Volume 113 International Scientific Journal

Issue 2 published monthly by the

February 2022 World Academy of Materials
Pages 49-55 and Manufacturing Engineering

DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0015.7016

Impact of pouring temperature on the

mechanical properties of Al5.9Cu1.9Mg
alloy
Akhyar a,*, P.T. Iswanto b, V. Malau b
a Department of Mechanical Engineering, Syiah Kuala University, Jl. Syech Abdurrauf No. 7,
Darussalam, Banda Aceh 23111, Indonesia
b Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Univeristas Gadjah Mada, Jl. Grafika No.2,

Yogyakarta, 55281, Indonesia

* Corresponding e-mail address: a.akhyar@unsyiah.ac.id
ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2006-0126 (A.)

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This experiment aims to determine the influence of pouring temperature on the
hardness, impact energy, tensile strength, and changes in the microstructure of the Al-5.9Cu-
1.9Mg alloy.
Design/methodology/approach: A total of three samples of aluminium alloy were heated
to 688, 738, and 788°C, and poured into permanent moulds in form of plates at a constant
temperature of 220°C. The cast products are machined according to testing standards for
hardness, impact tests, and tensile strength.
Findings: The results showed that the metal hardness and impact energy increased to 103
BHN and 7.48 J at 788°C, respectively, while the tensile strength rises as the temperatures
decreases. Furthermore, the changes in the microstructure were affected, which indicated that
all the properties of the aluminium alloy were influenced by the variations in temperature.
Research limitations/implications: During the metal casting process, only three different
pouring temperatures affected the properties of the metal alloy, therefore, there is a need for
more variations.
Practical implications: The proposed pouring temperature parameter is an important
condition for industrial foundry applications to obtain the right product for use in a machining
element.
Originality/value: This research shows the influence of the difference in pouring temperatures
on the properties of metal alloys due to casting, where they will be adapted for a particular use.
Keywords: Mechanical properties, Al-Cu-Mg alloy, Casting metal, Pouring temperature
Reference to this paper should be given in the following way:
Akhyar, P.T. Iswanto, V. Malau, Impact of pouring temperature on the mechanical properties of
Al5.9Cu1.9Mg alloy, Archives of Materials Science and Engineering 113/2 (2022) 49-55. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0015.7016

PROPERTIES

© Copyright by International OCSCO World Press. All rights reserved. 2022 RESEARCH PAPER 49
 Akhyar, P.T. Iswanto, V. Malau

1. Introduction
1. Introduction on the castability of aluminium alloys [8]. The changes in
the microstructure can be achieved through two techniques,
Aluminium alloys of various series have been namely chemical and physical. An investigation of aluminium
extensively applied to aircraft, automotive, and military alloys' solidification and microstructure was carried out
parts. Moreover, several methods are used to improve the using the variations of 620, 625, 630, and 635°C [9]. The
properties of metal alloys such as controlling the casting temperatures 973, 1,003, 1,033, and 1,063 K were also
process parameters and molten treatment during discovered to cause hot tears [10], which affected the cooling
solidification. Previous research also showed that some rate and the mechanical properties of the alloy [11-15].
product conditions can reduce the properties of metal alloys Meanwhile, the mechanical properties of AlSi12 alloys
such as defects in cast products, which include hot tearing modified with Sr or Al-Sr were improved by a rapid cooling
[1]. Metal casting processes including high-pressure die and process [16]. The evaluation of changes in the shape and
centrifugal are some of the methods commonly used to morphology of the primary crystals were analysed using
reduce defects [2]. In previous decades, the effect of pouring precipitation hardening treatment and the solidification rate
temperature on the mechanical properties of materials of the AlMg10 alloy. The highest mechanical properties are
during casting was reported. These include Mg-10Gd-3Y- obtained in the cast products produced by the sand casting
0.4Zr alloy, which was investigated by a sand casting method and pressing in the liquid state. The mechanical
process at 680, 720, 750, and 780°C. The results show that properties of AlMg10 alloy can also be significantly
higher temperature can increase the yield stress, Ultimate improved by heat treatment conditions [17]. Research has
Tensile Strength (UTS), and solute concentration [3]. also been carried out on the evaluation of morphology and
The effect of pouring temperature and the cooling rate grain size in the aluminium sand casting process with the
has also been evaluated on Al-Si-Cu aluminium alloy. It was addition of nickel (Ni) (1, 2, 3 wt.%). The results showed
discovered that at 750°C, the best combination of ductility that the morphology of the granular form after the addition
and alloy strength was obtained, which affected the of Ni was 1-2 % (weight percent), while that of the elongated
characteristics of the microstructure and the mechanical shape was discovered in 3 wt. % Nickel [18]. The shot
properties of the Al-Si-Cu. The difference in the temperature peening process can also be used to enhance the mechanical
during metal casting has also been observed in changes in properties of metal alloys. Its duration and distance have
the distance of the dendritic arms. The results showed that been investigated to increase hardness and corrosion
the variations influenced the nucleation of the molten, where resistance [19]. Therefore, this research aims to determine
higher temperature increased microhardness and UTS [4]. the effect of three variations of pouring temperatures, such
The influence of temperature and melt treatment on the as 688, 738, and 788oC, on Al5.9Cu1.9Mg alloy on hardness,
microstructure of the Al-Si alloy was investigated by the lost impact energy, tensile strength, and percentage elongation.
foam casting process at 700, 720, 740, 760, and 780°C. The
morphology of the microstructure of the alloy was signifi-
cantly affected and a finer grain size structure was discovered
2. Materials
Materials and
2.  andmethods
methods
at lower temperatures [5]. Furthermore, its influence on the
The cylindrical rods of commercial aluminium alloy AA-
evolution of microstructure and mechanical properties has
2024 of 1,500 mm length and 50.8 mm in diameter were cut
also been determined in alloy AA-6063 using a variation of
into small pieces to fit into crucibles for re-melting. The
temperatures, such as 700, 720, 740, 760, and 780°C. The
chemical composition of the aluminium alloys after re-
results show that UTS increases as the temperature rises,
melting is shown in Table 1. It was analysed using
while the elongation and hardness are also affected [6].
spectroscopy's metal standard (Spectrolab Jr CCD Spark
The solidification process was also affected leading to
Analyser).
the evolution of microstructure, variation in material density,
The alloy AA-2024 was re-melted in an electric
and hardness of Al-Si alloys (hyper-eutectic). Meanwhile,
the two parameters observed include the pouring
resistance furnace, cut into small pieces, cleaned of slag
temperature (663-121.5, 380-116.5, 711-122.5, 723-126.5, impurities, and continued with manual stirring. Subse-
738-130.5, 755-125, 775-124) and the mould temperature quently, it was moulded in a steel mould with square
(810-128°C) respectively, where higher values cause an dimensions (Fig. 1). The melting temperature of the 2024
increase in hardness and density. Based on observation of the alloy is approximately 638°C, therefore in this experiment,
microstructure, the primary silicon was not properly three variations of pouring temperatures including 688,
distributed at low temperatures [7]. Previous research also 738, and 788°C were used. The steel mould was preheated
stated that process parameters have a significant influence and the temperature was kept constant at 220°C (+ 3°C).

50 RESEARCH PAPER Archives of Materials Science and Engineering

Impact of pouring temperature on the mechanical properties of Al5.9Cu1.9Mg alloy

Table 1. The aluminium alloy product obtained is rectangular

The chemical compositions (wt.%) (Fig. 1b), it was machined to the correct dimensions for
Elements Wt.% impact and tensile testing, according to ASTM standards.
Si 0.160 The cast products are made into impact test samples
Fe 0.253 through a machining process that follows the ASTM 23
Cu 5.931 standard (Fig. 2a). Furthermore, the sample was given an
Mn 0.733 impact load using the Charpy method with a 1 kg until the
Mg 1.936 sample fractured (room temperature). The tensile test
Cr 0.012 samples were produced by machining process based on
Ni 0.012 the ASTM E8-09 standard as shown in Figure 2b.
Zn 0.184 Subsequently, a load of 2,000 kg was applied at room
Ti 0.014 temperature and recorded through the Universal Servo-
Al Bal. hydraulic testing machine.

a) b)

Fig. 1. a) Dimensional details of steel moulds and b) cast products

a) b)
55 10

10

0.25
Detail A 100
30 32 30

2±0.025 6 10
45° 25 6
Detail A 6

Fig. 2. a) Schematic of the impact test sample and b) the tensile test sample

Volume 113 Issue 2 February 2022 51

 Akhyar, P.T. Iswanto, V. Malau

Metal hardness was measured using the Frank-PTI [23]. Some of these studies differ from the current research
gmbh Brinell hardness test and its index was determined reported in this paper. This experiment treats molten metal
with a spherical indent of 2.5 mm diameter and a load of during casting, which evaluates the variation of pouring
613 N (ASTM E 10). The hardness value is calculated temperature on the response of the impact energy of the
using Equation (1). aluminium alloy. The variations in pouring temperatures
have a significant effect on the Brinell hardness. The results
௉
‫ ܰܪܤ‬ൌ భ
(1) showed that the hardness increases with higher
ഏವ
൥ቀ ቁቈ஽ିሺ஽మ ିௗ మ ሻమ ቉൩
మ temperatures. However, the impact energy decreased due to
the re-melting of alloy 2024 and porosity as shown in its
where P is the load in kg, D is the diameter of the ball in mm, microstructure.
and d is the indentation diameter in mm.
The microscopy of the cast alloy was observed through a)
an optical microscope. Samples for microstructure
observation were prepared based on the standard
metallographic procedures such as grinding, polishing, and
etching using Keller's reagent.

3. Results
Resultsand
3.  anddiscussions
discussions

Figure 3a shows the hardness values of the alloys with

different pouring temperatures. Based on the calculation
from the diagonal indentation, the highest hardness is
103.67 BHN at 788°C, while the lowest is 95.67 BHN at
688°C. From previous research, the effect of temperatures
710, 760, and 810°C on the hardness properties was
investigated on alloys of Al1.3Zn1.19Si, Al1.66Si1.35Zn, b)
and Al2.81Zn2.6Si. The maximum hardness obtained was
62.83 BHN at a pouring temperature of 810°C [20]. Kumar,
et al. also reported that the hardness value of the Al-6Cu
alloy was 152 BHN [21]. Furthermore, Adeleke, et al.
obtained 42.4 BHN for the non-treated Al-1.56Cu-8.33Zn
and 49.2 BHN for the precipitation hardened alloy [22]. The
hardness of Al-3.25Cu-6.16Zn without heat treatment was
53.40 BHN and 64.6 BHN for alloys subjected to
precipitation hardening, while Al-Zn was 38.43 BHN [23].
However, this comparative study did not treat the molten
metal during casting. Meanwhile, this study evaluates the
variation of pouring temperature on the hardness of
aluminium alloys.
The results of the Charpy impact test, namely the impact
energy required to fracture the cast aluminium alloy sample
due to different pouring temperatures are shown in Figure Fig. 3. a) Brinell hardness and b) impact energy
3b. The maximum impact energy measured was 7.48 J at
788°C, while the minimum was 7.19 J at 688°C. According Figure 4 shows the stress vs. strain profile of
to Kumar, et al., the impact energy of Charpy Al-6Cu is 8 J Al5.9Cu1.9Mg alloy with different pouring temperatures.
[21]. Adeleke et al. obtained 6.12 J for the non-heat treated The stress-strain profile that cast-sample products with
Al-1.56Cu-8.33Zn and 6.392 J for the precipitation hardened pouring temperatures at 788°C show higher strain, followed
alloy [22]. Furthermore, the impact energy of the untreated by cast-sample products at 738 and 688oC, respectively.
Al-3.25Cu-6.16Zn was 5.984 J and 6.256 J for the The mean UTS values of the alloys were also investigated
depositionally hardened alloy, while the Al-Zn alloy was 7 J as indicated in Figure 5. The tensile strength curves of the

52 RESEARCH PAPER Archives of Materials Science and Engineering

Impact of pouring temperature on the mechanical properties of Al5.9Cu1.9Mg alloy

temperatures. Copper particulates were uniformly distributed

in the Al-5.9Cu-1.9Mg matrix. All micro-structures showed
coarse grains of solid aluminium in a solution with copper
inter-metallic particles in the grain boundaries (dark colour).
The microstructure with three different pouring
temperatures from the casting samples shows alpha-Al
phases (light colour) and theta-AlCu2 phases (blackish grey).
These can influence the hardness, impact energy, and tensile
fracture behaviour of the alloy.

a)

Fig. 4. Relationship between stress and strain of Al-5.9Cu-

1.9Mg alloy for different pouring temperatures

b)

Fig. 5. UTS for Al-5.9Cu-1.9Mg alloy c)

re-rolled alloys printed with three different temperatures

showed that the tensile strength of the alloys can also be
affected. Based on the results, the maximum tensile strength
was 209.14 MPa at 738°C, while the minimum was 146.05
MPa at 788°C. The highest percentage of elongation
measured on the cast sample was 5.06 at 688°C, while the
smallest was 1.08 at 788°C. This shows that the tensile
strength initially increases and subsequently decreases with
higher pouring temperatures. Similar research was also
carried out on Al-Cu-Mg alloys, where the pouring
temperature was discovered to affect the tensile strength of
the cast alloy [24]. Fig. 6. Microstructure of Al5.9Cu1.9Mg alloy with various
Micro-structural visualizations shown in Figure 6 were melt-pouring temperature: a) 688°C, b) 738°C, and
obtained from cast samples of alloys with the three pouring c) 788°C

Volume 113 Issue 2 February 2022 53

 Akhyar, P.T. Iswanto, V. Malau

4. Conclusion
4. Conclusions properties of casting Al-Si-Cu aluminum alloy, Acta
Metallurgica Sinica (English Letters) 25/4 (2012) 272-
This research was carried out to determine the effect of 278. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11890/1006-7191-124-272
pouring temperature on the hardness, impact, and tensile [5] M. Karimian, A. Ourdjini, M.H. Idris, M.B.A. Asmael,
strength of Al5.9Cu1.9Mg alloy. The cast samples were Effect of Pouring Temperature and Melt Treatment on
produced using three variations of temperature, namely 688, Microstructure of Lost Foam Casting of AL-Si LM6
738, and 788°C during the moulding process. Based on the Alloy, Advanced Materials Research 264-265 (2011)
results, the hardness value of the cast product increases with 295-300. DOI:
higher temperature, where a maximum of 103.67 BHN was https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.264-
obtained at 788°C. The variation of pouring temperature 265.295
does not have a significant effect on the impact of energy, [6] S.O. Adeosun, E.I. Akpan, P.I. Odetola, Pouring
which was 7.48 J at 788°C, while the minimum value was Temperature Effects on Mechanical and Electrical
7.42 J at 688 and 738°C, respectively. The tensile strength Responses of Cast 6063 Aluminum Alloy, The Journal
initially rises and subsequently decreases with increasing of the Association of Professional Engineers of
pouring temperature. The results of the observation of the Trinidad and Tobago 41/1 (2013) 4-10.
microstructure show that the grains are generally coarse and [7] C.E. Akili, A. Bouayad, M. Alami, The Effect of Mold
dendritic in shape due to the difference in the temperature of and Pouring Temperature on Hardness and
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cause changes in the microstructure, thereby affecting the Alloy, International Journal of Engineering Research &
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements Metallurgical & Materials Engineering 14/1 (2008) 17-
30.
This publication was carried out from a grant from the [9] N.K. Kund, Influence of melt pouring temperature and
Research Fund of the Ministry of Education, Culture, plate inclination on solidification and microstructure of
Research and Technology (Mendikbudristek), the Republic A356 aluminum alloy produced using oblique plate,
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