Copper
improves impact toughness at the expense of ductility and
corrosion resistance. Also copper results in the precipitation of
CuAl2 particles and depending of cooling rate and modifier
level, this phase could appear as block and/or (Al–CuAl2) fine
eutectic colonies in the microstructure. The combination of
alloying addition and the liquid alloy treatments is a good
option to get better control of the microstructure during
solidification and hence improves the mechanical properties
eliminating the need of heat treatments, resulting in reduction
of production cost