Characterization of Rapidly Solidified Al₆₅Cu₂₀Fe₁₅Alloy in Form of Powder or Ribbon

Abstract

The Al65Cu20Fe15 alloy has been prepared by conventional casting to the mould and by melt spinning or atomisation techniques. The melt spun ribbon was in the form of fragmented, brittle akes, atomized powder has spherical shape with average size 17.2 µm. It was found that icosahedral I-phase was the main phase in all types of prepared samples. In the conventionally cast alloy the following phases have been identied additionally: λ-Al13Fe4, τ -AlCu(Fe) and η2-AlCu. In the melt-spun ribbon the formation of η2 is avoided, while in the atomised powder the I-phase coexists with small amount of copper rich τ -phase. In the cast ingot the I-phase form as a product of peritectic reaction λ + L, while in the ribbon and in the powder quasicrystal solidied from the undercooled melt as primary phase and next metastable cubic τ -AlCu(Fe) was formed at the interdendritic areas. Single I-phase grains of the sizes about 1 µm are observed in the ribbon close to the wheel side.

Microstructure and Catalytic Activity of Melt Spun Al-Cu-Fe Ribbons

“…1c and 1d, respectively). Detailed description of microstructure of the Al65Cu20Fe15 melt spun ribbon has been published in our previous paper [8]. Leaching treatment led to formation of wide layer of the new phase which grown on the surface of initial Al65Cu20Fe15 powder, with morphology different for both used solutions.…”

“…Compared to the other systems, Al-Cu-Fe quasicrystals are more attractive because of the low cost, easily accessible, recyclable and non-toxic components [5]. Preparation of single icosahedral (i-phase) Al-Cu-Fe quasicrystal by conventional casting is difficult due to its narrow compositional range [5] and therefore, rapid solidification (RS) techniques [6][7][8] or mechanical alloying (MA) [9][10][11] are used to avoid segregation.…”