The effect of addition Mn on the morphology of Fe-rich phase in the Al-1Fe alloy

A flux with MnCl2 is used to control the morphology of microstructure in Al-1Fe alloys. An orthogonal test plan (L(3(3))) was employed to study the effect of the ratio of Mn/Fe, temperature and holding time on the morphology of the Fe-rich phase. Metallographic and image analys is techniques have been used to quantitatively examine the microstructural changes occurring with Mn addition. XRD analysis is employed to identify the phase of intermetallic compound in the alloy. It is found that when the ratio of Mn/Fe in the melt is located in the range from 1.5 to 2.0, the original needle like iorn phase can be transformed to be massive morphology, such as Chinese script, globule or polyhedral, and the area fraction of iron phase in the Al-1Fe alloy can be reduced by adding MnCl2 during the melt processing.