Boron-based refiners: Implications in conventional casting of Al–Si alloys

Impact of grain size on mechanical properties of AlSi7Mg0.3 alloy

“…Hence, aluminium foundries need more potent grain refiners for sound castings at competitive cost. Al-B master alloys have been reported to possess better grain refining efficiency for aluminium foundry alloys than the Al-5Ti-1B refiner [24][25][26][27][28]. It was shown very recently that Al-Si foundry alloys are grain refined very effectively with B additions [19,20].…”

AlB3 master alloy to grain refine AlSi10Mg and AlSi12Cu aluminium foundry alloys

“…Al-Ti-B master alloys have thus been the standard grain refiners for aluminium alloys eversince [7][8][9][10][11]. These grain refiners offer a remarkable performance in the continuous and semi-continuous casting of wrought alloys, yet fail to meet the expectations in the case of aluminium foundry alloys [12,13]. The latter contain substantial levels of Si to improve castability.…”

“…The grain refinement of aluminium foundry alloys can be accomplished only with grain refiners that are potent in spite of high Si levels. While Al-B master alloys were shown to be more effective with Al-Si alloys [10,13,14,[18][19][20], the industrial practice today relies almost entirely on the AlTi5B1 grain refiner. The search for alternative grain refiners and more effective grain refinement practices has intensified in recent years [21][22][23][24].…”

Fabrication and properties of functionally graded Al/AlB2 composites

“…Also, as reported from past studies, AlB 2 particles, which can act as grain refiners in aluminium alloys, might have reduced the grain size in the external zone. 19,23,24 Hardness and tensile strength tests Measured average Brinell hardness values as a function of the radial distance along the AlB 2 /Al, AlB 2 /Al-Si and AlB 2 /Al-Cu FGMMCs are given in Figure 11. It is seen that up to 70% increase has been achieved by adding about 11% boride flakes.…”