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Rapport 24
VILMER
The influence of Iron on the microstructure and mechanical properties of cast Al-Si-alloys
Salem Seifeddine, Ingenjrshgskolan i Jnkping
THE INFLUENCE OF IRON ON THE MICROSTRUCTURE AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF CAST AL-SI ALLOYS
DECEMBER 2007
SALEM SEIFEDDINE
JNKPING UNIVERSITY THE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING COMPONENT TECHNOLOGY SWEDEN
Abstract
Using recycled aluminium cast alloys is profitable in many aspects. Requiring only 5% of the energy to produce secondary metal as compared to primary metal and generates only 5% of the green house gas emissions, the recycling of aluminium is therefore beneficial of both environmental and economical point of view. Thanks to the excellent compromise between mechanical properties and lightness assured by such a material, applications of aluminium cast alloys are spreading in many industrial fields. Besides the benefits of utilizing secondary aluminium alloys, these alloys usually exhibit a remarkable reduction in ductility in comparison with primary aluminium alloys. By implementing adaptable alloying- and process technology the mechanical properties such as ductility will therefore be radically enhanced, leading to larger application fields of complex cast aluminium components such as safety details. Iron is recognised as the most detrimental impurity in cast aluminium alloys due to the formation of brittle intermetallics progressively decreasing the ductility and ultimate tensile strength. The cooling rate and addition of neutralizers such as Mn influence the critical Fe content and hence determines the final quality and soundness of the cast component. Corrosion resistance, machinability and castability are all adversely influenced when iron is present in the melt. Fe-intermetallics are also blamed for the formation of porosity during solidification and being as stress raisers leading to premature failures. Nevertheless, with increased iron content, the hardness and the resistance to hot tearing seem to increase and die soldering issues are avoidable leading to longer tool life time.
Table of content
Abstract ....................................................................................................... 2
Theoretical development ............................................................................. 4 Magnesium in Al-Si alloys ........................................................................ 4 Copper in Al-Si alloys............................................................................... 4 Magnesium, copper and iron in Al-Si alloys ............................................. 5 Iron in Al-Si alloys ................................................................................... 5 Modification of the harmful - Al5FeSi -needles ....................................... 7 Dissolution of iron intermetallic compounds through heat treatment ....... 9 The impact of iron on porosity formation ................................................. 9 Oxide build-up when remelting secondary Al- alloys.............................. 10 Influence of Copper and iron on the corrosion resistance ...................... 10 Influence of alloying elements on the fluidity.......................................... 10 Influence of iron on the mechanical properties....................................... 11 On the spheroidization of iron-rich phases ............................................. 13 The influence of grain refinement on iron intermetallic compounds ....... 14 On the reduction of the melts iron content............................................. 14 The effect of iron content on the castability ............................................ 14 The effect of iron on the machinability.................................................... 15 Conclusions, recommendations and guidelines for Al-Si casting alloys.. 15 Reference: ................................................................................................. 17
Theoretical development
Due to the increasing utilization of recycled aluminium cast alloys from components such as car cylinder heads, gear boxes, window frames etc, the necessity for strict microstructural control arises to remove the deleterious impact of impurity elements; which is considered to impair the overall properties of aluminium-silicon based casting alloys. By implementing adaptable alloying- and process technology, the mechanical properties such as ductility will therefore be radically enhanced, leading to larger application fields of complex cast aluminium components such as safety details. Generally, the mechanical and microstructural properties of aluminium cast alloys are dependent on the composition, melt treatment conditions, solidification rate, casting process and the applied thermal treatment. The mechanical properties of Al-Si-Mg and Al-Si-Mg-Cu alloys depend, besides the Mg and Cu-content, more on the distribution and the shape of the silicon particles. Alloys in which the silicon particles (eutectic or primary) are small, round and evenly distributed are usually highly ductile. Alloys in which the silicon particles are faceted and acicular are usually much less ductile but exhibit slightly higher strength [1-9]. The theoretical development will enlighten and assess the influence of iron and its compounds on the mechanical and microstructural performances of cast Al-Si alloys and propose what can be done to minimize the undesirable effect; summing up with some guidelines helping the die casters promoting as friendly cast components as possible.
continuous network at grain boundaries the alloys will not show any appreciable increase in strength, but a loss of ductility [5-8].
binary are ternary reactions, depends to a large extent on the cooling rate and an increase in iron content leads to an increased fraction of iron precipitates. The mechanical properties are dependent on the type and morphology of the formed intermetallic compounds, as well as on the quantities. Due to the sharp edges of the Al5FeSi -needles, a severe stress concentration is then introduced to the alloy's matrix. The needle-shaped Fe-bearing phase is therefore recognized as the most detrimental to the casting's mechanical properties why efforts should be dedicated to developing means of controlling the precipitation, growth and morphology of these harmful platelet-like Al5FeSi intermetallic phases. In order to enhance the overall properties such as tensile, fatigue and corrosion properties, the morphology of the iron rich beta-phase in a needle shape is required to be altered to a more compact, less harmful intermetallic compounds. Replacing these needles, the influence of cooling rate and iron content [10-15] and also the impact of different frequently used modifiers such as Mn, Cr, Co, Sr, Be and Ca on the formation of these phases should be investigated.
Al2Cu
Al5FeSi
Figure 1. The formation of Al2Cu along the Al5FeSi. Comparing the morphology of the Fe-bearing phases in die cast specimens to specimens cast at lower cooling rates, L. Wang et al.[10] has found that the Fe-bearing compounds in an Al-12%Si base alloy containing 0.8 %Fe and 0.6 %Mn in die cast specimens, with a cooling rate of 9000 C/min, exist mostly as polyhedral particles, whereas Fe-bearing phases cast in a graphite mould, 750 C/min, exhibited a morphology of small, disintegrated Chinese script within the interdendritic regions. At very slow cooling rates, 10 C/min the Fe-particles appeared in the form of well developed, large Chinese script. Another alloy, which also was considered in this study, shows that for Fe-content of 1.5 % and Mn-content of 0.5%, the Fe-bearing phase altered its morphology from large Al5FeSi -needles to Chinese script and star-like morphologies when increasing the cooling rate from 10C/min to 750 C/min. At higher cooling rates, 9000 C/min, the shape of the Fe-bearing morphology is replaced with polyhedral particles. Another similar study have been reported by Shabestari et al. [11], which is in agreement of what L. Wang et al. [10] has proposed, demonstrating that the size of all morphologies of the Fe-bearing compounds is decreased by an increase in the cooling rate and that the average size and fraction at the same cooling rate is increased when the level of iron is increased from levels 0.4% up to 1.2% Fe.
-needles, Al5FeSi
Figure 2. Illustrates the shape of the -Chinese script, Al15(Fe,Mn)3Si2, and -needles, Al5FeSi. Alloying with Mn and Cr, caution has to be taken in order to avoid the formation of hard complex intermetallic multi-component sludge, Al15(Fe, Mn, Cr)3Si2. These intermetallic
compounds are hard and can adversely affect the overall properties of the casting. Sludge factor formula has been suggested for these types of alloys to act as a guide, but not as a guarantee, to avoid sludge formation. The estimated formula is: Sludge Factor = % Fe + (2 x % Mn) + (3 x % Cr) A Sludge factor of 1.8 will normally not result in sludge formation if the casting temperature is of 650 C or more. The critical sludge factor is estimated to be 2.1 for AlSi-Cu-Mg containing alloys [20, 25, 27, 30]. Once these sludge particles are formed, they are nearly impossible to re-dissolve during reheating or thermal treatment because of their high melting points. The formation of sludge is a temperature dependent process in a combination with the concentrations of iron, manganese and chromium independent of the silicon content. There exists a critical melt superheat temperature above which the formation of sludge can be avoided during solidification. Another advantage with the melt superheat is the refining of the iron intermetallics. Regarding the modification effect of Sr on the formation of these needles, it appeared that Sr at low levels, 0.02-0.03%, neutralises the positive effect of Mn in reducing the deleterious Al5FeSi - plates while at Sr levels of 0.3%, the formation of complete conversion to dendritic morphology is encouraged, [18, 20, 24,27]. Another work by Shabestari et al. [31] has been proposed that the addition of strontium leads to rejection of Si from the beta-phase, leading to its decomposition into Al6Fe that appears in the form of fine fragments. F. H. Samuel et al [32], have also studied the effect of Sr on the Fe-intermetallics on an Al-Si-Cu alloy, in the unmodified and Sr-modified conditions with 350 ppm. Three pouring temperatures, 750, 720 and 620 C, were used in each case. The liquid metal was poured into hot graphite mould, cold metallic mould and cold water, which produced castings whose microstructures exhibited average dendrite arm spacings (SDAS) of 45m, 15m and 5m respectively. The test bars were tensile tested in the T6 condition. The results that are obtained show that the presence of Sr leads to precipitation of a large part of the iron intermetallics in the form of coarse pre-dendritic particles situated within the alpha Al-dendrites, instead of in the interdendritic regions. This is expected to homogenize the stress distribution across the alloy matrix, and hence lead to better tensile properties. In the alloy containing a higher Fe-content (1.4%Fe), but the same amount of Mn, addition of 0.08% Be together with 0.02% Sr is equivalent to the addition of 1%Mn in terms of the tensile properties [20, 32]. According to S. Murali et al, [26] beryllium appeared to completely nullify the deleterious impact of iron on the mechanical properties up to 0,93 %Fe content in the alloy by forming Be-Fe phase, only inside the primary Al-dendrites. The - Al5FeSi needles seem to be formed by a ternary eutectic while Be-Fe phase is formed by a peritectic reaction. Calcium acts also as an effective Fe-corrector by refining the Feintermetallic compounds as well as the eutectic silicon, leading to an improvement of the tensile properties of the materials, specially the elongation [29].
the more compact -phase forms early in the solidification process and a large amount of iron is therefore consumed, reducing the iron content of the residual liquid and preventing the nucleation of platelets prior to the Al-Si eutectic leading to a reduction in porosity. Other related research demonstrate that an increase in porosity are detected at intermediate iron contents (Fe>0.4%). Furthermore, it is suggested that at higher iron contents (Fe>0.7%), the platelets have been observed to participate in the nucleation of eutectic silicon [21, 22, 37, 38], therefore leading to a rapid deterioration of the interdendritic permeability which is in disagreement of what Lu and Dahle [16] have reported. Samuel et al.[20, 39-42] showed that an increase in iron content results in the precipitation of the platelets with their branched morphology that promote an inability of the liquid metal to feed into the spaces between these branches leading to shrinkage cavities. It has also been suggested that the - Al5FeSi -needles are very active sites for pore nucleation and that addition of Mn, which inhibits the formation of these needles, also neutralizers the pore nucleation [41].
amount of inclusions. An increase in the iron level will consequently increase the amount of insoluble iron rich bearing phases and therefore reducing the alloy's fluidity. Any of Fe, Mn, Cr, Ni and Mg additions to aluminium alloys, if they lead to formation of intermetallic compounds are inclusions, will result in a reduction in fluidity.
As the matrix work hardens, the overall stresses in the system rise. At a critical point, a crack can be initiated in one of the iron rich plates, which are oriented perpendicular to the loading axis. Due to its inherent brittleness and the orientation of the plate the crack will grow in an unstable manner along the length of the plate. In this case, a very large internal stress concentration will be produced due to this crack. The presence of this crack could either lead to immediate fracture by exceeding the critical stress intensity factor for the material or adjacent iron rich intermetallics could be fractured, see figure 3a and b. This process tends to initiate micro cracks at these particles providing easy pathways for macro cracks to propagate through them leading to fracture of the bulk material [48, 49].
(a) (b) Figure 3. Illustration of fractured -Al5FeSi, a) the crack is initiated at the surface of sample while in b) it is clear to notice the crack linkage between the platelets. The reason that iron-containing intermetallic particles are generally more detrimental to alloys mechanical properties is that they are much more easily fractured under tensile loading than the aluminium matrix and/or the modified silicon particles. Otherwise, if the silicon is unmodified, the cracks of silicon flakes are as prone to fracture and crack linkage as for the iron particles, see figure 3b. It is significant to mention that the Al5FeSi platelets tend to be much prone to fracture and crack linkage than the Al15(Fe,Mn)3Si2-Chinese script particles. It is why it is commonly accepted practice of adding Mn to Al-Si-Fe alloys. There are several studies concerning the influence of iron on the mechanical properties, for instance S. Kumari, et al. [50] that has studied the effect of the variation of iron content in small amounts from 0.17% to 0.6% in Al-7%Si-0.3%Mg alloys. It was found that the variation of iron within this range has not any significant effect on the tensile strength. However, the increase of iron reduces markedly the elongation of the samples. For example, changing the iron content between 0.2 and 0.8% has been observed the following variations on the properties: the ultimate tensile strength reduces 15%, the hardness increases 12% and the ductility falls over 50%. These variations are due to the presence of the needles, that provides a brittle behaviour to the alloy.
Similar investigation has been performed by X. P. Niu et al. [23] but regarded higher iron levels and Al-Si-Cu alloys. Changing the iron content from 1 up to 1.8 % successively resulted in a serious reduction of the tensile strength and also the elongation. Moreover, the hardness of the alloy grows slightly and so did the yield strength. Another study done by Z. Ma et al. [51] has focused on the effect of iron on the tensile properties of the 319 and 356 aluminium alloys. The results of this study are coherent with the previous ones [23, 50]. In the 319 alloy, the increase of the size of the -platelets promotes a considerable decrease of both the elongation and the ultimate tensile strength. It has also been observed that the yield strength is independent on the maximum length of the -needles. However, the fracture behaviour seems to depend on the maximum length of the needles. Regarding the 356 alloy, the results are quite similar.
The iron level above the critical level for the silicon content of the alloy should be avoided as these might cause serious loss of the ductility and results in a reduction of the casting productivity through increased rejects due to shrinkage porosity and particularly leakers. At high cooling rates super critical iron contents may not be detrimental. The overall mechanical and microstructural performances of an alloy may be improved by heat treatment. Care should be taken when adding iron neutralizers. The benefits of Mntreatments are not often apparent. Excess Mn can lead to formation of hard spots leading to machining difficulties. Mn additions do not always improve castability and reduce the porosity in high Fe-alloys. Exceeding the value of the sludge factor and using low melt temperatures may cause serious problems for the die-casters.
Reference:
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