Aluminum and its cast alloys:

Pure aluminum and its properties:

It is third most abundant element in the earths crust (after oxygen and
silicon).It makes up about 8% by weight of the Earth's solid surface. It has
good electrical and thermal conductivity. It has good reflectivity to both heat
and light. It is light element. Its density nearly at room temperature is
2.70g/cm3 and 2.375 g/cm3 at melting point. High latent heat of fusion and
heat capacity. The melting point of Aluminum (Al) is 660 0C and boiling point
is 22700C.The most important properties due to which aluminum is
economical and most attract full for a number of applications and also used
in engineering are due to its shiny appearance, excellent surface reflectivity,
light weight, easy fabric ability, high corrosion resistance, recycling without
loss in quality, good electrical and thermal conductivity and non-toxic.

Limitations of pure Aluminum:

Pure elements have some limited applications similarly pure aluminum
has some limitations. These limitations from engineering point of view
are as follow.
Modulus of elasticity of aluminum is low, as compared to steel its
modulus is one-third that of steel.
Pure Aluminum is a very soft metal and its strength is low, highly
ductile.
Its usage is Due to its good physical properties than mechanical
properties.
Its shows high shrinkage on solidification about 7% and its
susceptibility to hot crack cause considerable difficulty, and scrap is
high.

Aluminum cast alloys:

These alloys are cast because of the following properties:

Good Corrosion resistance

They have excellent fluidity
Feeding ability
Better Strength
Good Ductility

The usual cast methods are:

Permanent mold casting

Centrifugal casting
Die casting
Sand casting

Aluminum cast alloys groups:

Aluminum cast alloys are grouped and giving designation numbers
designated according to the alloying elements.
Aluminum cast alloy

Designation
number
Pure aluminum (> 99.00 % Al) 1xx.x
Al Cu alloy
2xx.x
Al Si with Cu and/or Mg alloy 3xx.x
Al Si alloy
4xx.x
Al Mg alloy
5xx.x
Al Zn alloy
7xx.x
Al Sn alloy
8xx.x
Al other elements
9xx.x
The important alloying elements are Silicon, Silicon with added
copper/magnesium, Copper, Magnesium, Zinc, Tin, and Lithium. Alloy series
6xx.x is unused.

o Pure Al series (1xx.x):

In this alloy series only pure aluminum is present whose properties and
limitations are describes already and the purpose of alloying elements is to
improve the properties of pure aluminum. Alloys of this series are
designated 1xxx. This group includes aluminum of various grades of purity:
99.0% to 99.99% of aluminum. The following elements may be present in
the alloys as impurities: silicon (Si) and iron (Fe) as major impurities and also
copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), magnesium (Mg), zinc (Zn), titanium (Ti) and
others.

Properties:

 Alloys of this series have low mechanical strength,

be strengthened by cold work (strain hardening)

high ductility,

these alloys may

They are weld able. However, because of their narrow melting range, they require certain
considerations in order to produce acceptable welding procedures.
When considered for fabrication, these alloys are selected primarily for their superior
corrosion resistance such as in specialized chemical tanks and piping or for their
excellent electrical conductivity as in bus bar applications
Excellent workability

o Al Cu alloy series (2xx.x):

This group includes copper (Cu) as the major alloying element. Silicon (Si),
manganese (Mn), magnesium (Mg), nickel (Ni) and titanium (Ti) may be
added to the alloys of 2xxx series as minor alloying elements.

Properties:
Due to copper Subsequent aging will increase strength and hardness
while decreasing elongation.
Its creep resistance improves by adding 2% nickel in aluminum copper
alloy.
The alloys in the 2xxx series do not have as good corrosion resistance
as most other aluminum alloys They have good mechanical properties
Copper improves machinability of aluminum by increasing its strength.
Alloys in this series are good for parts requiring good strength at
temperatures up to 150 C (300 F).
Al - 4% Cu alloy 195:
This alloy used in solution heat treated conditions and contain only 4% Cu. It
gives both strength and ductility.It used as sand cast for rare-axel housings
and fly wheels, bus wheels, air craft wheels and crank cases.
Al 8 % Cu alloys 112, 113, and 212:
Si presents in these alloys in a controlled amount which increase the fluidity
of the aluminum alloy and decreases its melting point. Due to increased
fluidity these are used for casting of thin sections such as housings, cover
plates and hydraulic brake pistons. These alloys are not age hardenable.

o Al Si Cu/Mg alloy series (3xx.x):

This alloy series shows combined properties of Si and Cu/Mg in aluminum
alloys.

Alloy 380.0 (8.5Si-3.5Cu), alloy 383.0 (10.5Si-2.5Cu), and Alloy 384.0

(11.2Si-3.8Cu):
Cu present in these alloys provides strength for and machining
characteristics Aluminum silicon alloy Si provides fluidity. These alloys are
die cast.
Typical applications are:
Brackets, typewriter frames, manifolds, valve bodies, oil pans, and gasoline
and oil tanks. These alloys are age hardenable alloys.

Alloy 356 (7 % Si 0.3 % Mg), Alloy 357 (7 % Si 0.5 % Mg) & Alloy
359 (7 % Si 0.6 % Mg):
Mg2Si is produced by the reaction of Si and Mg which is a hard phase and
gives strength.
Applications where excellent cast ability and good weld ability, pressure
tightness, and good resistance to corrosion are required.
Applications are: aircraft pump parts, automotive transmission cases, aircraft
fittings and control parts, water-cooled cylinder blocks.

o Al Si alloy series (4xx.x):

This group includes silicon (Si) as the major alloying element. Copper (Cu), magnesium (Mg),
nickel (Ni) and beryllium (Be) may be added to the alloys of 4xxx series as minor alloying
elements.

Properties:
Iron impurities decrease the ductility of the materials.
Increased strength without unduly decreasing ductility
Corrosion resistance, good weld ability
Increased tendency to crack during hot rolling
Si is added to aluminum for strengthening and also to improve cast ability. About 5 to
12% is added for thin and complex castings.

 Solidification time increases by the increase of silicon contents up to 12 % and also its
liquidus temperature decreases.
Ductility of these alloys is maximum at 12% silicon contents and then decreases down to
15 % silicon contents.
The density of aluminum decreases to 2.34gcm-3 when silicon contents up to 10% and
then slightly increases.
It reduces Al Si alloy coefficient of thermal expansion.
However excessive Si content produces difficult to cut and abrasive
material.
2 % Ni is added to these alloys for improved creep resistance and
mechanical strength.
Description of some commercial alloys is as follow:
Alloy 413 and alloy 443:
These alloys contain 12 % Si and 5.2 % Si respectively. These alloys are used
for intricate castings, food handling equipment and marine fittings.
Miscellaneous thin-walled and intricately designed castings. Other
applications where excellent cast ability, resistance to corrosion, and
pressure tightness are required.

o Al Mg alloys series (5xx.x)

This group includes magnesium (Mg) as the major alloying element (up to 5.6%). Magnesium is
used in the alloys for solid solution hardening. Manganese (Mg), chromium (Cr), titanium (Ti),
vanadium (V), beryllium (Be) and gallium (Ga) may be added to the alloys of 5xxx series as
minor alloying elements.

Properties:
Good corrosion resistance and weld ability.
Alloys, containing more than 3.5% of magnesium, are susceptible to
stress corrosion at elevated temperatures. This problem can be
reduced by addition of Zn 1-2%mold release properties for die casting
and Poor casting properties.
Mg2Si provides the strengthening. That is produced by the combination
of silicon with Mg.
Mg has greater solubility in aluminum up to 14.9% but these cannot be
age harden able alloys.

 Mg increases the hardness of aluminum without decreasing its ductility.

And hardness is increased by solution treatment.
Description of some important alloys in this series as given below:
Alloy 514 (3.8 % Mg), alloy 518 (8 % Mg) and alloy 520 (10 % Mg):
The first two are used for dairy and food handling equipment, fittings for
chemical and sewage use, fittings for marine use and air craft brake shoes.
Alloy 520 is the only cast alloy that is age hardenable. Another example of
this alloy series is alloy 517.

Applications:
i. Architectural components. Sheets of 5xxx alloys also forms the surface of geodesic dome
structures, as in this example of a water treatment plant.
ii. 5xxx alloys are commonly used as external facing sheets of composite aluminum-plastic
structural panels,
iii. Aluminum cans have ends of alloy 5182, making that one of the largest volume alloys in
production.
iv. Automotive structures are likely to employ increasing amounts of 5754-O formed sheet for parts
such as internal door stiffeners or the entire body-in-white.
Rugged coal cars are provided by welded 5454 alloy plate construction

Al Mn alloys series (6xx.x):

This group includes magnesium (Mg) and silicon (Si) as the major alloying elements. Copper
(Cu), manganese (Mn), chromium (Cr), zinc (Zn), boron (B), lead (Pb) and bismuth (Bi) may be
added to the alloys of 6xxx series as minor alloying elements.

Properties:
Solution treatment followed by either artificial or natural aging allows considerable
increasing the yield strength (3-5 times).
Ductility of the alloy decreases as a result of the heat treatment.
Alloys of this series possess high mechanical strength combined with good formability
and corrosion resistance.
Temperature of artificial aging of 6xxx alloys is 320-360F (160-182C).
Due to addition of Mn It improves low cycle fatigue resistance.

 Mn is not commonly used for alloying additions in Aluminum and rarely

found. This alloy series is unused as major Mn alloying element.

Al Zn alloys series (7xx.x)

This group includes zinc (Zn) and magnesium (Mg) as the major alloying elements. Copper (Cu),
manganese (Mn), chromium (Cr) and zirconium (Zr) may be added to the alloys of 7xxx series
as minor alloying elements.

Properties:
Aluminum-zinc-magnesium alloys are heat-treatable.
Alloys of this series possess the highest mechanical strength when heat treated.
Corrosion resistance of aluminum-zinc-magnesium alloys is good particularly in the
alloys containing small amount of copper.
Weld ability and formability of the alloys are quite good if the total amount of the
alloying elements is below 8%.
Small amounts of zirconium, chromium and manganese may be added for obtaining
fine structure and inhibiting recrystallization during solution treatment.
The zinc substantially increases strength and permits precipitation
hardening.
Highest UTS is obtained by adding 1.5% Zn.
Other alloys within this series are often fusion welded with excellent
results.

The Al Zn casting alloy known as 40 E containing 5.5. % Zn, 0.6 %

Mg, 0.5 % Cr and 0.2 % Ti
It provides high mechanical strength without solution treatment. This alloy
has good corrosion resistance and machinability. It is used for air craft
fittings, turret housings and radio equipment, aerospace, armored vehicles,
baseball bats and bicycle frames.
Alloy 771

7Zn-0.9Mg-0.13Cr:

It is corrosion resistance alloy and has found applications where dimensional

stability and free machine is important. Shows high luster when polished
anodizes with good clean appearance.
Alloy 712

5.8Zn-0.6Mg-0.5Cr-0.2Ti:

These alloys have applications where we need a combination of mechanical

properties without heat treatment.Shock and corrosion resistance,
machinability, dimensional stability, no distortion in heat treating. Other
examples of this alloy series is: 713 7.5Zn-0.7Cu-0.35Mg

Al Sn alloys series (8xx.x):

Al casting using Tin as the alloying element for the reduction of friction in
bearings etc. in emergency situations the alloying element provide short
term lubrication to rubbing surfaces as the bearings are overheated in
service.
850.0 6.2Sn-1Cu-1Ni, Applications where excellent bearing qualities are
required.

Summary of effect of alloying elements on

Aluminum
Effect of different alloying elements on aluminum can be summarized as
follow:

Alloying elements are added in aluminum according to the properties

required in the material. Silicon improves the fluidity and decreases the
melting point of aluminum. Due to silicon a small increase in strength
is achieved.
Work hardening and strength is improved by magnesium addition. Also
corrosion resistance and weld ability is improved.
Copper improves the machinability of aluminum alloy by increasing
matrix hardnessand also increases the strength and hardness of
aluminum alloy either the alloy is heat treated or not or it is at normal
or elevated temperature
Nickel (Ni) enhances the elevated temperature strength and hardness.
Tin (Sn) improves antifriction characteristic and fluidity of aluminum
casting alloys. It decrease electrolytic potential which is desirable in
sacrificial anodes. It is concluded that selection of alloying element
depends on use of materials requirement.

References:

 ASM Metals Hand book volume 02.

Fundamental principles of materials science and engineering by William F.
Smith
Degarmos material and process in manufacturing by Degarmo and
Kosher.

Foundry Engineering (lab Report#03)

Aluminum cast alloys:
Department:Metallurgical & Material,s Engineering

Submitted To: Sir Zubair

Submitted By:
TANVEER UZ ZAMAAN
Reg No # (2010-MM-31)

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING &

TECHNOLOGY LAHORE