The Effect of Solution Heat Treatment and Quenching Rates

on Mechanical Properties and Microstructures in AlSiMg

Foundry Alloys
L. PEDERSEN and L. ARNBERG

Four common AlSiMg foundry alloys have been solution heat treated at 813 K, quenched, and
immediately aged at 423 K for up to 240 minutes. The mechanical properties are found to be related
to the amount of Mg and Si in the alloys. A high strength is obtained after only 60 minutes of solution
heat treatment, indicating that the solid solution is rapidly saturated on Mg and Si. The ductility is
very much related to the amount of silicon present and the refinement of the silicon crystals within
the eutectic areas, since silicon crystals are observed to crack when load is applied. Thus, a well-
modified structure is the best way to obtain high ductility. Reduced quenching rates after solution
heat treatment lead to a lower strength, since a lower number of hardening ␤⬘-Mg2Si precipitates are
formed. The ductility of alloys with 0.6 wt pct Mg is increased with a reduced quenching rate. A
more ductile matrix corresponding to the lower amount of hardening precipitates can explain this.
Alloys with 0.2 wt pct Mg remain relatively unchanged. A hypothesis that may explain this phenomenon
is the precipitation of brittle silicon or formation of coarse Mg2Si within the dendrites.

I. INTRODUCTION II. EXPERIMENTS

THE use of light-metal cast components in various appli-
cations has increased during the last 10 years, partly as a
result of the increased amount of light metals being used
for transportation purposes. One advantage is that light-
metal components lead to an overall reduced weight and,
thus, to reduced energy consumption. Another advantage,
which may be just as important from an environmental point
of view, is the fact that aluminum components may be recy-
cled with relatively low energy demands. For such purposes,
alloys of the type AlSiMg are found to give good results
since they show a good castability, and the addition of Mg
makes the alloys heat treatable.
The effect of heat treatment on mechanical properties is
well known for alloys of the AlSi7Mg type, for example,
A356 and A357, and has been described by, among others,
Ravi et al.,[1] Kashyap et al.,[2] and Shih and Shih.[3] The
main conclusion from these works is that increasing the Mg
concentration leads to an increased strength and a reduced
ductility, while an increase in the Si concentration mainly
reduces ductility.
The present work focuses on how changes in the solution
heat-treatment time affect the mechanical properties of
AlSiMg foundry alloys in the modified and unmodified con-
ditions. The mechanical properties are related to changes in
microstructure, primarily to the morphological changes of
the silicon crystals in the eutectic areas. The effect of various
quenching rates from the solution heat-treatment tempera-
ture has also been examined for the modified alloys.
L. PEDERSEN, Process Engineer, is with Elkem Aluminium Lista, 4550
Farsund, Norway. L. ARNBERG, Professor, is with Department of Materi-
als Technology and Electrochemistry, The Norwegian University of Science
and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway.
Manuscript submitted June 28, 1999.
A. Casting of the Tensile-Test Bars
The experiments have been based on four main alloy com-
positions: Al-7Si-0.2Mg, Al-7Si-0.6Mg, Al-11Si-0.2Mg, and
Al-11Si-0.6Mg. The Al-7Si-Mg alloys are based on an
unmodified commercial alloy with a magnesium concentra-
tion of approximately 0.2 wt pct, supplied by Elkern Alumin-
ium Mosjøen (Mosjøen, Norway). Magnesium was added
in the form of pure 99.9 wt pct Mg to obtain a Mg concentra-
tion of 0.6 wt pct. Hydro Aluminium Sunndalsøra (Sunndal-
søra, Norway) supplied the unmodified Al-11Si-Mg alloys.
The alloys were modified by adding strontium, in the form
of an Al-10Sr rod, 5 minutes prior to casting. Samples for
chemical analysis were cast in a steel “scissors mold,” type
B, as described in ASTM E-716.[4] Three analyses were
taken from each sample, and the concentrations of the main
alloying elements are presented in Tables I and II.
To obtain reliable measurements of the mechanical proper-
ties, it is important to control the amount of porosity in the
base material. This requires both removal of hydrogen from
the melt and sufficient feeding of the melt into the casting
as solidification proceeds.
Approximately 2 kg of the base alloy was melted in a
refractory crucible at a temperature of 1033 K. A graphite
probe was immersed in the melt, and argon passed through
the probe into the melt for 20 minutes. A flow meter was
used to ensure that the same amount of gas was used in
each alloy. The Sr was added after 15 minutes of degassing.
The melt was stirred for about 30 seconds, and Ar continued
to flow through the melt during the last 5 minutes, when
dissolution of Sr took place. The Ar flow was stopped and
the slag was carefully removed from the top of the melt
before the metal was poured into the mold.
The alloys were “semidirectionally” solidified to ensure
a good feeding of the material and, thus, to avoid shrinkage
porosity. The melt was poured into a cylindrical copper mold

METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A VOLUME 32A, MARCH 2001—525

 Table I. Chemical Composition in the Unmodified Alloys
(All Concentrations are in Weight Percent)
Element AlSi7Mg0.2 AlSi7Mg0.6 AlSi11Mg0.2 AlSi11Mg0.6
Si 7.11 7.18 10.59 10.82
Fe 0.092 0.094 0.255 0.268
Cu 0.0007 0.0006 0.0023 0.0023
Mg 0.234 0.663 0.209 0.598
Ti 0.108 0.111 0.112 0.118
B 0.00025 0.00030 0.00121 0.00103
Na 0.0002 0.0001 0.0000 0.0000
Sr 0.0012 0.0011 0.0008 0.0008
Ca 0.0003 0.0003 0.0023 0.0028

Fig. 2—Ultimate tensile strength of unmodified alloys that have been solu-
Table II. Chemical Composition of the Modified Alloys tion heat treated at 813 K, quenched in water, and aged at 423 K for 4 h.
(All Concentrations are in Weight Percent)
Element AlSi7Mg0.2 AlSi7Mg0.6 AlSi11Mg0.2 AlSi11Mg0.6
Si 7.26 7.24 10.83 10.81 for 240 minutes. Three parallel samples of each alloy were
Fe 0.086 0.090 0.278 0.298 tested in each heat-treatment condition. The mechanical
Cu 0.0007 0.0006 0.0024 0.0024 properties in an as-cast material were measured for compari-
Mg 0.242 0.709 0.213 0.633 son. The quenching rate after solution heat treatment was
Ti 0.1098 0.1095 0.1639 0.1541 measured by mounting a steel-mantled thermocouple, with
B 0.0002 0.0003 0.0016 0.00178 a diameter of 1 mm, in the center of one “dummy” test bar.
Na 0.0001 0.0001 0.0000 0.0000
Sr 0.0105 0.0106 0.0248 0.0254
The thermocouple was connected to a Campbell 21-times
Ca 0.0003 0.0004 0.0016 0.0021 magnification data logger, and the temperature was regis-
tered in intervals of 1 second. The quenching rate was esti-
mated by the equation
Tfur ⫺ 473
冢t 冣
dT
⫽ [1]
dt cool ⫺ t473

where Tfur is the furnace temperature (in Kelvin), tcool is the

Fig. 1—Dimension of tensile test bars.
with a wall thickness of 33 mm, an i.d. of 71 mm, and an
inner height of 220 mm. The bottom thickness was 45 mm.
The inside of the copper mold was insulated with an ⬃3-mm-
thick layer of insulating material (Fiberfrax paper), while the
bottom was kept free from insulation to create a slightly
directional solidification from the bottom and, thus, a bet-
ter feeding.
Round tensile-test bars, with dimensions as shown in Fig-
ure 1, were machined from the lower part of the cast cylinder.
The test bars were taken parallel to the cylinder axis, with
the lowest part 5 mm above the bottom of the cylinder to
ensure that the test bars were taken from a region where
feeding had been sufficient.
B. Heat Treatment and Tensile Testing
The samples were solution heat treated in an air circulation
furnace at 813 K for 60, 240, and 1440 minutes and immedi-
ately quenched in water at room temperature (⬃298 K). The
samples were then artificially aged in an oil bath at 423 K
time when the sample was removed from the furnace (in
seconds), and t473 is the time at which a temperature of 473
K was reached.
The tensile testing was carried out on a MTS 880 tester
connected to a computer using the analysis program Test
Works. A strain rate of ␧˙ ⫽ 10⫺3 (s⫺1) was used. The strain
was measured by means of a longitudinal extensiometer.
The elongation at fracture was, however, measured manually
with a slide gage as the difference in length before load
was applied and after fracture had occurred, according to
the equation
lf ⫺ l0
ef ⫽ [2]
l0
where ef is the elongation at fracture, lf is the length after
fracture, and l0 is the length before load was applied. The
measured elongations at fracture are presented in Figures 4
and 5 as a trendline drawn between the single measurements
and not as an average value with error bars. The reason
for this inconsistency compared to the presentation of the
ultimate tensile strength (UTS) measurements in Figures 2
and 3 is that, for some of the time/cooling-rate combinations,
the elongation could be read with satisfactory accuracy in
only one or two samples. Presenting these data points with
error bars would lead to several error bars with the value
“zero” indicating a very accurate measurement, while in
fact, these measurements would be the most inaccurate ones.
One sample from each heat-treatment condition was
examined metallographically. A section was made through

526—VOLUME 32A, MARCH 2001 METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A

Fig. 3—Ultimate tensile strength of modified alloys that have been solution
heat treated at 813 K, quenched in water, and aged at 423 K for 4 h.
the fracture surface in the longitudinal direction of the ten-
sile-test bar. The sample was ground and polished mechani-
cally to a fineness of less than 1 ␮m and then examined in
an optical microscope.
C. Deep Etching of Samples
To obtain a more detailed impression of the silicon mor-
phology within the eutectic areas, the aluminum matrix was
removed by etching, so that only silicon was remaining.
These samples had been cast in a cylindrical graphite mold,
with a lower cooling rate (typically 1 K s⫺1, with a dendrite
arm spacing (DAS) of ⬇50 ␮m) than the rates obtained in
the tensile-test bars (cooling rate not measured, DAS ⬇ 25
␮m), but the heat-treatment sequences were the same as for
the tensile-test bars. The slower cooling of the samples cast
in the graphite mold results in coarser Si particles and also
in an increased secondary DAS, as mentioned previously.
Consequently, the silicon particles in the tensile-test bars
would respond more immediately to the heat treatment, i.e.,
the spheroidisation would take place more quickly.
A two-step etching procedure recommended by Stewart[5]
was used to remove the aluminum, as follows.
Etchant 1 consisted of 15 mL HCl, 10 mL HF, and 90
mL distilled water, while etchant 2 was a mixture of 25
mL HNO3 and 75 mL distilled water. The samples were
immersed in etchant 1 for 55 minutes and immediately trans-
ferred to etchant 2 and kept there for 4 minutes. The samples
were rinsed in cold water and dried well before examination
in a JEOL* 840 scanning electron microscope (SEM). The
*JEOL is a trademark of Japan Electron Optics Ltd., Tokyo.
samples were covered with a thin layer of carbon to improve
electrical conductivity in the SEM.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. The Effect of Solution Heat Treatment on the UTS
Long solution heat-treatment times do not affect the
strength of the alloys. This is clearly illustrated in Figures
2 and 3, where the UTSs have been plotted as a function
of time at solution heat-treatment temperature. Figure 2
shows the UTS measured in an unmodified alloy (without
Sr), while the UTS of the modified material (with Sr) is
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A
Fig. 4—Elongation at fracture of unmodified alloys that have been solution
heat treated at 813 K, quenched in water, and aged at 423 K for 4 h.
shown in Figure 3. The solution heat treatment has been
followed by quenching in water and aging at 423 K for 4
hours. Each point on the graph is an arithmetic average of
the three examined samples, and the standard deviation is
shown as error bars. The point zero on the time axis denotes
the as-cast condition. After 60 minutes of solution heat treat-
ment the maximum strength is obtained, and a prolonged
solution heat treatment does not lead to increased strength.
The strength is mostly influenced by the Mg concentration
of the alloy. A Mg level of 0.6 wt pct leads to a markedly
increased strength compared to the strength obtained in
alloys with only 0.2 wt pct Mg. This is, of course, related
to the formation of the hardening ␤⬘-Mg2Si precipitates, as
an increased amount of Mg in solid solution leads to a higher
density of precipitates. The effects of increasing the Mg
content are well known and have previously been reported
by Apelian et al.,[6] Ravi et al.,[1] and Kashyap et al.[2] The
agreement between results from different studies is very
good as long as the alloy compositions and casting rates of
the various studies are similar. It is, furthermore, interesting
to see that the strength of the alloys is nearly independent
of the silicon level. The results reported by Kashyap et al.
indicate that, at low Mg levels (0.10 wt pct), a higher UTS
can be obtained when the Si concentration is increased from
7 to 11 wt pct. When the Mg level in Kashyap et al.’s work
was increased to 0.3 wt pct, only minor changes in the
UTS could be observed when the Si level was increased. A
comparison between the unmodified alloys in Figure 2 and
the modified alloys in Figure 3 shows that the strength is
also unaffected by modification. The main requirement for
the duration of the solution heat treatment is that it be suffi-
ciently long to dissolve primary Mg2Si particles formed
during casting and to allow diffusion of elements from dis-
solved Mg2Si out into the aluminum matrix. The mathemati-
cal model made by Rometsch et al.[7] also indicates that
dissolution of primary Mg2Si is completed within less than
1 hour of solution heat treatment.
B. The Effect of Solution Heat Treatment on Ductility
The solution heat treatment does not only affect the
strength of the alloy but also the ductility, quantified as the
elongation at fracture, as can be seen from Figures 4 and 5.
While the UTS was strictly related to the Mg level, the
combination of Mg and Si affects the ductility. From Figure
4, it is obvious that a high level of silicon (11 wt pct)
VOLUME 32A, MARCH 2001—527

Fig. 5—Elongation at fracture of modified alloys that have been solution
heat treated at 813 K, quenched in water, and aged at 423 K for 4 h.
leads to a reduced ductility, even after a long solution heat
treatment. A reduction of the silicon level to 7 wt pct leads
to an improved ductility after some heat treatment. The
multiple influence of silicon and magnesium are even more
pronounced in the modified alloys shown in Figure 5. The
combination of low Mg and low Si concentrations in the
Al-7Si-0.2Mg(Sr) alloy results in a elongation at fracture of
approximately 15 pct. On the other end of the scale, the Al-
11Si-0.6Mg(Sr) alloy has an elongation at fracture of only
4 pct, slightly higher than the ductility observed in the
unmodified alloy.
These effects are related to the increased amount of Al-
Si eutectic and, thus, to the increased amount of silicon
particles. Another important factor is the degree of modifica-
tion in the alloy. Figure 6 shows the microstructure near the
fracture surface in samples of an Al-11Si-0.2Mg alloy in
the unmodified, as well as in the modified, condition. From
the unmodified Si plate in Figure 6(a), it is evident that
cracks occur in the brittle silicon crystals, and a close look
at the fracture shows that it follows a “path” of cracked
silicon particles. Powell[8] has previously reported similar
observations. Also, Lebyodkin et al.[9] have related the frac-
ture in Al-Si silicon alloys to the silicon particles, but they
explained the effect in terms of decohesion between silicon
plates and the matrix. It is reasonable to believe that cracking
of the silicon also takes place in the modified alloys, but,
due to the small crystals, this is difficult to verify from the
micrographs in Figure 6. Solution heat treatment of the
foundry alloys leads to two more-or-less competing changes
in the microstructure. First, microstresses resulting from the
formation of metastable ␤⬘-Mg2Si precipitates lead to an
overall reduction in ductility in the aluminum. Second, the
solution heat treatment leads to changes in the silicon crys-
tals’ morphology.
In unmodified alloys, the silicon crystals are coarse and
relatively unaffected by the solution heat treatment. After
short times of heat treatment, small silicon crystals may
fragment and the edges of the particles become more
rounded. These changes seem to compensate for the stresses
created by the formation of ␤⬘-Mg2Si. Increasing the heat-
treatment time from 60 to 240 minutes leads to a noticeable
increase in ductility in the Al-7Si-Mg alloys. This relatively
large increase is not fully understood, since the most detri-
mental coarse silicon plates are quite unaffected by short
heat-treatment times. The micrographs in Figure 6 leave an
528—VOLUME 32A, MARCH 2001
impression of a structure that has undergone some spheroidi-
zation, but the two-dimensional image leaves out some infor-
mation. The silicon structure that appears in the deep-etched
samples in Figure 7 gives some additional information. The
structure that appears as separate particles in Figure 6 is, in
reality, a “network” of plates that are more or less connected
to each other. The initial solution heat treatment leads to a
rounding of the plates’ edges, and it must be assumed that
finer plates fragmentize. The more-coarse plates start to form
“bays,” which stretch from the periphery and into the plates.
These bays appear to form from ledges in the plates, i.e., at
sites where the total curvature is high. In Figure 7(c), the bays
have become quite deep, and rod-like areas have formed. It
is evident that a metallographic section across bays would
leave the impression of separate particles, while, in reality,
there would be a connection below the observed surface. In
the modified alloys, fine rods make up the structure even
before the heat treatment starts. This is clearly seen in Figure
7(d), where a well-modified part of the eutectic can be seen
in the upper-right corner, while the modification effect has
not been sufficient to transform the plate in the right-hand
side of the image. It should be evident that the well-modified
structure spheroidizes more rapidly than the coarse plates
in the unmodified alloys. This assumption is confirmed by
the micrographs in Figures 7(e) and (f) where Figure 7(e)
shows a rather spheroidized structure with only some
remaining rods, and Figure 7(f) shows a structure where
some coarsening has taken place.
If one accepts as a fact that the silicon crystals are suscepti-
ble to cracking, two slightly different scenarios may lead
to fracture.
(1) Several silicon crystals within an area with high stresses
crack almost simultaneously, and the load-bearing area
is immediately reduced.
(2) The crack is initiated in a point and propagates gradually
through brittle silicon particles.
The ductility of the material depends on the hardening
state and the silicon crystals’ size and morphology, indepen-
dent of whether scenario 1 or 2 is the active mechanism.
An unmodified eutectic structure with coarse silicon plates
leads to a rapid reduction of the load-bearing area as the
plate cracks, and, since the plates are more or less intercon-
nected, the crack can propagate rapidly through the structure.
When the size of the silicon crystals is reduced and fragmen-
tation has taken place, the reduction of the load-bearing area
is less instantaneous, as the crack has to propagate through
the more-ductile aluminum.
It has, so far, been shown that the mechanical properties
are highly influenced by the microstructure of the material,
be it the coarse silicon plates or rods or the small hardening
precipitates. Consequently, the mechanical properties can be
related to the duration of the solution heat treatment. There
is, however, another effect that also must be taken into
consideration: the quenching rate after the solution heat treat-
ment. Laboratory-scale samples are often small, and the
quenching rate does not vary much within the sample. A
real casting may have a geometry with thin and thick parts,
which quench at different rates and, therefore, obtain differ-
ent mechanical properties. The influence of quenching rates
after solution heat treatment at 813 K for 240 minutes on
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A
 (a) (b)

(c) (d )

(e) (f)
Fig. 6—Microstructure near fracture in AlSi11Mg0.2 alloys. The alloys have been solution heat treated at 813 K for various times: (a) through (c) unmodified
alloys and (d ) through ( f ) modified alloys. (a) and (d) As cast, (b) and (e) 240 min, and (c) and (f) 1440 min. As polished.

the UTS in various alloys is shown in Figure 8. The quench-
ing rates estimated by Eq. [1] for each quenching media can
be found in Table III.
The reduction is related to the lower density of hardening
Mg2Si precipitates formed, which, in turn, can be related to
the amount of vacancies present. According to Lorimer and
Nicholson,[10] this is an important parameter for the forma-
tion of Guinier-Preston (GP) zones and hardening precipi-
tates. This point of view is supported by Panseri et al.,[11]
who relate the GP zones to formation of vacancy-solute
clusters. A reduced quenching rate allows vacancies to move
and partly cluster within the ␣-Al and partly “disappear”
out of the ␣-Al by diffusion to surfaces and probably also
to areas near the silicon crystals, where a low degree of
coherency is assumed.
Several researchers, such as Kaczorowski,[12] Kovács et
al.,[13] and Ceresara et al.,[14] have stated that increasing the
silicon level above that required for stoichiometric formation
of Mg2Si increases the strength of AlSiMg alloys. According
to Kaczorowski,[12] this can be explained by
(1) a greater driving force for precipitation related to an
increased deviation from equilibrium,
(2) an increase in the number of the vacancy-solute clusters
and a shortened diffusion path to the clusters, and

METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A VOLUME 32A, MARCH 2001—529

 (a)
(c)
(e)
Fig. 7—Silicon crystals in the eutectic region of AlSi11Mg0.6 alloys. The alloys have been solution heat treated at 813 K for various times: (a) through
(c) unmodified alloys and (d ) through ( f ) modified alloys. (a) and (d) As cast, (b) and (e) 240 min, and (c) and (f): 1440 min. The material has been deep etched.
(3) an increase in cluster stability, leading to a better disper-
sion of GP zones.
The effect of excess silicon has mainly been investigated
in wrought alloys. Microprobe analyses carried out across
dendrite arms in the present work showed silicon concentra-
tions of approximately 1.1 wt pct and magnesium concentra-
tions of approximately 0.2 and 0.5 wt pct in alloys with
low and high Mg contents, respectively. (The values were
observed in materials that had been solution heat treated at
813 K for 60 minutes and immediately quenched in water.)
If one assumes that ␤⬘-Mg2Si is formed stoichiometrically,
these alloy concentrations yield 0.3 wt pct Mg2Si and an
excess of 1 wt pct Si in the alloy with a low Mg concentra-
tion. The corresponding values in the alloy with a high
Mg concentration are 0.8 wt pct Mg2Si and 0.5 wt pct Si,
530—VOLUME 32A, MARCH 2001
(b)
(d )
(f)
respectively. Dons et al.[15] have verified experimentally that
silicon diffuses from a solid solution to existing silicon crys-
tals, and this effect is clearly illustrated in Figure 9 by
the microstructure of an Al-7Si-0.2Mg(Sr) sample that has
undergone an extremely slow cooling. The micrograph
shows silicon that has precipitated within the ␣-Al. Further-
more, a clearly visible precipitate-free zone can be seen near
the eutectic regions, illustrating that Si has diffused toward
existing crystals.
The amount of excess silicon in the aluminum matrix is,
therefore, reduced with reduced quenching rates, and this
effect is larger in the Al-11Si-Mg alloys, since the eutectic
fraction and, thus, the amount of silicon crystals that excess
silicon can diffuse to, is larger too. The argument presented
here is supported by the fact that the difference between the
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A

Fig. 8—Ultimate tensile strength of modified alloys after heat treatment
at 813 K for 60 min, quenching in different media, and immediate aging
at 423 K for 4 h.
Table III. Quenching Rates Logged in the Middle of the
Tensile Test Bars during Quenching in Various Media at
Room Temperature
Average quenching rate (K/s)
Number of measurements
Standard deviation (K/s)
the material. This is only partially true. As can be seen from
Figure 10, the alloys with the highest Mg concentrations
behave according to this hypothesis, but the effect on the
alloys with the lowest Mg concentrations is small. Zhang
and Zheng[16] have previously published an article describing
a similar effect on an A356 alloy. The present work contains
too few data to draw any conclusion on the subject, but a
hypothesis based on reported observations from other
researchers can be made. These observations are as follows.
(1) Silicon in excess of the amount needed to form Mg2Si
precipitates can be present in solid solution and increase
the deviation from equilibrium (Kaczorowski,[12]
Kovács et al.,[13] and Ceresara et al.[14]).
(2) Kovács et al.[13] claim that the clustering process begins
with the precipitation of Si, enhanced by the quenched-
in vacancies. Furthermore, the segregation process in
dilute AlMgSi alloys is most likely to be a result of the
behavior of the silicon atoms in the supersaturated solid
solution, due to the lower solubility of Si in Al compared
to that of Mg in Al.
(3) Precipitates of Si in ␣-Al have been observed in the
present work, as well as in work by Gustafsson et al.[17]
and Zhang and Zheng.[16]
Quench media (4) Zhang and Zheng[16] have observed a slight reduction
Air Quench Oil Water in ductility with decreasing cooling rates in an A356
alloy. A similar tendency can be seen in Figure 9 in the
1.8 12 97 present work.
4 4 3
0.1 1.9 19
(5) The present work and others, as, for instance, that of
Powell,[8] have shown that cleavage of silicon crystals
takes place when cracks propagate in Al-Si foundry
alloys.
From these observations, there is reason to believe that
the ductility after quenching at different rates is related to
the amount of excess silicon in the ␣-Al. As stated pre-
viously, the low-Mg alloys have an amount of excess silicon
that is nearly twice the amount of excess silicon in the high-
Mg alloys. Rapid quenching leads to the formation of a large
number of vacancy-solute clusters.
Development of GP zones from these clusters can be
expected, but some of these may develop into silicon precipi-
tates. Due to the lower fraction of excess silicon in the high-
Mg alloys, the amount of pure silicon precipitates is low in

Fig. 9—Silicon precipitates within dendrites in AlSi7Mg0.2 alloy that has

been extremely slowly cooled from 813 K.

Al-7Si-Mg and Al-11Si-Mg alloys in Figure 8 appears larger

for the alloys with 0.2 wt pct Mg. In these alloys, the amount
of and, consequently, the effect of excess silicon must be
considered to be most important.
Not only the strength, but also the ductility, may be
affected by the quenching rate. This can be seen in Figure
10. A reduced UTS as a result of reduced quenching rates
should, in theory, be accompanied by an increased ductility, Fig. 10—Elongation at fracture in modified alloys after heat treatment at
since the lower amount of hardening precipitates combined 813 K for 60 min, quenching in different media, and immediate aging at
with less coherent precipitates leads to reduced stresses in 423 K for 4 h.

METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A VOLUME 32A, MARCH 2001—531

these alloys. After rapid quenching, the entire growth of the
precipitates takes place during the subsequent aging, and
the relatively low temperature results in Mg2Si and Si precip-
itates of moderate size.
At lower quenching rates, a lower number of vacancy-
solute clusters are formed. The material remains at high
temperatures for a longer period, which enhances the diffu-
sion of silicon and magnesium, and both Mg2Si and Si
precipitates start to grow immediately. Due to the increased
excess silicon concentration in the low-Mg alloy, either a
higher number of silicon precipitates or, even worse, an
increased coarsening of the silicon precipitates is expected,
and these precipitates continue to grow during the aging.
When load is applied in tensile testing, it may be expected
that the largest silicon precipitates behave in a similar way
to the silicon crystals within the eutectic areas. They may
crack and, thereby, reduce the ductility. In the high-Mg
alloys, this effect is suppressed by the reduction of stresses
as the ␤⬘-Mg2Si precipitates grow and become less coherent.
In the alloys with the lowest amount of Mg, the effect of a
reduced amount of hardening precipitates is “neutralized”
by the increased amount of brittle silicon precipitates, and
the expected overall increased ductility is not observed.
There are, however, reported results that partly contradict
the hypothesis presented previously. Zhang and Zheng[16]
relate the reduced ductility of an Al-7Si-0.4Mg alloy to the
fracture of brittle ␤⬘-Mg2Si rods with surrounding precipi-
tate-free zones.
IV. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
1. The strength of AlSiMg foundry alloys is mainly related
to the amount of Mg in the material.
2. A high strength is obtained after only 60 minutes of
solution heat treatment at 813 K.
3. The ductility is determined both by the size and shape
of silicon crystals and by the effect of precipitation
hardening.
4. Silicon crystals crack when loads are applied.
5. A well modified eutectic is required to obtain a high
ductility.
6. The coarse Si crystals of the unmodified AlSiMg alloys
are left relatively unaffected by the solution heat
treatment.
7. The Si rods in a well modified alloy start to fragmentize
532—VOLUME 32A, MARCH 2001
and spheroidize almost immediately during the solu-
tion treatment.
8. A reduction of the quenching rate leads to a reduced
strength but an increased ductility in alloys with a high
magnesium concentration. The ductility of alloys with
low magnesium concentrations is relatively unaffected
by a reduction of the quenching rate.
9. Very low quenching rates lead to the precipitation of
silicon within the ␣-Al.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work has been financially supported by Elkem Alu-
minium, Hydro Aluminium, and The Norwegian Research
Council.
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METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A