Study on Microstructure and Properties of High-Conductivity Die-Cast Al-La Alloys
The effects of La contents(4%,6%,8%,10%)on the microstructures,mechanical properties,thermal and electrical conductivities of die-cast Al-La alloys were investigated.The solid solubility of lanthanum in aluminum matrix was very small,and it was easy to enrich in the front of the solidification interface of α-Al,resulting in component supercooling,reducing the crystallization temperature of the liquid around α-Al,and then inhibiting the growth of α-Al to achieve refinement.The secondary phase Al11La3 produced during solidification process not only improved the strength of the alloy,but also could be used as heterogeneous nucleation point of α-Al to achieve refinement,which was benefit from the small lattice mismatch of 5.96%.With the increase of La content from 4%to 10%,the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of the alloy increased from 48.6 MPa and 113.9 MPa to 92.3 MPa and 186.7 MPa,respectively,but the elongation decreased from 26.1%to 9.6%.In addition.It was found that the thermal and electrical conductivities decreased linearly with the increase of La content,from 207.8 W/(m·K),32.0 MS/m to 173.1 W/(m·K),26.1 MS/m,respectively.