Microstructural and wear behavior of hypoeutectic Al–Si alloy (LM25) grain refined and modified with Al–Ti–C–Sr master alloy

Present article reports the microstructure and wear behavior of grain refined and modified Al–7Si–0.3Mg (LM25) alloy. Combined grain refinement and modification is achieved by inoculating LM25 melt with various inoculation levels (0.2, 0.5 and 1.0 wt%) of a novel Al base master alloy containing Ti, C and Sr (synthesized in the authors’ laboratory) at 720 °C. The wear resistance of LM25 alloy improves with the addition of this master alloy up to 0.5 wt%. It is observed that α-Al cell size and morphology of the eutectic silicon of LM25 alloy have significant effect on the wear resistance of the alloy.