Evaluation of the microstructure, secondary dendrite arm spacing, and mechanical properties of Al–Si alloy castings made in sand and Fe–Cr slag molds

The microstructure and mechanical properties of as-cast A356（Al–Si） alloy castings were investigated. A356 alloy was cast into three different molds composed of sand, ferrochrome（Fe–Cr） slag, and a mixture of sand and Fe–Cr. A sodium silicate–CO_2 process was used to make the necessary molds. Cylindrical-shaped castings were prepared. Cast products with no porosity and a good surface finish were achieved in all of the molds. These castings were evaluated for their metallography, secondary dendrite arm spacing（SDAS）, and mechanical properties, including hardness, compression, tensile, and impact properties. Furthermore, the tensile and impact samples were analyzed by fractography. The results show that faster heat transfer in the Fe–Cr slag molds than in either the silica sand or mixed molds led to lower SDAS values with a refined microstructure in the products cast in Fe–Cr slag molds. Consistent and enhanced mechanical properties were observed in the slag mold products than in the castings obtained from either sand or mixed molds. The fracture surface of the slag mold castings shows a dimple fracture morphology with a transgranular fracture nature. However, the fracture surfaces of the sand mold castings display brittle fracture. In conclusion, products cast in Fe–Cr slag molds exhibit an improved surface finish and enhanced mechanical properties compared to those of products cast in sand and mixed molds.

Grain and dendrite refinement of A356 alloy with Al-Ti-C-RE master alloy

Commercial A356 alloy was refined with a homemade A1-5Ti-0.25C-2RE master alloy, and the microstructure and macrostructure of the refined alloy were investigated. The results show that the grain refining effect of A356 is poor by the addition level of 0.5 wt% master alloy, but when the level reaches 3.0 wt% the grain can get a satisfactory refining effect. Dendrite of A356 can be effectively refined by addition of 0.5 wt% master alloy; however, the refining effect is not significantly improved by further increasing the addition of master alloy. Grain and dendrite refining effects are compared in this article, and the results show that the grain and dendrite exhibit different refining effects with the same addition level of master alloy. Dendrite is easier to reach the optimal refining effect than grain.

EFFECTS OF MISCHMETAL ADDITION ON THE CAST MICROSTRUCTURE OF 6063 ALLOYS

Effect of mischmetal addition on the cast microstructure of 6063 alloys has been investigated by means of optical microscopy, TEM and anode filming etc. The results show that there is a critical content of fining dendrite structure by adding mischmetal to 6063 alloys. This critical mischmetal content is about 0.15%. Only when the mischmetal content is above 0.15%, the secondary dendrite arm spacing decreased and eutectic structure fined. The cast grain is obviously refined when the content of mischmetal is lower. Consideration from the cast structure, the suitable mischmetal content in 6063 alloys is 0.20%.

BP Neural Network of Continuous Casting Technological Parameters and Secondary Dendrite Arm Spacing of Spring Steel

The continuous casting technological parameters have a great influence on the secondary dendrite arm spacing of the slab, which determines the segregation behavior of materials. Therefore, the identification of technological parameters of continuous casting process directly impacts the property of slab. The relationships between continuous casting technological parameters and cooling rate of slab for spring steel were built using BP neural network model, based on which, the relevant secondary dendrite arm spacing was calculated. The simulation calculation was also carried out using the industrial data. The simulation results show that compared with that of the traditional method, the absolute error of calculation result obtained with BP neural network model reduced from 0. 015 to 0. 0005, and the relative error reduced from 6, 76 % to 0.22 %. BP neural network model had a more precise accuracy in the optimization of continuous casting technological parameters.

Relationship between secondary dendrite arm spacing and local solidification time of 30Cr2Ni4MoV alloy at slow cooling rates

Solidification process of 231 t 30Cr2Ni4MoV ingot manufactured by slow cooling process was studied using experimental and numerical simulations, which tackled the problems of high cost and long period in large ingot studying. Based on the numerical results of large ingot, five characteristic locations under different temperature gradients and cooling rates chosen from the large ingot were simulated. The experiments were performed under the same temperature conditions as in numerical simulations with specialized instrument. The influences of temperature gradient in the solid-liquid interface and solidification rate on the size and morphology of solidification structure were analyzed at cooling rate ranging from 10-3 to 10 2℃ s-1. Solidification macrostructure and microstructure showed that no columnar dendrite was found in any specimen. The grain size and secondary dendrite arm spacing decreased at larger cooling rate, and the relationship between secondary dendrite arm spacing and local solidification time or cooling rate was determined.

Solidification structure simulation and casting process optimization of GCr15 bloom alloy

Based on the solidification heat transfer model and CAFÉmodel,the solidification structure of GCr15 bloom alloy was studied.Using nail shooting and acid etching experiments,the solidification models were verified.The secondary dendrite arm spacing(SDAS)model of GCr15 was obtained by simulation calculation and metallographic observation.With the increase of casting speed,the SDAS,equiaxed crystal ratio(ECR)and average grain size increase.With the rise of superheat,the SDAS increases in the 20-70 mm of thickness and decreases in the 80-160 mm of thickness.The ECR decreases and the average grain size increases with the increase of superheat.With the increase of specific water flow,both the SDAS and ECR decrease.The minimum average grain size is obtained when the specific water flow is 0.20 L·kg^(-1).The central carbon segregation index is reduced from 1.11 to 1.075.

Characterization of cooling rate and microstructure of Cu Sn melt droplet in drop on demand process

Different sized single droplets of Cu-6%Sn alloy were prepared by drop on demand(DOD)technique.The secondarydendrite arm spacing was measured and correlated with the droplet cooling rate by a semi-empirical formula.The microstructure ofdroplets was observed by optical microscopy(OM)and electro backscatter diffraction(EBSD).The dendrite feature of singledroplets depends on solidification rate,cooling medium and flight distance.When droplets collide with each other at temperaturesbetween solidus and liquidus,the dendrites and grains are refined obviously possibly because the collision enhances the heat transfer.The cooling rate of colliding droplets is estimated to be more than4×104K/s based on a Newton’s cooling model.The dendritesgrow along the colliding direction because of the temperature gradient induced by the internal flow inside the droplets.

Effect of Cooling Rate on the Microstructure of ZA48 Alloy

The effect of cooling rate on the microstructure of ZA48 alloy was investigated. The alloy was prepared using a relatively simple technique, i e, rapid cooling of the melt in a steel wedge mould. The dependence of microstructure on the cooling rate （about 40 to 10^3 K/s） was determined by the secondary dendrite arm space size measurement, optical microscopy（OM）, and transmission electron microscopy （TEM）. It is found that the matrix structure over a large cooling rate is composed of α-Al dendrite and eutectoid （α＋η）, the size of α-Al dendrite decreases with increasing cooling rate. The relationship between the cooling rate and the secondary dendrite arm space size has been established. TEM shows that a large number of small and dispersed precipitations can be seen in the primary α phase of tip region. Electron diffraction pattern shows that the precipitate phase is Zn3Mg2 phase.

Simulation of Secondary Dendritic Arm Spacing of Free Cutting Steel 38MnVS

The secondary dendritic arm spacing （SDAS） of free cutting steel 38MnVS during continuous casting process was simulated based on a Mixed Lagrangian and Eulerian Method （MILE Method） and SDAS model. The simulation results are basically in agreement with measured ones. The effect of composition, superheat and casting speed on SDAS are studied, and the relationship between SDAS and interdendritic segregation is discussed. The results show that SDAS increases with increasing carbon and silicon content, and decreases with increasing manganese and sulfur content. The increase of superheat and casting speed also makes SDAS increase. The permeability of co lumnar mushy zone which is parallel to the primary dendritic arms is calculated based on Carman-Kozeny relationship, and the increase of SDAS makes the permeability increase, which exacerbates interdendritic segregation of columnar crystal zone.

Predicting the effect of cooling rates and initial hydrogen concentrations on porosity formation in Al-Si castings

Al-Si alloys are widely used in automotive casting components while microporosity has always been a detrimental defect that leads to property degradation.In this study,a coupled three-dimensional cellular automata(CA)model has been used to predict the hydrogen porosity as functions of cooling rate and initial hydrogen concentration.By quantifying the pore characteristics,it has been found that the average equivalent pore diameter decreases from 40.43 to 23.98μm and the pore number density increases from 10.3 to 26.6 mm^(−3)as the cooling rate changes from 2.6 to 19.4℃/s at the initial hydrogen concentration of 0.25 mL/100 g.It is also notable that the pore size increases as the initial hydrogen concentration changes from 0.15 to 0.25 mL/100 g while the pore number remains stable.In addition,the linear regression between secondary dendrite arm spacing and the equivalent pore diameter has been studied for the first time,matching well with experiments.This work exhibits the application of CA model in future process optimization and robust condition design for advanced automotive parts made of Al-Si alloys.

Macro-and Microstructure Evolution of 5CrNiMo Steel Ingots during Electroslag Remelting Process

A comprehensive mathematical model was established and used to simulate the macro and microstructure evolution during the production process of 5CrNiMo steel ingot by electroslag remelting （ESR） method. Along the ingot height, the macrostructure distribution characteristics changed from vertical, fine columnar grains to tilted, coarse columnar grains, and this transformation process occurred at the very beginning of ESR. In the cross section of the ingot, there were three grain morphology regions and two grain type transition regions from the outside to the center of the ingot. These regions were the fine columnar grain region, columnar competitive growth transition re gion, coarse columnar grain region, columnar to equiaxed grain transition （CET） region, and coarse equiaxed grain region. The influence of the remelting rate on the macrostructure and mlcrostructure was investigated using a series of experiments and simulations. The results showed that a low remelting rate could produce a small grain growth angle （GGA） ; the average secondary dendrite arm spacing （SDAS） firstly decreased and then increased as the remelting rate increased. An excessively high or low remelting rate can increase the GGA and average SDAS in ingots. Thus, the remelting rate should be controlled within a suitable range to reduce composition microsegregation and microshrinkage in the ingot to produce an ESR ingot with satisfactory hot forging performance.

Room temperature compressive properties and strengthening mechanism of Mg96.17Zn3.15Y0.50Zr0.18 alloy solidified under high pressure

The microstructures of Mg96.17Zn3.15Y0.50Zr0.18 alloys solidified under 2-6 GPa high pressure were investigated by employing SEM(EDS) and TEM.The strengthening mechanism of experimental alloy solidified under high pressure is also discussed by analyzing the compressive properties and compression fracture morphology.The results show that the microstructure of experimental alloy becomes significantly fine-grained with increasing GPa level high pressure during solidification process,and the secondary dendrite arm spacing reduces from 40 μm at atmospheric pressure to 10 μm at 6 GPa pressure.The morphology of the second phases changes from the net structure by the lamellar-type eutectic structure at atmospheric pressure to discontinuous thin rods or particles at 6 GPa pressure.Besides,the solid solubility of Zn in the Mg matrix is improved with the increase of the solidification pressure.Compared with atmospheric-pressure solidification,high-pressure solidification can improve the strength of the experimental alloy.The compressive stre ngth is improved from 263 to 437 MPa at 6 GPa.The fracture mechanism of the experimental alloy changes from cleavage fracture at atmospheric pressure to quasi-cleavage fracture at high pressure.The main mechanism of the strength improvement of the experimental alloy includes the grain refinement strengthening caused by the refinement of the solidification microstructure,the second phase strengthening caused by the improvement of the morphology and distribution of the second phases,and solid solution strengthening caused by the increase of the solid solubility of Zn in the Mg matrix.