Influence of Process Parameters and Sr Addition on the Microstructure and Casting Defects of LPDC A356 Alloy for Engine Blocks

The effects of Sr addition and pressure increase on the microstructure and casting defects of a low-pressure die cast （LPDC） AISi7Mg0.3 alloy have been studied. Metallographic and image analysis techniques have been used to quantitatively examine the microstructural changes and the amount of porosity occurring at different Sr levels and pressure parameters. The results indicate that an increase in the filling pressure induces lower heat dissipation of the liquid close to the die/core surfaces, with the formation of slightly greater dendrite arms and coarser eutectic Si particles. On the other hand, the increase in the Sr level leads to finer microstructural scale and eutectic Si. The analysed variables, within the experimental conditions, do not affect the morphology of eutectic Si particles. Higher applied pressure and Sr content generate castings with lower amount of porosiW. However, as the filling pressure increases the flow of metal inside the die cavity is more turbulent, leading to the formation of oxide films and cold shots. In the analysed range of experimental conditions, the design of experiment methodology and the analysis of variance have been used to develop statistical models that accurately predict the average size of secondary dendrite arm spacing and the amount of porosity in the low-pressure die cast AISiTMg0.3 alloy.

Elimination of misrun and gas hole defects of investment casting TiAl alloy turbocharger based on numerical simulation and experimental study

Casting technology of thin-wall TiAl alloy turbochargers was studied by investment casting and numerical simulation.Misruns and gas holes were the main defects observed in preliminary work due to the poor fluidity of alloy,and to gas entrapment.In order to eliminate these defects,cast parameters,such as centrifugal rotation rate and mould preheating temperature,were optimized by numerical simulation,meanwhile,the structure of the shell mould was optimized to improve the filling capacity of TiAl alloy.Pouring experiments were carried out by vacuum induction melting furnace equipped with a water-cooled copper crucible based on the above optimization.The quality of the TiAl alloy casting was analyzed by fluorescent penetrant inspection and X-ray detection.The results show that a centrifugal rotation rate of 200 rpm,mould preheating temperature of 600°C,shell preparation through organic fiber addition can dramatically improve the mould filling capacity,and integrated turbochargers were finally prepared.

Confluence and cold shut computation based on time field in casting simulation

Numerical simulation technology has been widely used in the foundry industry to analyze and improve casting processes.During the casting filling process,many filling-related defects form easily at the confluences of liquid metal streams.The main filling-related defects are cold shut defects.To calculate the positions of casting defects,the characteristics of liquid metal confluences were analyzed.The flow front of liquid metal was captured by the volume-of-fluid algorithm to obtain a time field,which was used to calculate the time derivatives of the liquid front position and the confluences of liquid metal streams.To distinguish small confluences from the main confluences,the concept of confluent scale was developed,which was used to filter the small confluences based on a threshold.The calculation process was demonstrated through the post-processing of numerical simulation.A "W" shaped casting and a steering wheel casting were calculated to validate the accuracy of the method developed in this study.The positions of cold shut defects were predicted by calculating the confluences of liquid metal streams.The method was proved to be practical by comparing the calculation results with the positions of cold shut defects in an end cover casting.The computation of confluences and cold shut defects can improve the analysis efficiency and provide assurance for the optimization of a casting process plan.

Casting of aluminum-copper based alloy by controled difusion solidiication

A quaternary alloy （Al-5.0Cu-0.35Mn-0.25Ti, wt.%）, having a similar chemical component with ZL205A, was prepared using a controlled diffusion solidification （CDS） process and a conventional casting process. The effect of the casting process on microstructure and hardness was investigated. The grain morphology and casting defects of the al oy prepared via the conventional casting and CDS were observed and compared at various pouring temperatures. Results show that the CDS process can al eviate the hot tearing defects and reduce the density of porosity, while getting rid of the riser that is general y used for feeding during conventional casting. Structure observations show that the grain morphology of the conventional cast al oy is mainly dendritic, and the grain size decreases when the pouring temperature is decreased, while the CDS cast al oy consists of a large number of spherical grains, which can decrease the thermal cracking tendency and segregation defect, and enhance the hardness of the alloy.

Influence of random shrinkage porosity on equivalent elastic modulus of casting： A statistical and numerical approach

Shrinkage porosity is a type of random distribution defects and exists in most large castings. Different from the periodic symmetry defects or certain distribution defects, shrinkage porosity presents a random "cloud-like" configuration, which brings difficulties in quantifying the effective performance of defected casting. In this paper, the influences of random shrinkage porosity on the equivalent elastic modulus of QT400-18 casting were studied by a numerical statistics approach. An improved random algorithm was applied into the lattice model to simulate the "cloud-like" morphology of shrinkage porosity. Then, a large number of numerical samples containing random levels of shrinkage were generated by the proposed algorithm. The stress concentration factor and equivalent elastic modulus of these numerical samples were calculated. Based on a statistical approach, the effects of shrinkage porosity's distribution characteristics, such as area fraction, shape, and relative location on the casting's equivalent mechanical properties were discussed respectively. It is shown that the approach with randomly distributed defects has better predictive capabilities than traditional methods. The following conclusions can be drawn from the statistical simulations:(1) the effective modulus decreases remarkably if the shrinkage porosity percent is greater than 1.5%;(2) the average Stress Concentration Factor(SCF) produced by shrinkage porosity is about 2.0;(3) the defect's length across the loading direction plays a more important role in the effective modulus than the length along the loading direction;(4) the surface defect perpendicular to loading direction reduces the mean modulus about 1.5% more than a defect of other position.

The mystery of molten metal

Recent advances in scientific understanding of high-temperature materials processing using novel experimental methodologies have shed light on the complex role of surface and interface phenomena. New in-situ studies on molten metal/solid ceramic interactions using a unique experimental complex at the Foundry Research Institute, Krakow, have revealed a number of unusual observations in materials processing at high temperatures. We present some such unusual observations and their explanation with reference to liquid metal processing of Al, Ni, and Ti, and their alloys in contact with oxide ceramics. In particular, we focus on the following aspects: primary oxidation of Al from residual water vapor or oxygen, capillary purification to remove surface oxide, substrate protection by CVD carbon, roughening due to spinel whisker formation, inclusions in castings due to mechanical detachment, floatation due to buoyancy forces, and segregation due to directional solidifciation, modification of the solid surface morphology by metal vapor ahead of the liquid, and the complication due to multi-component alloys melted in crucibles made from complex oxide-based ceramics. In the case of Ti, rapid reactions with oxides result in undesirable volumetric changes that create difficulty in casting high-quality Ti parts, particularly by investment casting. Nanoscale (e.g., colloidal) coatings based on Y2O3 protect crucibles and hold ladles against such attack. Practical insights and recommendations for materials processing emerging from the fundamental studies on high-temperature interfacial phenomena have been described.

On the dynamically formed oxide films in molten Mg

The so-called“Oxide/Metal/Oxide sandwich”method is one of the technique used to investigate the dynamic oxidation of metals which happens during the casting process.In this study,characteristics of the oxide films formed on the molten magnesium in dynamic conditions have been investigated using the aforementioned method.The air bubbles were released into the cast sample at the pressure of 0.2 atm through a quartz tube of 1 mm internal diameter.The interface of two adjacent entrapped bubbles is considered as the Oxide/Metal/Oxide(OMO)sandwich.The sandwiches were characterized by the aid of the optical and scanning electron microscopy and also X-Ray diffraction analyses.Two different approaches,including measuring the width of the folds formed on the oxide films and the edge of the sandwiches,were used to estimate the thickness of the films.The thicknesses were estimated to be in the range of 200 to 800 nm.The features such as fold,wrinkle,and crack were observed on the OMO sandwiches.On the microscopic scale,the oxide films were rough and porous.This is attributed to the non-protective behavior of oxide films.The XRD patterns indicated that the oxide films formed on the pure molten magnesium in dynamic conditions are crystallized MgO.

Statistical analysis of nondestructive testing results of cast steel joints in civil engineering structures

To study the distribution law and random characteristics of casting defects in steel castings,24 civil engineering structural cast steel joints were divided into two groups:simple cast steel joints and complex cast steel joints.Three kinds of nondestructive testing(NDT)methods,namely,visual,magnetic particle,and ultrasonic inspections,were used to detect the macroscopic defects in joints.The NDT results were then statistically analyzed.The results show that the unfused core support is a common defect of complex cast steel joints,and the defect can be seen visually,so excavation and repair welding should be carried out before castings leave factories.Casting cracks are extremely likely to occur in the intersection area of tubes,which is called the ultrasonic inspection blind zone.The occurrence probability of gas pores on simple cast steel joints is the largest,and the occurrence probability of core support incomplete fusions on complex cast steel joints is the largest.However,when cast steel joints are counted as a whole sample,the occurrence probability of gas pores is larger than that of core support incomplete fusions.Therefore,it is the most common defect in cast steel joints.

A study on effects of ceramic foam filter on flow aspect through water modeling experiment

Casting defects that are closely related to entrapped air bubbles and metallic oxides occur very frequently in the sand mold casting process. Many researchers have shown that these defects can be reduced by adopting an appropriate gating system design. However, it is difficult for field engineers to identify a specific gating system that is more appropriate for their products. In this study, we tried to draw a comparison between two gating system designs with and without a ceramic foam filter. The ceramic foam filter was added to the horizontal runner just after the down sprue to prevent air bubble generation and reduce turbulence without a change of gating system design. The water modeling experiment was conducted with four different amounts of the initial volumes of water in the reservoir to verify the effects of initial pouring velocity. The results of the experiment applying the filter showed remarkably changed flow characteristics. The use of the filter was found to convert the flow pattern of water in the desired direction. The ceramic foam filter performed well to reduce flow velocity and stabilize the water stream.The flow pattern without a filter can be improved significantly even with the the use of just a 10 PPI irregular filter. Although the study confirmed that use of the filter may change the flow characteristics, it needs to be noted that the use of the ceramic filter alone cannot solve all the problems caused by a poorly designed gating system.

An improved defect recognition framework for casting based on DETR algorithm

The current casting surface defect detection algorithms suffer from poor small target defect recognition and imbalance between detection performance and detection time.An improved algorithmic framework for casting defect detection was proposed based on the DEtection TRansformer(DETR)algorithm.The algorithm takes ResNet with an efficient channel attention(ECA)-Net module as the backbone network.In addition,based on the original algorithm architecture,dynamic anchor boxes,improved multi-scale deformable attention module,and SIoU loss function are introduced to improve the sensitivity of transformer structure to input location information and scale size,and the small target defect detection performance is effectively improved.The recognition performance of the algorithm in a self-built casting defect dataset was studied.The improved DETR algorithm has 97.561% accuracy in recognizing two defects,namely sandinclusion and notch,with the detection rate being improved by 65.854% and 17.073% compared with the original DETR and you only look once(Yolo)-V5,respectively.This algorithm verifies the applicability of the transformer architecture target detection algorithm for casting defect detection tasks and provides new ideas for detecting other similar application scenarios.

Low-Cycle Fatigue Crack Initiation Behavior of Nickel-Based Single Crystal Superalloy

Low-cycle fatigue crack initiation behavior of nickel-based single crystal superalloy at 530℃ was investigated.Results show that the behavior of crack initiation is closely related to the maximum strain.When the maximum strain is 2.0%,the fatigue crack is originated at the position of persistent slip bands on the surface of specimen,which is located on the{111}slip plane.No defects are observed at the crack initiation position.When the maximum strain is lower than 1.6%,the cracks are initiated at the casting defects on sub-surface or at interior of the specimen.The casting defects are located on the{100}slip plane vertical to the axial force.The crack is initiated along the{100}slip plane and then expanded along different{111}slip planes after a short stage of expansion.As the maximum strain decreases,the position of crack initiation gradually changes from the surface to the interior.Moreover,the secondary cracks extending inward along the fracture surface appear in the crack initiation area,and there is obvious stress concentration near the secondary cracks.The dislocation density is high near the fracture surface in the crack initiation zone,where a lot of dislocations cutting into the γ'phase exist.An oxide layer of 50‒100 nm is presented on the fracture surface,and Ni,Al,Cr and Co elements are mainly segregated into the oxide layer of the surface.