Effect of Zirconium on the Solidification Path and Structural Properties of Commercial AlSi10MgCu Alloys

Abstract

Comprehensive understanding of the melt quality is of vital importance for foundry man. The effect of each particular element need to be properly analysed. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to analyse the impact of various content of zirconium on the solidification path and structural characteristics (SDAS, grain size, porosity) of as cast commercial AlSi10MgCu alloys. It has been found that addition of zirconium up to 0.24 wt.% reduce significantly the grains size (from 3.5 mm to 1.2 mm), SDAS (from 57.3 µm to 50.4 µm) and porosity (from 19% to 5%), leading to production of sound cast parts.

Keywords

• zirconium
• alsi10mgcu alloy
• grain size
• sdas
• porosity