Microstructures and properties of rapidly solidified Al-Cr-Fe alloys for aerospace applications.

The development of aluminium alloys capable of elevated temperature service by utilization of Rapid Solidification (RS) processing techniques has been an area of intense study during the past decade. The ternary alloy system, Al-Cr-Fe, has displayed very promising mechanical properties when produced by an evaporation-vapour deposition technique, but little indication exists of whether similar properties may be achievable by using other, more commercially applicable, RS techniques. This work comprises a study of the microstructure and tensile properties of a range of Al-Cr-Fe alloys (Al-2.93 to 8.43 wt% Cr-0.67 to 2.07 wt% Fe) processed by high pressure gas atomisation (HPGA), supplemented by additional experiments using melt-spinning and chill-casting techniques in order to allow the effects of a wide range of cooling rates (