Fase intermetalik beta yang terbentuk dalam paduan aluminium-silikon memiliki efek merusak pada sifat mekaniknya. Untuk meningkatkan sifat mekaniknya, teknik penyempurnaan dan modifikasi β-Al5FeSi dan Si eutektik digunakan. Studi ini meneliti efek penambahan gadolinium (Gd) dengan penambahan 0%, 0,3%, 0,6%, dan 1,0% pada karakteristik mikrostruktur paduan AlFe7Si. Penelitian ini menggunakan optical emission spectrocopy, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy diffraction spectrum, dan simultaneous thermal analysis. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa penambahan Gd dapat mengurangi ukuran fasa β-Al5FeSi serta fasa silikon eutektik dan meningkatkan morfologinya. Penambahan 0,6% berat Gd menunjukkan efek terbaik pada pengurangan fase β-Al5FeSi dan fasa silikon eutektik. Secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) juga tereduksi dengan penambahan Gd.
Beta intermetallic phases formed in the aluminium-silicon alloys has a detrimental effect on their mechanical properties. To improve its mechanical properties, the refinement and modification techniques of β-Al5FeSi and Si eutectic were used. The current study investigated the effects of gadolinium (Gd) addition (0, 0.3, 0.6, and 1.0 wt%) on microstructural characteristics of AlFe7Si alloy. It was studied by means of optical emission spectrocopy, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy diffraction spectrum and simultaneous thermal analysis. The results showed that the addition of Gd obviously reduced the sizes of the β-Al5FeSi phase as well as eutectic silicon phase and improved their morphologies. The addition of 0,6 wt% Gd shows the best effect on reducing the β-Al5FeSi phase and eutectic silicon phase. The secondary dendrite arm spacing is also reduced by the addition of Gd.
Paduan Al-Si digunakan dalam komponen otomotif karena sifatnya yang sangat baik. Namun, kandungan pengotor besi dianggap sebagai elemen paling merugikan karena mudah membentuk fasa intermetalik dengan Al dan Si seperti fasa β-Al5FeSi yang dapat menurunkan sifat mekanis paduan. Penambahan LTJ (Er) dan peningkatan laju solidifikasi diketahui dapat memodifikasi mikrostruktur paduan seperti a-Al (SDAS), silikon eutektik dan khususnya fasa intermetalik β-Al5FeSi. Studi ini meneliti efek penambahan Er (0,3%, 0,6%, dan 1%) dan laju pendinginan (10 oC/menit dan 30 oC/menit) terhadap perubahan morfologi fasa seperti rata-rata dan distribusi panjang fasa paduan sintetis Al7SiFe beserta mekanismenya. Analisa termal DSC dengan pengontrolan laju pendinginan menggunakan mesin STA. Selanjutnya, pengamatan mikrostruktur dengan mikroskop optik dan SEM yang dilengkapi dengan EDS digunakan untuk pemetaan unsur Al, Si dan Er. Hasil menunjukkan penambahan erbium sebesar 0,6% diketahui optimum dalam menghaluskan fasa β-Al5FeSi karena menghasilkan persen reduksi terbesar sehingga dihasilkan panjang fasa β-Al5FeSi terkecil. Oleh karena itu, dapat disimpulkan bahwa penambahan erbium yang tepat dan peningkatan laju pendinginan dapat memodifikasi fasa β-Al5FeSi dan fasa lain seperti SDAS dan silikon eutektik.
Al-Si alloys are used in automotive components because of their excellent properties. However, the iron impurity content is considered as the most detrimental because it can easily form an intermetallics with Al and Si such as the β-Al5FeSi phase which can decrease the mechanical properties. The addition of RRE (Er) and increase of cooling rate are known to modify the microstructures such as a-Al (SDAS), eutectic silicon and β-Al5FeSi phase. This study investigated the effects of Er addition (0,3%, 0,6%, and 1%) and cooling rate (10 oC/min and 30 oC/min) to the phase morphological changes such as the average and phase length distribution in Al7SiFe synthetic alloys and their mechanism. The thermal analysis of DSC by controlling the cooling rate used an STA machine. The microstructure were identified by OM and SEM equipped with EDS for mapping elements of Al, Si and Er. The results indicated that the addition of 0,6% Er was effectively refined the β-Al5FeSi because of the largest percent reduction that the smallest β-Al5FeSi phase length was obtained. It can be concluded that the appropriate addition of erbium and increase of cooling rate can modify β-Al5FeSi and other phases such as SDAS and eutectic silicon.