Best practices for making high integrity lightweight metal castings-molten metal composition and cleanliness control

To make high integrity lightweight metal castings,best practices are required in various stages of casting and heat treatment processes,including liquid metal composition and quality control,casting and gating/riser system design,and process optimization.This paper presents best practices for liquid metal processing and quality assurance of molten metal in both melting and mold filling.Best practices for other aspects of lightweight metal casting will be published separately.

FORMING OF PARTICLES REINFORCED METAL MATRIX COMPOSITES bYCASTING UNDER COUNTER GRAVITY

Dynamiccharacteristicsof forming of particlesreinforced metal matrix compositesbycastingunder counter gravityareanalyzedinthispaper.Itispointed outthatthereexists much dif ferenceinfluiditybetweenthecompositesandthe matrix alloyduetothedifferencein viscosityandequivalentsolidification latent. Filling capability can be greatly improved by adoptingcounter gravity process, andthin walled precision castingscan beshaped .

Microstructural evolution and intermetallic formation in Al-8wt% Si-0.8wt% Fe alloy due to grain refiner and modifier additions

An alloy of A1-8wt% Si-0.8wt% Fe was cast in a metallic die, and its microstrucmral changes due to Ti-B refiner and Sr modifier additions were studied. Apart from usual refinement and modification of the microstructure, some mutual influences of the additives took place, and no mutual poisoning effects by these additives, in combined form, were observed. It was noticed that the dimensions of the iron-rich intermetallics were influenced by the additives causing them to become larger. The needle-shaped intermetallics that were obtained from refiner addition became thicker and longer when adding the modifier. It was also found that a-Al and eutectic silicon phases preferentially nucleate on different types of intermetallic compounds. The more iron content of the intermetallic compounds and the more changes in their dimensions occurred. Formation of the shrinkage porosities was also observed.

EFFECT OF INTERMITTENT HIGH FREQUENCY MAGNETIC FIELD ON INITIAL SOLIDIFICATION IN CONTINUOUS CASTING

Contacting state between molten metal and a mold and initial solidification process of continuously cast metals can be controlled by imposing an intermittent magnetic field.In this study, effect of the intermittent magnetic field on the initial solidification ofcontinuoasly cast metals was investigated by measuring the temperature distribution in the melt pool and the initial solidification starting position of shells. It was found that under the condition with intermittent magnetic field, the melt near meniscns is in slow cooling state, the initial solidification starting position descends, initial solidification shell thickens and the liquid-solid interface becomes smooth.

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.

Pseudo-in-situ stir casting: a new method for production of aluminum matrix composites with bimodal-sized B_4C reinforcement

A new method was applied to produce an Al-0.5wt%Ti-0.3wt%Zr/5vol%B_4C composite via stir casting with the aim of characterizing the microstructure of the resulting composite. For the production of the composite, large B4 C particles（larger than 75 μm） with no pre-heating were added to the stirred melt. Reflected-light microscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, laser particle size analysis, and image analysis using the Clemex software were performed on the cast samples for microstructural analysis and phase detection. The results revealed that as a consequence of thermal shock, B_4 C particle breakage occurred in the melt. The mechanism proposed for this phenomenon is that the exerted thermal shock in combination with the low thermal shock resistance of B_4 C and large size of the added B_4 C particles were the three key parameters responsible for B_4 C particle breakage. This breakage introduced small particles with sizes less than 10 μm and with no contamination on their surfaces into the melt. The mean particle distance measured via image analysis was approximately 60 μm. The coefficient of variation index, which was used as a measure of particle distribution homogeneity, showed some variations, indicating a relatively homogeneous distribution.

Characteristics of Toxic Waste from Nine Casting Industries According to Mexican Standards:Prospective Study of West Mexico

This research analyzed nine casting industries located in western Mexico and their waste streams, including slags, sand, dust and sludge. All of these are considered dangerous by Mexican Legislation due to their concentrations of heavy metals. Analytical results show that lead is the main problem in these wastes. Field sampling showed that these industries do not have any protocol for waste handling and storage.

Effect of Cooling Intensity and Position on Solidification in Semi-Continuous Casting of Copper

Cooling heat flux effect in both primary and secondary cooling zone has been studied in semi-continuous casting of copper billet. Sufficient cooling is essential to reduce casting defects and to get high productivity, however low rate of solidification is aimed in order to get coarser grain size and softer metal for less losses in extrusion. A three-dimensional numerical model has been developed including solidification behavior of copper through mushy zone. At steady state and constant casting speed, solid shell thickness is monitored during the reduction of cooling rate at mould region to avoid breaking out. Heat flux intensity at mould plays important role not only in the formation of solid shell thickness. But, pool length and mushy zone thickness can be significantly increased by decreasing primary cooling intensity. Increase intensity of secondary cooling zone for two particular cases of primary cooling is tested. First case is tested at mould inlet water temperature of 38°C, and second case at water temperature of 63°C. Results showed that the combination of increasing secondary cooling intensity and reduction of primary cooling intensity can increase pool length and mushy zone thickness. Also, it is shown that, secondary cooling intensity can be magnified by up to 1.5 times for cooling water temperature of 63°C to get pool length close to that of water temperature of 38°C.

MICROSTRUCTURE AND TENSILE PROPERTY OF AN AS-CAST DUPLEX STAINLESS STEEL

The effect of high temperature solution heat treatment on the microstructure and tensile property of as-cast 0Cr17Mnl4Mo2N duplex stainless steel was investigated. It was found that the morphology of δ-ferrite in the dual phases microstructures changed gradually from dendritic to lamellar and then to spheroidal, and its distribution became more uniform under appropriate treatment. When the treat temperature was lower than 1250°C, the spheroidal ratio and the homogeneous distribution of δ-ferrite increased with the increase of temperature, which corresponds to a better tensile property. In addition, when the treat temperature reached 1250°C and above, the microstructure consists of coarse equiaxial δ-ferrite grains with the needle austenite at its boundaries, which results in the decrease of the tensile properties of the steel.

VOLUME SEGMENTATION BY POST-PROCESSING DATA FROM SIMULATION OF SOLIDIFICATION IN THE METAL CASTING PROCESS

In the process of interpreting simulation results,new post-processing techniques are developed.This work presents a post-processing method that analyzes the solidification pattern formed by simulation of the solidification process of molten metal in a mold to produce shaped castings.Simulations generally involve numerical solutions of differential equations which are discretized by dividing the three-dimensional computational domain into small finite volume elements using a 3D grid.The locations of the grid points and values of the solidification time at these locations are used to divide the spatial data into 3D sections such that starting from a hotspot location within the section that has high solidification time,there is a gradient outwards with lower values of solidification time.Each section is assumed to be fed by one or more feeders that must freeze only after the section has solidified completely.The volume of a feeder can be determined from the volume of the section it is supposed to feed.The volume and surface area of sections are determined approximately to calculate feeder size and dimensions.The post-processing algorithm is a simulation-based quantitative approach to feeder design which in conventional foundry practice has been more of an art than science.It is also general enough for use in other 3D segmentation applications.