The Effect of Iron in Al-Si Casting Alloys

John A. Taylor

Cooperative Research Centre for Cast Metals Manufacturing (CAST)
The University of Queensland
Brisbane, Australia

Abstract
Iron is a common impurity in aluminium and its alloys that is not readily removed and which can
cause adverse effects to ductility and castability, particularly in Al-Si based casting alloys. The choice
of whether to use primary aluminium or secondary aluminium alloys for a cast product, with their low
and moderate/high iron levels respectively, is a commercial decision that must be made. The decision
often means a compromise between the need to reduce metal cost and the need to maximise casting
productivity via reduced defect formation and/or to minimise the deleterious effect of iron on the
mechanical properties of the final casting. This paper discusses the various sources of iron and how it
enters aluminium alloys, the way that iron leads to the formation of complex intermetallic phases
during solidification, and how these phases can adversely affect mechanical properties, especially
ductility, and also lead to the formation of excessive shrinkage porosity defects in castings. The paper
offers guidelines to the levels of iron that can be tolerated, how to maintain these levels and how to
minimise the negative effects of iron.
Introduction
Iron is a common impurity in aluminium alloys that arises from a number of possible sources and
which, at least for Al-Si based casting alloys, is usually considered detrimental in one or more ways.
These will be discussed later in this paper. It should be noted that iron does not always exert a negative
influence; in certain wrought aluminium alloys (that is, alloys used in forged, extruded or rolled
forms), iron can be a deliberate alloying addition that is made to improve the processing capabilities of
the alloy and/or the strength of the final wrought product. However, these wrought alloys are not of
normal interest to the foundry industry, who instead work with the casting/foundry alloys, particularly
those based on the Al-Si family.
Iron is a natural impurity that arises during the manufacture of primary aluminium via the Bayer
Process that converts bauxite (the ore) into alumina (the feedstock) and the Hall-Hroult electrolytic
reduction process that converts alumina into molten aluminium (>900C) with the consumption of
both electricity and carbon. Depending on the quality of the incoming ore and the control of the
various processing parameters and other raw materials, molten primary aluminium typically contains
between 0.03 0.15 wt.% iron, with ~ 0.07 0.10 % being average.
There is no known way to economically remove iron from aluminium so these primary values are the
typical baseline and all further melt activities only serve to potentially increase the iron level. Iron can
enter the melt during further downstream melt activity through two basic mechanisms:
1. Liquid aluminium is capable of dissolving iron from unprotected steel tools and furnace
equipment, and with long exposure times, Fe levels can reach 2 wt% at normal melt
temperatures of ~700C (an Al-Fe eutectic exists at 1.7 wt.% Fe, 655C see Figure 1). For a
melt held at 800C, the Fe level can reach up to 5%;
2. Iron can also enter an aluminium melt via the addition of low-purity alloying materials, e.g.
Si, or via the addition of scrap that contains higher background iron than the primary metal.

Figure 1 Binary Al-Fe equilibrium phase diagram [1].
These are the reasons that iron levels in aluminium alloys continue to increase with each remelt cycle,
and why secondary alloys, particularly those Al-Si alloys destined for high pressure die casting
(HPDC) operations, can end up containing iron levels of up to 1.5%. In the case of HPDC, this is not
always a bad thing as high iron levels assist in minimising the costly problem of die soldering.
However, typical secondary Al-Si alloys for non-HPDC operations usually contain much lower Fe
levels ranging from ~ 0.25 to 0.8 wt%, with values around 0.4-0.7 being most common. The reason
these moderate iron level alloys find such wide use arises from the necessary commercial balance
between the benefits of a reduced metal cost and the acceptable loss of some processing capability
and/or final mechanical properties. These detrimental effects of iron are considered in later sections,
after first considering what happens to the iron impurity during solidification of Al-Si alloys.
Formation of intermetallics during solidification
Although iron is highly soluble in liquid aluminium and its alloys, it has very little solubility in the
solid, and so it tends to combine with other elements to form intermetallic phase particles of various
types. In the absence of Si, the dominant phases that form are Al
3
Fe and Al
6
Fe, but when Si is present,
the dominant phases are Al
8
Fe
2
Si (known as alpha- or -phase) and Al
5
FeSi (known as beta- or -
phase). If Mg is also present with Si, an alternative called pi- or -phase can form, Al
8
FeMg
3
Si
6
.
Another common phase that forms when Mn is present with Si is Al
15
(Fe, Mn)
3
Si
2
, also confusingly
known as -phase. This phase tends to form in preference to the other -phase whenever Mn is
present. There are also other rarer phases which form when other elements are present, e.g. Ni, Co, Cr,
Be, but these are beyond the limited scope of this paper.
The iron-containing intermetallic phases listed above are quite obvious within the microstructures of
Al-Si alloys, and can usually be distinguished under the microscope by their dominant shape
(morphology) and colour. Both of the so-called -phases form in a script-like morphology (see Figure
2b) but the Al
15
(Fe, Mn)
3
Si
2
version of can also be found as a more compact, blocky form, and
sometimes even as polyhedral crystals. The -phase also forms with the a script-like morphology
(Figure 2d) and is often, but not always, closely connected to the -phase (Figure 2c) which in turn
forms with a distinctive platelet morphology (Figure 2a,c). Note that although -phase has a platelet
form in three-dimensions, when observed in a two-dimensional image or photograph, the platelets
appear to be needles. The differing shapes of these iron intermetallics are in part responsible for the
impact of iron on castability and mechanical properties.

20 m 20 m 20 m 20 m 40 m 40 m 40 m
50 m 50 m 50

m 50

m
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
20 m 20 m 20 m 20 m 40 m 40 m 40 m
50 m 50 m 50

m 50

m 50

m 50

m
(a) (b)
(c) (d)

Figure 2 Photomicrographs of various common iron-containing intermetallics showing their
typical morphologies in Al-5%Si-1%Cu-0.5%Mg-(Fe) alloys: (a) -Al
5
FeSi platelets; (b)
script-like -Al
8
Fe
2
Si; (c) -phase growing from ; (d) script-like -phase.
Another critical issue for iron intermetallics and their effects is the timing at which the different phases
form during solidification, and this is influenced by both the concentrations of the elements involved
and cooling rates. Figure 3 shows a typical cooling curve of an Al-Si-Cu-Mg-Fe alloy with the
location(s) of intermetallic phase formation indicated. Intermetallic particles that form prior to the
solidification of the aluminium dendritic grain network (i.e. that grow freely within the liquid) or that
form at the same time as the dendritic network (but within the remaining liquid) tend to grow much
larger than those that form much later, during or after the period of Al-Si eutectic solidification,
because there is less liquid space available for growth to occur during these later stages. Generally
speaking, the larger the particle, the more detrimental it is likely to be. Increasing the concentration of
Fe (and also Mn) tends to result in earlier formation of intermetallic phase particles and hence more
unconstrained growth is able to occur. A slower cooling rate also increases the risk of forming large
particles because the time available for growth is increased. Iron-bearing intermetallics (especially -
Al
5
FeSi platelets and -Al
15
(Fe, Mn)
3
Si
2
script) can grow up to two or more millimetres in slowly-
cooled Al-Si alloy castings with high Fe and/or Mn levels. However, under normal casting conditions
and moderate Fe levels, these intermetallics grow more typically in the size range of 50 500 m. In
castings with very high cooling rates (e.g. HPDC) and/or when using low Fe levels (e.g. primary alloy
ingot), the intermetallic particles are typically of the order of 10 - 50 m. The effects of Fe level and
cooling rate (as indicated by SDAS) can be seen in Figure 4.


450
500
550
600
650
0 100 200 300 400
Time (s)
T
e
m
p

(
o
C
)
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
d
T
/
d
t
(
o
C
/
s
)
1
2
3
4
5
450
500
550
600
650
0 100 200 300 400
Time (s)
T
e
m
p

(
o
C
)
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
d
T
/
d
t
(
o
C
/
s
)
450
500
550
600
650
0 100 200 300 400
Time (s)
T
e
m
p

(
o
C
)
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
d
T
/
d
t
(
o
C
/
s
)
1
2
3
4
5

Figure 3 Cooling curve and rate of cooling curve for an Al-9Si-3Cu-0.5Mg-1.0Fe alloy. The
labelled peaks represent the following reactions; (1) primary Al dendrites, (2) -Al
5
FeSi,
(3) Al-Si eutectic, (4) complex Mg
2
Si eutectic, (5) complex Al
2
Cu eutectic [2].

Figure 4 Graph showing the maximum observed length of phase platelets versus secondary
dendrite arm spacing for an AlSi7Mg0.3 alloy containing various amounts of iron [3].
The effect of iron on the mechanical properties
The effect of iron on the mechanical properties of aluminium alloys has been reviewed extensively by
Couture [4], Crepau [5] and more recently by Mbuya et al [6]. It is consistently reported that as Fe
levels increase, the ductility of Al-Si based alloys decreases. This is usually accompanied by a
decrease in tensile strength, however in general, the yield strength remains unaffected by iron, unless
ductility is affected so much that the alloy cannot even reach yield before brittle fracture occurs.
The detrimental effect of iron begins at quite low primary Fe levels but becomes far more serious once
a critical Fe level (dependant on alloy composition) is exceeded. The detrimental effect of iron on
ductility is due to two main reasons:
1) the size and number density of iron-containing intermetallics (particularly -phase) increases
with iron content, and therefore since these participate directly in the fracture mechanism, the
more intermetallics there are, the lower the ductility;
2) as iron level increases, porosity increases, and this defect also has an impact on ductility.
The critical iron level is directly related to the silicon concentration of the alloy. Figure 5 shows a
section of the Al-Si-Fe ternary phase diagram that highlights the reason for the existence of a critical
iron content. As the silicon content of the alloy increases, the amount of iron that can be tolerated
before the -phase starts to form prior to the Al-Si eutectic increases. At 5% silicon, the critical iron
content is ~0.35%, at 7%Si it rises to ~0.5, at 9% it is ~0.6 and by 11% it reaches ~0.75%. Also for a
given Fe content, the temperature (and therefore time) at which can form prior to Al-Si eutectic
decreases with increasing Si content. The line AB between the -phase field and the Al phase field is
the period during which the larger and more detrimental intermetallic particles form.
7
Al
5
FeSi
Si
Aluminium
Al
8
Fe
2
Si
wt% Fe
2.0
1.0
wt% Si
4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12
615
o
C
575
o
C
577
o
C
0.0
Fe
crit
-
x
x
y z
y
z
B
A
7
Al
5
FeSi
Si
Aluminium
Al
8
Fe
2
Si
wt% Fe
2.0
1.0
wt% Si
4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12
615
o
C
575
o
C
577
o
C
0.0
Fe
crit
-
x
x
y z
y
z
B
A

Figure 5 Ternary Al-Si-Fe phase diagram showing primary Al solidification paths for all alloys
with Fe
crit
iron levels, and for 5%Si (x-x), 7%Si (y-y)and 9%Si (z-z) alloys with 0.8%Fe.
The points of intersection with line AB is where the formation of large phase platelets
can start to occur before formation of eutectic at B.
When a given cast aluminium alloy (at a given heat treatment, if any) is subjected to tensile testing and
elongated to the point of failure, and the fracture points of each test are plotted, they are seen to fall
along a line of the form shown in Figure 6. These various points of fracture occur because of the
combined effects of several variables such as casting defects (e.g. oxides and porosity), cooling rate
(secondary dendrite arm spacing, SDAS) and Fe content. As an alloy contains fewer defects, has
higher cooling rate (reduced SDAS) and lower Fe content, the fracture points of the tensile specimens
move to higher levels of both ductility and tensile strength. If we take only the best fracture points of
samples with the same SDAS and Fe content (thus effectively eliminating the role of defects) and plot
them against elongation to fracture, as in Figure 7, we can see the effect of Fe content in controlling
ductility. In the example shown in Figures 6 and 7, an Al-7%Si-0.4%Mg alloy made from low iron
primary aluminium given a particular under-aged T6 treatment demonstrates a very strong influence of
even small amounts of iron, even when cooling rates are high (i.e. low SDAS). Unfortunately, iron
intermetallics are not substantially altered during heat treatment.
In many instances however, the effect of iron on an alloys ductility is not so clearly demarcated
because as the Fe level increases above Fe
crit
, the cooling becomes slower and/or there are lots of
casting defects present, the ductility tends to drop to extremely low levels, < 1%, and sometimes
tensile specimens even break before yielding (i.e., < 0.2%).
The reason that Fe-containing intermetallic particles are detrimental to an alloys mechanical
properties is that they are much more easily fractured under tensile load than the aluminium matrix or
the small silicon particles (if modified). Micro-cracks tend to initiate at these particles and they
provide easy pathways for macro-cracks to propagate through. Figure 8 shows samples of both -
Al
5
FeSi platelets and -Al
15
(Fe, Mn)
3
Si
2
script particles that have fractured under tensile loading. It
should be noted that the -platelets tend to be much more prone to fracture and crack linkage than the
-script particles.

0.4% Mg under-aged alloy
y =225.39x
0.1026
R
2
=0.9839
y =2.4709x +259.31
R
2
=0.8004
160
180
200
220
240
260
280
300
320
340
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
Strain (%)
S
t
r
e
s
s

(
M
P
a
)

Figure 6 Graph showing the best average fracture points for under-aged Al-7%Si-0.4% Mg alloy
(with varying Fe levels and SDAS values) and the possible lines of best fit [7].
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 7
SDAS (m)
E
l
o
n
g
a
t
i
o
n

t
o

f
r
a
c
t
u
r
e

(
%
)
0
0.20% Fe
0.05% Fe
0.12% Fe
No Fe

Figure 7 Graph showing maximum ductility (i.e. best elongation to fracture) as a function of SDAS
for various Fe contents (including hypothetical zero iron) for tensile specimens of under-
aged Al-7%Si-0.4% Mg alloy [7].


(a)

(b)
Figure 8 Micrographs of fractured (a) -Al
5
FeSi platelets, and (b) -Al
15
(Fe, Mn)
3
Si
2
script
particles in tested tensile bars of Al-5%Si-1%Cu based alloys (courtesy C. Cceres).
This observation has led to the commonly accepted practice of adding Mn to the moderate to high Fe
aluminium-silicon alloys to promote the formation of the -phase instead of the more detrimental -
phase. This process is called iron neutralisation, or iron correction. The Mn is often added at a Mn:Fe
ratio of at least 0.5, however detailed microstructural observations of a range of Al-Si-Cu-Mg alloys
has shown that even when Mn is added to these levels it is not always possible to completely eliminate
the platelets. Furthermore, the addition of Mn actually results in a higher volume fraction of iron
intermetallic particles that can counter some of the ductility gains to be made. This can also lead to
machining difficulties, especially when the hard phase forms in very large, colonies within the alloy.
Other iron neutralising/correcting elements have been identified and proposed, such as Co, Mo, Cr, Ni
and Be, all of which change the iron intermetallic phase that forms, but none of these find any
widespread use, partly because of cost and also because of health and safety issues. Beryllium,
unfortunately a toxic substance, has been claimed to be particularly effective and has been shown to
result in dramatic improvements to ductility even at addition levels of ~ 0.2%. It is not entirely clear
how beryllium improves ductility. It may in part be due to improved melt oxidation resistance thus
reducing oxide defects, or else the formation of smaller intermetallic particles that form at the centre
of aluminium grains rather than at the more sensitive interdendritic or grain boundary regions.
The effect of iron content on castability
The effect of iron on the castability of Al-Si based alloys has been reviewed extensively by Taylor [8]
and more recently by Mbuya et al [6]. It is generally agreed that iron has the potential to seriously
degrade castability, in particular through an increased tendency to form porosity at high iron levels,
but no particular mechanism enjoys universal agreement. There are two popular theories. First, high
Fe levels result in more particles which then act as nucleation sites for porosity. This mechanism
does not stand up to scrutiny and observations of some pores in close association with platelets is
merely coincidental, not cause and effect. The second idea is that large platelets impede the flow of
interdendritic liquid during feeding and thus shrinkage porosity forms more readily. This seems to be
partly correct, although some other mechanism is also clearly at work.
An investigation carried out by Taylor et al.[9] noted the existence of a critical Fe content that depends
on the silicon level of the alloy (Figure 5). Iron levels above critical, resulted in a solidification
sequence that saw the formation of phase platelets prior to the solidification of the Al-Si eutectic,
and when this occurred there was an increased tendency to form extensive and damaging shrinkage
porosity defects (Figures 9 and 10a). Taylor proposed that the defect porosity occurred because Al-Si
eutectic grains nucleated on these prior platelets and it was this that led to the rapid breakdown in
permeability and hence feeding. Taylor also observed that a minimum level of porosity occurred at the
critical Fe content (Figure 10b) however later work by Otte et al [10] and Dinnis et al [2, 11] has
shown that although the increase in shrinkage porosity is universal for Al-Si-(Cu)-(Mg) based alloys at
super-critical Fe levels, the minimum in porosity level at the critical Fe content is in fact a special
feature of only certain alloy compositions, particularly low silicon alloys containing copper (e.g. 5%Si
compared to 7-9%, with at least 1% copper).
The detrimental effect of iron on porosity formation has been noted to be particularly prominent in
parts of castings with marginal solidification conditions, i.e. poorly-fed hot spots. Nevertheless,
increasing iron levels can also increase the level of background porosity, and hence the total porosity,
throughout a casting even when the critical Fe content is not exceeded (Figure 11).
Dinnis et al [2] have studied how iron interacts with the developing grains of the Al-Si eutectic to
degrade feeding and hence increase porosity. They observed that rather than the -platelets acting as a
strong nucleation sites for the eutectic, an increased iron level actually results in a poisoning of
nucleation sites such that fewer, but much bigger Al-Si eutectic cells form (Figure 12). It is these
larger Al-Si eutectic cells, in conjunction with the large -platelets that appear to reduce permeability
and feeding, and hence increase shrinkage porosity.

0.1
0.7
0.4
1.0
1 mm

Figure 9 Shrinkage porosity in the hot spot region of a cylindrical casting of Al-5Si-1Cu-0.5Mg
alloy with varying iron levels. For this alloy, 0.4 is the critical Fe content [9].
0.00
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.10
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
0.20
0.22
0.24
0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00
Actual Iron Content (%)
E
x
t
e
n
d
e
d
-
D
e
f
e
c
t

S
i
z
e

(a)
0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
1.00
1.20
1.40
1.60
1.80
2.00
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00
Actual iron content (%)
P
o
r
o
s
i
t
y

(
%
)

(b)
Figure 10 Graphs of (a) extended-defect (shrinkage) porosity versus iron content showing a
significant increase after the critical Fe content of 0.4, and (b) total porosity versus iron
content showing a minimum at the critical Fe content, for cylinder castings made from
Al-5Si-1Cu-0.5Mg alloy [9].
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
0.1Fe 0.6Fe 1Fe 1Fe +0.5Mn
P
o
r
o
s
i
t
y

(
%
)
3%Cu
0%Cu
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
0.1Fe 0.6Fe 1Fe 1Fe +0.5Mn
P
o
r
o
s
i
t
y

(
%
)
3%Cu
0%Cu

Figure 11 Graph showing the continual increase in total casting porosity with increasing Fe content
in both copper-free and copper-containing Al-9%Si alloy plate castings. The addition of
Mn, an iron-correcting element reduces porosity in the copper-free alloy, but not in
the Cu-containing alloy [2].
The use of iron correcting elements, particularly Mn and Be, for reducing casting porosity in Al-Si
alloys with high Fe levels has been reported [12]. Addition of Mn to achieve specific Mn:Fe ratios is a
widespread practice in Al-Si based casting alloys to obtain improved mechanical properties (see
earlier section), however it has also been observed to be beneficial in reducing porosity, but the means
by which this occurs and under what circumstances has been unclear. It has been proposed that the -
phase does not restrict feeding like the -platelets do, or that the feeding temperature range is extended
with manganese, but neither has been clearly shown. The work of Dinnis et al [2] has more recently
shown that the presence of Mn in an alloy does not ensure improved porosity. Manganese alone in the
absence of iron does not appear to do anything beneficial, even although the -phase is dominant.
Additionally, manganese appears to provide greater reductions in iron-related porosity in the absence
of Cu (Figure 11). It appears that the benefits provided by Mn additions relate to a reduction in the
poisoning of Al-Si eutectic nucleation sites by Fe (Figure 12). This results in the formation of a greater
number of smaller Al-Si grains during solidification and this in turn results in improved permeability
and feeding, and hence a reduction in porosity. It can also be seen in Figure 12, that the addition of
0.5%Mn to a 1%Fe-containing Al-9%Si alloy is sufficient to reduce porosity levels to those obtained
in the same alloy with 0.6%Fe (i.e. the critical iron content for that composition).

0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Al-9Si Al-9Si-0.5Mg Al-9Si-0.5Mg-3Cu
Nominal Composition
N
u
c
l
e
a
t
i
o
n

E
v
e
n
t
s
/
m
2
(
x
1
0
6
)
0
.
0
F
e
0
.
6
F
e
1
.
0
F
e
1
.
0
F
e
-
0
.
5
M
n
0
.
1
F
e
1
.
0
F
e
0
.
1
F
e
1
.
0
F
e
1
.
0
F
e
-
0
.
5
M
n
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Al-9Si Al-9Si-0.5Mg Al-9Si-0.5Mg-3Cu
Nominal Composition
N
u
c
l
e
a
t
i
o
n

E
v
e
n
t
s
/
m
2
(
x
1
0
6
)
0
.
0
F
e
0
.
6
F
e
1
.
0
F
e
1
.
0
F
e
-
0
.
5
M
n
0
.
1
F
e
1
.
0
F
e
0
.
1
F
e
1
.
0
F
e
1
.
0
F
e
-
0
.
5
M
n

Figure 12 The effect of iron and manganese additions on the Al-Si eutectic grain nucleation density
for three Al-9%Si alloys. Increasing iron levels reduce nucleation density, while Mn
alleviates the poisoning effect of iron to some extent [2].
Practical guidelines for Al-Si casting alloys
Wherever possible, iron levels in Al-Si alloys should be kept as low as practical in order to avoid
the detrimental effects on mechanical properties, particularly ductility and fracture toughness. This
means minimising iron contamination through careful selection of raw materials (i.e. ingots,
silicon, etc.) and the maintenance of good refractory coatings on all steel tools used to prepare and
handle melts.
Iron levels above the critical level for the silicon content of the alloy should be avoided as these
can cause serious loss of ductility in the final cast product and decreased casting productivity
through increased rejects due to shrinkage porosity, and particularly leakers.
The critical iron content (in wt%) for an alloy can be calculated using Fe
crit
0.075 x [%Si] 0.05.
If solidification/cooling rates are very high (e.g. high pressure die casting), super critical iron
contents may not be detrimental, but as the cooling rate decreases (gravity die casting sand
casting, etc.) the probability of super critical iron levels causing problems dramatically increases.
Traditional heat treatment regimes for Al-Si alloys, e.g. T6, do not alter the nature of the offending
Fe-containing phases. As-cast intermetallics are retained and although the overall performance of
an alloy may be improved by heat treatment, it would be better still with low iron levels initially.
Additions of Mn to neutralise the effects of iron are common, at Mn:Fe ratios of ~ 0.5, however,
the benefits of this treatment are not always apparent. Excess Mn may reduce -phase and promote
-phase formation, and this may improve ductility but it can lead to hard spots and difficulties in
machining. Mn additions do not always improve castability and reduce porosity in high Fe alloys.
Its affect is sensitive to alloy composition.
The addition of Mn to melts with high iron levels can also promote the formation of sludge, if the
sludge factor (derived by [%Fe] + 2[%Mn] + 3[%Cr]) exceeds a particular value for a given alloy
and melt holding temperature. This is a serious problem for die-casters who use low melt
temperatures and high impurity secondary alloys.
Acknowledgements
The CRC for Cast Metals Manufacturing (CAST) was established under and is supported in part by
the Federal Governments Cooperative Research Centres Scheme. The author gratefully acknowledges
the research efforts of three postgraduate students over the past few years: Matthew Otte, Stuart
McDonald and, more recently Cameron Dinnis.
References
1. Phillips H W L, Annotated equilibrium diagrams of some aluminium alloy systems, p.8, Institute
of Metals, London, 1959.
2. Dinnis C M, Taylor J A, Dahle A K, Porosity formation and eutectic growth in Al-Si-Cu-Mg
alloys containing iron and manganese, Proceedings of 9
th
International Conference on
Aluminium Alloys, pp. 1016-1021, IMEA, Brisbane, 2004.
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