A Personal View of Microstructure and Properties of Al Alloys

This paper presents a personal view by the author of the role of bifilms in Al alloys. The mantra 'microstructure determines properties' is widely accepted as a truism, but is here critically assessed and found wanting. The case is made that bifilms from the casting process, while often invisible in the microstructure, are usually at least as important, if not of far greater importance, because they are often present as a dense population of cracks throughout the metal. The bifilm population controls the morphology of many features of cast and wrought structures. For cast alloys, bifilm control of pore morphology and Si morphology in Al-Si alloys is discussed, as is dendrite arm spacing (DAS). The tensile property benefits of grain refinement are seen to be mainly bifilm controlled. The properties ductility and fatigue appear to be especially dominated by bifilm content, as are invasive corrosion processes such as pitting, intergranular corrosion, hydrogen blistering and cracking. Bifilm control is proposed as a new concept permitting the improvement and control of metallurgical properties.