Numerical Simulation of Microporosity Evolution of Aluminum Alloy Castings

A mathematical model to calculate the size and distribution of microporosities was studied and coupled with a stochastic microstructure evolution model. The model incorporates various solidification phenomena such as grain structure evolution, solidification shrinkage, interdendritic fluid flow and formation and growth of pores during solidification processes. The nucleation and growth of grains were modeled with a cellular automaton method that utilizes the results from a macro scale modeling of the solidification process. Experiments were made to validate the proposed models. The calculated results of aluminum alloy castings agreed with the experimental measurements.

Effect of Ti and Ce Microalloy on Microstructure and Properties of Al-Si-Cu-Zr-Sr Cast Aluminum Alloy

The effect of Ti and Ce microalloying on the mechanical properties of Al-9Si-3.5Cu-0.2Zr-0.1Sr cast aluminum alloy was investigated,and it was hoped that the cast aluminum alloy with excellent comprehensive properties could be obtained.On the basis of Zr-Sr microalloyed cast aluminum alloy(Al-9Si-3.5Cu-0.2Zr-0.1Sr),the effects of 0.2Zr-0.1Sr-0.16Ti ternary microalloying and 0.2Zr-0.1Sr-0.16Ti-0.1Ce quaternary microalloying on the microstructure and properties of the alloy were investigated.The experimental results show that compared with Zr-Sr microalloying,Zr-Sr-Ti microalloying and Zr-Sr-Ti-Ce microalloying can effectively refine the microstructure,improve the modification effect of Si phase,and promote the improvement of Al_(2)Cu phase,thus improving the properties.The higher the degree of microalloying,the hardness is gradually increasing,but the electrical conductivity is gradually decreasing.Zr-Sr-Ti microalloying can increase the tensile strength of the alloy to 400.07 MPa and the elongation to 9.5%.Zr-Sr-Ti-Ce microalloying do not continue to improve the properties of the alloy,and the tensile strength and elongation after fracture decrease to a certain extent due to the addition of Ce.Therefore,the best comprehensive properties can be obtained by ZrSr-Ti microalloying(Al-9Si-3.5Cu-0.2Zr-0.1Sr-0.16Ti).

Microstructure Distribution Characteristics of High-Strength Aluminum Alloy Thin-Walled Tubes during Multi-Passes Hot Power Backward Spinning Process

The microstructure of the thin-walled tubes with high-strength aluminum alloy determines their final forming quality and performance. This type of tube can be manufactured by multi-pass hot power backward spinning process as it can eliminate casting defects, refine microstructure and improve the plasticity of the tube. To analyze the microstructure distribution characteristics of the tube during the spinning process, a 3D coupled thermo-mechanical FE model coupled with the microstructure evolution model of the process was established under the ABAQUS environment. The microstructure evolution characteristics and laws of the tube for the whole spinning process were analyzed. The results show that the dynamic recrystallization is mainly produced in the spinning deformation zone and root area of the tube. In the first pass, the dynamic recrystallization phenomenon is not obvious in the tube. With the pass increasing, the trend of dynamic recrystallization volume percentage gradually increases and extends from the outer surface of the tube to the inner surface. The fine-grained area shows the states of concentration, dispersion, and re-concentration as the pass number increases. .

Strength and ductility optimization of HPDC AlSi8MgCuZn2 alloys by modifying pre-aging treatment

Considering the components produced by high pressure die casting(HPDC)process usually with ultra-large sizes and complex morphologies,high temperature solid solution treatment is not a suitable method to further improve their mechanical properties.In this study,two-stage aging treatment with different pre-aging times was designed and employed to further improve the mechanical properties of HPDC Al8SiMgCuZn alloy.The characteristics of precipitates were evaluated by a transmission electron microscope(TEM),and the precipitation strengthening mechanism was discussed.The results reveal that the strengthening is mainly contributed by the precipitation ofβ″phase after two-stage aging,and the number density and size of the precipitates are significantly depended on the pre-aging time.The number density of precipitates is increased with the pre-aging time prolonged from 0 h to 4 h,and then decreases with the further increase of pre-aging time from 4 h to 6 h.The precipitates with the highest density and smallest size are observed after pre-aging for 4 h.After pre-aged at 100℃for 4 h and then artificial aged at 200℃for 30 min,the yield strength of 207 MPa,ultimate tensile strength of 325 MPa and elongation of 7.6%are achieved.

Mould filling ability and microstructure of aluminum alloy under electromagnetic die casting

In order to solve the mould filling problem of large thin walled aluminum alloy castings effectively, a new casting technology called electromagnetic die casting has been developed. Emphasis has laid on studying the mould filling ability and microstructure under the mentioned method. The results show that the mould filling ability of A357 is increasing continually with the increasing of the input voltage, that is, the magnetic induction intensity. The pressure head of the molten metal increases from the lowest one at the input of the mould to the highest one at the end of the mould while in a conventional mould the pressure head depends invariably on the sprue height. Under electromagnetic die casting, the grains of A357 alloy are refined, and the pattern of eutectic silicon of alloy changes from rough plate to smooth strip.

Application of ultrasonic vibration to shape-casting based on resonance vibration analysis

The application of ultrasonic vibration during the casting process has been proven to refine the microstructure and enhance the properties of the casting.By using the direct inserting method,wherein the ultrasonic horn is inserted directly into the melt,ultrasonic treatment can be utilized in the semi-continuous casting process to produce aluminum ingots with simple shapes.However,due to the attenuation of ultrasound,it is challenging to apply the direct inserting method in the die casting process to produce complex castings.Thus,in this study,the impact of ultrasonic vibration on the microstructure of a gravity die-cast AlSi9Cu3end cap was investigated by applying ultrasonic vibration on the core(indirect method).It is found that the effect of ultrasonic vibration relies greatly on the resonance mode of the core.Selection of ultrasonic vibration schemes mainly depends on the core structure,and only a strong vibration can significantly refine the microstructure of the casting.For castings with complex structures,an elaborated ultrasonic vibration design is necessary to refine the microstructure of the specified casting.In addition,strong vibration applied on the feeding channel can promote the feeding ability of casting by breaking the dendrites during solidification,and consequently reduce the shrinkage porosity.

Die Casting Mold Design of the Thin-walled Aluminum Case by Computational Solidification Simulation

Recently, demand for the lightweight alloy in electric/electronic housings has been greatly increased. However, among the lightweight alloys, aluminum alloy thin-walled die casting is problematic because it is quite difficult to achieve sufficient fluidity and feedability to fill the thin cavity as the wall thickness becomes less than 1mm. Therefore, in this study, thin-walled die casting of aluminum （Al-Si-Cu alloy： ALDC 12） in size of notebook computer housing and thickness of 0.8 mm was investigated by solidification simulation （MAGMA soft） and actual casting experiment （Buhler Evolution B 53D）. Three different types of gating design, finger, tangential and split type with 6 vertical runners, were simulated and the results showed that sound thin-walled die casting was possible with tangential and split type gating design because those gates allowed aluminum melt to flow into the thin cavity uniformly and split type gating system was preferable gating design comparing to tangential type gating system at the point of view of soundness of casting and distortion generated after solidification. Also, the solidification simulation agreed well with the actual die-casting and the casting showed no casting defects and distortion.

Effects of microstructural heterogeneity on fatigue properties of cast aluminum alloys

Cast Al alloys are widely employed for engine components,structural parts,gear box,chassis,etc.and subjected to mechanical cyclic load during operation.The accurate fatigue life prediction of these alloys is essential for normal operation as fatigue cracks initiated during operation induce the lubrication oil leak and serious safety hazard.Microstructural heterogeneity,including shrinkage/gaspores and secondary phase particles,is the most detrimental factor that affects fatigue life of cast Al alloys.The approximate fatigue life cycles could be estimated based on the size distribution and locations of shrinkage pores/defects.The relationship between crack population and stress was reported by statistical distributions and the cumulative probability for cast Al alloys fail at a certain stress could be predicted by combination of Paris law and pore size distribution.Pore depth was found to dominate the stress field around the pore on the surface and the maximum stress increases sharply when the pore intercepted with the surface at its top.The microstructure of cast Al alloys usually is composed of primary Al dendrites,eutectic silicon,Fe-rich particles and other intermetallic particles are dependent upon alloy composition and heat treatment.The coalescence of microcracks initiated from the fractured secondary phases was clearly found and can accelerate the initiation and propagation of the fatigue cracks.A link between defect features and the fatigue strength needs to be established through a good understanding of the fatigue damage mechanisms associated with the microstructural features under specific loading conditions.This paper reviews the influences of shrinkage/gaspores and secondary phase particles,formed during casting process,on the fatigue life of Al-Si-Mg cast Al alloys.

Characterization of mechanical properties of aluminum cast alloy at elevated temperature

The tensile response, the low cycle fatigue （LCF） resistance, and the creep behavior of an aluminum （A1） cast alloy are studied at ambient and elevated temperatures. A non-contact real-time optical extensometer based on the digital image correlation （DIC） is developed to achieve strain measurements without damage to the specimen. The optical extensometer is validated and used to monitor dynamic strains during the mechanical experiments. Results show that Young＇s modulus of the cast alloy decreases with the increasing temperature, and the percentage elongation to fracture at 100 ℃ is the lowest over the temperature range evaluated from 25 ℃ to 300 ℃. In the LCF test, the fatigue strength coefficient decreases, whereas the fatigue strength exponent increases with the rising temperature. The fatigue ductility at 100 ℃. As expected, the resistance to and changes from 200 ℃ to 300 ℃. coefficient and exponent reach maximum values creep decreases with the increasing temperature

Effect of Silicon on the casting properties of Al-5.0%Cu alloy

Poor casting properties restrict the application of high strength casting Al-5.0%Cu alloy. The addition of element can improve the casting properties of this alloy. Effect of Si on the casting properties of Al-5.0%Cu alloy was studied. It has been found that the addition of Si can improve the casting properties of Al-5.0%Cu alloy obviously. With the increase of Si content, the hot cracking tendency of the alloy decreases significantly, and the fluidity of the alloy increases firstly and then decreases slowly. When the content of Si element is higher than 2wt.%, the fluidity of the alloy increases greatly with the increasing of Si content.

Effect of trace boron on grain refinement of commercially pure aluminum by Al-5Ti-1B

The effect of boron content on grain refinement of commercially pure aluminum by Al-5Ti-1B was quantitatively assessed.When the boron content is less than 0.03 wt.%,the refining performance of Al-5Ti-1B gradually is weakened as the boron content increases,which is attributed to the reaction of boron with the Al_(3)Ti interlayer on TiB_(2)and the consumption of solute Ti.On the contrary,when the boron content exceeds 0.03 wt.%,the refining performance of Al-5Ti-1B gradually recovers with increasing boron content,which is related to the formation of primary AlB_(2)particles that provide additional nucleant substrates.

Enhancing Fe content tolerance in A356 alloys for achieving low carbon footprint aluminum structure castings

Low carbon footprint aluminum structure castings are the mainstream development direction of alu-minum alloys in the future.Enhancing the Fe content tolerance upper limit in casting aluminum alloys is considered an effective way to promote the application of recycled aluminum production.In this work,it was found that with the Ce and TiCN NPs(nanoparticles)addition simultaneously to A356 alloys,the acicular Fe-rich phases(β-Al 5 FeSi)which damages the properties can be changed into beneficial phases(core-shell heterostructures)for the alloy,and hence the mechanical properties of A356 alloys can be im-proved.The TiCN nanoparticles and rare element Ce play crucial roles in the formation of core-shell het-erostructures.The formation mechanism of core-shell heterostructure was also systematically researched from the perspective of thermodynamics and kinetics.This study provides a simple and feasible strategy to eliminate the harmful effects of Fe impurity and contributes to the industrialization of low carbon footprint aluminum structure castings.

Study of rare earth element effect on microstructures and mechanical properties of an Al-Cu-Mg-Si cast alloy

The improvements of microstructures and properties of a high strength aluminum cast alloy were studied. The effects of rare earth elements on the microstructures and mechanical properties of the high strength cast alloy Al-Cu-Mg-Si were investigated. The result shows that the addition of rare earth elements can change the microstructures in refining the grain size of the alloy and making the needle-like and laminar eutectic Si to a granular Si. With the increase of the rare earth, the tensile strength and elongation of the alloy increase first and then fall down. The mechanical properties of the alloy will reach the highest value when the content of rare earth elements is about 0.7%.

Nucleation potency prediction of LaB_6 with E2EM model and its influence on microstructure and tensile properties of Al-7Si-0.3Mg alloy

The edge-to-edge matching(E2EM)crystallographic model was used to predict the orientation relationships(ORs)between LaB6 and Al.Three different possible ORs can be predicted between LaB6 and Al,which are(100)Al||(100)LaB6,[001]Al||[001]LaB6;(110)Al||(110)LaB6,[001]Al||[001]LaB6;and(111)Al||(111)LaB6,[011]Al||[011]LaB6.The prediction results are perfectly confirmed through TEM analysis and prove the nucleation potency of LaB6.The refining efficacy of Al-2La-1B refiner and its influence on the tensile properties were investigated in the as-cast Al-7Si-0.3Mg alloy.According to the results,LaB6 has higher nucleation potency than TiB2,leading to better grain refining efficacy of Al-2La-1B refiner in the as-cast Al-7Si-0.3Mg alloy.Regarding the mechanical performances,tensile properties of the as-cast Al-7Si-0.3Mg casting alloy are prominently improved after addition of Al-2La-1B refiner,due to the refined microstructures.

Numerical simulation and processoptimization for producing large-sized castings

3-Dvelocity and temperature fields of mold filling and solidification processes of large-sized castingswere calculated,and the efficiency and accuracy of numerical calculation were studied.The mold filling andsolidification processes of large-sized stainless steel,iron and aluminum alloy castings were simulated by using ofnew scheme;their casting processes were optimized,and then applied to produce castings.

Corrosion behavior of hypereutectic Al-23%Si alloy (AC9A) processed by severe plastic deformation

Ultrafine-grained(UFG) hypereutectic Al-23%Si (mass fraction) alloy was achieved through equal-channel angular pressing(EACP) procedure. And the electrochemical properties after various ECAP passes were investigated in neutral NaCl solution. Potentiostatic polarization curves show that the corrosion potential of the ECAPed sample after 4 passes decreases markedly, while the corrosion current density reaches 1.37 times that of the as-cast alloy. However, the φcorr and Jcorr values after 16 passes are improved and approach those of the as-cast alloy. Immersion tests also show that the mass-loss ratio of ECAPed alloy decreases with increasing the pressing pass, which is lowered to 28.7% with the increase of pass number from 4 to 16. Pitting susceptibility of the ECAPed alloy after initial 4 passes is boosted, due to the presence of biggish voids resulted from the breakage of brittle large primary silicon crystals during ECAP. Increasing ECAP pass makes the voids evanesce and results in the homogeneous ultrafine-grained structure, contributing to a higher pitting resistance. These results indicate that enough ECAP passes are beneficial to increasing corrosion resistance of the hypereutectic Al-23%Si alloy.

Interfacial characteristics and properties of a low-clad-ratio AA4045/AA3003 cladding billet fabricated by semi-continuous casting

A low-clad-ratio AA4045/AA3003 cladding billet was fabricated using a semi-continuous casting process and was subsequently extruded indirectly into a cladding pipe. The temperature distribution near the interface was measured. The microstructures, elemental distribution, Vickers hardness around the bonding interface, and the interfacial shear strength were examined. The results showed that the interface temperature rebounded when AA4045 melt contacted the supporting layer. The two alloys bonded well, with few defects, via the diffusion of Si and Mn in the temperature range from 569℃ to 632℃. The mean shear strength of the bonding interface was 82.3 MPa, which was greater than that of AA3003（75.8 MPa）, indicating that the two alloys bonded with each other metallurgically via elemental interdiffusion. Moreover, no relative slip occurred between the two alloys during the extrusion process.

Improvement in mechanical properties of hypereutectic Al-Si-Cu alloys through sonosolidified slurry

For the wider applications,it is necessary to improve the ductility as well as the strength and wear-resistance of hypereutectic AlSi-Cu alloys,which are typical light-weight wear-resistant materials.An increase in the amounts of primary silicon particles causes the modified wear-resistance of hypereutectic Al-Si-Cu alloys,but leads to the poor strength and ductility.It is known that dual phase steels composed of hetero-structure have succeeded in bringing contradictory mechanical properties of high strength and ductility concurrently.In order to apply the idea of hetero-structure to hypereutectic Al-Si-Cu alloys for the achievement of high strength and ductility along with wear resistance,ultrasonic irradiation of the molten metal during the solidification,which is called sono-solidification,was carried out from its molten state to just above the eutectic temperature.The sono-solidified Al-17Si-4Cu alloy is composed of hetero-structure,which are,hard primary silicon particles,soft non-equilibrium a-Al phase and the eutectic region.Rheo-casting was performed at just above the eutectic temperature with sono-solidified slurry to shape a disk specimen.After the rheo-casting with modified sonosolidified slurry held for 45 s at 570 oC,the quantitative optical microscope observation exhibits that the microstructure is composed of 18area%of hard primary silicon particles and 57area%of soft a-Al phase.In contrast,there exist only 5 area%of primary silicon particles and no a-Al phase in rheo-cast specimen with normally solidified slurry.Hence the tensile tests of T6 treated rheo-cast specimens with modified sono-solidified slurry exhibit improved strength and 5%of elongation,regardless of having more than 3 times higher amounts of primary silicon particles compared to that of rheo-cast specimen with normally solidified slurry.

Efficient alloy design of Sr-modified A356 alloys driven by computational thermodynamics and machine learning

A356 alloys are widely used in industries due to their excellent comprehensive performance.Sr is usually added in A356 alloys to improve their mechanical properties.There have been various experimental reports on the optimal additional amount of Sr in A356 alloys,but their results are inevitably inconsistent.In this paper,a combination of computational thermodynamic and machine learning approaches was employed to determine the optimal Sr content in A356 alloys with the best mechanical properties.First,a self-consistent thermodynamic database of quaternary Al-Si-Mg-Sr system was established by means of the Calculation of PHAse Diagram technique supported by key experiments.Second,the fractions for solidified phase/structures of A356-xSr alloys predicted by Scheil simulation,together with the measured mechanical properties were set as the input dataset in the machine learning model to train the relation of“composition-microstructure-properties”.The optimal addition of Sr in A356 alloy was designed as 0.005 wt.%and validated by key experiments.Furthermore,such a combinatorial approach can help to understand the strengthening/toughening mechanisms of Sr-modified A356 alloys.It is also anticipated that the present approach may provide a feasible means for efficient and accurate design of various casting alloys and understanding the alloy strengthening/toughening mechanisms.