Effects of Al, Si and Mn on the Recrystallization Behaviors of Fe Containing 70B Brass

The effects of alloying elements and impurities on the microstructure and properties of metals and alloys are important. Understanding of these effects may help to control and produce products with desired properties at lower cost. In the present work the effects of Al, Si and Mn on the recrystallization behavior, hardness and microstructural changes of an Fe- containing brass during annealing were studied. The results show that alloying elements strongly affect recrystallization kinetics and resulted finer microstructures. Hardness variations during annealing are consistent with microstructural observations and the presence of alloying elements. All elements slow down recrystallization progress and increase resulted hardness values. The resulted microstructures in the presence of alloying elements are much finer than that of plain 70B brass. It was concluded that the present alloying elements affect the recrystallization behavior of 70B brass in a similar manner. Their mechanism of interactions is solute drag effect and their effects sum up when they present together.