Mechanism of pulse magneto-oscillation grain refinement on pure Al

Pulse magneto-oscillation (PMO) was developed as a novel technique to refine the solidification structure of pure aluminium.Its grain refining mechanism was proposed.The PMO refinement mechanism is that the nucleus falls off from the mould wall and drifts into the melt under the action of PMO.The solidification structure of Al melt depends on the linear electric current density,and also the discharge and oscillation frequencies.The radial pressure of PMO sound wave is the major factor that contributes to the migration of nucleus into the melt.

Effect of temperature field on solidification structure of pure Al under pulse magneto-oscillation

This article discusses the effect of temperature field on the Pulse Magneto-Oscillation(PMO) induced solidification refinement of pure aluminium to provide more information for the industrial application of the PMO solidification technology.The temperature field is altered mainly by applied variable cooling conditions and pulse parameters.Experimental results show that the refinement effect in the case of full sand mould applied is weakened with the decreasing of cooling rate,however,in the alternative case,the sand mould whose sand bottom was replaced by a graphite block is favorable to the survival of equiaxed nucleus.The refinement mechanism is discussed in terms of the relationship between temperature field and the formation process of solidified structure.The formation or survival of nucleus depends on both temperature field and Joule heat produced by PMO,both low pulse frequency and high pulse current were experimentally confirmed to be effective;and PMO was demonstrated high potential in industrial application.

Grain refinement of commercial pure Al treated by Pulsed Magneto-Oscillation on the top surface of melt

Commercial pure Al can be refined by Pulsed Magneto-Oscillation(PMO) treatment applied via a plate induction coil above the top surface of the melt. The proportion of the equiaxed zone area increases with decreasing Height to Diameter(H/D) ratios from 3.5 to1.8 and further to 1.0. Meanwhile, it increases and then decreases with increasing peak current for the three kinds of ingots with H/D ratios of 3.5, 1.8 and 1.0, respectively. However, when the H/D ratio decreases to 0.44, the area proportion of equiaxed zone can reach the maximum value with a lower peak current. FEA software simulation indicates that smaller H/D ratio results in larger current density, electromagnetic force and convection on the top surface of the melt, favoring nucleation and subsequent grain formation. Through evaluating Joule heating effect by PMO, it was found that the proper amount of Joule heating benefits grain refinement. Excessive Joule heating can reduce the size of the equiaxed zone and change the growth morphology of the grains.

Distribution of nonmetallic inclusions in molten steel under hot-top pulsed magneto-oscillation treatment

To control the distribution of nonmetallic inclusions in molten developed method, hot-top pulsed magneto-oscillation （HPMO）, steel is of highly commercial importance. A newly was employed to control nonmetallic inclusions in a medium-carbon steel ingot. The experimental results present that the position of nonmetallic inclusions of spinel （Al-Mg-O） and Mn-S inclusions is significantly influenced by HPMO. The number of nonmetallic inclusions gradually increased from the lateral wall to the center of ingot along the radial direction under the impact of HPMO treatment, whereas this distribution trend cannot be observed in the reference sample without HPMO treatment. In addition, the number of inclusions along vertical direction is proportional to the height of ingot, especially for the inclusions with the size of larger than 10 pro. It indicates that the application of HPMO can push away inclusions from lateral to center, and then the expelled inclusions aggregate and rise up to the top of ingot.

Distributions of Electromagnetic Fields and Forced Flow and Their Relevance to the Grain Refinement in Al–Si Alloy Under the Application of Pulsed Magneto-Oscillation

Distributions of electromagnetic fields and induced forced flow inside a metal melt are crucial to understand the grain refinement of the metal driven by pulsed magneto-oscillation(PMO).In the present study,PMO-induced electromagnetic fields and forced flow in Ga-20 wt%In-12 wt%Sn liquid metal have been systematically investigated by performing numerical simulations and corresponding experimental measurements.The numerical simulations have been confirmed by magnetic and melt flow measurements.According to the simulated distribution of electromagnetic fields under the application of PMO,the strongest magnetic field,electric eddy current and Lorentz force with inward radial direction inside the melt are concentrated adjacent the sidewall of cylindrical melt at the cross section of middle height of coil.As a result,a global forced flow throughout the whole cylindrical column filled with Ga-20 wt%In-12 wt%Snmelt is initiated with a flow structure of two pair of symmetric vortexring.The PMO-induced electromagnetic fields and forced flow in Al-7 wt%Si melt have been numerically simulated.The contribution of electromagnetic fields and forced flow to the grain refinement of Al-7 wt%Sialloy under the application of PMO is discussed.It indicates that the forced flow may play a key role in the grain size reduction.

Influence of pulsed magneto-oscillation on microstructure and mechanical property of rectangular 65Mn steel ingot

The pulsed magneto-oscillation （PMO） technique has the potential to be applied in the production of heavy steel ingot. In order to confirm it and achieve more insights, the solidification of rectangular 65Mn steel ingot with the size of 220 mm×220 mm × 1000 mm was investigated under the impact of PMO. Experimental results present that PMO treatment can remarkably refine the solidified microstructure of 65Mn steel ingot in comparison with the reference ingot without PMO. The application of PMO not only significantly reduces the grain size, but also promotes the morphology transition of equiaxed grains from well-developed dendritic structures to globular structures. And the resulted globular morphology is mainly due to the fact that the PMO-induced forced flow enhances the stability of crystal growth. As a consequence, the average tensile strength of as-cast samples is enhanced from 643.4 to 762.9 MPa under the application of PMO.

Improving the Solidified Structure by Optimization of Coil Configuration in Pulsed Magneto-Oscillation

Using both numerical and experimental methods, we studied the effect of coil configuration of pulsed magneto-oscillation（PMO） on distribution of electromagnetic field, flow field and solidification structure with the same pulse currentparameters in A1 ingots. We designed and constructed three types of coils： surface pulsed magneto-oscillation, hot-toppulsed magneto-oscillation （HPMO） and combined pulsed magneto-oscillation （CPMO）. PMO treatment refined thesolidification structure in all the ingots. The configuration of the PMO, however, introduced differences in magnetic fieldintensity, electromagnetic force, Joule heat, flow field, equiaxed grain zone, grain size and growth direction of columnargrains. The largest equiaxed grain zone was found in CPMO treated ingot, and the smallest grain size was found in bothHPM0 and CPMO treated ingots. Numerical simulation indicated that difference in electromagnetic field and flow fieldresulted in differences in solidification structure. HPMO is more advantageous over others for large ingot production.

Effects of pulse magneto-oscillation on GCr15 bearing steel continuous casting billet

Pulse magneto-oscillation(PMO)added during solidification could affect the solidification structure and macrosegregation.A modified thermal simulation equipment was applied to prepare GCr15 bearing steel continuous casting billets with different PMO peak currents.Then,metallographic analysis,component analysis and numerical simulation were adopted to study the influence of PMO peak current and its mechanism.The sample with 150 K_(I)A PMO peak current treatment has little difference with the samples without PMO treatment on solidification structure and macrosegregation.As the peak currents are 250 and 350 K_(I)A,the columnar zone increases and macrosegregation aggravated.When 450 K_(I)A peak current is selected,the equiaxed grain ratio is enlarged,and the dendritic grains are refined,and the macrosegregation of C,Cr,Si and Mn is decreased significantly.By analyzing,different convections induced by PMO with various peak currents are the key factor to change the solidification structure and macrosegregation.

Fine equiaxed dendritic structure of a medium carbon steel cast using pulsed magneto-oscillation melt treatment

The application of a pulsed magneto-oscillation （PMO） technique during the solidification of a commercial high melting point medium carbon steel ingot （φ0140 mm × 450 mm） produced fully equiaxed grains in the cast ingot, indicating that the PMO process significantly promotes heterogeneous nucleation near the solid-liquid interface. The vigorous convection induced by PMO forced the partly solidified grains to move from the solid-liquid interface and became randomly distributed throughout the melt, which resulted in the formation of uniformly sized equiaxed dendrites throughout the whole ingot. Building on the developed nucleation mechanism and a flow field simulation of pure aluminum, a PMO-induced grain refinement model for steel is proposed.

Improving ingot homogeneity by modified hot-top pulsed magneto-oscillation

Heavy ingots,especially the ingot of more than 10 t,often contain detrimental heterogeneous defects,such as macrosegregation,shrinkage pipes,and cracks.Hot-top pulsed magneto-oscillation(HPMO)can refine the solidified structure of ingot and improve their homogeneity.However,it may exacerbate the positive segregation at the upper part of the ingot body.Thus,a round table HPMO riser with a feeding part was designed,and the microstructure and macrosegregation of Al–Si alloy ingots solidified with and without HPMO were investigated.The simulation and experimental results indicated that round table HPMO riser could enable fine and uniform solidified structures in the whole ingot body;in the meantime,feeding part allowed the melt with enriched solute to gather in the upper part of the riser until the last solidification stage of ingot.This provides an effective approach for obtaining highly homogenized ingots.

Influence of electromagnetic parameters on solidification structure of pure AI in the case of identical power

Pulsed magneto-oscillation （PMO） as a new electromagnetic technology to generate the grain refinement in metals and alloys was significantly developed in recent years. The influence of electromagnetic parameters on the grain size reduction in pure AI was investigated under the application of PMO with a constant inputting power. The experimental results show that the grain refinement degree could be improved with the increase in the current intensity in the case of the identical power. Moreover, through analysing the electromagnetic force and resistance force applied on the nucleus, a criterion of the nucleus detached from the mould wall was constructed. Based on the criterion, the detachment of nuclei with finer radius could cause better effect of the grain refinement, when applying a higher current peak. The movement of the detached grains was considered by analysing the influence of electromagnetic force and forced flow.