In this work, we propose a new method (by remelting Al-5Ti-1B) to investigate the grain refinement mechansim. It is found that the morphology and size of TiAl3 phase had little effect on the grain refinement of pure Al. Therefore, further experimental studies were carried out to understand the potency of TiB2 particles. The high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) observation has confirmed the existence of an atomic layer on the surface of (0001) TiB2, which is possibly a two-dimensional (2D) (1-12) TiAl3. Crystallographic study indicates that it is a more suitable nucleation sites for α-Al than other particles. The TiB2 particle with TiAl3 2D acts as the best effective nucleation sites for α-Al.
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