Thermodynamic and kinetic analysis of ternary intermetallics formation in Al–Cu–La alloy

The thermodynamic and kinetic analysis of rare earth (RE) intermetallics formation in Al–Cu–La alloy was carried out in this study. The formation enthalpy, excess entropy, excess Gibbs free-energy and activity of each component of Al–Cu–La ternary alloy were calculated combining Miedema model with Toop model. The calculated results show that the formation enthalpy, excess entropy and excess Gibbs free-energy of Al–Cu–La ternary alloy are all negative in the whole alloy composition range. The activities of Al, Cu and La are all tiny in the central zone of composition triangle of Al–Cu–La ternary alloy, indicating that Al, Cu and La components are easy to form ternary intermetallics. Moreover, the parabolic growth kinetics equation of RE intermetallics was derived integrating the Fick's second law with the mass balance law. According to the parabolic growth rate, the thickness of the RE intermetallics increases in proportion to the square root of the diffusion time. • The thermodynamic properties of Al–Cu–La ternary alloy are all negative. • Al, Cu and La components are easy to form ternary intermetallics in Al–Cu–La alloy. • The growth kinetics model of the intermetallics is established. • The parabolic growth relationship of the intermetallics is deuced.