Effect of Short Solution Heat Treatment Time on the Microstructure and Properties of Al-Si-Mg-Cu Alloys

Abstract

In this work, a solution heat treatment of Al-Si-Mg-Cu casting alloy was analyzed. A new short solution heat treatment (SHT) with only 60 min has been allowed. The results revealed that this short SHT enables the improvement of the dendritic structure and the spheroidization of the eutectic silicon particles. Furthermore, the alloy showed improved mechanical properties when compared to the same alloy subjected to a longer SHT of 4 h. It was observed that increasing the SHT temperature can accelerate the dissolution and homogenization of the silicon particles and intermetallic precipitates in the matrix.