Investigation of the Effects of Ni, Fe, and Mn on the Formation of Complex Intermetallic Compounds in Al-Si-Cu-Mg-Ni Alloys

The aim of this work is to partially substitute Fe and Mn for Ni in the 3HA piston alloy and to study the consequences through microstructural evaluation and the thermal analysis technique. Three types of near-eutectic alloys containing (2.6 wt pct Ni-0.2 wt pct Fe-0.1 wt pct Mn), (1.8 wt pct Ni-0.75 wt pct Fe-0.3 wt pct Mn), and (1 wt pct Ni-1.15 wt pct Fe-0.6 wt pct Mn) were produced, and their solidification was studied at the cooling rate of 0.9 K/s (°C/s) using the computer-aided thermal analysis technique. Optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to study the microstructure of the samples, and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis was used to identify the composition of the phases. Also, the quantity of the phases was measured using the image analysis technique. The results show that Ni mainly participates as Al₃Ni, Al₉FeNi, and Al₃CuNi phases in the high Ni-containing alloy (2.6 wt pct Ni). In addition, substitution of Ni by Fe and Mn makes Al₉FeNi the only Ni-rich phase, and Al₁₂(Fe,Mn)₃Si₂ appears as an important Fe-rich intermetallic compound in the alloys with the higher Fe and Mn contents.