Effect of Al-5Ti-1B-1Re on the Microstructure and Hot Crack of As-Cast Al-Zn-Mg-Cu Alloy

High crack tendency is easy to occur during preparation of the castings and ingots of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy, and it is most difficult to be solved due to the characteristics for the series alloy. As-cast microstructures and hot cracking tendency of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy with different addition levels of Al-5Ti-1B-1Re were investigated in the paper. Moreover, solidification characteristics of the experimental alloys with different mass fractions of Al-5Ti-1B-1Re were analyzed, and the addition content of Al-5Ti-1B-1Re was optimized. These results indicate that the microstructure of the experimental alloys with Al-5Ti-1B-1Re refiner is fine obviously, the dendrite shape refined by Al-5Ti-1B-1Re becomes more globular, the grain boundary is smoother, and the SDAS is smaller compared with the alloy without Al-5Ti-1B-1Re. When the addition level of the grain refiner is less than 0.2%, the hot cracking tendency for the experimental alloy is reduced. The addition of 0.2% Al-5Ti-1B-1Re is best effective to improve the as-cast microstructures and hot cracking of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy, and the best addition level of Al-5Ti-1B-1Re refiner is 0.2%.