Purpose: The influence of age-hardening solution treatment at temperature 515 degrees centigrade with holding time 4 hours, water quenching at 40 degrees centigrade and artificial aging by different temperature 130, 150, 170 and 210 degrees centigrade with different holding time 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32 hours on changes in morphology of Fe-rich Al15(FeMn)3Si2and Cu-rich (Al2Cu, Al-Al2Cu-Si) intermetallic phases in recycled AlSi9Cu3 cast alloy. Material/Methods: Recycled (secondary) AlSi9Cu3 cast alloy is used especially in automotive industry (dynamic exposed cast, engine parts, cylinder heads, pistons and so on). Microstructure was observed using a combination of different analytical techniques (scanning electron microscopy upon standard and deep etching and energy dispersive X-ray analysis – EDX) which have been used for the identification of the various phases. Quantitative study of changes in morphology of phases was carried out using Image Analyzer software NIS-Elements. The mechanical properties (Brinell hardness and tensile strength) were measured in line with STN EN ISO. Results/Conclusion: Age-hardening led to changes in microstructure include the spheroidization of eutectic silicon, gradual disintegration, shortening and thinning of Fe-rich intermetallic phases and Al-Al2Cu-Si phases were fragmented, dissolved and redistributed within alpha-matrix. These changes led to increase in the hardness and tensile strength in the alloy.

The effect of possible modification and refining effect of Al-Cu-P-based pre-alloy combined with Fe on the microstructure and the silicon morphology change in hypereutectic Al-Si cast alloy was studied. The samples in the as-cast state were observed by optical and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The 3D morphology of both primary and eutectic silicon was observed by using colour and deep etching in detail. The results showed that the AlCu19P1.4 pre-alloy (1.07 wt.%) combined with the addition of Fe (0.02 wt.%) has a significant effect on the change of the amount, size and morphology of primary Si. This is significantly refined and changes the shape from a coarse irregular star-shaped, polyhedral, or plate-like shape to a fine polyhedral shape. The average size of the primary Si is reduced by about of 78 % from 135 μm to 28 μm and the number of primary Si particles increased from 7.4 to 237. No change in the morphology of the eutectic Si was observed; a refinement of the structure from a coarse needle/plate-like to a fine plate-like structure was seen. The depth etching method using HCl was very effective in the study of the 3D silicon morphology observed, which could be observed in detail without the presence of artefacts.