Thermal Analysis of Cerium-Treated Chill-Cast Al-23 Si Alloy

The influence of elemental cerium addition on the cooling curve parameters and microstructure of hypereutectic Al-23Si alloy was investigated in this work. The cooling rate of the treated and untreated alloy samples was varied by solidifying the melt against chills of different materials in a stainless-steel tube. The cooling curve was recorded and nucleation temperatures of various phases in the alloy were measured. The results show that the chilling improves the effectiveness of the modifier. The two main phases of the alloy, primary silicon and eutectic silicon, were nucleated at temperatures of about 661.2 and 571.6 °C, respectively. The addition of Ce to slowly cooled alloys resulted in an increase in undercooling temperature of both the phases, with a decrease in its nucleation temperature, whereas the same additions increased the nucleation temperatures in chilled alloys. Based on the thermal analysis results, a relation between thermal analysis parameter (\(\Delta T_{G}\)) and silicon particle size of the alloy was proposed.