Part VII - The Effect of Temperature on the Dihedral Angle in Some Aluminum Alloys

The dihedral angles of the solid-liquid interfaces were measured at various temperatures above the solidus and the interfacial energies calculated when small additions of copper, indium, lithium, magnesium, antimony, and silicon were made to an aluminum alloy containing 3 pct Sn. When the results were compared with those of the Al-Sn alloy some differences were found which could be interpreted in terms of the ability of the added element to enter into solution or form intermetallic compounds with the aluminum and tin. It was shown that in some cases considerable changes in the shape of intergvanular liquid films can be brought about by comparatively small compositional changes in the alloy. DURING the melting or solidification of an alloy a temperature range is usually found where the presence of a liquid phase may be detected at the grain boundaries of a solid. It is believed that the presence of this liquid phase is responsible for hot tearing in castings and welds and hot shortness in the working of some alloys at elevated temperatures. Rosenberg, Flemings, and Taylor1 in a study of the solidification of aluminum castings have indicated the importance of intergranular liquid films and shown that their shape and distribution at the end of solidification effect the hot tearing characteristics of the material. The shape of such intergranular liquid films are determined largely by the ratio between the solid-liquid interfacial energy (yLS) and the grain boundary energy (ySS). A measure of this ratio (yLS/ySS , relative interfacial energy) is the dihedral angle 8. The dihedral angle 0 is related to the relative interfacial energy by the following expression: Rogerson and Borland 2 have also suggested that the shape of the intergranular liquid is an important factor in determining the susceptibility of a material to hot shortness. They showed that on a comparative basis materials having the lowest dihedral angles at a given temperature gave the greatest severity of cracking. They stated that liquid in the form of globules should be less harmful than liquid in the form of extensive films as more intergranular cohesion should be possible. Rogerson and Borlland 2 also showed that the susceptibility of an A1-Sn alloy to hot cracking can be reduced by small additions of cad- mium. It was found that the cadmium gave an increase in the dihedral angle at all temperatures. Ikeuye and smith3 investigated changes in the dihedral angle and relative interfacial energy with temperature for a number of ternary alloys formed when small additions of bismuth, cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc were made to an A1-Sn alloy. They found that in most instances changes in the dihedral angle were caused by compositional changes in the liquid phase; as the composition of the liquid approached that of the solid the dihedral angle decreased. They noted that the addition of a third element which was soluble in both the liquid and solid phases at a given temperature may decrease the dihedral angle (e.g., the addition of copper or zinc) but otherwise the ternary alloys formed exhibited dihedral angles between those of the A1-Sn binary alloy and those of the binary alloy of aluminum with the added element. Dwarakadasa and Krishnan4 investigated the changes in dihedral angle and relative interfacial energy with temperature when small additions of magnesium, iron, silicon, manganese, sulfur, cobalt, and silver were made to a copper alloy containing 3 pct Bi. They found that in all cases the added elements gave an increase in the dihedral angle and relative interfacial energy when compared with the values obtained for the simple binary alloy at the same temperature. It was noted that an increase in temperature gave a decrease in dihedral angle and relative interfacial energy in each of the ternary alloys studied. Similar results have been obtained by Ramachandran and Krishnan5 for the addition of small quantities of lead. This paper describes the application of dihedral angle measurement to the determination of the shapes of liquid phases at various temperatures above the solidus when small additions of copper, indium, magnesium, lithium, antimony, and silicon are made to an aluminum alloy containing nominally 3 pct Sn. An attempt is made to correlate the measurements with the relative solubility of the added elements in tin and aluminum. The work was undertaken to provide more data concerning the effects of temperature and composition on the shape of liquid films above the solidus. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE In the present work ternary aluminum alloys containing nominally 3 pct Sn and small additions of high-purity copper, indium, lithium, magnesium, antimony, and silicon were made. The alloys were melted in a graphite crucible under an inert atmosphere of argon and cast into ingots 6 in. long by 0.5 in. diam. The ingots were then cut into rods 1.5 in. long, given a 50 pct cold reduction, and machined into test pieces 0.5 in. long by 0.5 in, diam for heat treatment. The alloy samples were annealed at the various test temperatures between the liquidus and solidus for approxi-