Thermal analysis study on the simultaneous grain refinement and modification of 380.3 aluminum alloy

In this research, effect of integrated Al–10Sr–1Ti–2B master alloy has been studied on the microstructure and solidification characteristics of 380.3 aluminum alloy. Thermal Analysis has been used as a technique to study the cooling curves and first derivative curves during solidification of the alloy. Effect of integrated grain refiner and modifier on solidification parameters such as α-Al dendrite growth temperature (T G,α), α-Al dendrite recalescence undercooling (∆T R,α), aluminum–silicon eutectic growth temperature (T G,E), and eutectic recalescence undercooling (∆T R,E) has been determined. By increasing master alloy content, T G,α and ∆T R,E have been increased, but, ∆T R,E has been decreased, and T G,E increases first and then decreases. Aluminum–silicon eutectic depression temperature (\( \Updelta T_{\text{G,E}}^{{{\text{Al}} - {\text{Si}}}} \)) can be used as a parameter to control the modification of eutectic silicon. The results of this research indicate that the optimum level of Al–10Sr–1Ti–2B master alloy for the simultaneous grain refinement and modification of 380.3 alloy is about 0.5 mass%.