Thermodynamic characterization of aluminium corner of Al–Cu system with various Nd additions

the effect of various neodymium additions on the characteristic solidification temperatures and on the microstructure development of the laboratory-prepared binary alloy alcu5.5 was investigated. the aluminium corner of ternary system al–cu with various nd additions was investigated using thermal analysis, differential scanning calorimetry and optical and scanning electron microscopy. the presence of nd phases was confirmed using x-ray diffractometer. microhardness of α-al in alcu5.5 alloy containing various nd additions was analysed. the results show that the addition of neodymium raises eutectic (α-al + al2cu) solidification temperature and solidus temperature, which leads to a narrower solidification interval. it was also confirmed that nd formed two binary eutectics (α-al + al2cu(nd)) and (α-al + al8cu4nd). the addition of nd also caused the increase in microhardness of α-al phase.