Investigation of microstructures and mechanical properties of Sc doped Al-5Cu alloys

摘要: Al-5Cu belongs to the group of 2xxx series Al-based alloys and has a wide range of uses in the automotive and aerospace industries due to its light weight. The most prominent properties of Al-5Cu alloys are low density, high melting temperature, good thermal conductivity, high strength and toughness. We aimed to improve the mechanical properties of the Al-5Cu alloy. For this reason, the wt. 0.5 and 1.0% ratio Scandium (Sc) doped Al-5Cu alloy was produced by induction melting method. From the X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, while Al and Al2Cu phases were observed in Al-5Cu alloy, Cu2Sc phase was determined in addition to these phases in Sc doped alloys. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis showed that Sc doping greatly thinned the microstructure of ingot alloys, and also semi-stable acicular theta'-Al2Cu phases were found in Sc doped alloys. In addition, the improvement in mechanical properties observed in alloys was explained by the grain size hardening and precipitation hardening mechanisms. From the nanoindentation test results, it was understood that Sc element greatly improved the Al-5Cu alloy in terms of its mechanical properties.