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Light Metals 2017 pp 305–311Cite as

Influence of Trace Element Additions on Fe Bearing Intermetallic Solidification of a 6063 Al Alloy

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Part of the book series: The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series ((MMMS))

Abstract

There is an on-going effort to control Fe bearing intermetallic formation during solidification in direct chill (DC) casting of dilute Al alloy billets from recycled material sources, as these insoluble Fe intermetallics control the downstream processing conditions and final properties of the processed products. This paper investigates the influence of molybdenum (Mo) and grain refiner combined additions on Fe bearing intermetallic formation during casting of a 6063 Al alloy. In particular, the grain size and intermetallic phase content of the samples have been characterised using various microscopies and X-ray diffractometry. An intermetallic phase extraction technique has been used to facilitate measurement of the three-dimensional morphology and chemistry of the different Fe intermetallics present, with changes rationalized in terms of the effect of trace additions. Both “αc-AlFeSi” and “β-AlFeSi” are observed in all the castings. After the addition of Al-5Ti-1B grain refiner to the base alloy, β-AlFeSi was predominated in the casting. Further addition of Mo to the grain refined alloy promoted αc-AlFeSi in the casting. The possible mechanisms for these effects are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the UK Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) Impact Acceleration Account Award, EP/K503769/1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3PH, UK

    S. Kumar, J. Malisano, Y. Ito & K. A. Q. O’Reilly

  2. Department of Metallurgy and Ceramics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8552, Japan

    Y. Ito

Authors
  1. S. Kumar
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  2. J. Malisano
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  3. Y. Ito
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  4. K. A. Q. O’Reilly
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. Kumar .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. SINTEF , Trondheim, Norway

    Arne P. Ratvik

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© 2017 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society

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Kumar, S., Malisano, J., Ito, Y., O’Reilly, K.A.Q. (2017). Influence of Trace Element Additions on Fe Bearing Intermetallic Solidification of a 6063 Al Alloy. In: Ratvik, A. (eds) Light Metals 2017. The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51541-0_41

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