MICROSTRUCTURE AND MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF RAPIDLY SOLIDIFIED AL-FE-NI ALLOY RIBBONS

Three alloys of Al-5.9 mol%Fe-1.3 mol%Ni, Al-5.3 mol%Fe-2.7 mol%Ni and Al-5.1 mol%Fe were rapidly solidified to ribbons by the planar flow casting method. The effects of nickel addition to Al-Fe alloy on the microstructure and mechanical property were investigated by examining the microstructures and mechanical properties of the as-solidified and subsequently annealed ribbons. As for the nickel-containing alloys, the coarsening of eutectic is retarded and the sum of volume fractions of intermetallic compounds increases with annealing. The hardness, 0.1% proof stress and ultimate tensile strength of the nickel containing alloys consequently increase on annealing at 500 K for 7.2 ks, while those of the Al-Fe alloy decrease on the same annealing. It is found in all the alloys regardless of the annealing that the 0.1% proof stress sigma(y0.1)(MPa) and ultimate tensile strength sigma(TS)(MPa) at room temperature are related to the ribbon hardness H-v as; sigma(y0.1)=2.45H(v) and sigma(TS)(MPa)=167+2.13 H-v respectively.