Effect of composition and cooling rate on structures and properties of quenched or cast Al-V-Fe alloys

Rapidly solidified Al-V-Fe alloys are promising structural materials because of the high tensile strength of up to 1400 MPa combined with the light weight. In this investigation, the authors prepared Al-V-Fe alloys of various V and Fe contents by melt-spinning and water-cooled copper mould casting. The alloy samples were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), SEM, TEM, nanoindention, and tensile test. It was shown that the V and Fe contents strongly affect the microstructure and hence the mechanical properties. Increasing V and Fe content causes an increase of the volume fraction of the quasicrystalline phase which gives rise to the strengthening of the alloy. The amount of quasicrystals depends also on the cooling rate during solidification. At very high cooling rate, dispersions of quasicrystals and amorphous nanoscale clusters are favored while at low cooling rate, a stable Al₁₀V crystalline phase form instead in the α-Al matrix. A gradual transition between these two extremes is observed at intermediate cooling rates.