Grain refinement during rapid solidification of aluminumzirconium alloys using electrospark deposition

Abstract

Electrospark deposition (ESD) was applied to AlZr binary system in order to study the possible change of solidification structure from the stable D0 23 tetragonal equilibrium phases to the cubic L12, when high cooling rates and undercooling conditions are involved. The results show that a supersaturated solid solution was formed for the alloy containing 0.5 at%Zr, while a two-region layered structure was developed for the alloys with 11.5 at%Zr. These layers are composed of refined equiaxed grains, with a smaller particle size distribution for the region where the L12 precipitates were present. © 2013 The Japan Institute of Metals and Materials.