Scripta Materialia 54 (2006) 789–793

www.actamat-journals.com

Rheo-diecasting of Al–Si–Pb immiscible alloys

X. Fang *, Z. Fan
Brunel Centre for Advanced Solidification Technology (BCAST), Brunel University, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK

Received 15 July 2005; received in revised form 14 November 2005; accepted 15 November 2005
Available online 5 December 2005

Abstract

Immiscible Al–Si–Pb alloys are successfully produced using the newly developed rheo-diecasting process (RDC). The microstructure
of RDC Al–Si–Pb alloys is characterised by spherical and fine Pb particles dispersed uniformly in the Al–Si alloy matrix. The discussion
focuses on the mechanism of the RDC process for immiscible alloys.

2005 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Rheo-diecasting; Immiscible system; Semisolid processing; Aluminium alloys

1. Introduction for bearing applications. Al-based alloys have the advan-

It has been commonly accepted that it is desirable that a
bearing material should have the following characteristics
[1]:
• Embeddability, to allow hard particles to embed in the
bearing material.
• Compatibility, to avoid damaging or roughening the
counterface.
• Conformability, to accommodate slight misalignment in
the bearing system.
• High strength, to support applied loads.
• Fatigue resistance and corrosion resistance for a longer
service life.
To compromise and satisfy these conflicting demands, most
bearing materials contain two phases. One is a soft and
ductile phase, which provides good embeddability and con-
formability; the other is a hard and strong phase, which has
strength and fatigue resistance. Traditionally, soft metal
elements such as Pb, Sn, In and Bi are incorporated in
harder metal elements such as Cu and Al to produce alloys
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 1895 266418; fax: +44 1895 269758.
E-mail address: mtsrxxf@brunel.ac.uk (X. Fang).
tage of high strength to weight ratio, and therefore they
are widely used in the automotive industry.
Immiscible alloys, such as Al–Pb, Al–In and Al–Bi
alloys, cannot be cast using conventional casting methods
due to the large density difference between the two phases
in their liquid state [2,3]. Among these three systems, the
most difficult system to cast conventionally and obtain a
uniform distribution of the soft phase through the hard
phase, is the Al–Pb system. This is because the density
of Pb (11.3 g cm
3) is much higher than that of In
(7.3 g cm
3) or Bi (9.8 g cm
3). As a result, Al–Pb alloys
are chosen as model materials for processing immiscible
systems; if homogenous dispersion of Pb in the Al matrix
in the solid state is achieved then it is reasonable to assume
it is possible to obtain uniform dispersion of In or Bi in an
Al matrix. Several methods have been proposed to produce
immiscible Al–Pb alloys, such as stir casting [4], rheocast-
ing [5], rapid solidification [6] and spray forming [7], but
the microstructures produced by these methods are still
not homogeneous. The rheomixing process using a twin-
screw mechanism is a new approach, developed by Fan
et al. [8]. Immiscible Zn–Pb alloys have been successfully
mixed and extruded using this technique [9]. In this paper,
we investigate the microstructure and mechanical proper-
ties of Al–Si–Pb alloys produced by a rheo-diecasting
(RDC) process developed recently at Brunel University.

1359-6462/$ - see front matter
2005 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.scriptamat.2005.11.021
790 X. Fang, Z. Fan / Scripta Materialia 54 (2006) 789–793
2. Experimental procedures
The RDC equipment used in this work consists of a
twin-screw slurry maker and a standard high-pressure
die-casting (HPDC) machine. The specially designed pro-
files of the screws are closely intermeshing, self-wiping
and co-rotating. The fluid flow inside the slurry maker is
characterised by high shear rate and high intensity of
turbulence. The details of the slurry maker have been
described in Ref. [10].
Al–Si–Pb alloy was prepared by melting a standard
commercial A357 alloy with appropriate addition of pure
Pb (the purity of Pb is 99.97 wt.%). The A357 alloy used
has a composition Al–7Si–0.6Mg (in wt.%). The alloy
was melted at 750 C, premixed at 620 C using a propeller
and processed at temperatures between 595 C and 605 C.
The multi-phase mixture was sheared for 120 s, with a fixed
screw rotation speed of 500 rpm before it was transferred
to a DCC280 HPDC machine (LK Machinery, Hong
Kong) with a 280-ton clamping force, to produce standard
tensile test samples. The die used for casting the test sam-
ples has six cavities, of which four are tensile test samples
and two are Charpy test samples. The dimensions of the
tensile test samples are 6 mm in gauge diameter, 60 mm
in gauge length and 150 mm in total length. The tempera-
ture of the die was kept at 220 C during RDC. The
RDC process was optimised against the processing param-
eters and die casting conditions. The tensile test samples
produced for mechanical property testing were processed
under these optimised conditions.
Samples for metallographic examination were cut from
the cross section of the tensile test samples, ground and
polished down to 1 lm. The microstructures were exam-
ined using conventional optical microscopy. The average
equivalent diameter is used to describe the size of Pb parti-
cles and a-Al primary particles. The volume fraction, shape
factor and particle size for both Pb particles and a-Al
primary particles were determined using a ZEISS KS300
image analysis system. The mechanical properties were
carried out using a universal materials testing machine
(Instron 5801) at a crosshead speed of 2 mm/min.
The equivalent diameter d and shape factor f are
described by the following formulas:
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
d ¼ 4A=p; ð1Þ
f ¼ 4pA=P 2 ; ð2Þ
where A and P are the area and perimeter of a particle,
respectively.
3. Results and discussion
Fig. 1 shows the microstructures of the RDC Al–Si–Pb
samples with different additions of Pb. The Pb particles
(dark phase) in all of the samples are dispersed uniformly
in the Al matrix. The resultant microstructures of Pb par-
ticles and a-Al primary phase are listed in Table 1. The
average size of the Pb particles in the RDC Al–Si–3.8Pb
alloy (Fig. 1(a)) was 2.6 lm and the shape factor of the
Pb particles was 0.89. Increasing the Pb concentration to
7.2 wt.% (Fig. 1(b)) increased the average size of Pb parti-
cles to 11 lm and decreased their average shape factor to
0.86. Further increasing of the Pb concentration to
17.5 wt.% (Fig. 1(c)), increased the average size of the Pb
particles to 14 lm and decreased the shape factor to 0.82.
There is no significant segregation through the cross
section of the tensile test samples. The microstructure of
Al–Si matrix is characterised by spherical and uniformly
distributed a-Al primary particles, very fine a-Al particles
produced during secondary solidification and very fine
eutectic. The average size of the a-Al primary phase with
different Pb concentrations varies from 49 to 55 lm, and
the volume fraction of primary phase depends on the
mixing temperature. The alloys Al–7Si–3.8Pb and Al–
7Si–7.2Pb were mixed at 605 C; therefore, the volume
fractions of a-Al primary phase were 15.3% and 14.5%,
respectively. When the mixing temperature decreased to
595 C, the volume fraction of a-Al primary phase in the
RDC Al–7Si–17.2Pb alloy increased to 37.6%. The shape
factors of a-Al primary particles for all of the RDC Al–
Si–Pb samples had no significant difference. The higher
magnification micrograph (Fig. 2) shows that the second-
ary solidification a-Al phase in all of the samples is fine
(<10 lm); this is attributed to the high cooling rate in the
die.
Two liquid phases, Al-rich phase and Pb-rich phase, co-
exist at temperatures ranging from the immiscible gap to
the monotectic temperature (TM) of Al–Si–Pb alloys. These
two liquid phases segregate quickly during solidification
due to two factors, one is Stokes motion (US) caused by
the density difference between two liquids, and the other
is Marangoni motion (UM) resulting from a temperature
gradient, i.e. the liquid droplet moves to a higher tempera-
ture region in order to reduce interfacial energy. Thus, it is
impossible to cast immiscible alloys using conventional
techniques. We developed a two-step strategy for mixing
immiscible alloys. The two-stage process, for achieving a
uniform distribution of Pb phase in an Al–Si alloy matrix,
is schematically illustrated in Fig. 3. The first stage of the
process creates a coarse Pb liquid dispersion by premixing
(Fig. 3(a)). The twin-screw slurry maker does not have
distributive mixing action, so the premixing is required to
achieve coarse uniform distribution of Pb droplets in the
A357 alloy melt matrix. In order to achieve uniform com-
position, the premixing started from 750 C and cooled
down to 620 C, which is just above the liquidus of the
melt. The slurry maker was running whilst the pre-mixture
of Al–Si–Pb melt was introduced. Feeding the pre-mixture
into the slurry maker in this way guarantees the melt is
immediately under a shear action and this avoids the
possibility of segregation.
The second stage of the process generates a fine liquid
dispersion through high shear mixing and stabilises the
fine liquid dispersion by creating a semisolid slurry
 X. Fang, Z. Fan / Scripta Materialia 54 (2006) 789–793 791

Fig. 1. Optical micrographs of Al–Si–Pb alloys produced by the RDC process: (a) 3.8 wt.% Pb sheared at 605 C with a shear rate of 534 s
1 for 120 s;
(b) 7.2 wt.% Pb sheared at 605 C with a shear rate of 534 s
1 for 120 s; (c) 17.2 wt.% Pb sheared at 595 C with a shear rate of 534 s
1 for 120 s.

Table 1
The resultant microstructure of the RDC Al–Si–Pb alloys LAl

Sample Pb particles a-Al particles SAl

d (lm) f VF (%) d (lm) f LPb
Al–7Si–3.8Pb 2.6 0.89 15.3 55 0.72
Al–7Si–7.2Pb 11 0.86 14.5 49 0.70
Al–7Si–17.2Pb 14 0.82 37.6 52 0.68
VF—volume fraction; d—particle size and f—shape factor.
(a) (b)

Fig. 3. Schematic illustration of the two-stage process for achieving a

uniform distribution of soft phase in an Al–Si alloy matrix: (a) premixing;
(b) rheomixing.

simultaneously (Fig. 3(b)). For binary systems of immiscible

Fig. 2. Optical micrograph with higher magnification to show the
microstructure of the matrix of the RDC Al–Si–Pb alloy.
alloys, solid particles are only obtained when the mixture of
two liquids is cooled down to a temperature between the
monotectic temperature and the eutectic temperature. How-
ever, for the ternary system Al–Si–Pb, primary a-Al particles
can be achieved when the melt temperature drops below its
liquidus. At a mixing temperature below the liquidus, the
high heat transfer capability of the slurry maker results in
the quick generation of a semisolid slurry. The viscosity of
the semisolid slurry increases exponentially with the volume
fraction of solid particles [11]. The effects of the viscosity of
the semisolid slurry on Us and UM can be described by Eqs.
(3) [12] and (4) [13], respectively, as follows:
792 X. Fang, Z. Fan / Scripta Materialia 54 (2006) 789–793
2gDqðg þ g0 Þ 2
Us ¼ r; ð3Þ
3gð2g þ 3g0 Þ
  dr 
2dT  j
dx dT
UM ¼ r; ð4Þ
ð2g þ 3g0 Þð2j þ j0 Þ
where Dq is the density difference between the two liquids,
g is gravitational acceleration and r is the size of the liquid
droplet. dT/dx is the temperature gradient and dr/dT is the
variation of the interfacial energy between the Al and Pb
liquids with change in temperature.
In Eqs. (3) and (4), the viscosities of the liquid matrix (g)
and liquid droplets (g 0 ) affect both Us and UM, while the
conductivities of the liquid matrix (j) and the liquid droplet
(j 0 ) only affect UM. Eqs. (3) and (4) indicate that both Us
and UM are inversely proportional to the viscosity of the
semisolid slurry. When primary particles form, the viscosity
of the melt in the slurry maker greatly increases. Therefore,
both Us and UM are slowed down due to the increase of the
meltÕs viscosity. The lower the volume fraction of the Pb
phase, the larger the distance between Pb droplets, if the
sizes of Pb droplets are similar. Pb droplets need to travel
further to merge into a larger droplet. Thus, a lower volume
fraction of a-Al primary is required for a lower Pb content
to avoid the collision of Pb droplets, compared to the Al–
Si–Pb alloy with higher levels of Pb. A volume fraction of
15% a-Al primary phase is enough for Al–Si–Pb alloys with
a Pb concentration lower than 7.2 wt.%, to obtain uniform
dispersion of Pb particles. However, when the Pb concen-
tration increases to 17.2 wt.%, the volume fraction of a-Al
primary phase has to be increased to 37.6% in order to
avoid Pb phase segregation.
Apart from the viscosity for stabilisation of the melt, the
size of the Pb droplets also slows down the Us and UM
motions. Although the size of the Pb droplets is quite
coarse after premixing, they will be reduced further to a
finer size under the high shear rate and intensive turbulence
offered by the twin-screw slurry maker. According to the
theoretical analysis [14], the droplet deformation is a result
of balancing the interfacial tension (tending to keep the
droplet spherical), with the viscous force (tending to
elongate the droplet). When the interfacial tension can no
longer balance the viscous force, the deformation becomes
unstable and the droplet will burst. Therefore, under the
high shear rate and intensive turbulence, the coarse Pb
droplets are elongated, broken up into smaller droplets
and dispersed uniformly in the semisolid slurry matrix.
According to Eqs. (3) and (4), Us and UM are proportional
to r2 and r of the liquid Pb droplets, respectively. Conse-
quently, smaller sizes of the Pb droplets greatly slow down
both the Marangoni motion and Stokes motion. No shear
is exerted on the melt between releasing the melt from the
slurry maker and transferring to the high-pressure die-cast-
ing machine. If the size of the Pb droplets is either not fine
enough or the viscosity of semisolid slurry is not high
enough, segregation will occur. However, using this two-
stage process, the size of the Pb droplets is very small
and the viscosity of semisolid slurry can be controlled by
350 20
UTS
300
TE
15
250
UTS (MPa)
Elongation (%)
200
10
150
100
5
50
0 0
0 5 10 15 20
Lead concentration (wt.%)
Fig. 4. Mechanical properties of the RDC Al–Si–Pb alloys as a function
of Pb concentration.
using the mixing temperature to vary the volume fraction
of the a-Al primary particles. The mixture of Pb and Al–
Si semisolid slurry, produced by the slurry maker, is very
stable. The subsequent die-casting can greatly speed up
the solidification of the semisolid slurry, depending on
the temperature of the die. Additionally, the turbulence
and shear generated when the semisolid slurry passes
through the gate of the die can further prevent segregation.
Therefore, immiscible Al–Si–Pb alloys can be produced
using the RDC process and the resulting microstructure
has fine Pb particles uniformly dispersed in an Al–Si
matrix.
The morphology of the a-Al primary particles is spher-
ical and fine (Table 1), as a result the semisolid slurry of the
Al–Si–Pb alloy has a much better fluidity than those with a
coarse dendritic a-Al phase. The benefit of this superior
fluidity of the semisolid slurry is to reduce segregation of
the Pb phase and a-Al primary particles during diecasting.
Fig. 4 shows that when the Pb concentration is less than
10 wt.%, both the ultimate tensile strength and uniform
elongation of Al–Si–Pb alloys have no significant differ-
ence. When the Pb concentration increases to 17.2 wt.%,
the ultimate tensile strength and uniform elongation
decrease by about 20% and 40%, respectively.
The strength of the Pb phase is much lower than that of
Al–Si matrix; meanwhile the ductility is much higher. The
dispersed Pb particles act as a type of inclusion in the Al–Si
matrix; therefore, the smaller the Pb particles, the less the
effect they have on the tensile strength and elongation of
the Al–Si–Pb alloy. That is why the ultimate tensile
strength and elongation of the RDC Al–Si–Pb alloy
decreases slowly with the Pb concentration.
4. Concluding remarks
In the present work, rheo-diecasting technology has
been used to process immiscible Al–Si–Pb systems. The
 X. Fang, Z. Fan / Scripta Materialia 54 (2006) 789–793
RDC process produces a uniform dispersion of Pb particles
in an Al-alloy matrix. The size of the a-Al primary phase is
approximately 50 lm and the average size of the Pb parti-
cles increases with the increase in Pb concentration. The Pb
particle size increased from 2.6 lm in Al–7Si–3.8Pb to
14 lm in Al–7Si–17.2Pb alloy. The Pb particles were dis-
persed uniformly throughout the cross section of the tensile
test piece. The stabilisation of the liquid Pb droplets in the
multi-phase mixture is achieved by two sequential mecha-
nisms: (a) increased viscosity by the presence of primary
a-Al particles; (b) fine and uniformly dispersed Pb particles
in the Al–Si semisolid matrix. It is also found that both the
ultimate tensile strength and elongation of Al–Si–Pb alloys
decrease with increasing Pb content.
Acknowledgement
The financial support from the EPSRC is gratefully
acknowledged.
793
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