REGARDING THE PROCESSING ASSOCIATED MICROSTRUCTURE AND MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES IMPROVEMENT OF AN AL-4.5 CU ALLOY

In the present study, an Al-4.5 wt. % Cu alloy was synthesized using a casting technique and a new disintegrated melt deposition technique. Microstructural characterization studies conducted on the samples take n from disintegrated melt deposition technique revealed a relatively m ore equiaxed grain morphology when compared to the cast samples. Micro porosity, which is unavoidable for the columnar-equiaxed matrix micros tructure was found to be less in case of disintegrated melt deposited samples when compared to the cast samples. Results of ambient temperat ure mechanical tests demonstrate that disintegrated melt deposited sam ples exhibited similar 0.2% yield stress, 1.52 times ultimate tensile strength and 3.69 times ductility when compared to the cast samples. A n attempt is made to correlate the results of microstructural characte rization and mechanical testing with the nature of processing techniqu e employed to synthesize Al-4.5 wt. % Cu alloy. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scie nce S.A.