Growth Mechanisms of Faceted Al
<sub>3</sub>Fe Intermetallic Revealed by High-Speed Synchrotron X-Ray Quantification

Song, Zihan; Magdysyuk, Oxana; Tang, Lei; Sparks, Tay; Cai, Biao

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3582174

Download This Paper

Open PDF in Browser

Add Paper to My Library

Growth Mechanisms of Faceted Al ₃Fe Intermetallic Revealed by High-Speed Synchrotron X-Ray Quantification

34 Pages Posted: 6 May 2020

See all articles by Zihan Song

Zihan Song

University of Birmingham - School of Metallurgy and Materials

Lei Tang

University of Birmingham - School of Metallurgy and Materials

Biao Cai

University of Birmingham - School of Metallurgy and Materials

Abstract

High-speed synchrotron tomography was used to investigate the nucleation and growth dynamics of Al₃Fe intermetallic during solidification of an Al-5wt%Fe alloy, providing new insights into its formation mechanisms. The majority of Al₃Fe intermetallics nucleated at the surface oxide of the specimen and a few nucleated at Al₃Fe phase. Al₃Fe crystals grew into a variety of shapes, including platelet, stepped and bended, which can be attributed to the crystal structure of this compound and its susceptibility to twinning. Hole-like defects filled with aluminium melt were observed within the intermetallics. Large Al₃Fe crystals imaged after deep etching were shown to be made of small crystal subunits. Based on this observation, tiling of precusor subunits was proposed to explain the formation of the Al₃Fe intermetialic. These insights are not only vital for the development of crystal growth models but aslo valuable to aluminium alloys recycling industries.

Keywords: Synchrotron tomography, 4D imaging, Al alloy, Faceted crystal

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Song, Zihan and Magdysyuk, Oxana and Tang, Lei and Sparks, Tay and Cai, Biao, Growth Mechanisms of Faceted Al ₃Fe Intermetallic Revealed by High-Speed Synchrotron X-Ray Quantification. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3582174 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3582174