High-efficiency control of phase separation in Al-based immiscible alloys by TiC particles

In this work, the sedimentation of In/Bi phase in Al-In/Bi immiscible alloy was overcome by the high-efficiency control of its aggregation. Results showed that the addition of TiC particles resulted in a uniformly dispersive micron-sized phase of immiscible alloy. The mechanism for inhibiting phase separation was attributed to be that the suspending TiC particles prevented In/Bi phase from aggregation and sedimentation within liquid miscibility gap. The size and morphology of Bi phase can be modulated by changing the content of TiC particles, from perfect sphere to defective sphere, and then up to irregular micron-sized phase. Our approach fundamentally alters the aggregation mode of droplet, which may provide a general route for fabricating homogeneous immiscible alloy. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.