Magnetically Aligned Al3Ni Phase in Al-Ni Alloys Solidified with a High Magnetic Field

Abstract

When Al-Ni alloys solidified from melted zone and semi-solid zone, respectively, with a magnetic field up to 12.0T (Tesla) applied, the paramagnetic Al3Ni crystals in the precipitated Al3Ni phase were aligned with their c-axes parallel to the field and a unique laminated textured microstructure of the precipitated phase perpendicular to the field was formed. There were critical values of magnetic intensity Bcrit and heating temperature Tcrit at or above which the textured microstructure could be formed. The behavior of magnetic orientation of the precipitated phase was investigated experimentally. The results were discussed in terms of magnetic rotation of crystals with magnetic anisotropy, crystal growth, mechanical and magnetic interactions among the magnetized Al3Ni grains in a high magnetic field.