This article was undertaken to investigate the effect of nickel and zirconium additions on the strength of 354 aluminum cast alloy. The cast alloys were given a solutionizing treatment followed by artificial aging at 190°C for 2 hr. High temperature tensile tests were conducted at various temperatures from 25°C to 300°C. Optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to study the microstructure of the samples. The results revealed that the intermetallics phases of (Al,Si)3(Zr,Ti), Al_3CuNi and Al_9NiFe are the main feature in the microstructures of alloys with Zr and Ni additions. The results also indicated that the tensile strength of alloy decreases with an increase in temperature. The combined addition of 0.2 wt% Zr and 0.2 wt% Ni leads to a 30% increase in the tensile properties at 300°C compared to the base alloy.
展开▼
