Influence of Minor Additions of Be on the Eutectic Modification of an Al-33wt.%Cu Alloy Solidified under Transient Conditions

Al-based alloys are often selected for use in various engineering applications as well as in the aircraft and aerospace industry. The improvement of their performances under severe conditions have required the use of alloying elements. In the present work, Be is added to the eutectic Al-33 wt.%Cu alloy with a view to investigating the resulting effects on microstructural features and hardness. A directional solidification technique is used, yielding a wide range of solidification cooling rates. This permits microstructural features to be investigated with emphasis on the role of Be on the eutectic morphology. The directionally solidified microstructures are formed by eutectic colonies for the Al-33 wt.%Cu alloy, however, with additions of both 0.05 and 0.5 wt.% Be, the original cell-like morphology is transformed into a trefoil-like morphology. This together with the alpha-Al dendritic pattern characterize the microstructure of the Al-33Cu-Be alloys examined. Solidification growth laws are experimentally derived relating dendritic and eutectic colony spacings to solidification cooling rates and growth rates. The length scale of such spacings is shown not to affect the Vickers hardness of the Al-33Cu-Be alloys examined; however, the additions of Be are shown to improve the brittle behavior of the Al-33 wt.%Cu alloy.