A novel Al–Ti–B alloy for grain refining Al–Si foundry alloys

Al–Ti–B refiners with excess-Ti (Ti:B > 2.2) perform adequately for wrought aluminium alloys but they are not as efficient in the case of foundry alloys. Silicon, which is abundant in the latter, forms silicides with Ti and severely impairs the potency of TiB2 and Al3Ti particles. Hence, Al–Ti–B alloys with excess-B (Ti:B < 2.2) and binary Al–B alloys are favored to grain refine hypoeutectic Al–Si alloys. These grain refiners rely on the insoluble (Al,Ti)B2 or AlB2 particles for grain refinement, and thus do not enjoy the growth restriction provided by solute Ti. It would be very attractive to produce excess-B Al–Ti–B alloys which additionally contain Al3Ti particles to maximize their grain refining efficiency for aluminium foundry alloys. A powder metallurgy process was employed to produce an experimental Al–3Ti–3B grain refiner which contains both the insoluble AlB2 and the soluble Al3Ti particles. Inoculation of a hypoeutectic Al–Si foundry alloy with this grain refiner has produced a fine equiaxed grain structure across the entire section of the test sample which was more or less retained for holding times up to 15 min.