Effect of Indium on Precipitation Kinetics of an Al8Si0.4Mg Cast Alloy

Abstract

Effect of Indium addition on the precipitation kinetics of Al8Si0.4Mg alloy has been investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. The activation energy analysis results show that the β′ precipitation activation energy is 85 kJ mol-1 and 86 kJ mol-1 for the base alloy and Indium containing alloy respectively. The β′ precipitation mechanism parameter n analysis results show that β′ precipitates in two-dimensional and the growth mechanism of β′ precipitates is unaffected by Indium addition. The nucleation density dependent parameter k for Indium containing alloy is 2.45 times of the base alloy which suggests that Indium addition accelerates the nucleation density of β′ phases.