Dispersion of SiC particles in mechanical stirring of A356-SiC_p liquid

In order to clarify the dispersion of SiC particles in straight-blade mechanical stirring of A1-SiCp liquid, the dispersion of SiC particles in A356-3.5% SiCp （volume fraction） liquid in a cylindrical crucible was studied. The relationship between rotating speed of stirrer and radial relative deviation of SiCp content in A356 liquid between the center and the periphery of crucible was established in the conditions of 35° for the gradient angle a of blade and 10 mm/s for the speed of moving up and down of stirrer. The results show that the radial relative deviation of SiCp content increases gradually with increasing the rotating speed of stirrer. When the rotating speed of stirrer is 200 r/min, the vertical dispersion of SiC particles in A356 liquid is even, but the radial relative deviation of SiCp content is 0.24. Consequently, the northomogeneous dispersion of SiC particles in A356 liquid is mainly resulted from the nonhomogeneous radial dispersion of SiC particles.

Synthesis and characterization of 356-SiC_p composites by stir casting and compocasting methods

Stir casting is one of the simplest ways of producing aluminum matrix composites.However,it suffers from poor incorporation and distribution of the reinforcement particles in the matrix.These problems become especially significant as the reinforcement size decreases due to greater agglomeration tendency and reduced wettability of the particles with the melt.Development of new methods for addition of very fine particles to metallic melts which would result in more uniform distribution and effective incorporation of the reinforcement particles into the matrix alloy is therefore valuable.In this work,356-5%SiCp(volume fraction) composites,with average SiCp sizes of about 8 and 3 μm,were produced by injection of different forms of the reinforcement particles into fully liquid as well as semisolid slurries of 356 aluminum alloy and the effects of the injected reinforcement form and the casting method on distribution of the reinforcement particles as well as their porosity,hardness and impact strength were investigated.The results reveal that addition of SiC particles in the form of(Al-SiCp)cp composite powder and casting in semisolid state decreases the SiCp particle size,enhances the wettability between the molten matrix alloy and the reinforcements and improves the distribution of the reinforcement particles in the solidified matrix.It also increases the hardness and the impact energy of the composites and decreases their porosity.

Role of tensile forces in hot tearing formation of cast Al-Si alloy

The instrumented applied rod casting apparatus （ARCA） was developed to investigate the effects of tensile forces in the hot tearing formation of cast AI-Si alloys. The obtained data of tensile forces/temperature was used to identify hot tearing initiation and propagation and the fracture surface of samples was also investigated. The result shows that the applied tensile forces have a complex effect on load onset for the hot tearing initiation and propagation. During the casting solidification, the tensile forces are gradually increased with the increase of solid fraction. Under the action of tensile forces, there will appear hot tearing and crack propagation on the surface of the sample. When the tensile forces exceed the inherent strength of alloys, there will be fractures on the sample. As for the A356 alloy, the critical fracture stress is about 0.1 MPa. The hot tearing surface morphology shows that the remaining intergranular bridge and liquid films are thick enough to allow the formation of dendrite-tip bumps on the fracture surface.