Influence of Cooling Rate on the Size of the Precipitates and Thermal Characteristic of Al-Si Cast Alloys

In this work effect of cooling rate on the size of the grains, SDAS, β phases and thermal characteristic results of Al-Si cast alloys have been described. The solidification process was studied using the cooling and crystallization curve at cooling rate ranging from 0,1 ºCs-1 up to 1 ºCs-1. The main observation made from this work was that when cooling rate is increased the aluminum dendrites nucleation temperature and solid fraction at the dendrite coherency point increases, which implies that mass feeding is extended. In addition to that, it was observed that solidus temperature and size of the β phases decreases when cooling rate increases. Investigations were showed, that the thermal modification could be quantitatively assessed by analysis of the crystallization curve.