Journal of Alloys and Compounds 808 (2019) 151771

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Alloys and Compounds

journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jalcom

Relationship of Mg2Si morphology with Mg2Si content and its effect

on properties of in-situ Mg2Si/AleCu composites
Jianyu Li a, Qing An b, Shusen Wu a, *, Fei Li a, Shulin Lü a, Wei Guo a
a
State Key Lab of Materials Processing and Die & Mould Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, PR China
b
School of Urban Construction, Wuchang University of Technology, Wuhan, 430223, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The variations of microstructure and mechanical properties with Mg2Si levels in xMg2Si/Ale5Cu (x ¼ 1.5,
Received 28 June 2019 3, 5, 10 wt%) composites have been investigated, typically low Mg2Si content for the first time. The XRD
Received in revised form results confirm the presence of Mg2Si phase without any impurity phases. The Mg2Si phase is mainly in
8 August 2019
the form of short sticks from 0 wt% up to 3 wt%, and they distribute uniformly inside or around the Al2Cu
Accepted 8 August 2019
Available online 8 August 2019
phase. Once the content of Mg2Si increased to 5 wt%, Mg2Si exists mainly in the forms of short sticks and
with a small number of eutectic Mg2Si like Chinese characters. Finally all eutectic Mg2Si phases become
coarse Chinese characters in the 10 wt% Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites. The 3 wt% Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites
Keywords:
Metal matrix composites
exhibit the optimal mechanical properties, and the ultimate tensile strength (UTS), yield strength and
Mg2Si content elongation in as-cast state are 330 MPa, 205 MPa and 7.0%, respectively. The UTS and yield strength are
Mechanical properties increased by 26.9% and 28.1% than the corresponding values of the Ale5Cu matrix alloy.
© 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In recent years, particulates reinforced aluminum matrix com-
posites have attracted tremendous attention because of their
widespread application potentials in aerospace, military and
automotive fields, as they have high specific strength and stiffness,
high modulus and low density [1e3]. Among reinforcing particles,
Mg2Si has high Young's modulus (120 GPa) and melting point
(1083  C), and low thermal expansion coefficient (7.5  106 K1)
and density (1.99 g/cm3), which makes it an excellent reinforcing
phase for aluminum matrix composites. Furthermore, Mg2Si phase
can be simply synthesized by melting and casting processes [4e6].
The composites containing Mg2Si have been proposed as potential
candidates for ultra-light materials in the automotive and aero-
space industries [7e9].
To date, the research on Mg2Si reinforced aluminum matrix
composites is mainly about the hypereutectic Mg2Si
(Mg2Si > 13.9 wt%) reinforced pure aluminum matrix composites
[9e11]. Liu et al. revealed that the La addition could optimize pri-
mary Mg2Si morphology and improve properties of the hypereu-
tectic Al-30 wt%Mg2Si composites, but the elongation was very
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ssw636@hust.edu.cn (S. Wu).
poor [9]. The AleCu alloy is suitable to be selected as matrix alloy
since it possesses a lot of good performances at high temperature
[12e14]. However, the research on in-situ hypoeutectic Mg2Si/
Ale5Cu composites, typically low Mg2Si content, has not been re-
ported, and only one reference about Ale20Mg2Si-4.5Cu alloys has
been found so far. Yu et al. reported that the UTS of composites
increased from~227 MPa in the unmodified alloy to ~303 MPa in
the modified one, but its elongation is only 1.8% [15]. These re-
searches indicated that the hypereutectic Mg2Si (Mg2Si > 13.9 wt%)
led to higher UTS while poor elongation was obtained, due to
coarse primary Mg2Si and eutectic Mg2Si like Chinese characters.
Therefore, it is of great significance to investigate the variation of
microstructure and properties of hypoeutectic in-situ Mg2Si/
Ale5Cu composites.
Mg2Si phase precipitates usually in the last stage of solidifica-
tion, and the as-cast Mg2Si is relatively large in size, sharp and
irregular in shape and unevenly distributed in the composites,
which weakens its strengthening effect seriously. Therefore, some
conventional methods such as modification treatment or micro-
alloying treatment are carried out to optimize the Mg2Si
morphology, which can improve the properties of the in-situ
Mg2Si/Al composites [9e11]. However, these methods may induce
structural defects such as elemental composition segregation, un-
even modification and high porosity. The optimum amount of
modifying elements is difficult to be controlled, thereby limiting

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2019.151771
0925-8388/© 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
2 J. Li et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 808 (2019) 151771
the modification effect. Thus, it is highly desirable to develop
alternative manufacturing techniques for Mg2Si/AleCu composites,
such as ultrasonic treatment or squeeze casting.
Squeeze casting, during which the molten metal solidifies
under applied pressure until the end of solidification, can be
considered as a combination of gravity casting and closed die
forging. This technology can provide near-net shaped parts with
excellent mechanical properties [16] due to the elimination of
porosity defects and refinement of microstructure. David et al.
revealed that the increase of applied pressure led to a decrease in
the average size of the grains in AlCuMnTi alloy and an increase in
the average form factor of the grains [17]. On the other hand, the
acoustic cavitation and streaming will be formed in melt when
ultrasonic treatment (UT for short) is applied, which can promote
the uniform dispersion of the solute atoms in melt, thereby
refining the reinforcement phase. Yang et al. found that ultrasonic
treatment could effectively refine the LPSO phase in MgeNieY
alloys [18]. Therefore, it can be reasonably concluded that the
combination of ultrasonic treatment and squeeze casting is more
beneficial to optimize the Mg2Si morphology and properties of the
composites.
In this study, a novel process consisting of ultrasonic treatment
and squeeze casting is applied to fabricate in-situ xMg2Si/Ale5Cu
(x ¼ 1.5, 3, 5, 10 wt%) composites, which can effectively promote the
refinement and uniform distribution of Mg2Si phase. Relationship
of Mg2Si morphology with Mg2Si content and its effect on me-
chanical properties of the composites are discussed in detail.
2. Experimental procedure
The nominal chemical compositions of the studied alloy are
Ale5Cu-0.5Mn-0.15Ti-0.3 Mg (wt.%) (Ale5Cu for short). Commer-
cially high purity raw materials were selected to be melted at
750  C, according to the xMg2Si/Ale5Cu (x ¼ 1.5, 3, 5, 10 wt%)
composites. After the alloy was completely melted, degassing and
refining were carried out for 10 min with a high-purity argon at-
mosphere by bubbling and stirring.
Subsequently, a preheated metal cup was used to hold a certain
amount of molten liquid, placed in a holding furnace for ultrasonic
treatment. In the first step, the ultrasonic horn with the diameter
of 25 mm at the tip was immersed into the melt below the surface
at 10e15 mm. As the liquidus temperature of the composites
dropped to 720  C, UT was carried out. In this study, the power of
UT was set as biggest to 2.8 kW and its frequency was 20 kHz
[19,20]. Then, the melt treated by UT for 2 min was immediately
cast into a preheated mold and squeeze cast at the pressure of
50 MPa to obtain a casting ingot with 30 mm in diameter and
90 mm in length.
For microstructural observations, specimens of composites were
cut from casting ingots. After being ground, polished, and then
etched in a 0.5 vol% HF solution, the microstructure analysis was
carried by an optical microscope and a JEOL JSM-7600F scanning
electron microscope. Then, an Empyrean XRD was applied to
identify the constituent phases. The sample (with a mass about
10 mg) was placed in a thermal analyzer (DTA, STA449F3). The
JMatPro software was used to simulate solidification process. The
sample was heated from 40  C to 660  C in argon atmosphere at
20  C/min and subsequently cooled from 660  C to 180  C. Finally, in
order to obtain the tensile properties of the composites and confirm
the reproducibility, more than three samples with GB/T228.1e2010
standard for each specified condition were tested by using a SHI-
MADZU AG-IC100KN machine.
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Microstructures of Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites
Fig. 1 shows the optical microstructures of the Mg2Si/Ale5Cu
composites with different Mg2Si content, i.e., 1.5, 3, 5 or 10 wt%
Mg2Si respectively. Obviously, the size of a-Al grains is affected by
the Mg2Si content. The increase of Mg2Si content causes the a-Al
grain size to decrease firstly and then increase, as shown in Fig. 2. It
may be attributed to the coarse Chinese character eutectic Mg2Si,
which formed once the content of Mg2Si is over 3.0 wt%. Thus the
hindrance effect of fine stick-shaped Mg2Si to the growth of pri-
mary a-Al grains is weakened. The a-Al grain size of the 1.5 wt%
Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites is much smaller than that of Ale5Cu
matrix alloy. When the Mg2Si content is 3 wt%, the a-Al grain size is
further reduced to 42 mm. However, the further increment in Mg2Si
content leads to an increase in the size of a-Al grain. When the
Mg2Si content is 10 wt%, the a-Al grain size increases to 56 mm and
the amount of a-Al is remarkably reduced. These results are in good
accord with the XRD patterns in Fig. 3, in which with the increase of
Mg2Si content, the peak value of a-Al decreases gradually, and the
peak value of a-Al is the weakest when the Mg2Si content is 10 wt%.
In addition, as shown in Fig. 1, it can be seen that the a-Al grain
boundaries changes gradually from fine and clean to coarse grain
boundaries throughout the eutectic structure.
The X-ray diffraction results of matrix alloy and in-situ Mg2Si/
Ale5Cu composites with different Mg2Si contents are shown in
Fig. 3. First of all, the curve (a) shows the phases of the Ale5Cu
matrix alloy are mainly Al2Cu and a-Al phases. In contrast, the
phases of the in-situ Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites are mainly Al2Cu, a-
Al and Mg2Si phases, and no trace of exceeded Si could be found,
which indicates that Mg2Si has been successfully synthesized by
the direct reaction of Mg and Si, as shown in curve (b-e). In addi-
tion, with the increase of Mg2Si content, the characteristic peak
intensity of Mg2Si phase increases obviously, while the peak in-
tensity of Al2Cu and a-Al phase do not change significantly. How-
ever, the characteristic peak of the Al2Cu phase at 47.8 disappears
gradually, owing to the covering effects of increasing peak intensity
of Mg2Si phase at 47.2 .
Fig. 4 is the BSE images of in-situ Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites
with different Mg2Si content. According to the EDS results shown in
Fig. 4(e) and (f), the white mesh or semi-mesh phase in the com-
posites is the Al2Cu phase, and the black stick phase or Chinese
character phase is the Mg2Si phase. When the Mg2Si content is
1.5 wt%, it is difficult to observe Mg2Si phase due to its small size
and low amount in the composites, as shown in Fig. 4(a). Mean-
while, the Al2Cu phase in the form of a complete grid is distributed
at the grain boundary. When the Mg2Si content is 3 wt%, the Mg2Si
phase is in the form of fine sticks, which is mainly distributed at the
grain boundary and interlaced with Al2Cu, and the Al2Cu phase
exists mainly as semi-grid, as shown in Fig. 4(b). When the Mg2Si
content is increased to 5 wt%, the amount of Mg2Si phase is
significantly increased. Fig. 4(c) shows that the Mg2Si phase exists
mainly as sticks, but there is also a small amount of Chinese char-
actered Mg2Si phase in the composites. When the Mg2Si content is
further increased to 10 wt%, the amount of Mg2Si phase is
remarkably increased, and the Mg2Si phase is completely changed
from a fine stick shape to a coarse Chinese character with the size of
as large as 40 mm, as shown in Fig. 4(d). In addition, as the Mg2Si
content is increased from 1.5 wt% to 10 wt%, the Al2Cu phase exists
as short rod or plate rather than network. This is because that the
excessive Mg2Si phase may affect the precipitation of Al2Cu phase.
Fig. 5 shows the SEM images of in-situ Mg2Si/Ale5Cu compos-
ites with different Mg2Si content at a higher magnification. The
morphology and distribution of Al2Cu, a-Al and Mg2Si phases in
 J. Li et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 808 (2019) 151771
Fig. 1. Optical microstructures of the Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites with different Mg2Si content: (a) 1.5 wt%, (b) 3 wt%, (c) 5 wt%, (d) 10 wt%.
Fig. 2. The average grain size of a-Al.
composites are more clearly visible. When the Mg2Si content is
1.5 wt%, the Mg2Si phase is in the form of stick shape and distrib-
uted inside the Al2Cu phase, with a length of about 10 mm and a
width of about 2 mm, and marked with yellow rectangle, as shown
in Fig. 5(a). The Mg2Si places are like holes because of etching effect.
When the Mg2Si content is 3 wt%, the amount of Mg2Si phase is
significantly increased. Mg2Si phase is no longer distributed inside
the Al2Cu phase, but distributed at the grain boundary, and is in-
terlaced with Al2Cu, which causes Al2Cu to change from a network
distribution to a semi-mesh distribution, as shown in Fig. 5(b).
When the Mg2Si content is increased to 5 wt%, a small amount of
Chinese character Mg2Si phase began to appear and its size can be
3
as large as about 20 mm, as shown in Fig. 5(c). Fig. 5(d) represents
that as the Mg2Si content is further increased to 10 wt%, all Mg2Si
phase is present in coarse Chinese character with the size of as large
as about 40 mm, which is marked with a yellow circle. Combined
with the pseudo-binary phase diagram of AleMg2Si, it can be
known that the Chinese character is the eutectic structure of Mg2Si
and a-Al phase, namely eutectic Mg2Si phase [21].
Fig. 6 shows the possible phases in the as-cast xMg2Si/Ale5Cu
composites at various temperatures, during equilibrium solidifica-
tion based on JMatPro calculation. There are the a-Al phase, Mg2Si
phase, and Al2Cu phase. As shown in Fig. 6, the Mg2Si content
precipitated in the xMg2Si/Ale5Cu composites is close to the
theoretical content. It can be also clearly seen the precipitation
process of all phases in the as-cast xMg2Si/Ale5Cu composites
during equilibrium solidification. However, the simulation results
based on JMatPro calculation are limited to equilibrium solidifica-
tion. In order to better reveal and analyze true solidification pro-
cess, the experimental DTA curves of the Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites
with different Mg2Si content are shown in Fig. 7. Comparing the
exothermic and endothermic peaks in Fig. 7 and JMatPro calcula-
tions in Fig. 6, the simulation calculations are generally in good
agreement with the experimental results, with only a slight devi-
ation due to difference between with equilibrium and nonequilib-
rium solidification. Therefore, the phase formation of xMg2Si/
Ale5Cu composites is briefly explained as follows: For the 1.5 wt%
Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites, two exothermic peaks at 589  C and
482  C appear in Fig. 7(a), which are originated from solidification
of a-Al phase and the eutectic phase of Al2Cu and Mg2Si. Moreover,
the a-Al begins to precipitate at 635  C and completely precipitates
at 589  C, and then the eutectic phase of Al2Cu and Mg2Si begins to
precipitate at 516  C, and completely precipitates at 482  C, namely,
L/a-Al/Mg2SieAl2Cu [22,23]. Comparing to the DTA curve
shown in Fig. 7(a), the third endothermic peak at 566  C appears in
Fig. 7(b) for 3 wt%, which corresponds to the melting process of
Mg2Si phase. The Mg2Si phase begins to melt at 543  C and
4 J. Li et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 808 (2019) 151771

Fig. 3. XRD patterns of Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites: (a) 0 wt%, (b) 1.5 wt%, (c) 3 wt%, (d) 5 wt%, (e) 10 wt%.

Fig. 4. Low-times BSE images of the Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites with different Mg2Si content: (a) 1.5 wt%, (b) 3 wt%, (c) 5 wt%, (d) 10 wt%, (e) Spectrum of the bright Al2Cu phases, (f)
Spectrum of the black Mg2Si phases.
 J. Li et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 808 (2019) 151771 5

Fig. 5. High-times SEM images of the Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites with different Mg2Si content: (a) 1.5 wt%, (b) 3 wt%, (c) 5 wt%, (d) 10 wt%.

Fig. 6. The simulation results based on JMatPro software for xMg2Si/Ale5Cu composites: (a) 1.5 wt%, (b) 3 wt%, (c) 5 wt%, (d) 10 wt%.
6 J. Li et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 808 (2019) 151771
Fig. 7. DTA curve of Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites: (a) 1.5 wt%, (b) 3 wt%, (c) 5 wt%, (d) 10 wt%.
completely melts at 566  C. The three exothermic peaks in Fig. 7(b)
are stemmed from solidification of a-Al, Mg2Si and Al2Cu phase,
respectively, namely, L/a-Al/Mg2Si/Al2Cu. The exothermic
peaks of Mg2Si phase is not very obvious, which may be covered by
the exothermic peak of a-Al. Fig. 7(c) shows that the span of
endothermic peak (543  Ce566  C) arose from the melting process
of Mg2Si phase is much larger than that (543  Ce586  C) in the DTA
curve shown in Fig. 7(b). This may be due to the existence of a small
amount of eutectic Mg2Si like Chinese characters in the 5 wt%
Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites, as shown in Fig. 4. The precipitation
order of each phase is as follows: L/a-Al/Mg2Siþ(a-Al-Mg2Si)/
Al2Cu. With the increase of Mg2Si content to 10 wt%, there are only
two exothermic peaks arose from the precipitation of Al2Cu and
eutectic phase of a-Al and Mg2Si. The eutectic phase of a-Al and
Mg2Si begins to precipitate at 598  C and completely precipitates at
540  C, and then Al2Cu phase begins to precipitate at 500  C and
completely precipitates at 488  C, namely, L/ (a-Al-Mg2Si)/
Al2Cu, as shown in Fig. 7(d). These results are in good accord with
the microstructures of the composites mentioned above.
3.2. Mechanical properties of Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites
Fig. 8 represents the tensile properties of matrix alloys and
Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites with different Mg2Si content. The UTS of
1.5 wt% Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites is 315 MPa, which is increased
by 21.2% than that of Ale5Cu matrix alloy. The elongation of the
composites is 9.5%, which is close to that of matrix alloy. When the
Mg2Si content is increased to 3 wt%, the composites exhibit
330 MPa in UTS and 205 MPa in yield strength, which are increased
by 26.9% and 28.1% respectively than the corresponding values of
Ale5Cu matrix alloy, and the elongation is also well maintained.
Further, the UTS and yield strength of composites are also increased
by 4.8% and 26.5% respectively than the corresponding values of
1.5 wt% Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites. When Mg2Si content is
increased to 5 wt%, the UTS and yield strength of composites do not
change much or even decrease, while the elongation of the com-
posites is decreased by 55.2% than that of 3 wt% Mg2Si/Ale5Cu
composites. When Mg2Si content is further increased to 10 wt%, the
UTS, yield strength and elongation of composites are 330 MPa,
185 MPa and 1.7%, respectively. These properties are decreased by
3.0%, 9.8% and 76.1%, respectively, compared with 3 wt% Mg2Si/
Ale5Cu composites. Therefore, the 3 wt% Mg2Si/Ale5Cu compos-
ites exhibit the optimal mechanical properties.
For the variation of mechanical properties of particle reinforced
metal matrix composites, it is generally believed that there are four
strengthening mechanisms to contribute to increased properties,
including Orowan strengthening, load-bearing strengthening, fine
grain strengthening and thermal expansion mismatch
 J. Li et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 808 (2019) 151771
Fig. 8. The variation of mechanical properties of the Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites in as-cast state with different Mg2Si content: (a) UTS and YS strength, (b) elongation.
strengthening [24e27]. According to Orowan strengthening
mechanism, since the size of Mg2Si phase in the present composites
is much larger than 1 mm, this strengthening mechanisms has
almost no effect [24,25]. Therefore, the load-bearing strengthening,
ɑ-Al grains refinement strengthening and thermal expansion
mismatch strengthening are the main contributors for the incre-
ment in strengths of Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites.
For the load-bearing strengthening, the composites can be
strengthened by the well-bonded Mg2Si phase with high Young's
modulus (120 GPa), which can directly shear the load [24e26]. The
DsLoad can be expressed below:
1 which is close to 0.286 nm, and Da is the CTE difference between
DsLoad ¼ Vp sm
2 Mg2Si and matrix (15.5  106 K1), DT is the difference between
where Vp is the volume fraction of reinforcement, sm is the YS of
Ale5Cu matrix (160 MPa). The volume fraction of x wt% Mg2Si/
Ale5Cu (x ¼ 1.5, 3, 5, 10) composites is 2%, 4%, 6% and 12.2%,
respectively. According to Eq. (1), the calculated increase of tensile
strength resulting from load-bearing strengthening for the 3 wt%
Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites is about 3.2 MPa, which is very limited
due to the low Mg2Si content.
For the a-Al grain refinement strengthening, the number of
grain boundaries will increase gradually with grain refinement,
which will hinder the dislocation motion and cause it to be
continuously accumulated at grain boundaries when the disloca-
tion inside the grain moves to the grain boundary during the
deformation process. Thus the strength of composites is increased
with grain refinement, namely, Hall-Petch formula [27e29]:
.pffiffiffiffiffiffi
Dshp ¼ khp dm
where khp is the Hall-Petch constant and dm is the average grain
diameter, respectively. According to Eq. (2), the smaller the grain
size, the more obvious the reinforcing effect. Lloyd et al. found that
since the kh-p coefficient of aluminum alloy is too small, the fine
grain strengthening will have a obvious strengthening effect only if
the grain size is less than 1 mm [29]. In this study, the a-Al grain size
is much larger than 1 mm, so the a-Al fine grain strengthening effect
is not obvious. For the 3 wt% Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites, the
calculated contribution value of a-Al grain refinement strength-
ening to tensile strength is only 1.2 MPa.
For the thermal expansion mismatch strengthening, the Mg2Si
7
has a low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE, 7.5  106 K1),
which is quite different from that of the matrix alloy. A lot of
geometrically necessary dislocations are generated due to the dif-
ference in CTE between Mg2Si and the matrix during solidification,
leading to increased strength of composites. The mismatch
strengthening can be expressed below [30]:
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
12DaDTVp
DsCTE ¼ bGm b   (3)
bdp 1  Vp
where b is a constant close to 1.25, Gm is the shear modulus of the
matrix alloy (25.8 GPa), b is the Burgers vector of the Al matrix,
(1)
the pouring temperature and test temperature (690 K), and dp and
Vp are the average size and volume fraction of the Mg2Si phase,
respectively. According to Eq. (3), the larger the volume fraction of
Mg2Si phase and the smaller its size, the more obvious the
strengthening effect. Based on Fig. 4, when the Mg2Si content is less
than 5 wt%, the size of Mg2Si phase is almost constant, so the
strength of composites increases with the increase of Mg2Si con-
tent. As the Mg2Si content is increased to 10 wt%, although the
volume fraction of Mg2Si phase is increased, the its morphology is
changed from small stick to coarse Chinese character, which will
degrade the mechanical properties. According to Equation (3), the
calculated increase of tensile strength resulting from the thermal
expansion mismatch strengthening for the 3 wt% Mg2Si/Ale5Cu
composites is about 25 MPa. Therefore, among the three
strengthening mechanisms, the DsCTE is the most important
contributor for the improvement of the properties of Mg2Si/Ale5Cu
(2) composites.
The tensile fracture morphology of Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites
with different Mg2Si content is represented in Fig. 9. The tearing
ridge and dimples dominate the whole fracture surface of 1.5 wt%
Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites, which indicates the composites have a
good elongation, as shown in Fig. 9(a). Besides, a small amount of
Mg2Si phase with the size of about 8 mm appears on fracture sur-
face, which is a brittle phase. Compared with 1.5 wt% Mg2Si/Ale5Cu
composites, the number of dimples decreases and the number of
Mg2Si phase increases on the fracture surface of 3 wt% Mg2Si/
Ale5Cu composites, which is still plastic fracture, as shown in
Fig. 9(b). As the Mg2Si content is increased to 5 wt%, the dimples
disappear completely on the fracture surface, as shown in Fig. 9(c).
8 J. Li et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 808 (2019) 151771
Fig. 9. SEM images of the tensile fracture surface of Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites with different Mg2Si content: (a) 1.5 wt%, (b) 3 wt%, (c) 5 wt%, (d) 10 wt%.
Moreover, the number of Mg2Si phase increases and its size be-
comes larger, which is a typical brittle fracture [31]. Therefore, the
composites have a decrease in strength and poor toughness, as
shown in Fig. 8. When the Mg2Si content is further increased to
10 wt%, the fracture surface of the composites is mainly dominated
by the coarse eutectic Mg2Si phase, and the size can be as large as
20 mm. It is also a typical brittle fracture, and the crack is mainly
generated at the corner of coarse Chinese character eutectic Mg2Si
phase, as shown in Fig. 9(d). The brittle and sharp-edged coarse
Mg2Si phase is also the reason why the Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composite
loses toughness. These results are in good accord with the variation
of mechanical properties shown in Fig. 8.
4. Conclusions
The relationship of Mg2Si morphology with Mg2Si content and
its effect on properties of In-situ Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites are
investigated. The following points can be summarized:
(1) The primary a-Al phase is refined due to the existence of
Mg2Si at low Mg2Si content Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites, and
the size of a-Al grains decreases at first and then increases
with the increase of Mg2Si content.
(2) With the increase of Mg2Si content from 1.5 wt% to 10 wt%,
the shape of Mg2Si phase changes gradually from short sticks
to coarse Chinese characters.
(3) The Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites exhibit significant enhance-
ment in UTS and yield strength without much reduction on
failure strain. Furthermore, the 3 wt% Mg2Si/Ale5Cu com-
posites exhibit the optimal mechanical properties.
(4) The enhancement of strength of Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites is
attributed to three strengthening mechanisms, among which
the DsCTE , i.e., thermal expansion mismatch strengthening, is
the most important contributor for the improvement of the
properties of Mg2Si/Ale5Cu composites.
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the Project 51574129 supported by
National Natural Science Foundation of China, and by the Project
JCKY 2016209A001. The authors would also express their appreci-
ation to the Analytical and Testing Centre, HUST.
References
[1] B. Su, H.G. Yan, G. Chen, J.L. Shi, J.H. Chen, P.L. Zeng, Study on the preparation
of the SiCp/Al-20Si-3Cu functionally graded material using spray deposition,
Mater. Sci. Eng. A 527 (2010) 6660e6665.
[2] S.A. Sajjadi, H.R. Ezatpoura, M. Torabi Parizi, Comparison of microstructure
and mechanical properties of A356 aluminum alloy/Al2O3 composites fabri-
cated by stir and compo-casting processes, Mater. Des. 34 (2012) 106e111.
[3] N. Chawla, K.K. Chawla, Metal Matrix Composites, Springer Science þ Business
Media, New York, 2013.
[4] J. Zhang, Z. Fan, Y.Q. Wang, B.L. Zhou, Microstructural evolution of the in situ
Al-15wt.%Mg2Si composite with extra Si contents, Scr. Mater. 42 (2000)
1101e1106.
[5] L. Lu, M.O. Lai, M.L. Hoe, Formation of nanocrystalline Mg2Si and Mg2Si
dispersion strengthened Mg-Al alloy by mechanical alloying, Nanostructured
Mater. 10 (1998) 551e563.
[6] Q. Gao, S.S. Wu, S.L. Lü, X.C. Duan, Z.Y. Zhong, Preparation of in-situ TiB2 and
Mg2Si hybrid particulates reinforced Al-matrix composites, J. Alloy. Comp. 651
(2015) 521e527.
[7] N. Soltani, A. Bahrami, M.I. Pech-canul, L.A. Gonzalez, Review on the physi-
cochemical treatments of rice husk for production of advanced materials,
Chem. Eng. J. 264 (2015) 899e935.
[8] J.Y. Li, F. Li, S.S. Wu, S.L. Lü, T. Guo, Influence of squeeze casting and La addition
on the microstructure and properties of the in-situ Mg2Si/Al-5Cu composites,
Special Cast. Nonferrous Alloys 39 (2019) 314e318.
[9] Y.Y. Ren, T.Y. Liu, Y.M. Li, H. Hu, Effect of La inoculation on composition,
content, granularity and mechanical properties of in-situ Al-30wt%Mg2Si
Composite, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 704 (2017) 119e127.
[10] Q.D. Qin, Y.G. Zhao, W. Zhou, P.J. Cong, Effect of phosphorus on microstructure
and growth manner of primary Mg2Si crystal in Mg2Si/Al composite, Mater.
 J. Li et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 808 (2019) 151771
Sci. Eng. A 447 (2007) 186e191.
[11] R. Khorshidi, A. Honarbakhsh-Raouf, R. Mahmudi, Effect of minor Gd addition
on the microstructure and creep behavior of a cast Ale15Mg2Si in situ com-
posite, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 718 (2018) 9e18.
[12] H.L. Zhao, D.M. Yao, F. Qiu, Y.M. Xia, Q.C. Jiang, High strength and good
ductility of casting Al-5Cu alloy modified by PrxOy and LaxOy, J. Alloy. Comp.
509 (2011) 43e46.
[13] Y.M. Xia, Z.H. Bai, F. Qiu, S.B. Jin, Q.C. Jiang, Effects of multi-modification of rare
earth oxides PrxOy and LaxOy on microstructure and tensile properties of
casting Al-5Cu alloy, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 558 (2012) 602e606.
[14] F. Qiu, X. Gao, J. Tang, Y.Y. Gao, S.L. Shu, X. Han, Q. Li, Q.C. Jiang, Microstruc-
tures and tensile properties of AleCu matrix composites reinforced with
nano-sized SiCp fabricated by semisolid stirring process, Metals 7 (2) (2017)
49.
[15] H.C. Yu, H.Y. Wang, L. Chen, M. Zha, C. Wang, C. Li, Q.C. Jiang, Spheroidization
of primary Mg2Si in Al-20Mg2Si-4.5Cu alloy modified with Ca and Sb during
T6 heat treatment process, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 685 (2017) 31e38.
[16] L.Y. Hao, X. Yang, S.L. Lü, X.G. Fang, S.S. Wu, Influence of squeeze casting
pressure and heat treatment on microstructure and mechanical properties of
Mg94Ni2Y4 alloy with LPSO structure, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 707 (2017) 280e286.
[17] W. Dai, S.S. Wu, S.L. Lü, et al., Effects of rheo-squeeze casting parameters on
microstructure and mechanical properties of AlCuMnTi alloy, Mater. Sci. Eng.
A 538 (2012) 320e326.
[18] X. Yang, S.S. Wu, S.L. Lü, L.Y. Hao, X.G. Fang, Refinement of LPSO structure in
Mg-Ni-Y alloys by ultrasonic treatment, Ultrason. Sonochem. 40 (2018)
472e479.
[19] J.Y. Li, F. Li, S.S. Wu, S.L. Lü, W. Guo, X. Yang, Variation of microstructure and
mechanical properties of hybrid particulates reinforced Al-alloy matrix
composites with ultrasonic treatment, J. Alloy. Comp. 789 (2019) 630e638.
[20] S.S. Wu, D. Yuan, S. L. L Lü, K. Hu, P, An. Dispersion of nano-SiCP particles in Al-
matrix composites and mechanical properties prepared by complex pro-
cesses, China Foundry 15 (2018) 203e209.
[21] J. Zhang, Z. Fan, Y.Q. Wang, B.L. Zhou, Microstructural development of Al-
9
15wt.%Mg2Si in situ composite with mischmetal addition, Mater. Sci. Eng. A
281 (2000) 104e112.
[22] A. Lo € ffler, J. Gro €bner, M. Hampl, H. Engelhardt, R. Schmid-Fetzer,
M. Rettenmay, Solidifying incongruently melting intermetallic phases as bulk
single phases using the example of Al2Cu and Q-phase in the Al-Mg-Cu-Si
system, J. Alloy. Comp. 515 (2012) 123e127.
[23] K. Kim, A. Bobel, V. Brajuskovic, B.C. Zhou, M. Walker, G.B. Olson,
C. Wolverton, Energetics of native defects, solute partitioning, and interfacial
energy of Q precipitate in Al-5Cu-Mg-Si alloys, Acta Mater. 154 (2018)
207e219.
[24] J.B. Correia, H.A. Davies, C.M. Sellars, Strengthening in rapidly solidified age
hardened Cu-Cr and Cu-Cr-Zr alloys, Acta Mater. 45 (1997) 177e190.
[25] A. Matin, F.F. Saniee, H.R. Abedi, Microstructure and mechanical properties of
Mg/SiC and AZ80/SiC nano-composites fabricated through stir casting
method, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 625 (2015) 81e88.
[26] J. Nampoothiri, R.S. Harini, S.K. Nayak, B. Raj, K.R. Ravi, Post in-situ ultrasonic
treatment for generation of Al-4.4Cu/TiB2 nanocomposite: a route to enhance
the strength of metal matrix composites, J. Alloy. Comp. 683 (2016) 370e378.
[27] L. Lu, M.O. Lai, F.L. Chen, Al-4wt% Cu composite reinforced with in-situ TiB2
particles, Acta Mater. 45 (1997) 4297e4309.
[28] Y.M. Wang, E. Ma, M.W. Chen, Enhanced tensile ductility and toughness in
nanostructured Cu, Appl. Phys. Lett. 80 (2002) 2395e2397.
[29] D.J. Lloyd, Particle reinforced aluminium and magnesium matrix composites,
Int. Mater. Rev. 39 (1994) 1e23.
[30] X. Yao, Z. Zhang, Y.F. Zheng, C. Kong, M.Z. Quadir, J.M. Liang, Y.H. Chen,
P. Munroe, D.L. Zhang, Effects of SiC nanoparticle content on the micro-
structure and tensile mechanical properties of ultrafine grained AA6063-SiCnp
composites fabricated by powder metallurgy, J. Mater. Process. Technol. 33
(2017) 1023e1030.
[31] Y.L. Shen, J.J. Williams, G. Piotrowski, N. Chawla, Y.L. Guo, Correlation between
tensile and indentation behavior of particle-reinforced metal matrix com-
posites: an experimental and numerical study, Acta Mater. 49 (2001)
3219e3229.