallic compound in the A357 modified alloy with 0.3 wt% RE: (a) fractograph and (b) EDS of the intermetallic
compound.
Fig. 7. Optical micrographs of side views of fractured A357 alloy tensile samples with different additions of RE: (a) unmodified and (b) 0.2 wt% RE.
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