Archives of Foundry Engineering

Abstract

The article presents the results of research concerning to AlCu4MgSi alloy ingots produced using horizontal continuous casting process. The presented research was focused on the precise determination of phase composition of the precipitates formed during the solidification of ingots and the analysis of their thermal stability. In order to assess the morphology of precipitates in the AlCu4MgSi alloy, data obtained by using a computer simulation of thermodynamic phenomena were compiled with results obtained using advanced research techniques, i.e. High-temperature X-ray diffraction (HT-XRD), SEM-EDS, Thermal and derivative analysis (TDA) and Glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy (GD OES). SEM observations and analysis of chemical composition in micro-areas showed that the precipitates are mainly intermetallic θ-Al 2 Cu and β-Mg 2 Si phases, and also presence of Al 19 Fe 4 MnSi 2 intermetallic phase was confirmed by X-ray diffraction studies. Based on the prepared Thermo-Calc simulation data, high-temperature X-ray diffraction measurements were conducted.