Effects of solid deformation and melt vibration on structure and refining performance of Al5Ti1B master alloy

Grain refinement can offer significant benefits to both continuous casting and cast to shape products, and Al5Ti1B master alloy containing mainly TiAl 3 and TiB 2 particles in Al matrix has been proven to perform well for giving the best refinement, but the working method of adding Al5Ti1B rod to the furnace during casting are often related to solid deformation, and melt vibration may help to reduce the size of TiAl 3 and improve the distribution of TiB 2. Therefore the effects of solid deformation and melt vibration on the structures and refinement performance of Al5Ti1B master alloys were studied. The experimental results show that both solid deformation and melt vibration can improve the distribution of TiB 2 in Al5Ti1B master alloys, increase the interface energy and nucleation activity of TiB 2 particles. In the meantime, solid deformation can store deformation energy and melt vibration can break fragile plate like TiAl 3 compounds. So both methods can improve the refinement effectiveness of Al5Ti1B master alloys.