Effect of Ce and solidification cooling rate on the microstructure and mechanical properties of AA2017 aluminum alloy

Controlling dendritic growth and grain size in new Ce-containing Al-based alloys becomes crucial due to new envisioned applications and Ce rising demand in casting processes. In the present work Ce effect on the 2xxx Al series microstructures at various industrial-scale solidification cooling rates was investigated. The directional solidification technique is crucial in this endeavor since can generate several solidified samples related to several cooling rates. The AA2017 alloy and a modified version containing 3 wt % of Ce were both produced under directional solidification and various microstructure aspects were characterized. The mechanical behavior was analyzed by microhardness and compression tests. The Ce addition reduced primary and secondary dendritic spacing without impacting grain size. Cells were only observed to form on the Ce-containing alloy at cooling rates of approximately 19 °C/s; while dendritic configurations dominated all other conditions. While round pockets composed of Al+Al2Cu+Mg2Si ternary eutectic formed the interdendritic zones in the AA2017 alloy, the AA2017-Ce alloy microstructure was mainly constituted by elongated AlCeSi + Al8CeCu4 interdendritic phases. Finally, the addition of Ce favored an increase in the microhardness and compressive strength values of the AA2017 alloy, which is attributed to the refinement of the solidification structure, as well as the formation of a greater fraction of secondary reinforcement phases.