Materials and Design 32 (2011) 43334340

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Materials and Design

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matdes

Eutectic AlSiCuFeMn alloys with enhanced mechanical properties at room

and elevated temperature
E.R. Wang, X.D. Hui , G.L. Chen
State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 24 February 2011
Accepted 4 April 2011
Available online 13 April 2011
Keywords:
A. Non-ferros metals and alloys
B. Casting
E. Mechanical

a b s t r a c t
In this paper, we report a novel kind of eutectic AlSiCuFeMn alloy with ultimate tensile strength up
to 336 MPa and 144.3 MPa at room temperature and 300 C, respectively. This kind of alloy was prepared
by metal mold casting followed by T6 treatment. The microstructure is composed of eutectic and primary
Si, a-Fe, Al2Cu and a-Al phases. Iron-rich phases, which were identied as BCC type of a-Fe
(Al15(Fe,Mn)3Si2), exist in blocky and dendrite forms. Tiny blocky Al2Cu crystals disperse in a-Fe dendrites
or at the grain boundaries of a-Al. During T6 treatment, Cu atoms aggregate from the super-saturation
solid solution to form GP zones, h00 or h0 . Further analysis found that the enhanced mechanical properties
of the experimental alloy are mainly attributed to the formation of a-Fe and copper-rich phases.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Cast eutectic AlSi alloys have been widely used in the piston of
petrol engines manufacturing because of their low density, high
wear resistance and low expansivity [1]. As the engines are working,
the pistons contact instantaneously to the hot gas, of which the temperature may reach as high as 2200 C. The temperature at the top of
the piston is up to 300400 C [2]. Besides the high temperature gas,
the piston also bears the gas pressure as high as 46 MPa for gas engine or 69 MPa for diesel engine. For turbine engine or heavy-duty
car, the gas pressure that piston bears may further increased. Under
such a severe working condition, it is vital for piston materials to
possess excellent high temperature mechanical properties.
To improve the elevated temperature mechanical properties of
AlSi alloys, peoples have tried to prepare AlSi alloys by alloying
or innovative processes such as spray forming and thixoforming
technologies [3,4]. For example, a kind of deforming AlSi alloy
with low iron content (<0.3 wt.% Fe) prepared through thixoforming has been reported previously, and the ultimate tensile strength
(UTS) of this alloy increases up to 397 MPa after hot working [5].
Keeping G/R in the range of 1001000 C s/cm2 (where G is temperature gradient and R is the growth rate of solid phase) during solidication, a serials of squeeze formed AlSi alloys with 1.01.4 wt.%
Ni and 1416 wt.% Si are fabricated and exhibit a maximum UTS of
380 MPa after T6 treatment [6]. All these efforts mentioned above
indeed improve the mechanical properties of AlSi alloys. However, the production costs of these technologies are obviously higher than that of the conventional mold cast.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 10 62333066; fax: +86 10 62332508.
E-mail address: xdhui@ustb.edu.cn (X.D. Hui).
0261-3069/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2011.04.005

Alternatively, elements such as Ni, Mo, Ta, V, Sc, Cu, Fe and Mn

are often added as important strengthening elements for special
purpose [4,711]. The addition of these elements results in the
improvement in tensile properties by the formation of intermetallics and solid solution strengthening of a-Al matrix. Of the above
strengthening elements, the noble elements of Ni, V, Sc, etc. combined with some traditional alloying elements such as Cu and Mg
were often placed emphasis on. For instance, with the addition of
2.54.0 wt.% Cu and 1.73.0 wt.% Ni, the UTS of the metal mold cast
AlSi alloy reaches 264 MPa at room temperature after T6 heat
treatment [12]. Copper is an important alloying element in AlSi
alloys and imparts good heat treatability to castings owing to the
large solid solubility in aluminum matrix. However, the amount
of Cu is usually controlled below 3.0 wt.% due to the worry about
the formation of micro-porosities which act as micro-crack sources
during tensile process [13,14]. In addition, Cu inclines to aggregate
in the melt owing to the large specic gravity comparing to the elements of Al and Si, which limits the precipitation strength induced
by Cu from further increase inevitably.
Iron is traditionally considered as a harmful element in AlSi alloys since the coarse and brittle lamellar b-Fe (Al5FeSi) crystals
may be formed as a primary phase when the Fe content is more
than 0.5 wt.% [15]. Thereafter, it is found that a-Fe (Al15(Fe,
Mn)3Si2) can be formed if both the Fe and Mn are added under a
certain cooling rate during the solidication [1618]. Due to its
Chinese script morphology, a certain amount of a-Fe dendrites indeed improve the elevated temperature tensile strength and retard
the micro-cracks extension during tensile process [1921]. Hence
the negative effects caused by the hard, brittle iron-rich phases
are partially neutralized. Owing to the relatively higher formation
temperature, iron-rich phases often act as the nucleation sites of

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E.R. Wang et al. / Materials and Design 32 (2011) 43334340

Al2Cu [22,23], which indicates that the addition of Fe can improve

the homogeneous distribution of Cu in aluminum matrix.
Based on these experimental results, we have developed a new
kind of eutectic AlSi alloys with the addition of Cu, Fe and Mn up
to 5.0 wt.%, 0.8 wt.% and 0.6 wt.%, respectively [24]. This kind of alloy exhibits tensile strength up to 336 MPa at room temperature,
promising a good engineering material for the piston of heavy-duty
engine. However, the high temperature properties of these alloys
have been still unacquainted. Furthermore, the rened structure
characterization of these alloys is still needed to clarify the
strengthening mechanism. In this work, we report our experimental results of tensile properties of AlSiCuFeMn alloys at elevated temperature. The rened microstructure and fracture
morphologies were examined in detail. Based on the analysis of
the mechanical properties and the microstructure, the strengthening mechanism is discussed.
2. Experimental
2.1. Alloy preparation
The casting chemical composition is designed based on Al13.0 wt.% Si and substantial chemical compositions of these alloys
are listed in Table 1 (all the compositions quoted in this work are in
wt.%, unless otherwise stated). The alloys were melted in graphite
Table 1
Nominal chemical composition of experimental alloys.
Alloys

CF6
CU6

Chemical composition (wt.%)

Si

Fe

Cu

Mn

Ti

Mg

Ni

Zr

Al

13.0
13.0

0.6
0.6

3.0
5.0

0.6
0.6

0.15
0.15

<0.4
<0.4

<0.3
<0.3

<0.3
<0.3

Bal
Bal

(a)

crucibles in an electrical resistance furnace at 800 C. After the alloys melted completely, phosphorus-modication was carried out
by adding Al4.8% P master alloy with an adding amount of 0.8
1.0% and degassing was conducted at 760 C by injecting dry argon
into the melt. After decreasing the temperature to 710720 C and
keeping for 1015 min, the molten alloy was poured into the metal
mould (preheated to 165175 C) quickly and smoothly.

2.2. Characterization of microstructure and mechanical properties

The mechanical test bars were designed according to [25]. The
gauge length is of 50.0 mm and the cross-section diameter is of
10.0 mm. The test bars did not need any extra machining. The test
bars were solution heated at 510 5 C for 6 h, then quenched into
water at room temperature, followed by articial aging at
160 5 C for 8 h (i.e. T6 heat treatment). The heat-treated test
bars were pulled to fracture using CMT4105 universal testing machine at room temperature with an extension rate of 1.0 mm/min.
The elevated temperature tensile properties were tested according
to [26]. The tensile test was performed at 280 C, 300 C, 320 C
and 340 C with a holding time of 30 min. The heating rate is
15 C/min and the extension rates are 2.05.0 mm/min.
Metallographic specimens were all taken from the same locations of the tensile test bars near the fracture surface for the transverse section fracture examination and then cut the test bars into
two halves across the fracture surface to obtain at surface parallel
to the loading axis for the longitudinal section fracture examination. After mechanical grinding and polish, the specimens were
etched using Keller solution. The precipitations and fractographs
were examined using optical microscope (OM, Leica Optical Microscope) and scanning electron microscope (SEM, ZEISS SUPRA55
SEM). Crystallography of the precipitated phases was analyzed by
using transmission electron microscope (TEM, JEM-2100 TEM).

(b)

100 m

100 m

(c)

(d)

100 m

100 m

Fig. 1. Optical microscopy images of: (a) as-cast CF6, (b) CF6 after T6 treatment, (c) as-cast CU6 and (d) CU6 after T6 treatment.

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E.R. Wang et al. / Materials and Design 32 (2011) 43334340

3. Results and discussion

(a)

3.1. Microstructure

40 m

(b)

40 m
Fig. 2. Backscatter SEM images of: (a) CF6 and (b) CU6 alloy after T6 treatment.

(a)
110

020

The optical microscopy images of CF6 and CU6 before and after
T6 treatment are shown in Fig. 1. It is found that there are primary
and eutectic Si phases in the a-Al matrix. Most polygonal primary
Si particles disperse in matrix with the diameter less than 18 lm.
The morphology of primary Si particles hardly changes after T6.
Eutectic Si phase in as-cast ingots are lamellar, which is typical
in AlSi eutectic alloy. After T6 treatment, the eutectic Si is changed from lamellar into short rod-like with the diameter less than
5 lm. The short eutectic Si rods align along with their origin grain
orientation.
In CF6 and CU6 alloy, Cu, Fe and Mn were added as alloying elements. Thus it is reasonable to deduce that there is either iron-rich
or copper-rich phase besides the above mentioned Si and a-Al.
Fig. 2 shows the backscatter SEM images of CF6 and CU6 alloys
after T6 treatment. In CF6 alloy, coarse Chinese script iron-rich
phase disperses in matrix with a cluster size about 1540 lm.
With the Cu addition increased to 5%, the morphologies of iron-rich
phases changed. A certain amount of polyhedral iron-rich phases
occurred while the size of Chinese script phase becomes rened.
Mondolfo considered that Mn, Cr and Cu can improve the stability
of iron-rich phases [27]. That means that iron-rich phases can form
as primary phase and distribute in matrix with the equiaxial or
blocky shape at high Cu content (e.g. 5.0% Cu) [28,29]. Due to addition of 0.6% Mn and relative large cooling rate (about 15 K/s), ironrich phases may precipitate in the form of a-Fe, which can be conrmed by the TEM analysis as shown in the next sections.
Fig. 3 presents the TEM analysis of iron-rich phases in CF6 alloy.
It is seen that the iron-rich phase exhibit two kinds of morphology,

(b)
011

110

1 m

101
110

1 m

(c)

2.53 nm

5 nm
Fig. 3. TEM analysis of CF6 alloy after T6: (a) and (b) bright eld TEM images showing the Chinese script and polyhedral Al15(Fe,Mn)3Si2 phases with the SADPs of B = [0 0 1]
and B = [1 1 1], respectively, (c) HRTEM image of the Chinese script Al15(Fe,Mn)3Si2 phase.

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E.R. Wang et al. / Materials and Design 32 (2011) 43334340

i.e. Chinese script and polyhedral shape. From the selected area diffraction patterns (SADP), the precipitates are identied as a-Fe
(Al15(Fe,Mn)3Si2), which have body center cubic (BCC) structure
with a lattice constant of a = 1.267 nm for Chinese script a-Fe,
and 1.313 nm for blocky a-Fe, respectively. The EDS analysis (not
shown here) indicates that the blocky a-Fe contains more Mn than
Chinese script a-Fe. The difference in the crystallographic lattice
constants between the two forms of a-Fe may be due to the difference in atomic size of Mn and Fe (rFe = 1.24 and rMn = 1.36 ).
In this work, we also found that there are copper-rich phases in
the microstructure. Fig. 4 shows the TEM observation of copperrich phases in as-cast CF6 alloy. It is seen that the copper-rich
phases exist in two different forms: one is at the grain boundaries
with a blocky shape, the other distributes in the iron-rich phase
which act as the nuclei of copper-rich phase. Combined with SADP
and EDS analysis, the copper-rich phase can be identied as Al2Cu.
The Fig. 4c also shows that the iron-rich phase contains Al, Si, Fe
and Mn, indicating that Mn is the indispensible element for the formation of a-Fe phases in present work.
Now we have claried that there are eutectic and primary Si, aFe, Al2Cu and a-Al phases in the microstructure. These phases are
formed during solidication process. Because the solidication
proceeds at a relative high cooling rate, it is easy to understand
that a-Al phase should contain super-saturated Cu, which will precipitate from a-Al in T6 process. Fig. 5 shows the HRTEM analysis
of a-Al phase of CU6 alloy. In previous work, the precipitation sequence of Cu is reported to be solid solution segregation (SSS)-GPh00 -h0 -h (Al2Cu) [30]. From Fig. 5a, it can be seen that there are no
precipitate free zones (PFZ) near grain boundaries, which means

(a)

the grain boundaries are strongly strengthened by copper-rich precipitates. GP zones with 1.52.5 nm in width, in which Cu atoms
aggregate, are observed in Fig. 5b. The GP zones keep coherence
with matrix, and form the coherence strain zones, resulting in
the improvement of the matrix strength. Generally, the dislocations are the prior sites for the aggregation of Cu atoms during heat
treatment. Once the Cu atoms are aggregated, the original crystal
lattice at the vicinity of the dislocations is distorted due to the different size between the two kinds of atoms. Fig. 5c shows the
structure of h00 precipitates with the size about 6 nm. The h00 still
hold coherence with matrix. The distortion of h00 lattice is enhanced
due to the further aggregation of Cu atoms. The aluminum matrix
is mostly strengthened owing to the existence of the h00 , and exhibits peak hardness for aged alloys. The lattice constant of h0 is obviously different from the above two stages, as shown in Fig. 5d.
There is partial coherence relation at the boundaries between h0
and matrix, i.e., lattice distortion decreases. At this stage, the effect
of precipitates on retarding dislocations is limited. Fig. 5e and f
shows two possible sites for the formation of h0 , one is at dislocation and the other at the lattice distortion zone. From the above
analysis, it is seen that T6 process results in the formation of GP
zone, h0 and h00 in the aluminum matrix, which may play enhanced
strengthening effect.
3.2. Mechanical properties at room and elevated temperature
The tensile properties of CF6, CU6 alloys and several commercial AlSi eutectic alloys [3133] at room and elevated temperature are summarized in Table 2. It is seen that the present alloys

(b)

Grain boundaries

Iron-rich phases

312

Copper-rich phases

222

110

1 m
2.0

(d)
1.8

Iron-rich phase EDS

Al

Copper-rich phase EDS

Al

1.6
1.4

KCont

KCont

(c)2.6
2.4
2.2
2.0
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0

4 m

Fe
Si
Mn

Si

1.2

Cu

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4

MnFe

Cu

0.2
0.0

Energy,kev

10

10

Energy,kev

Fig. 4. TEM analysis of as-cast CF6 alloy: (a) bright eld TEM image showing blocky Al2Cu phases disperse at grain boundaries with the SADP of B=[1 1 2]; (b) dark eld TEM
image showing copper-rich phase distributed in the iron-rich phases; (c) EDS of iron-rich phase marked with arrows in (b); (d) EDS of copper-rich phase marked with circles
in (b).

E.R. Wang et al. / Materials and Design 32 (2011) 43334340

4337

Fig. 5. HTEM images of CU6 alloy after T6 treatment showing: (a) the precipitation of copper-rich phases, (b) GP zones in which Cu atoms segregated locally, (c) h0 0 in which
there is the lattice distortion, (d) h0 in which the re-arrangement of Cu atoms occurs, (e) h0 formed at dislocations, marked with arrow, and (f) h0 formed at the lattice distortion
elds, marked with circle.

exhibit excellent mechanical properties at room and elevated temperatures. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS), yield strength (YS)
and the elongation (EL) of CF6 alloy at room temperature reach
285 MPa, 210 MPa, and 2.7%, respectively. For CU6, the UTS and
YS are obviously increased, whereas the EL is reduced, due to the
increase of Cu content from 3% to 5%. It is also seen that both of
the UTS of CF6 and CU6 alloy are larger than that of LM13,
A0336, and AC8A. In addition, the EL of the experimental alloys
has also been improved signicantly.
Now let us focus on the mechanical properties of CF6 and CU6
at elevated temperature. As shown in Fig. 6, all the interested alloys show a decrease in UTS and YS, and an increase in EL with
the increase of temperature. However, the mechanical properties
at same temperature are different among these alloys. It is seen
that from Fig. 6, the UTS and YS of CF6 alloy are lower than those

of CU6 alloy, but the EL of CF is higher than that of CU6 alloy. This
means that the increase in Cu content obviously results in
strengthening effect. When compared the mechanical properties
of CF6 and CU6 with those of A1, A2 and several commercial alloys
[34], it is seen that the UTS of CU6 alloy are higher than those of
AC8A about 50% at 300 C and the variation of YS increases up to
56%, whereas the EL of CU6 is very near that of A1 alloy. These data
indicate that the CF6 and CU6 alloy are more reliable at elevated
temperature for engineering applications. The addition of Fe and
Mn are also benecial to the increase of the strength, and do not
show harmful effects on the plasticity at elevated temperature. In
addition, it can be seen from Table 2 that, to improve the elevated
temperature mechanical properties of A1 and A2 alloy, a large
amount of Ni, V and Mg were added. Although the mechanical
properties of these alloys have been enhanced to some extent,

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E.R. Wang et al. / Materials and Design 32 (2011) 43334340

Table 2
Tensile properties of the present and previously reported alloys at room and elevated temperature.
Alloys

Temperature (C)

Tensile properties

Composition (wt.%)

UTS (MPa)

YS (MPa)

EL (%)

285 5
175 6
138 4
119 5
92 3

210 4
158 5
125 3
108 3
85 4

2.7 0.2
6.3 0.3
8.5 0.2
10.0 0.3
18.7 0.3

As shown in Table 1

CF6

25
280
300
320
340

336 5
182 5
144 3
119 4
97 3

280 3
163 4
130 3
109 4
88 4

0.82 0.2
3.5 0.2
7.2 0.2
8.0 0.3
11.2 0.3

As shown in Table 1

CU6

25
280
300
320
340

A1 [34]

250
300

153
93

125
70

2.7
7.4

Al13.00Si4.03Cu0.92Mg1.90Ni0.16V

A2 [34]

250
300

141
94

120
71

2.5
5.9

Al13.72Si2.00Cu1.08Mg2.36Ni0.20V

A0336 [31]

25
315

276
70

28

10

Al13.00Si1.00Cu1.00Mg2.50Ni0.35Zn

AC8A [32]

25
300

270
73

57

Al13.00Si1.30Cu1.30Mg1.50Ni0.50Cr

LM13 [33]

25

252

Al13.00Si1.50Cu1.30Mg1.50Ni0.50Zn

Note: Results of the tensile tests in present work: average values and standard deviations based on three tested samples per-condition.

the production costs increase largely and inevitably. Hence, the

experimental alloys may be the potential engineering alloys owing
to their reliability and economic serviceability.

200
CF
CU
A1
A2

UTS / MPa

175

3.3. Strengthening effects of iron- and copper-rich phases

150

125

100

75
250

275

300

325

350

Temperature / C

(a)
CF
CU
A1
A2

18
15

EL / %

12
9
6
3
0

250

275

300

325

350

Temperature / C

(b)
Fig. 6. Temperature dependence of (a) ultimate tensile strength and (b) elongation
of CF, CU, A1 and A2 alloys.

From the above section, it is seen that the addition of Cu, Fe, and
Mn results in an enhancement of tensile properties at room and
elevated temperature. Here we intent to discuss the strengthening
effect of these elements from the fracture characterization.
Fig. 7 presents the longitude microstructure beneath the fracture surfaces of CF6 and CU6 alloy. It can be seen that the specimen
fracture mainly across a-Al and eutectic Si phases. The eutectic Si
rods at fracture surface present intercrystalline fracture feature
(Fig. 7a and b pointed by arrows). Although many a-Fe particles
can also be observed at or beneath the fracture surface (Fig. 7c
and d), intercrystalline fracture seldom occurs in a-Fe dendrites.
It can be seen that large amount of eutectic Si crystals precipitate
at the fracture surface and the crack of eutectic Si crystals results
in the formation of secondary cracks, such as shown in Fig. 7c
and d. In addition, most micro-cracks propagate along the boundary between the a-Fe and a-Al matrix and relatively less iron-rich
phases exist at the fracture surfaces. These results demonstrate
that the eutectic Si phases are the weak locations in matrix comparing to the a-Fe phases and facilitate the formation of cracks
during tensile process.
As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, blocky Al2Cu phase usually precipitates between the grain boundaries of a-Al matrix, or in the a-Fe
dendrites. Owing to the relatively high cooling rate during solidication, the super-saturation solid solution of Cu is formed. After
the solution treatment, parts of Al2Cu re-dissolved in the a-Al matrix, which further increases the content of Cu in a-Al matrix. During the subsequent articial aging, the Cu atoms aggregate locally
and separate out from the super-saturation regions in the form of
GP zones, h00 , h0 and the tiny sphere like Al2Cu particles. Fig. 8 presents the images of tiny Al2Cu particles distributed beneath and at
the fracture surface of CU6 alloy. From Fig. 8ac, it can be seen that
parts of Al2Cu particles with a diameter size less than 2.0 lm precipitated around the blocky iron-rich phases during solidication.

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E.R. Wang et al. / Materials and Design 32 (2011) 43334340

(a)

(b)

70 m

70 m

(d)

(c)

Cracked Eutectic
Si Crystal

10 m

20 m

Fig. 7. Proles of CF6 and CU6 alloy beneath the fracture surfaces: (a) intercrystalline crack of eutectic Si particles at the fracture surface in CF6; (b) intercrystalline crack of
eutectic Si particles beneath the fracture surface in CF6; (c) secondary cracks induced by the eutectic Si crack at the fracture surface of CU6; (d) secondary crack induced by
the eutectic Si crack beneath the fracture surface of CU6.

(a)

(b)
A
B

30 m

(c)

(d)

3 m

Fig. 8. Copper-rich phases precipitated at and beneath the fracture surface of CU6 alloy: (a) copper-rich phases separated out in conjunction with a-Fe; (b) EDS analysis of
locations marked with A; (c) EDS analysis of locations marked with B; (d) copper-rich phases distributed at the fracture surface.

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E.R. Wang et al. / Materials and Design 32 (2011) 43334340

This kind of conjunction precipitates can signicantly hinder the

deformation of the iron-rich phases during tensile test and prevent
the iron-rich phases from breaking under a relative low stress concentration, which is benet for the nal mechanical properties of
the matrix.
Compared with the tiny Al2Cu particles precipitated after T6
treatment, the strengthening effect of blocky Al2Cu phases may
be slightly decreased because of their large size (>5.0 lm). Even
so, the Al2Cu phases may still play obvious strengthening effect.
This deduction may be reected by the SEM morphology of the
fracture surface as shown in Fig. 8d. It is seen that there are tiny
sphere Al2Cu particles in the dimples. No cleavage occurs in these
Al2Cu particles. The cracks cannot cut across these particles and are
deected along their surfaces. These results demonstrate that these
precipitated copper-rich phases can inhibit the propagation of
cracks effectively, and provide a signicant precipitation strength
effect.
4. Conclusions
(1) Through the optimization of Cu, Fe and Mn content, eutectic
AlSiCuFeMn alloys with enhanced room and elevated
mechanical properties were developed. The UTS of these
alloys at 300 C are larger than that of commercial eutectic
AlSi alloys by about 50%, whereas the EL does not show
decrease.
(2) The microstructure of these two alloys is composed of eutectic and primary Si, a-Fe, Al2Cu and a-Al phases. Primary Si
presents a shape of polyhedral. The eutectic Si is changed
from lamellar to short rod shape after T6. Iron-rich phases
are identied as a-Fe (Al15(Fe,Mn)3Si2) with different morphologies and possess BCC lattice constants of 1.267 nm for
Chinese script a-Fe, 1.313 nm for blocky a-Fe respectively.
(3) Copper-rich phases precipitated during solidication are
tiny blocky Al2Cu crystals dispersed in a-Fe dendrites or at
the grain boundaries of a-Al. After heat treatment, Cu atoms
aggregate from super-saturation solid solution to form GP
zones and most of them exist in the form of h00 or h0 .
(4) From the fracture feature, it is found that the eutectic Si
crystals provide the weaker locations than that of the a-Fe
phase. Copper-rich phases play important role in the
improvement of mechanical properties by neutralizing the
negative effects of iron-rich phases and the strengthening
effects on the a-Al matrix.

Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for nancial support from National Basic Research Program of China (2007CB613901).
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