Fabrication, microstructure and refining mechanism of in situ CeB6/Al inoculant in aluminum.

The CeB 6 /Al inoculant with variable sizes of CeB 6 particles were prepared by arc-melting and controlled by melt-spinning and then verified the refining efficacy in pure aluminum. It was found that the grain refining efficacy can be significantly improved by controlling the CeB 6 particle size. The pure aluminum can be refined from a grain size grade of 870 ± 25 μm to 150 ± 35 μm by addition of CeB 6 /Al ribbon with a very small ratio of 0.4% in weight. Thereafter, the mechanical properties of the pure aluminum, including the tensile strength, yield strength and microhardness, were obviously improved by the addition of the CeB 6 /Al ribbon. The excellent grain refining can be attributed to the nano-sized refiner particles and the well-banded particle/matrix interface which are benefit for the nucleation of aluminum during solidification. It is suggested that the CeB 6 /Al inoculant ribbon is a promising inoculants for aluminum alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]