Numerical simulation on the rheo-diecasting of the semi-solid A356 aluminum alloy

The effect of injection pressure, piston velocity, and the forming temperature of semisolid slurry on the filling behavior of the semi-solid A356 aluminum alloy was investigated by simulation methods. The simulation results show that these processing parameters have an important effect on the filling behavior of the semi-solid A356 aluminum alloy. The slurry flows steadily in the cavity when the injection pressure, the piston velocity, and the forming temperature are low, but it is prone to turbulent flow when the injection pressure, the piston velocity, and the forming temperature are much higher. Therefore it is necessary to determine the appropriate processing parameters to get a steady flow of the slurry in the cavity.

Numerical Simulation of Semi-solid Mould Filling Using SOLA-VOF Technique

A software code based on SOLA-VOF algorithm is developed for numerical simulation of mold filling of semi-solid metals.The semi-solid mould filling processes of A356 and AZ91D are studied based on the Power-Law viscosity model and constant viscosity model,respectively.Test molds with different thicknesses and shapes were chosen to validate the software code.The simulated mould filling sequence shows a good agreement with the experimental results.The viscosity distribution is also calculated and plotted with a post-processor.The results show that the software code can offer an effective understanding for semi-solid mold filling processes.

Hot cracking tendency test and simulation of 7075 semi-solid aluminium alloy

The hot cracking tendency of 7075 semi-solid alloy under different conditions was studied by critical diameter method.The experiment and simulation results show that the dendrite arms of the rod grow from the edge to the center.The smaller the diameter of the rod is,the more obvious the directional growth of dendrite is,and the greater the tendency of hot cracking is.Compared with ordinary melt,for semi-solid slurry,increasing mould temperature or decreasing pouring temperature can significantly decrease hot cracking tendency of 7075 alloy,decreasing hot cracking grade from 256 to 100 mm^2.Furthermore,based on the RDG criterion,the effects of solidification conditions on the hot cracking tendency were discussed combined with simulation.At the same time,the application and development of RDG criterion were also researched.

Inhomogeneity of density and mechanical properties of A357 aluminum alloy backward extruded in semi-solid state

The inhomogeneity of density and mechanical properties of A357 aluminum alloy in the semi-solid state were investigated.Numerical simulation and backward extrusion were adopted to study the preparation of cup shells.The results show that the relative density of the wall is the lowest in samples,and that of the base is the highest.With increasing the billet height,more time is needed for relative density of the corner to reach the maximum value,and the relative densities in every region improve evidently with increasing the pressure.The tensile stress was simulated to be the largest at the corner,and the hot tearings were forecasted to mainly appear at the corner too.By employing proper billet height and pressure,the extruded samples consisted of fine and uniform microstructures,and can obtain excellent mechanical properties and Brinell hardness.

Effects of annular electromagnetic stirring processing parameters on semi-solid slurry production

A computational model coupling an electromagnetic model with a macroscopic heat and fluid flow model in semi-solid aluminum alloy slurry preparation by annular electromagnetic stirring(A-EMS) was developed.Effects of A-EMS processing parameters,such as stirring current,stirring frequency and stirring gap width,on macroscopic transport phenomena during the solidification were analyzed by commercial software ANSYS 10.0 with corresponding experimental verification.The results show that the magnetic flux density and the melt velocity increase and the temperature difference decreases as stirring gap width and stirring frequency decrease or the stirring current increases.The slurry with the fine and uniform globular grain structure can be gained by adjusting gap width,electromagnetic frequency and current,such as under the conditions of 10 mm of gap width,10 Hz of electromagnetic frequency and 50 A of current.The calculated results are in reasonably good agreement with the measured ones.

Effects of process parameters on semi-solid squeeze casting performance of aluminum alloy scrolls for scroll compressors

The aluminum alloy scroll is one of the key parts of the scroll compressors widely used in the air-conditioning,refrigeration,and heat pump systems.In this work,the semi-solid squeeze casting(SSSC)process was used to fabricate the aluminum alloy scroll.The effects of process parameters including the pouring temperature,mold temperature,and squeezing velocity on the filling and solidification behaviors of the alloys were investigated through simulations based on the power law cut-off(PLCO)material model.Results show that there is a significant increase in the flow velocity of the slurry,and the area of the high-speed region enlarges with the increase of the pouring temperature.The homogeneity of the temperature and velocity fields in the slurry is improved with an increase in mold temperature.Both the filling time and its variation rate decrease with an increase in squeezing velocity.The maximum solidification time exhibits a linear variation with the increase in pouring temperature.The shrinkage area is decreased by increasing the mold temperature.The optimal process parameters of the SSSC process were obtained from simulation analysis,which are the pouring temperature of 595°C,mold temperature of 350°C,and squeezing velocity of 0.3 m·s-1.Moreover,the qualified scroll casting was fabricated using the SSSC process under the optimal process parameters.

Numerical simulation on thixo-co-extrusion of double-layer tube with A356/AZ91D

Based on analysis of the main forming methods for double-layer tube,a new short-term forming process called thixo-co-extrusion was put forward in producing double-layer tube by combining the semi-solid forming technology and multi-billet extrusion technology.By means of forward extrusion with shaft,a finite element model of thixo-co-extrusion with A356/AZ91 was constructed by ABAQUS FEM software.The distributions of temperature field and velocity field as well as the contact force during thixo-co-extrusion were studied.The diffusion on the interfaces between inner and outer metals was analyzed.The simulation results show that,in the beginning of thixo-co-extrusion,the uneven wall thickness can appear.To thickness ratio of 5:5,a double layer tube with good inner and outer wall combination can be realized if VA356 is 0.12 m/s and VAZ91 is 0.20 m/s.

Numerical simulation and experiment validation of thixoforming angle frame of AZ61 magnesium alloy

Numerical simulation and experiment of thixoforming angle frame of AZ61 magnesium alloy were investigated.The results show that with the increase in punch displacement,cylinder billet firstly fills into die cavity of angle frame from feed inlet and plastic deformation occurs in touching region between billet and die cavity.After central thin wall of angle frame is created,semi-solid billet fills toward two edges.Lastly,complete plastic deformation occurs in billet,leading to complete filling of semis-olid billet.Effective strain,effective stress and billet temperature decrease with the increase in punch displacement.Effective stress decreases with the increase in billet temperature,die temperature and punch velocity.The optimal conditions decided by numerical simulation are as follows:die temperature of 450 ℃,billet temperature of 560 ℃ and punch velocity of 30 mm/s.Angle frame components with high mechanical properties such as yield strength of 225 MPa,tensile strength of 309 MPa and elongation of 21.8% and fine microstructure could be thixoformed successfully according to process parameters decided by numerical simulation.

Numerical simulation on reho-diecasting mould filling of an automobile master brake cylinder

An apparent viscosity model of semi-solid A356 aluminum alloy has been developed and the software Castsofl6.0 coupled with the model has been used to simulate the mould filling of an automobile master brake cylinder with the semi-solid A356 aluminum alloy slurry. The simulation results are in agreement with the practical filling process, indicating that the apparent viscosity model is feasible and can be used to simulate the mould filling of the semisolid A356 aluminum alloy slurry and can be used to optimize the filling process and the design of dies. A higher injection pressure, a higher ingate flow velocity of the semi-solid slurry, and a higher slurry temperature are advantageous to the mould filling of the automobile master brake cylinder.

Numerical simulation on thixoforging of electronic packaging shell with SiC_p/A356 composites

Based on the research of modem electronic packaging materials, thixo-forming technology was used to fabricate electronic packaging shell. The process of thixo-extrusion with SiCp/A356 composites was simulated by the finite element software DEFORM-3D, then the flow velocity field, equivalent strain field and temperature field were analyzed. The electronic packaging shell was manufactured by extrusion according to the results from numerical simulation. The results show that thixo-forming technology can be used in producing electronic package shell with SiCp/A356 composites, and high volume fraction of SiCp with homogeneous distribution can be achieved, being in agreement with the requirements of electronic packaging materials.

Effect of pouring temperature on cooling slope casting of semi-solid Al-Si-Mg alloy

Present trend of semi-solid processing is directed towards rheocasting route which allows manufacturing of near-net-shape cast components directly from the prepared semi-solid slurry. Generation of globular equi-axed grains during solidification of rheocast components, compared to the columnar dendritic structure of conventional casting routes, facilitates the manufacturing of components with improved mechanical properties and structural integrity. In the present investigation, a cooling slope has been designed and indigenously fabricated to produce semi solid slurry of A1-Si-Mg （A356） alloy and successively cast in a metallic mould. The scope of the present work discusses about development of a numerical model to simulate the liquid metal flow through cooling slope using Eulerian two-phase flow approach and to investigate the effect of pouring temperature on cooling slope semi-solid slurry generation process. The two phases considered in the present model are liquid metal and air. Solid fraction evolution of the solidifying melt is tracked at different locations of the cooling slope, following Schiel＇s equation. The continuity equation, momentum equation and energy equation are solved considering thin wall boundary condition approach. During solidification of the liquid metal, a modified temperature recovery scheme has been employed taking care of the latent heat release and change of fraction of liquid. The results obtained from simulations are compared with experimental findings and good agreement has been found.

Numerical Study of Temperature Development of Slurry of Al-Si Alloy in Double-Axis-Electromagnetic Stirrer

Flow and temperature fields of slurry of A1-Si alloy in the process of cup-cast method is numerically simulated. The simulation results agree with the experiment by Shimasaki et al.under an estimated value of the overall heat transfer coefficient between the alloy and the cup.