Chapter 4: Aluminium and Magnesium Casting Alloys

4.1 Aluminium Casting Alloys

TABLE 4.1: ALUMINIUM-SILICON ALLOYS
Specification BS 1490: 1988 Related British Specifications	LM6M(Ge) BS L33	LM20M(Ge)	LM9M(SP)	LM9TE(SP)	LM9TE(SP)	LM13TE(SP)	LM13TF(SP)
Composition (%) (single figure indicates maximum)
Copper	0.1	0.4	0.1	0.7 1.5	0.1	0.20	0.8 1.3
Magnesium	0.1	0.2 0.6	0.2	0.8 1.5	0.1	0.20 0.60	0.8 1.3
Silicon	10.0 13.0	10.0 13.0	10.0 13.0	10.0 12.0	4.5 6.0	6.5 7.0	22 25
Iron	0.6	1.0	0.6	1.0	0.6	0.5	0.7
Manganese	0.5	0.5	0.3 0.7	0.5	0.5	0.3	0.6
Nickel	0.1	0.1	0.1	1.5	0.1	0.1	0.8 1.3
Zinc	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.5	0.1	0.1	0.2
Lead	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Tin	0.05	0.1	0.05	0.1	0.05	0.05	0.1
Titanium	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2 ^{[ ]}	0.2
Other	-	-	-	-	-	-	Cr 0.6; Co 0.5, P ^{[ ]}
Properties of material Suitability for:
Sand casting	E	E ^[*]	G	G	G	G	P
Chill casting (gravity die)	E	E	E	G	G	E	F
Die casting (press die)	G	G	G ^[*]	F ^[*]	G ^[*]	G ^[*]	U
Strength at elevated temperature	P	P	G	E	P	G ^{[ ]}	G
Corrosion resistance	E	G	E	G	E	E	G
Pressure tightness	E	E	G	F	E	G	F
Fluidity	E	E	G	G	G	G	F
Resistance to hot shortness	E	E	E	E	E	G	E
Machinability	F	F	F	F	F	F	P
Melting range, C	565 575	565 575	550 575	525 560	565 625	550 615	520 770
Casting temperature range, C	710 740	680 740	690 740