Microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of Al-La alloys with varying La contents

The microstructure evolution and mechanical properties under different temperature of as-cast Al-La alloys with varying La contents were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and tensile test (Gleeble 3500). The results revealed that the phase compositions of Al-xLa (x = 10, 15, 20) alloys were α-Al and Al11La3. Comparing with Al-10La, the mechanical properties of Al-15La and Al-20La were deteriorated due to the formation of strip-shaped and particle-shaped primary Al11La3 phase respectively. The influence of Al11La3 phase on tensile strength has a downward trend with the increasing temperature, and elevated temperature is more helpful to increase the plasticity of Al-La alloys with high La content. According to the tensile fracture of the three Al-La alloys at temperature range from 200 °C to 500 °C, Al-10La tended to be highly dimples driven, and dimples became larger and deeper with increasing temperature, which demonstrated a growing ability to avoid crack extension. There was a transformation from cleavages to dimples in Al-15La and Al-20La with increasing temperature, but the dimples were small and shallow indicating lower plasticity than Al-10La.