Abstract
Hypereutectic aluminium-silicon alloy can be considered as an in-situ composite with primary silicon acting as the reinforcing phase. In this paper, we use semisolid metal processing technique to produce such in-situ Si/Al composite. Hypereutectic Al–Si alloy, AlSi17Cu5Mg0.55, was cast into a permanent mould with controlled solidification conditions. In the resulted composite, primary Si particles were observed to co-exist with primary α-Al particles, uniformly dispersing in Al–Si eutectic matrix. The structure of the Si particle can be controlled by AlP refinement and thermal refinement, and the α-Al particle can be controlled by semisolid partial remelting.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Australia Research Council and the Australian Government's Department of Education, Science and Training.