Gibbs free energy change of the aggregating process of five tetrahedrons to one decahedron is favorite [14] resulting in the formation of Si nucleus with five fold twin structure.Recently Liu et al reported that the Si crystals growth would be restricted by solute since these fine Si grains were surrounded by Al solute at large undercooling, [16] resulting in near equiaxed fine Si crystals. In present rapid solidification process, the undercooling was larger, and diffusion distance of both Si and Al atoms would be limited. When the Si nucleus was formed, it would trigger the crystallization of the Si atom clusters existed in the Si-rich zone. So under the influence of solute atom suppression and small diffusion ability, spherical primary Si particles with nanograins were formed. It is obvious that rapid solidification and higher Si content in the Al-Si alloy would benefit to the formation of Si atom clusters, Si-rich zone and the spherical primary Si particles.In summary, the microstructures of the as-quenched Al 60 Si 40 alloy obtained by melt-spinning technique consist of spherical primary Si, nanosize fcc-Al particles and amorphous matrix. It has been found that spherical primary Si particles are constituted by many nanosize Si grains and some of them are of twin relationship. In the center region of the spherical primary Si fivefold twin structures have been found, which are believed to be the nucleus. High Si content in the Al-Si alloy and rapid cooling are beneficial to the formation of the spherical primary Si particles.
ExperimentalThe alloy ingot with the composition of 60 at% Al and 40 at% Si was prepared by arc melting of the mixture of Al (99.997 % purity) and Si (99.9995 % purity) elements in argon atmosphere. Ribbon samples with 20-30 lm in thickness and 2.0 mm in width were prepared by the melt spinning technique (speed of the wheel is 30 m/s). Near the wheel side was selected for the studies. The phase structures of the as-quenched alloys were characterized by the high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) in the JEM2010F TEM with a field emission gun. The operating voltage is 200 kV. The thin foil specimen for TEM analysis was prepared by ion thinning.