Solidified structure of thin-walled titanium parts by vertical centrifugal casting

The solidified structure of the thin-walled and complicated Ti-6AI-4V castings produced by the vertical centrifugal casting process was studied in the present work. The results show that the wall thickness of the section is featured with homogeneously distributed fine equiaxial grains, compared with the microstructure of the thick-walled section. The grain size of the castings has a tendency to decrease gradually with the increasing of the centrifugal radius. The inter-lamellar space in thick-walled casting parts is bigger than that of the thin-walled parts, and the profile of inter-lamellar space is not susceptible to the centrifugal radius.

Preparation of AZ31 magnesium alloy strips using vertical twin-roll caster

A newly developed technology for manufacturing magnesium alloy strip,vertical twin-roll strip casting,has been described.This manufacturing process is easy to be facilitated in an economical way to manufacture wrought magnesium alloy strips. As an example,AZ31 magnesium alloy was used to investigate the appropriate manufacturing conditions for vertical twin-roll strip casting by varying the temperatures of the molten materials and rolling speeds.The effects of manufacturing conditions on forming quality were clarified in terms of roll speeds and casting temperature.In addition,microscopic observation and X-ray diffraction of the as-cast strips were performed.It has been determined that AZ31 alloy strip of 1-3 mm in thickness can be produced at a speed of 30 m/min by a vertical twin-roll caster.The microstructure of as-cast strip only containsα-phase(Mg)and no other phase,and the twin-roll casting process can effectively refine the grain size.The fine equiaxed grain of as-cast strips is beneficial to the plastic deformation of the strips,and it is also suitable for direct cold-rolling with a maximum cold-rolling reduction of 40%.

Numerical Simulation of Bubble Migration in Liquid Titanium Alloy Melt During Vertical Centrifugal Casting Process

The bubble migration in liquid titanium alloy melt during vertical centrifugal casting process has been predicted. The effects of different parameters, such as the initial bubble location, the mold rotational speed and the mold rotational direction on the bubble in the migration process are investigated. The results show that the bubble migration can be divided into the radial movement to the mould rotation axis and the circular movement to the mould wall opposite to rotational direction of the casting mould. The casting mould wall has an impeditive effect on the circular movement of the bubble during its migration process. And the bubble finally migrates like a straight line along the mould wall located at the opposite direction of the rotational casting mould whether it rotates clockwise or anti-clockwise. The bubbles at the position near the mould wall located at the opposite direction of the rotational casting mould are much easier to migrate in a straight line. The instantaneous speed of the gas bubble increases with the increment of the mould rotational speed. However the mould rotational speed is high or low, the moving speed of the gas bubble increases slightly at the primary stage, and then decreases gradually like a ladder.

Melt flow,solidification structures,and defects in 316 L steel strips produced by vertical centrifugal casting

Vertical centrifugal casting can significantly enhance the filling capability of molten metals,enabling the production of complex thin-walled castings at near-rapid cooling rates.In this study,the melt flow,solidification structures,and defects in 316 L steel cast strips with a geometry of 80 mm×60 mm×2.5 mm produced by vertical centrifugal casting were numerically and experimentally analyzed under different rotation speeds.With gradually increasing the rotation speed from 150 r/min to 900 r/min,the simulated results showed the shortest filling time and minimum porosity volume in the cast strip at a rotation speed of 600 r/min.Since a strong turbulent flow was generated by the rotation of the mold cavity during the filling process,experimental results showed that a“non-dendritic”structure was obtained in 316 L cast strip when centrifugal force was involved,whereas the typical dendritic structure was observed in the reference sample without rotation.Most areas of the cast strip exhibited one-dimensional cooling,but three-sided cooling appeared near the side of the cast strip.Moreover,the pores and cracks in the 316 L strips were detected by computed tomography scanning and analyzed with the corresponding numerical simulations.Results indicated the existence of an optimal rotational speed for producing cast strips with minimal casting defects.This study provides a better understanding of the filling and solidification processes of strips produced by vertical centrifugal casting.

Cu-Al interfacial compounds and formation mechanism of copper cladding aluminum composites

Copper cladding aluminum(CCA)rods with the section dimensions of12mm in diameter and2mm in sheath thickness were fabricated by vertical core-filling continuous casting(VCFC)technology.The kinds and morphology of interfacial intermetallic compounds(IMCs)were investigated by SEM,XRD and TEM.The results showed that the interfacial structure of Cu/Al was mainly composed of layeredγ1(Cu9Al4),cellularθ(CuAl2),andα(Al)+θ(CuAl2)phases.Moreover,residual acicularε2(Cu3Al2+x)phase was observed at the Cu/Al interface.By comparing the driving force of formation forε2(Cu3Al2+x)andγ1(Cu9Al4)phases,the conclusion was drawn that theε2(Cu3Al2+x)formed firstly at the Cu/Al interface.In addition,the interfacial formation mechanism of copper cladding aluminum composites was revealed completely.

Application of non-equilibrium dendrite growth model considering thermo-kinetic correlation in twin-roll casting

Upon non-equilibrium solidifications, dendrite growth, generally as precursor of as-solidified structures,has severe effects on subsequent phase transformations. Considering synergy of thermodynamics and kinetics controlling interface migration and following conservation of heat flux in solid temperature field, a more flexible modeling for the dendrite growth is herein developed for multi-component alloys,where, two inherent problems, i.e. correlation between thermodynamics and kinetics(i.e. the thermokinetic correlation), and theoretical connection between dendrite growth model and practical processing,have been successfully solved. Accordingly, both the thermodynamic driving force G and the effective kinetic energy barrier Qeffhave been found to control quantitatively the dendrite growth(i.e. especially the growth velocity, V), as reflected by the thermo-kinetic trade-off. Compared with previous models, it is the thermo-kinetic correlation that guarantees quantitative connection between the practical processing parameters and the current theoretical framework, as well as more reasonable description for kinetic behaviors involved. Applied to the vertical twin-roll casting(VTC), the present model, realizes a good prediction for kissing points, which influences significantly alloy design and processing optimization.This work deduces quantitatively the thermo-kinetic correlation controlling the dendrite growth, and by proposing the parameter-triplets(i.e. G-Qeff-V), further opens a new beginning for connecting solidification theories with industrial applications, such as the VTC.