The Effect of Solution Heat Treatment and Quenching Rates On Mechanical Properties and Microstructures in Alsimg Foundry Alloys
The Effect of Solution Heat Treatment and Quenching Rates On Mechanical Properties and Microstructures in Alsimg Foundry Alloys
The Effect of Solution Heat Treatment and Quenching Rates On Mechanical Properties and Microstructures in Alsimg Foundry Alloys
Four common AlSiMg foundry alloys have been solution heat treated at 813 K, quenched, and
immediately aged at 423 K for up to 240 minutes. The mechanical properties are found to be related
to the amount of Mg and Si in the alloys. A high strength is obtained after only 60 minutes of solution
heat treatment, indicating that the solid solution is rapidly saturated on Mg and Si. The ductility is
very much related to the amount of silicon present and the refinement of the silicon crystals within
the eutectic areas, since silicon crystals are observed to crack when load is applied. Thus, a well-
modified structure is the best way to obtain high ductility. Reduced quenching rates after solution
heat treatment lead to a lower strength, since a lower number of hardening ⬘-Mg2Si precipitates are
formed. The ductility of alloys with 0.6 wt pct Mg is increased with a reduced quenching rate. A
more ductile matrix corresponding to the lower amount of hardening precipitates can explain this.
Alloys with 0.2 wt pct Mg remain relatively unchanged. A hypothesis that may explain this phenomenon
is the precipitation of brittle silicon or formation of coarse Mg2Si within the dendrites.
THE use of light-metal cast components in various appli- A. Casting of the Tensile-Test Bars
cations has increased during the last 10 years, partly as a
The experiments have been based on four main alloy com-
result of the increased amount of light metals being used
positions: Al-7Si-0.2Mg, Al-7Si-0.6Mg, Al-11Si-0.2Mg, and
for transportation purposes. One advantage is that light-
Al-11Si-0.6Mg. The Al-7Si-Mg alloys are based on an
metal components lead to an overall reduced weight and,
unmodified commercial alloy with a magnesium concentra-
thus, to reduced energy consumption. Another advantage,
tion of approximately 0.2 wt pct, supplied by Elkern Alumin-
which may be just as important from an environmental point
ium Mosjøen (Mosjøen, Norway). Magnesium was added
of view, is the fact that aluminum components may be recy-
in the form of pure 99.9 wt pct Mg to obtain a Mg concentra-
cled with relatively low energy demands. For such purposes,
tion of 0.6 wt pct. Hydro Aluminium Sunndalsøra (Sunndal-
alloys of the type AlSiMg are found to give good results
søra, Norway) supplied the unmodified Al-11Si-Mg alloys.
since they show a good castability, and the addition of Mg The alloys were modified by adding strontium, in the form
makes the alloys heat treatable. of an Al-10Sr rod, 5 minutes prior to casting. Samples for
The effect of heat treatment on mechanical properties is chemical analysis were cast in a steel “scissors mold,” type
well known for alloys of the AlSi7Mg type, for example, B, as described in ASTM E-716.[4] Three analyses were
A356 and A357, and has been described by, among others, taken from each sample, and the concentrations of the main
Ravi et al.,[1] Kashyap et al.,[2] and Shih and Shih.[3] The alloying elements are presented in Tables I and II.
main conclusion from these works is that increasing the Mg To obtain reliable measurements of the mechanical proper-
concentration leads to an increased strength and a reduced ties, it is important to control the amount of porosity in the
ductility, while an increase in the Si concentration mainly base material. This requires both removal of hydrogen from
reduces ductility. the melt and sufficient feeding of the melt into the casting
The present work focuses on how changes in the solution as solidification proceeds.
heat-treatment time affect the mechanical properties of Approximately 2 kg of the base alloy was melted in a
AlSiMg foundry alloys in the modified and unmodified con- refractory crucible at a temperature of 1033 K. A graphite
ditions. The mechanical properties are related to changes in probe was immersed in the melt, and argon passed through
microstructure, primarily to the morphological changes of the probe into the melt for 20 minutes. A flow meter was
the silicon crystals in the eutectic areas. The effect of various used to ensure that the same amount of gas was used in
quenching rates from the solution heat-treatment tempera- each alloy. The Sr was added after 15 minutes of degassing.
ture has also been examined for the modified alloys. The melt was stirred for about 30 seconds, and Ar continued
to flow through the melt during the last 5 minutes, when
dissolution of Sr took place. The Ar flow was stopped and
the slag was carefully removed from the top of the melt
L. PEDERSEN, Process Engineer, is with Elkem Aluminium Lista, 4550 before the metal was poured into the mold.
Farsund, Norway. L. ARNBERG, Professor, is with Department of Materi-
als Technology and Electrochemistry, The Norwegian University of Science The alloys were “semidirectionally” solidified to ensure
and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway. a good feeding of the material and, thus, to avoid shrinkage
Manuscript submitted June 28, 1999. porosity. The melt was poured into a cylindrical copper mold
Fig. 2—Ultimate tensile strength of unmodified alloys that have been solu-
Table II. Chemical Composition of the Modified Alloys tion heat treated at 813 K, quenched in water, and aged at 423 K for 4 h.
(All Concentrations are in Weight Percent)
Element AlSi7Mg0.2 AlSi7Mg0.6 AlSi11Mg0.2 AlSi11Mg0.6
Si 7.26 7.24 10.83 10.81 for 240 minutes. Three parallel samples of each alloy were
Fe 0.086 0.090 0.278 0.298 tested in each heat-treatment condition. The mechanical
Cu 0.0007 0.0006 0.0024 0.0024 properties in an as-cast material were measured for compari-
Mg 0.242 0.709 0.213 0.633 son. The quenching rate after solution heat treatment was
Ti 0.1098 0.1095 0.1639 0.1541 measured by mounting a steel-mantled thermocouple, with
B 0.0002 0.0003 0.0016 0.00178 a diameter of 1 mm, in the center of one “dummy” test bar.
Na 0.0001 0.0001 0.0000 0.0000
Sr 0.0105 0.0106 0.0248 0.0254
The thermocouple was connected to a Campbell 21-times
Ca 0.0003 0.0004 0.0016 0.0021 magnification data logger, and the temperature was regis-
tered in intervals of 1 second. The quenching rate was esti-
mated by the equation
Tfur ⫺ 473
冢t 冣
dT
⫽ [1]
dt cool ⫺ t473
(c) (d )
(e) (f)
Fig. 6—Microstructure near fracture in AlSi11Mg0.2 alloys. The alloys have been solution heat treated at 813 K for various times: (a) through (c) unmodified
alloys and (d ) through ( f ) modified alloys. (a) and (d) As cast, (b) and (e) 240 min, and (c) and (f) 1440 min. As polished.
the UTS in various alloys is shown in Figure 8. The quench- to areas near the silicon crystals, where a low degree of
ing rates estimated by Eq. [1] for each quenching media can coherency is assumed.
be found in Table III. Several researchers, such as Kaczorowski,[12] Kovács et
The reduction is related to the lower density of hardening al.,[13] and Ceresara et al.,[14] have stated that increasing the
Mg2Si precipitates formed, which, in turn, can be related to silicon level above that required for stoichiometric formation
the amount of vacancies present. According to Lorimer and of Mg2Si increases the strength of AlSiMg alloys. According
Nicholson,[10] this is an important parameter for the forma- to Kaczorowski,[12] this can be explained by
tion of Guinier-Preston (GP) zones and hardening precipi-
tates. This point of view is supported by Panseri et al.,[11]
who relate the GP zones to formation of vacancy-solute (1) a greater driving force for precipitation related to an
clusters. A reduced quenching rate allows vacancies to move increased deviation from equilibrium,
and partly cluster within the ␣-Al and partly “disappear” (2) an increase in the number of the vacancy-solute clusters
out of the ␣-Al by diffusion to surfaces and probably also and a shortened diffusion path to the clusters, and
(c) (d )
(e) (f)
Fig. 7—Silicon crystals in the eutectic region of AlSi11Mg0.6 alloys. The alloys have been solution heat treated at 813 K for various times: (a) through
(c) unmodified alloys and (d ) through ( f ) modified alloys. (a) and (d) As cast, (b) and (e) 240 min, and (c) and (f): 1440 min. The material has been deep etched.
(3) an increase in cluster stability, leading to a better disper- respectively. Dons et al.[15] have verified experimentally that
sion of GP zones. silicon diffuses from a solid solution to existing silicon crys-
The effect of excess silicon has mainly been investigated tals, and this effect is clearly illustrated in Figure 9 by
in wrought alloys. Microprobe analyses carried out across the microstructure of an Al-7Si-0.2Mg(Sr) sample that has
dendrite arms in the present work showed silicon concentra- undergone an extremely slow cooling. The micrograph
tions of approximately 1.1 wt pct and magnesium concentra- shows silicon that has precipitated within the ␣-Al. Further-
tions of approximately 0.2 and 0.5 wt pct in alloys with more, a clearly visible precipitate-free zone can be seen near
low and high Mg contents, respectively. (The values were the eutectic regions, illustrating that Si has diffused toward
observed in materials that had been solution heat treated at existing crystals.
813 K for 60 minutes and immediately quenched in water.) The amount of excess silicon in the aluminum matrix is,
If one assumes that ⬘-Mg2Si is formed stoichiometrically, therefore, reduced with reduced quenching rates, and this
these alloy concentrations yield 0.3 wt pct Mg2Si and an effect is larger in the Al-11Si-Mg alloys, since the eutectic
excess of 1 wt pct Si in the alloy with a low Mg concentra- fraction and, thus, the amount of silicon crystals that excess
tion. The corresponding values in the alloy with a high silicon can diffuse to, is larger too. The argument presented
Mg concentration are 0.8 wt pct Mg2Si and 0.5 wt pct Si, here is supported by the fact that the difference between the