Heat-Resistant Al-Alloys with Quasicrystalline and L12- Precipitates

We have been developing Al-Mn-Cu based alloys alloyed with minor additions of different elements. Small additions of beryllium enhance the formation of the icosahedral quasicrystalline phase (IQC) during solidification, especially during ageing. Upon solidification, primary IQC-particles may form, with sizes, ranging from 5 to 50 μm. IQC is also present as a part of binary eutectic in the interdendritic regions. More importantly, nanosized quasicrystalline precipitates can form during T5-treatment at temperatures ranging from about 250−450 °C. They are, in fact, metastable precipitates transforming to ternary T-precipitates (Al20Mn3Cu2) phase above 450 °C. The heat resistance can be increased considerably by the addition of Sc and Zr by forming L12-precipitates in spaces between quasicrystalline precipitates. In this paper, we studied three alloys, two Al-Mn-Cu-Be alloys and an Al-Mn-Cu-Be-Sc-Zr alloy. The alloys were produced by vacuum induction melting and casting into a copper mould. We investigated the response of the alloys to different heat treatments and their heat resistance at higher temperatures. It was shown that the alloys could be precipitation strengthened by ageing at 300 °C and 400 °C. The hardness of the alloy stayed at relatively high levels even at 500 °C, while more substantial softening occurred at 600 °C.

Role of Al in the Solution Strengthening of Mg–Al Binary Alloys

Mg–Al binary alloys in the concentration range from 0 to 4.0 wt.% Al have been prepared under conventional casting conditions. The as-cast Mg and Mg–Al alloys after solution treatment were processed via hot extrusion at 350 °C. The results show that Al has a positive influence on grain refinement and solution strengthening. The as-extruded Mg–Al alloys are fully recrystallized, and the tensile yield strength of the binary alloys is two times higher than that of pure Mg. Furthermore, the elongations of Mg–Al alloys are much higher than that of pure Mg. In addition, Mg and Mg–Al alloys were further studied by the viscoplastic self-consistent (VPSC) model to explore the activation and evolution of deformation modes. The simulation results match well with the experimental results.

Fatigue Characterization and Fractographic Analysis of Aluminium 6063 Alloy

Aluminium and its alloy are widely employed in various automobile and aircraft areas because of their unique specific strength and formability. Al alloys that have been employed in aerospace structural components will undergo dynamic loading, which leads to fatigue due to mechanical stress and thermal conditions. Considering studies toward the low cycle fatigue behaviour of Al alloys are significantly narrowed, this chapter sighted to the analysis of fatigue behaviour of Al 6063 alloy at the various total strain amplitude (TSA) of 0.4% and 0.8%, which performed through the low cycle fatigue testing machine at the frequency rate of 0.2 Hz. The test results show that for 0.4% TSA, the number of cycles to failure (N) is 1786, whereas as the TSA increases, N got reduced. For 0.8% TSA, the cycle to failure is 291 and samples undergone cyclic softening during the test. The rate of cyclic plastic strain raised up with the increase in the TSA. Crack propagation was observed along with the quasi-cleavage fracture for 0.4% TSA and cleavage fracture for 0.8% TSA.