Effect of Si, Co, Fe contents and cooling condition on the microstructure of Al–Si–Co(–Fe) alloys

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, several Al–Si–Co and Al–Si–Co–Fe alloys were prepared by varying the contents of Si, Co and Fe, solidified via fast and slow–cooling conditions. In the ternary Al–xSi–yCo (x = 6, 12, 18; y = 2, 4) alloys, the Co–rich phase is Al9Co2–type with a certain Si content, which can be marked as (Al,Si)9Co2. The Al9Co2–type phase exhibits developed dendrites and block–like morphologies under fast and slow cooling conditions, respectively. In the quaternary Al–xSi–4Co–yFe (x = 6, 12, 18; y = 2, 4) alloys, the formed intermetallic compound is Al13Fe4–type, containing a certain amount of Si and Co. It exhibits fine and coarse dendritic morphologies under fast and slow–cooling conditions, respectively. With the increase of Si content and Fe: Co ratio in the Al–xSi–4Co–yFe alloys, the Si content and Fe: Co ratio in the Al13Fe4–type phase increase synchronously. The hardness of Al–xSi–4Co–yFe alloys were tested, and it was found that the fast–cooling alloys have higher hardness than the slow–cooling ones, while the value of fast–cooling Al–12Si–4Co–4Fe alloy is the highest. Besides, comparing with Al9Co2, the Al13Fe4 phase has a much higher tendentiousness to precipitate from Al–Si–Co–Fe alloys. This work may be referred for the control of Co– and Fe–rich phases in Al–Si alloys, with the concept of altering element contents and solidification conditions.