Grain structure of laser remelted 7075 aluminium alloy in presence of Al₂O₃ particles

Abstract

The effect of inert particles on grain structure development from alloy melt during laser rapid solidification has been investigated. It is found that the presence of Al 2 O 3 particles may disrupt the usual epitaxial grain structure evolution of an aluminium 7075 alloy when processed by laser surface remelting. This result, in addition to observations of crystal termination at the particles and grain refinement in particle dense regions, indicates that a mechanism of particle restricted grain growth operates.MST/4747