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This paper focuses on the effect of AlTi3B1 grain refiner on the microstructure and mechanical properties of AlCu4Mg1 alloy. Inoculant in the form of a master alloy with a titanium content of 3 [wt%] and boron content of 1 [wt%] was added to the alloy in various amounts. Boron is completely bound in the insoluble TiB2 phase, which is usually very finely precipitated in the master alloy. The residue of the titanium content is precipitated in the form of polyhedral particles of the melt-soluble intermetallic phase TiAl3. Inoculation of aluminium alloys is performed in order to improve the mechanical and technological properties of the material. In the case of inoculation, this improvement is mainly due to an increase in chemical and structural homogeneity and a decrease in the tendency to segregate individual elements. Optical microscopy was used to observe the microstructure, which evaluated the structure and its changes depending on the content of the inoculant and also the effect of heat treatment. In this experiment, we further focused on the hardness of the AlCu4Mg1 alloy after heat treatment and the addition of various amounts of inoculant. Hardness was evaluated from both a macro and a micro perspective using the Brinell and Vickers method. This is because the microhardness of the alloy can be significantly affected by the occurrence of chemical heterogeneity in the solidified casting.
Keywords: AlCu4Mg1, inoculation, AlTi3B1, heat treatment, microhardness, microstructure© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.