A Study on Material Properties of Intermetallic Phases in a Multicomponent Hypereutectic Al-Si Alloy with the Use of Nanoindentation Testing

Mirosław Tupaj; Antoni Władysław Orłowicz; Marek Mróz; Andrzej Trytek; Anna Janina Dolata; Andrzej Dziedzic

doi:10.3390/ma13245612

A Study on Material Properties of Intermetallic Phases in a Multicomponent Hypereutectic Al-Si Alloy with the Use of Nanoindentation Testing

Materials (Basel). 2020 Dec 9;13(24):5612. doi: 10.3390/ma13245612.

Authors

Mirosław Tupaj¹, Antoni Władysław Orłowicz², Marek Mróz², Andrzej Trytek¹, Anna Janina Dolata³, Andrzej Dziedzic⁴

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Mechanics and Technology, Rzeszow University of Technology, ul. Kwiatkowskiego, 37-450 Stalowa Wola, Poland.
² Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, Rzeszow University of Technology, al. Powstańców 8, 35-959 Rzeszów, Poland.
³ Faculty of Materials Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, ul. Krasińskiego 8, 40-019 Katowice, Poland.
⁴ Institute of Physics, University of Rzeszow, Pigonia 1, 35-310 Rzeszow, Poland.

Abstract

The paper concerns modeling the microstructure of a hypereutectic aluminum-silicon alloy developed by the authors with the purpose of application for automobile cylinder liners showing high resistance to abrasive wear at least equal to that of cast-iron liners. With the use of the nanoindentation method, material properties of intermetallic phases and matrix in a hypereutectic Al-Si alloy containing Mn, Cu, Cr, Ni, V, Fe, and Mg as additives were examined. The scanning electron microscope equipped with an adapter for chemical composition microanalysis was used to determine the chemical composition of intermetallics and of the alloy matrix. Intermetallic phases, such as Al(Fe,Mn,M)Si, Al(Cr,V,M)Si, AlFeSi, AlFeNiM, AlCuNi, Al₂Cu, and Mg₂Si, including those supersaturated with various alloying elements (M), were identified based on results of X-ray diffraction (XRD) tests and microanalysis of chemical composition carried out with the use of X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Shapes of the phases included regular, irregular, or elongated polygons. On the disclosed intermetallic phases, silicon precipitations, the matrix, values of the indentation hardness (H_IT), and the indentation modulus (E_IT) were determined by performing nanoindentation tests with the use of a Nanoindentation Tester NHT (CSM Instruments) equipped with a Berkovich B-L 32 diamond indenter. The adopted maximum load value was 20 mN.

Keywords: hypereutectic Al-Si alloy; intermetallic phases; materials properties; nanoindentation tests.