Hierarchical refinement of primary phases in a multicomponent Al-14Si-CuNiMg casting alloy by ultrasonic melt treatment

The combined effects of ultrasonic melt treatment (UST) with the cooling rate on the microstructural evolution in a multicomponent Al-14Si-CuNiMg casting alloy was investigated. UST was applied to a melt at 800°C, followed by casting into a steel step mold at cooling rates in the range of 4-32 K/s. UST in the fully liquid state significantly reduced the sizes of the primary phases (the phases formed before Al) crystallized in the initial stage of solidification, and the structural refinement by UST became more pronounced for a faster cooling. With trace additions of Ti, V and Zr, the primary phase is most likely (Al,Si)3(Zr,Ni,Fe), and primary Si and then Al3Ni are sequentially formed upon solidification. AlP particles, well-known nucleants for primary Si, were also found to exist inside the (Al,Si)3(Zr,Ni,Fe) and Al3Ni which exhibited a very low lattice misfit with AlP (~0.7 and 4.7%, respectively). This importantly suggests that AlP can nucleate all the primary phases while it has the highest efficiency of structural refinement by UST for (Al,Si)3(Zr,Ni,Fe) phase that first nucleated in the molten metal. The nucleation of the primary phases was quantified using an analytical model based on exponential statistics. The hierarchical refinement operated by UST is further discussed.