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Aluminum alloy is extensively utilized in aerospace, transportation, machinery manufacturing, and shipbuilding and so on. Among them, A356 aluminum alloy, a typical Al-Si alloy, is widely used in the casting of automotive parts such as manifolds, engine cylinder blocks, and heads. Due to their complex structure, these parts are suitable for production using lost foam casting(LFC). In LFC, the assembled foam group is initially embedded in dry sand molds and subjected to negative pressure, followed by pouring the metal liquid onto the foam mold. The foam then vaporizes and is replaced by the metal liquid to obtain the desired casting. However, because the pouring temperature of the metal liquid is 30～50 ℃ higher than that of traditional casting, and the heat conduction coefficient of the dry sand used in the molds is low, the microstructure of the casting tends to be coarse, leading to reduced mechanical properties. This presents an urgent problem to be addressed. Consequently, refining the microstructure and enhancing the properties of A356 castings produced by LFC are the primary focuses. To refine the microstructure and improve the properties of aluminum alloy, methods such as adding modifiers, increasing supercooling, and applying vibration are employed. Compared to other methods, adding modifiers to aluminum alloy can rapidly introduce heterogeneous nucleation and significantly increase the nucleation rate during solidification, thus achieving the goal of modifying the alloy. Rare earth elements such as La or Ce are commonly used in the modification of aluminum alloys. The addition of La or Ce to aluminum alloys also results in a relatively significant fine-crystal strengthening effect. However, there are few studies on the use of La-Ce composite rare earth to modify A356 aluminum alloy produced by LFC. The effects of La-Ce composite rare earth on the microstructure and properties of A356 aluminum alloy made by LFC are not well understood, and the mechanism of composite strengthening with La-Ce requires further exploration. Therefore, in this study, La-Ce composite rare earth was added to A356 aluminum alloy produced by LFC in concentrations of 0, 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, and 0.8%, and the effects of La-Ce addition on the microstructure and properties of A356 aluminum alloy were investigated. The results indicated that the secondary dendrite arm spacing of α-Al could be significantly refined. In unmodified A356 aluminum alloy, α-Al exhibited coarse dendritic structure with non-uniform distribution, and the eutectic Si phase was coarse flake-like. After the addition of La-Ce to A356 aluminum alloy produced by LFC, the size of the primary α-Al phase, primary silicon, and eutectic silicon decreased, and the secondary dendrite arm spacing of primary α-Al first decreased and then increased with increasing La-Ce content, reaching a minimum in A356 aluminum alloy with 0.6% La-Ce addition. The tensile strength, yield strength, elongation, and Brinell hardness of A356 aluminum alloy produced by LFC initially increased, then decreased, and then increased again with the increase in La-Ce content. When La-Ce content was 0.6%, A356 aluminum alloy achieved optimal comprehensive mechanical properties, with its tensile strength, yield strength, elongation, and Brinell hardness being 117 MPa, 97 MPa, 1.35%, and HBW 69.5, respectively. These values represent improvements of 27.17%, 14.12%, 193.48%, and 16.81%, respectively, compared to those without La-Ce modification. This was primarily due to the composite mechanism of fine crystal strengthening of the primary α-Al phase and silicon phase, along with dispersion strengthening of the silicon phase.
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Basic Information:
DOI：10.13373/j.cnki.cjrm.XY24090018
China Classification Code:TG249.5
Citation Information:
[1]Xiao Botao,He Yi,Xiang Junhuai ,et al.Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of A356 Aluminum Alloy Produced by Lost Foam Casting(LFC) with La-Ce Composite Rare Earth Inoculation[J].Chinese Journal of Rare Metals,2026,50(01):60-68.DOI:10.13373/j.cnki.cjrm.XY24090018.
Fund Information:
国家自然科学基金项目（51865014,52465040）; 华中科技大学材料成形与模具技术国家重点实验室开放基金项目（P2019-012）资助
2026-01-15
2026-01-15