Effects of isothermal heat treatment on microstructural evolution of semisolid Al-4Cu-Mg alloy

The authors investigated the effects of the isothermal heat-treatment conditions on the microstructural evolution and composition distribution of semisolid Al-4Cu-Mg alloy during isothermal heat treatment. The experimental results show that the microstructural evolution and composition distribution of semisolid Al-4Cu-Mg alloy are controlled by atom diffusion during the isothermal heat treatment process. Grain growth and spheroidization were promoted with the increase of the isothermal temperature and/or the holding time. Moreover, the higher the isothermal temperature, or the longer the holding time, the more segregation constituent elements occurred to the grain boundaries. The low melting structure at grain boundary is greatly affected by Cu. The microstructural evolution in the isothermal heat-treatment process is as follows: recovery, recrystallization, fragmentation, spheroidization, and coarsening. Such fragmentation, spheroidization, and grain growth of coalescence and Ostwald ripening are involved as main mechanisms in the isothermal heat-treatment process.