Relationship between amounts of low-melting-point eutectics and hot tearing susceptibility of ternary Al−Cu−Mg alloys during solidification

A systematical study on the relationship between the amounts of different eutectic phases especially the low-melting-point (LMP) eutectics and the hot tearing susceptibility of ternary Al−Cu−Mg alloys during solidification was performed. By controlling the concentrations of major alloying elements (Cu, Mg), the amounts of LMP eutectics at the final stages of solidification were varied and the corresponding hot tearing susceptibility (HTS) was determined. The results showed that the Al−4.6Cu−0.4Mg (wt.%) alloy, which contained the smallest fraction of LMP eutectics among the investigated alloys, was observed to be the most susceptible to hot tearing. With the amount of total residual liquid being approximately the same in the alloys, the hot tearing resistance is considered to be closely related to the amounts of LMP eutectics. Specifically, the higher the amount of LMP eutectics was, the lower the HTS of the alloy was. Further, the potential mechanism of low HTS for alloys with high amounts of LMP eutectics among ternary Al−Cu−Mg alloys was discussed in terms of feeding ability and permeability as well as total viscosity evolution during solidification.