ON THE THERMODYNAMICS AND KINETICS OF CARBIDES IN THE ALUMINUM-RICH CORNER OF THE AL-TI-C PHASE-DIAGRAM

Aluminium composites have a great potential because of their high strength-to-weight ratio. Carbides will in the future be powerful reinforcements. To be able to manufacture these it is of importance to know the thermodynamic properties and the kinetic limitations. The objective of this investigation is to study the equilibria between the carbides occurring in the Al-Ti-C system as well as the initial precipitation and dissolution behaviour of these carbides. It can be shown that there is a change in stability between TiC and Al4C3, depending on both composition and temperature. To study the nucleation and precipitation behaviour of the carbides in liquid aluminium and aluminium alloys a set of alloys were melted and heated to an appropriate temperature in graphite crucibles. The effect of time and the effect of composition on the chemical reactions involving carbides have been investigated. A theoretical analysis of both the thermodynamics and kinetics was performed, giving a tentative explanation.