Influences of nickel and vanadium impurities on microstructure of aluminum alloys

In recent years, the deterioration in the available coke quality for anode production has led to increased levels of metal impurities such as nickel and vanadium in primary aluminum. There is growing concern from the industry with regard to the impact of increased Ni and V levels on the downstream properties of Al alloy products. This article presents a detailed investigation of the influences of Ni and V impurities on microstructure of three common Al alloys, i.e., AA6063, AA3102, and A356, in both as-cast and heat-treated conditions. The characterization techniques employed include scanning electron microscopy, electron backscattered diffraction, energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, wavelength-dispersive spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. It is shown that the phase constituents of AA6063 are not altered by Ni additions up to 0.05% or V additions up to 0.04%. Whereas there is no change in phase constituents with increasing Ni up to 0.015% for AA3102, the addition of 0.05% Ni seems to have significant influence on the microstructure. For A356, Ni additions up to 0.02% do not seem to have significant influence on the microstructure, but a new phase with significantly high Ni content is formed when the Ni impurity level is increased to 0.05%. The deep insight obtained in this work should be helpful to understand the influences of Ni and V impurities on properties of Al alloys