Abstract Scope |
Previous studies comment on how amounts of Mg and Si produce metastable phases within Al-Ce base alloys. The phases present in said alloys were Al11Ce3, Mg2Si, and τ1-AlCeSi, which affect alloy mechanical properties and thermal response. Research results revealed that adding Mg and Si affected directly the melting temperature range, microstructure, micro-hardness, and density. When adding Mg and Si at a 1:2 and 1:5 ratios to eutectic Al-Ce alloys, the melting temperature range lies between 563 °C and 618 °C, respectively. Furthermore, by adding either Mg, Si, or both the micro-hardness values increased from 500 MPa to over 1 GPa as the alloy density decreased from 2.85 and neared 2.7 g/cm3. Thus, Al-Ce-based alloys can be tailored for high temperature applications while maintaining good weight-to-strength ratios. The on-going work centers on expanding the study of other chemical compositions and performing heat treatments seeking to control the presence of metastable phases. |