Depending on the casting conditions and alloy composition, microstructure and properties of the aluminium alloys will be different. There are many techniques available for investigating the solidification of metals and alloys. In recent years computer-aided cooling curve analysis (CA-CCA) has been used to determine thermophysical properties of alloys, latent heat and solid fraction. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of cooling rate on the structural features of Al-4.8 wt.%Cu alloy by thermal analysis of cooling curves. To do this, Al-4.8 wt.%Cu alloy was melted and solidified applying 0.04, 0.42, and 1.08 °C/sec cooling rates. The temperature of the samples was recorded using a K thermocouple and a data acquisition system connected to a PC. It was found that the formation temperatures of various thermal parameters such as (liquidus, solidus and eutectic temperatures) are shifting by increasing of cooling rate from 0.04 °C/sec to 1.08 °C/sec. The structural results show that grain size and secondary dendrite arm spacing decreased by increasing of cooling rate.
There are many techniques available for investigating the solidification of metals and alloys. In recent years computer-aided cooling curve analysis (CA-CCA) has been used to determine thermo-physical properties of alloys, latent heat and solid fraction. In this study, the effect of cooling rate and copper addition was taken into consideration in non-equilibrium eutectic transformation of binary Al-Cu melt via cooling curve analysis. For this purpose, melts with different copper weight percent of 2.2, 3.7 and 4.8 were prepared and cooled in controlled rates of 0.04 and 0.42 °C/s. Results show that, latent heat of alloy highly depends upon the post-solidification cooling rate and composition. As copper content of alloy and cooling rate increase, achieved nonequilibrium eutectic phase increases that leads to release of high amount of latent heat and appearing of second deviation in cooling curve. This deviation can be seen in first time derivative curve in the form of a definite peak.
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