Effects of Cooling Rate on Morphology of Eutectic Si in RE Modified Al-10wt.%Si Alloy

Morphology evolution of eutectic Si in Ce-rich mischmetal (RE) modified Al-10wt.%Si alloy at different cooling rates was investigated. The morphology of eutectic Si and modification mechanism of RE was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results showed that the RE modified eutectic Si exhibited a plate-like morphology under the low cooling rate (~100K/s). When cooling rate increased to ~600K/s, some branches were observed on the eutectic Si. In the RE modified alloy with a higher cooling rate (~1000K/s), the number of the branches on RE modified eutectic Si increased, and the morphology of eutectic S was modified to coral-like structure. The addition of Sr caused a flake-to-fiber modification of eutectic Si at low cooling rate, and the fiber size decreased with cooling rate increasing. The morphological observations indicated that the morphology of eutectic Si in RE modified alloy was significantly influenced by the cooling rate, while the modification efficiency of RE was lower than that of Sr.