The Effect of Minor Addition of Ni on the Microstructural Evolution and Mechanical Properties of Suction Cast Al-0.14 at. pct Sc Binary Alloy

Abstract

Aluminum scandium binary alloys represent a promising precipitation-hardening alloy system. However, the hardness of the binary alloys decreases with the rapid coarsening of Al3Sc precipitate during high-temperature aging. In the current study, we report a new approach to compensate for the loss of mechanical properties by combining rapid solidification with very small ternary addition of transition metal Ni. This addition yields dispersion, and at a critical concentration improves the mechanical properties. We explore additions of a maximum of 0.06 at. pct of Nickel to a binary Al-0.14 at. pct Sc alloy, which yield nickel-rich dispersions. We report two kinds of biphasic dispersions containing AlNi2Sc/Al9Ni2 and α-Al/Al9Ni2 phase combinations. The maximum improvement in mechanical properties occurs with the addition of 0.045 at. pct Ni with a yield strength of 239 ± 7 MPa for an aging treatment at 583 K (310 °C) for 15 hours.