Experimental investigation of the MgAlCa system

This work focuses on the experimental investigation of the ternary MgAlCa system using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and metallographic techniques. DSC has permitted real time measurement of the temperature and enthalpy of the phase transformations. One of the invariant transformations predicted by thermodynamic modeling was verified experimentally and found to occur at 513 °C with composition close to 10.8 at.% Ca, 79.5 at.% Mg and 9.7 at.% Al. Three binary compounds are found to have an extended solid solubility into the ternary system: (Mg2Ca) where Al substitute Mg in the binary compound Mg2Ca, (Al2Ca) and (Al3Ca8) where Mg substitute Al in the binary compounds Al2Ca and Al3Ca8, respectively. Two morphologies of eutectic structure were observed in the micrographs and supported by solidification curves; a coarse and fine eutectic microstructures due to the existence of Al2Ca and Mg2Ca, respectively.