## 1 Introduction  
Thin aluminum cast structural parts produced by the Vacuum High Pressure Die Casting (HPDC) process are applied more and more in the automotive industry. Among the many commercial cast aluminum alloys used in HPDC production, the AlSi\({}_{10}\)Mg alloy has found significant application due to an excellent combination of its high ductility values with a good crush performance of its final cast parts [1]. The solidification of an aluminum alloy begins at the liquidus temperature with the formation of many small crystal nuclei in the molten metal, promoted by melt undercooling. Further cooling leads to a more significant precipitation of the primary dendritic network of \(\alpha\)-Al crystals. A dendrite is a tree-like crystal structure that grows in molten metal as the alloy freezes. From a single nucleus, the dendrite grows forward (primary) and laterally (secondary) until the primary dendrite meets another dendrite. The temperature at which this occurs is defined as the dendrite coherency temperature and the solid fraction formed until this temperature is named the dendrite coherency point fraction. The development of the \(\alpha\)-aluminum dendritic structure that follows is the growth of the secondary and even tertiary branches with a coarsening of the secondary dendrite arms. Before the molten alloy arrives at the dendrite coherency temperature, the mass feeding of a mixture of the slurry and molten alloy is possible. The impingement of the \(\alpha\)-aluminum crystals at the dendrite coherency temperature significantly reduces the flowability of the residual melt and feeding changes from \"mass\" to inter-dendritic feeding, where the molten metal starts to flow through the solid skeleton of the \(\alpha\)-Aluminum dendrites. The solidification of the primary \(\alpha\)-aluminum dendrites increases the concentration of the alloying elements in the remaining liquid, promoting the precipitation of AlSi primary eutectic phase, as well other inter-metallics in the hypoeutectic alloys [2]. The major alloying elements have a significant impact on the solidification path of the AlSi alloys, but some minor elements or contaminants can also change the solidification path of those alloys [3]. However, there is a lack of knowledge in the available literature on how different minor alloying elements and contaminants alone or in combination with major alloying elements can impact the DCP temperature in the AlSi\({}_{10}\)Mg alloy, based on the available methods applied to detect this point. According to many authors [3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11], the DCP marks the point where casting defects such as shrinkage porosity, hot tearing, and macro-segregation start to appear. A good understanding of the solidification phenomena related to DCP and knowledge of the influence of alloying elements and process parameters on this point are needed for the development of new alloys and, especially, for improving the accuracy of simulation procedures, as well as optimizing HPDC processes. Thermal analysis (TA) is a quite spread quality control system in aluminum casting plants. The solidification path of molten alloys is plotted in a temperature versus time graph. The obtained curve is called the cooling curve and, together with its derivatives, is employed to characterize the solidification path of different alloys. The existing techniques for determination of the DCP are given below. Based on the extended literature research [1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20; 21; 22; 23; 24], there are four main processes for the determination of DCP temperature:  
1. the mechanical (rheological) method,
2. the two thermocouples method using the minimum temperature difference,
3. the single thermocouple method using the minimum of the second derivative of the cooling curve and/or the common point of the second and third derivative in the zero axis,
4. the three thermocouples method determining the thermal diffusivity during solidification.