Aluminum-Silicon Casting Alloys: Atlas of Microstructures

Aluminum-Silicon Casting Alloys: Atlas of Microstructures is a resource and guide for anyone who produces, tests, designs, or applies cast aluminum parts. It includes more than 400 micrographs as well as drawings and tables that reveal how aluminum-silicon crystals fuse together, creating structural frameworks from which the physical and mechanical properties of aluminum castings derive. It illustrates the diverse microstructures that can be achieved in cast aluminum and how they vary with composition, alloying elements, and cooling rate. It explains how the main phase constituents, aluminum and silicon, affect melting and solidification processes and how intermetallic phases determine specific properties and behaviors. It discusses the importance of grain size and how it is affected by part geometry, mold material, casting technique, and heat treatments. It also describes sample preparation and imaging procedures and explains how to identify phase constituents based on their appearance. For information on the print version, ISBN 978-1-62708-108-5, follow this link.