Thermally induced structural and mechanical variations in ternary Al–Si based alloys

The effect of heat treatment on the variations in the structural and mechanical characteristics of Al–Si based ternary alloys was studied for samples prepared from elements of purity 99.99% and aged at 673 K for 2 h through tensile tests in the temperature range (413–493 K). Softening behaviour was observed with increasing the working temperature. The mechanical results were discussed in relation to the structure analysis of TEM micrographs obtained at room temperature for samples aged at 673 K. Sn addition improved the mechanical properties of the samples but this was not achieved with Ag addition which improved softening and ductility under the same testing conditions.