Preparation of semi-solid A380 aluminum alloy slurry by serpentine channel

The semi-solid slurry of A380 aluminum alloy was prepared by the serpentine channel. The effects of pouring temperature, curve number and curve diameter of the serpentine channel on the microstructure of the semi-solid A380 aluminum alloy slurry were investigated. The results show that the satisfactory semi-solid A380 aluminum alloy slurry could be obtained when the pouring temperature ranged from 630 to 650 °C. Under the same conditions, increasing the curve number or reducing the curve diameter of the serpentine channel would decrease the average diameter and increase the shape factor of the primary α（Al） grains. The ＂self-stirring＂ of the alloy melt in the serpentine channel was beneficial to the ripening of the dendrites and the spheroidizing of the primary α（Al） grains.

Squeeze casting of aluminum alloy A380: Microstructure and tensile behavior

A380 alloy with a relatively thick cross-section of 25 mm was squeeze cast using a hydraulic press with an applied pressure of 90 MPa. Microstructure and tensile properties of the squeeze cast A380 were characterized and evaluated in comparison with the die cast counterpart. Results show that the squeeze cast A380 possesses a porosity level much lower than the die cast alloy, which is disclosed by both optical microscopy and the density measurement technique. The results of tensile testing indicate the improved tensile properties, specifically ultimate tensile strength(UTS: 215.9 MPa) and elongation(Ef: 5.4%), for the squeeze cast samples over those of the conventional high-pressure die cast part(UTS: 173.7 MPa, Ef: 1.0%). The analysis of tensile behavior shows that the squeeze cast A380 exhibits a high tensile toughness(8.5 MJ·m-3) and resilience(179.3 k J·m-3) compared with the die cast alloy(toughness: 1.4 MJ·m-3, resilience: 140.6 k J·m-3), despite that, during the onset of plastic deformation, the strain-hardening rate of the die cast specimen is higher than that of the squeeze cast specimens. The microstructure analyzed by the scanning electron microscopy(SEM) shows that both the squeeze and die cast specimens contain the primary α-Al, Al2 Cu, Al5 Fe Si phase and the eutectic Si phase. But, the Al2 Cu phase present in the squeeze cast alloy is relatively large in size and quantity. The SEM fractography evidently reveals the ductile fracture features of the squeeze cast A380 alloy.

Effects of Be additions on microstructure, hardness and tensile properties of A380 aluminum alloy

The effects of beryllium (Be) on the microstructure, hardness and tensile properties of A380 aluminum alloy were investigated. The base and Be-containing A380 alloys were conventionally cast in a ductile iron mold. The microstructure evolution was investigated using SEM and optical microscope. The mechanical properties were assessed using tensile and hardness tests, finally the rapture surfaces of the used samples were studied to reveal the fracture mechanism in the presence of Be. The results revealed that the plateletβ intermetallic phases were transformed into relatively harmless Chinese script Be?Fe phase and eutectic Si phases changed from flake-like particles into fine ones. The corresponding ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and elongation values increased from 270 MPa to 295 MPa and 3.7% to 4.7%, respectively. Additionally, the hardness of A380 alloy decreased continuously with increasing Be content. While the fracture surfaces of the unmodified A380 alloy tensile samples showed a clear brittle fracture nature, while finer dimple and fewer brittle cleavage surfaces were seen in the alloys with Be addition. Moreover, in the presence of Be, due to the refined phases, there has been a decrease in the values of hardness.

Impact strength and structural refinement of A380 aluminum alloy produced through gas-induced semi-solid process and Sr addition

Semi-solid processing of A380 aluminum alloy was performed by gas induced semi-solid(GISS)process.The effects of argon inert gas flow rate,starting temperature and duration of gas purging as key GISS parameters and also modification with Sr on the structural refinements,hardness and impact strength of GISS alloys were investigated.Microstructural evolution shows that there is an important effect of the pouring temperature and Sr addition on the morphology and size of primaryα(A1)in the alloy to change from coarse dendritic to fine globular structure.The best sample which has fine grains of 51.18μm in average size and a high level of globularity of 0.89 is achieved from a GISS processing of Sr modified alloy in which the gas purging started at 610℃.The impact strength of the GISS optimized samples((4.67±0.18)J/cm^(2))shows an increase of about 40%with respect to the as-cast sample due to the globular structure and fibrous Si morphology.Moreover,the hardness of the optimized GISS sample((89.34±2.85)HB)increases to(93.84±3.14)HB by modification with the Sr and GISS process.The fracture surface of Sr modified alloy is also dominated by complex topography showing typical ductile fracture features.

QFD-Taguchi based hybrid approach in die casting process optimization

The present research work emphasized on identifying and optimizing various significant process parameters of high pressure die casting by using QFD-Taguchi based hybrid approach in order to yield the optimum casting density of the A380alloy.Identification of critical process parameters,selection of appropriate orthogonal array,analysis of means and analysis of variance are employed to study the performance characteristic of the die casting process.The most critical process parameters identified and optimized by QFD-Taguchi based hybrid approach,such as the injection pressure,the molten metal temperature,the plunger velocity(first and second stage)and the die temperature were explored in the experimental work.The results show that injection pressure is the most significant factor among the selected parameters.The contribution of the injection pressure to the variation of mean casting density is around61.483%.Confidence interval(CI)has also been estimated as0.000718for95%consistency level to validate the predicted range of optimum casting density of aforesaid alloy.