Application of polarized light microscopy on microstructural characterization of semisolid slurry

In this paper,two ways of micro structural characterization,optical microscopy(OM) and polarized light microscopy(PLM),were both employed to describe the micro structure of semisolid slurry prepared by swirling enthalpy equilibration device(SEED).The results show that PLM is more reliable and accurate than OM to describe the special morphology feature of semisolid slurry made by SEED process.Meanwhile,the effects of pouring temperature and mass of molten liquid on the primary α-Al particle size and morphology were also investigated using PLM.The quantitative metallographic results measured from PLM demonstrate that the grain size and morphology and their distribution are significantly affected by both pouring temperature and the mass of molten liquid.The grain size poured with 2.7 kg liquid decreases from 659 to186 μm,and grain morphology transforms from dendrite to globular structure with pouring temperature reducing from690 to 630℃.The decreasing pouring temperature also promotes the distribution of spherical structure on the cross section.Meanwhile,the mass of molten liquid decreasing from 2.7 to 2.3 kg can decrease the grain size by maximum of 44% at high pouring temperature.