Materials Science Forum, Vol.396-4, 277-282, 2002
Microstructure of mechanically stirred Al-5%Cu alloy billet
Orientation relationships between neighboring grains in a semi-continuously rheocast Al-5%Cu alloy billet by mechanical stirring were investigated by EBSP measurements. The state of microscopic segregation was also compared with that of a stir-free billet using TEM. Although some low angle grain boundaries existed except for the high angle ones, the special twin boundaries could scarcely be observed. At the stir-free billet, high copper concentration at eutectic phase once decreased rapidly as going into the matrix and the concentration still reduced slightly up to 1 or 2 at%. Similar concentration profiles were measured across the small grains in the stirred billet. In contrast to these, near constant concentration region with 1 at% were widely observed within the large grains.
Keywords:Al-5%Cu alloy;rheocast;semi-continuous casting;mechanical stirring;nondendritic structure;grain boundary;EBSP;orientation relationship;TEM;microscopic segregation