The Aluminum-Silicon Casting Alloys: Atlas of Microstructures provides any engineer or researcher who works with aluminum castings with a practical and substantive tool for the visual analysis of the microscopic images of the microstructure of the aluminum casting alloys, as examined during routine laboratory procedures. The gallery of microstructure images presented in the Atlas has been selected and put in a systematic order with two main goals in mind:
- Help the reader who has an image of an alloy microstructure
identify the examined alloy in a gallery of standard casting Al-Si alloys - Help the reader to identify the typical microstructure of an alloy
based on its estimated cooling rate
The Atlas was composed considering the cast part as a complex construction of crystallites, described in the context of particular technological conditions and initial chemical composition. Chapters I and II discuss the characteristics of the main phase constituents: α-Al solid solution and silicon crystals (Ch. I), and intermetallic phases (Ch. II). Chapter III presents an atlas of the microstructures of Al-Si cast parts, designated according to standard PN EN 1706, taking into account its counterparts in ASTM-standards. Chapter IV presents the metallographic procedure of the visual identification of the alloy phase constituents.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I. CAST AL-SI ALLOY – PHASE CONSTITUENTS AND MICROSTRUCTURE
Phase Constituents of Cast Al-Si Alloy
Structure of the Cast Part of Al-Si Alloy in As Cast State
Silicon Crystals
The (α-Al+Si) Eutectic
Casting Technology Influence on Eutectic Si Morphology
Summary
CHAPTER II. INTERMETALLIC PHASES IN THE AL-SI TECHNICAL CASTING ALLOY
Intermetallic Phases in Aluminum Alloys
CHAPTER III. MICROSTRUCTURE OF THE AL-SI TECHNICAL CASTING ALLOYS
AlSi7Mg
AlSi10Mg
AlSi11
AlSi12CuNiMg
AlSi21CuNi
AlSi5Cu1
AlSi5Cu3Mg
AlSi6Cu4
AlSi9Cu1Mg
Morphological Evolution of the Intermetallic Phases as Influenced by Technological Conditions
CHAPTER IV. VISUAL IDENTIFICATION OF MICROSTRUCTURAL CONSTITUENTS BASED ON MICROSCOPIC OBSERVATIONS OF THE METALLOGRAPHIC CROSS SECTIONS
Visual Attributes of the Intermetallic Phase Precipitates in Al Alloy Microstructure
Selective Etching Procedures for Revealing the Phase Constituents in Microscopic Observations   of the Metallographic Cross Sections
Atlas of the Selective Etching Effects of the Intermetallic Phases in Al Alloy Microstructure
APPENDICES
  Intermetallic Phase Designations
  Symbols and Abbreviations