Investigation on the solidification course of Al–Si alloys by using a numerical Newtonian thermal analysis method

A numerical Newtonian thermal analysis (NTA) method was carried out for online monitoring the solidification course of commercial Al–Si alloys. The solidification paths of different molten Al–Si alloys were characterized by the fraction solid curves. The variation of heat capacity of Al and Si were concerned in the determination of baseline evaluation of latent heat. In this experiment, the pure Al, Al–1Si, Al–5Si, Al–9Si, Al–13Si and Al–18Si alloys were molten at 800 °C and cooled at room temperature, respectively. The cooling curves of these alloys were measured by using K-type thermocouples. The liquidus temperatures of these alloys decreased with the increase of Si %. An obvious stage occurred at about 580 °C, which was closely related to Al–Si eutectic reaction. Different phase fractions of these alloys were supported by the microstructure observation.