Refinement of Mg�Si particulate reinforced Al-20%Mg�Si in-situ composite with addition of antimony

Abstract

AI-Mg�S in-situ composite have received wider attention due to their improved properties which mark them as attractive candidate to manufacture most of automotive and aerospace components. Result show that the melt treatment of the in-situ composite by addition of antimony caused to refining the morphology of primary Mg�Si reinforcement which would expect to improve the mechanical properties. Effect of Sb on the characteristics parameters of Mg�Si particles have been investigated by thermal and microstructural analysis. The result has revealed that addition of 0.8 wt.% Sb produced optimum refinement effect on the morphology as coarse structure has been changed to polygon one. The result also showed depression with nucleation temperature, TN and growth temperature, TG which also correspond to the refinement effect.