The Effect of Refining and the Cooling Rate on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of AlSi7Mg Alloy

The paper presents results of research on the effect of conventional refining with hexachloroethane and the cooling rate vcool. ranging within the solidification temperature regime from 12.5°C/min to 94.5°C/min on compactness of the material, values of microstructure parameters λ2D, λE, lmaxSi, and mechanical properties Rm, R0,2, A5 of unmodified AlSi7Mg alloy after heat treatment (solution treatment 540°C/6 h/water 20°C and aging 175°C/8 h/air). It has been found that as a result of refining and increased cooling rate, an improvement of material compactness occurred (reduction of the density index by 0.4%) accompanied by a decrease of values of parameters characterizing the microstructure: λ2D by 54.4 μm; λE by 4,6 μm; and lmaxSi by 50 μm. As a result of these changes, the value of Rm increased by about 40 MPa and R0.2 improved by about 36 MPa, while the value of A5 decreased by 1.3%.