Effects of Melt Thermal-Rate Treatment on Fe-Containing Phases in Hypereutectic Al-Si Alloy

In this paper, effects of melt thermal-rate treatment (MTRT) on Fe-containing phases in hypereutectic Al-Si alloy were investigated. Results show that MTRT can refine microstructures and improve castability, mechanical properties, wear characteristics, and corrosion resistance of Fe-containing Al-Si alloy. When Al-15Si-2.7Fe alloy is treated with MTRT by 1203 K (930 °C) melt: coarse primary Si and plate-like Fe-containing phase both can be refined to small blocky morphology, and the long needle-like Fe-containing phase disappears almost entirely; ultimate tensile strength and elongation are 195 MPa and 1.8 pct, and increase by 12.7 and 50 pct, respectively; and the wear loss and coefficient of friction decrease 7 to 17 and 24 to 30 pct, respectively, compared with that obtained with conventional casting technique. Corrosion resistance of the alloy treated with MTRT by 1203 K (930 °C) melt is the best, that is it has the lowest i _corr value and the highest E _corr value. Besides, effects of MTRT on Al-15Si-xFe (x = 0.2, 0.7, 1.7, 3.7, 4.7) alloys were also studied, MTRT can only refine microstructure and improve mechanical properties of Al-15Si alloy with 0.7 to 3.7 pct Fe content greatly in the present work.