Coarsening Kinetics and Coarsened Si Size Distribution of Spray-Formed High Loading Hypereutectic Al-Si Alloys in the Semisolid State

The coarsening behavior of spray-formed A-35wt%Si and A-45wt%Si alloys in the semisolid state were studied. The coarsening kinetic and Si size distributions after coarsening at various temperatures and times in the semi-solid state were investigated. The coarsening exponents, n, the rate constants, K, in the LSW theory, and the modified rate constants were determined from previous works. The coarsening activation energies of the two spray-formed alloys were calculated from the slopes of ln(KT) vs. 1/T plots. The Si size distribution functions after holding at various temperatures and times in the semisolid state were determined for the two spray-formed alloys. The effects of the stokes-motion in addition to pure diffusion mechanism on the variations of coarsened Si size distribution were also investigated.