J. Mater. Sci. Technol. ›› 2021, Vol. 68: 199-208.DOI: 10.1016/j.jmst.2020.07.013

• Research Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Composition-dependent dynamic precipitation and grain refinement in Al-Si system under high-pressure torsion

Shenbao Jina,1, Zhenjiao Luoa,1, Xianghai Anb, Xiaozhou Liaob, Jiehua Lic, Gang Shaa,*()   

  1. a Herbert Gleiter Institute of Nanoscience, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210094 China
    b School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, The University of Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia
    c Institute of Casting Research, Montanuniversität Leoben, A-8700, Leoben, Austria
  • Received:2020-05-25 Revised:2020-07-04 Accepted:2020-07-11 Published:2021-03-30 Online:2021-05-01
  • Contact: Gang Sha
  • About author:*E-mail address: gang.sha@njust.edu.cn (G. Sha).
    First author contact:

    1Shenbao Jin and Zhenjiao Luo contributed equally to this work.

Abstract:

Understanding composition effects is crucial for alloy design and development. To date, there is a lack of research comprehensively addressing the effect of alloy composition on dynamic precipitation, segregation and grain refinement under severe-plastic-deformation processing. This research investigates Al-xSi alloys with x = 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 at.% Si processed by high pressure torsion (HPT) at room temperature by using transmission electron microscopy, transmission Kikuchi diffraction and atom probe tomography. The alloys exhibit interesting composition-dependent grain refinement and fast dynamic decomposition under HPT processing. Si atoms segregate at dislocations and Si precipitates form at grain boundaries (GBs) depending on the Si content of the alloys. The growth of Si precipitates consumes most Si atoms segregating at GBs, hence the size and distribution of the Si precipitates become predominant factors in controlling the grain size of the decomposed Al-Si alloys after HPT processing. The hardness of the Al-Si alloys is well correlated with a combination of grain-refinement strengthening and the decomposition-induced softening.

Key words: Al-Si alloys, Composition effects, Dynamic precipitation, Solute segregation, Grain refinement