The microstructure in vacuum-assisted high-pressure die casting(HPDC) Mg-4Al-4RE(AE44) alloy was studied. Special attention was paid to the characteristics of defect bands and their formation mechanisms. Since double ...The microstructure in vacuum-assisted high-pressure die casting(HPDC) Mg-4Al-4RE(AE44) alloy was studied. Special attention was paid to the characteristics of defect bands and their formation mechanisms. Since double defect bands are commonly observed, the cross section of die cast samples is divided into five parts with different grain morphologies and size distributions. The inner defect band is much wider than the outer one. Both the defect bands are solute segregation bands, resulting in a higher area fraction of Al;RE;phase than that in the adjacent regions. No obvious aggregation of porosities is observed in the defect bands of AE44 alloy. This may be due to a narrow solidification temperature range of AE44 alloy and a large amount of latent heat released during the precipitation of intermetallic phases. The formation of the defect bands is related to the shear stress acting upon the partially solidified alloy, which can lead to collapse of the grain network. However, the generation mechanisms of shear stress in the outer and inner defect bands are quite different.展开更多
The characteristics of defect bands in the microstructure of high pressure die casting(HPDC)AE44 magnesium alloy were investigated.Special attention was paid to the effects of process parameters during the HPDC proces...The characteristics of defect bands in the microstructure of high pressure die casting(HPDC)AE44 magnesium alloy were investigated.Special attention was paid to the effects of process parameters during the HPDC process and casting structure on the distribution of defect bands.Results show that the defect bands are solute segregation bands with the enrichment of Al,Ce and La elements,which are basically in the form of Al_(11)RE_(3) phase.There is no obvious aggregation of porosities in the defect bands.The width of the inner defect band is 4-8 times larger than that of the outer one.The variation trends of the distribution of the inner and outer defect bands are not consistent under different process parameters and at different locations of castings.This is due to the discrepancy between the formation mechanisms of double defect bands.The filling and solidification behavior of the melt near the chilling layer is very complicated,which finally leads to a fluctuation of the width and location of the outer defect band.By affecting the content and aggregation degree of externally solidified crystals(ESCs)in the cross section of die castings,the process parameters and casting structure have a great influence on the distribution of the inner defect band.展开更多
It is necessary in factories to assess the severity of the surface defects of castings, as a slight surface defect will be taken as qualified when it brings no bad effect or it can be removed by the subsequent process...It is necessary in factories to assess the severity of the surface defects of castings, as a slight surface defect will be taken as qualified when it brings no bad effect or it can be removed by the subsequent processing. In practical production, professional technicians visually inspect the surface defect severity according to their individual experience. Therefore, it is difficult for them to maintain the same standard and accuracy in the subjective, tedious and labor-intensive work. Recently, image processing techniques based on optical images have been applied to achieve better accuracy and high efficiency. Unfortunately, optical images cannot directly quantify surface depth, which works as a crucial factor in the practical assessment of surface defect severity. The surface roughness evaluation algorithm, which takes into account of both area and depth information of the assessed surface, was applied to directly characterize surface defect severity based on surface asperity rather than optical image. The results using standard casting pieces show that surface defect severity has no apparent dependence on surface roughness. However, the subsequent results show that the root-mean-squared-deviation(RMSD) of surface gradient of flow line defects positively correlates with the increase of defect severity. The other types of defect do not present such tendency. Thus, practical workpieces with flow line defects on the surface were used to verify the universality of this tendency. The results show that surface roughness of an unqualified workpiece is larger than that of a qualified workpiece after surface slope adjustment, but presents no obvious coincidence before the adjustment. In contrast, the RMSD of an unqualified workpiece, no matter before or after the adjustment, is larger than that of a qualified one.展开更多
Due to the competition and high cost associated with die casting defects, it is urgent to adopt a rapid and effective method for defect analysis. In this research, a novel expert network approach was proposed to avoid...Due to the competition and high cost associated with die casting defects, it is urgent to adopt a rapid and effective method for defect analysis. In this research, a novel expert network approach was proposed to avoid some disadvantages of rule-based expert system. The main objective of the system is to assist die casting engineer in identifying defect, determining the probable causes of defect and proposing remedies to eliminate the defect. 14 common die casting defects could be identified quickly by expert system on the basis of their characteristics. BP neural network in combination with expert system was applied to map the complex relationship between causes and defects, and further explained the cause determination process. Cause determination gives due consideration to practical process conditions. Finally, corrective measures were recommended to eliminate the defect and implemented in the sequence of difficulty.展开更多
Three types of near-net shape casting alumi- num parts were investigated by computed tomography to determine casting defects and evaluate quality. The first, second, and third parts were produced by low-pressure die c...Three types of near-net shape casting alumi- num parts were investigated by computed tomography to determine casting defects and evaluate quality. The first, second, and third parts were produced by low-pressure die casting （Al-12Si-0.8Cu-0.5Fe-0.9Mg-0.7Ni-0.2Zn alloy）, die casting （A356, A1-7Si-0.3Mg）, and semi-solid casting （A356, A1-TSi-0.3Mg）, respectively. Unlike die casting （second part）, low-pressure die casting （first part） sig- nificantly reduced the formation of casting defects （i.e., porosity） due to its smooth filling and solidification under pressure. No significant casting defect was observed in the third part, and this absence of defects indicates that semi- solid casting could produce high-quality near-net shape casting aluminum parts. Moreover, casting defects were mostly distributed along the eutectic grain boundaries. This finding reveals that refinement of eutectic grains is necessary to optimize the distribution of casting defects and reduce their size. This investigation demonstrated that computed tomography is an efficient method to determine casting defects in near-net shape casting aluminum parts.展开更多
基金the financial supports from the the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51805389)the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province, China (No. 2018CFB210)the “111” Project, China (No. B17034)
文摘The microstructure in vacuum-assisted high-pressure die casting(HPDC) Mg-4Al-4RE(AE44) alloy was studied. Special attention was paid to the characteristics of defect bands and their formation mechanisms. Since double defect bands are commonly observed, the cross section of die cast samples is divided into five parts with different grain morphologies and size distributions. The inner defect band is much wider than the outer one. Both the defect bands are solute segregation bands, resulting in a higher area fraction of Al;RE;phase than that in the adjacent regions. No obvious aggregation of porosities is observed in the defect bands of AE44 alloy. This may be due to a narrow solidification temperature range of AE44 alloy and a large amount of latent heat released during the precipitation of intermetallic phases. The formation of the defect bands is related to the shear stress acting upon the partially solidified alloy, which can lead to collapse of the grain network. However, the generation mechanisms of shear stress in the outer and inner defect bands are quite different.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51805389)the Key R&D Program of Hubei Province,China(No.2021BAA048)+1 种基金the 111 Project(No.B17034)the fund of the Hubei Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Automotive Components,Wuhan University of Technology(No.XDQCKF2021011).
文摘The characteristics of defect bands in the microstructure of high pressure die casting(HPDC)AE44 magnesium alloy were investigated.Special attention was paid to the effects of process parameters during the HPDC process and casting structure on the distribution of defect bands.Results show that the defect bands are solute segregation bands with the enrichment of Al,Ce and La elements,which are basically in the form of Al_(11)RE_(3) phase.There is no obvious aggregation of porosities in the defect bands.The width of the inner defect band is 4-8 times larger than that of the outer one.The variation trends of the distribution of the inner and outer defect bands are not consistent under different process parameters and at different locations of castings.This is due to the discrepancy between the formation mechanisms of double defect bands.The filling and solidification behavior of the melt near the chilling layer is very complicated,which finally leads to a fluctuation of the width and location of the outer defect band.By affecting the content and aggregation degree of externally solidified crystals(ESCs)in the cross section of die castings,the process parameters and casting structure have a great influence on the distribution of the inner defect band.
文摘It is necessary in factories to assess the severity of the surface defects of castings, as a slight surface defect will be taken as qualified when it brings no bad effect or it can be removed by the subsequent processing. In practical production, professional technicians visually inspect the surface defect severity according to their individual experience. Therefore, it is difficult for them to maintain the same standard and accuracy in the subjective, tedious and labor-intensive work. Recently, image processing techniques based on optical images have been applied to achieve better accuracy and high efficiency. Unfortunately, optical images cannot directly quantify surface depth, which works as a crucial factor in the practical assessment of surface defect severity. The surface roughness evaluation algorithm, which takes into account of both area and depth information of the assessed surface, was applied to directly characterize surface defect severity based on surface asperity rather than optical image. The results using standard casting pieces show that surface defect severity has no apparent dependence on surface roughness. However, the subsequent results show that the root-mean-squared-deviation(RMSD) of surface gradient of flow line defects positively correlates with the increase of defect severity. The other types of defect do not present such tendency. Thus, practical workpieces with flow line defects on the surface were used to verify the universality of this tendency. The results show that surface roughness of an unqualified workpiece is larger than that of a qualified workpiece after surface slope adjustment, but presents no obvious coincidence before the adjustment. In contrast, the RMSD of an unqualified workpiece, no matter before or after the adjustment, is larger than that of a qualified one.
文摘Due to the competition and high cost associated with die casting defects, it is urgent to adopt a rapid and effective method for defect analysis. In this research, a novel expert network approach was proposed to avoid some disadvantages of rule-based expert system. The main objective of the system is to assist die casting engineer in identifying defect, determining the probable causes of defect and proposing remedies to eliminate the defect. 14 common die casting defects could be identified quickly by expert system on the basis of their characteristics. BP neural network in combination with expert system was applied to map the complex relationship between causes and defects, and further explained the cause determination process. Cause determination gives due consideration to practical process conditions. Finally, corrective measures were recommended to eliminate the defect and implemented in the sequence of difficulty.
文摘Three types of near-net shape casting alumi- num parts were investigated by computed tomography to determine casting defects and evaluate quality. The first, second, and third parts were produced by low-pressure die casting （Al-12Si-0.8Cu-0.5Fe-0.9Mg-0.7Ni-0.2Zn alloy）, die casting （A356, A1-7Si-0.3Mg）, and semi-solid casting （A356, A1-TSi-0.3Mg）, respectively. Unlike die casting （second part）, low-pressure die casting （first part） sig- nificantly reduced the formation of casting defects （i.e., porosity） due to its smooth filling and solidification under pressure. No significant casting defect was observed in the third part, and this absence of defects indicates that semi- solid casting could produce high-quality near-net shape casting aluminum parts. Moreover, casting defects were mostly distributed along the eutectic grain boundaries. This finding reveals that refinement of eutectic grains is necessary to optimize the distribution of casting defects and reduce their size. This investigation demonstrated that computed tomography is an efficient method to determine casting defects in near-net shape casting aluminum parts.
