Cast AlFe alloys containing several percent iron have low ductility because of their brittle precipitates. Therefore, precipitate refinement is very important for improving their mechanical properties. In recent decades, severe plastic deformation processes have been developed to achieve this grain refinement. For example, our previously proposed severe plastic deformation process, called compressive torsion, is quite effective for not only grain refinement but also precipitate refinement even in brittle materials. In the present work, precipitate refinement of cast Al—Fe alloys by compressive torsion and the resulting improvements in their tensile properties were investigated. Compressive torsion with various numbers of revolutions was applied to Al—Fe alloys at 373 K. Then, the alloys were subjected to tensile testing at room temperature, 473 K, and 573 K. The obtained experimental results indicated that the initial eutectic microstructure of the alloys disappeared after the compressive torsion processing. All large precipitates with sizes of more than 200 μm were refined, and their sizes were reduced to several tens of micrometers. Furthermore, these refined precipitates were dispersed homogenously in the alloy microstructure. In result, the tensile properties of the alloys, namely, their strength and elongation, were improved remarkably. In particular, the elongation reached more than 30% at room temperature.
Structure of Al-Fe alloys synthesized from elemental powders by severe plastic deformation under high pressure
