scholarly journals Inclusion removal and grain refinement of magnesium alloy castings

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdallah Elsayed
Keyword(s):  
Magnesium Alloy ◽  
Neutron Diffraction ◽  
Grain Refinement ◽  
Magnesium Alloys ◽  
Ex Situ ◽  
Inclusion Removal ◽  
Carbon Inoculation ◽  
Aluminum Silicon Carbide ◽  
In Situ Neutron Diffraction

Magnesium alloys show promise to be materials for lightweighting of automotive and aerospace vehicles improving fuel efficiencies and vehicle performance. A majority of magnesium alloy components are produced using casting where susceptibility to forming inclusions and coarse grain sizes could result. Development of effective inclusion removal techniques and better understanding of grain refinement of magnesium alloys could help in improving their mechanical properties to advance them to more structurally demanding applications. This research aimed to develop an environmentally friendly alternative to the grain refinement and inclusion removal capabilities of carbon based hexachloroethane as it releases dioxins, chlorine gas and corrodes foundry equipment. A secondary aim was to pioneer in-situ neutron diffraction to examine the solidification of magnesium alloys. The research involved preparing tensile samples of AZ91E magnesium alloy using permanent mould casting. Inclusion removal was conducted by using filtration and argon gas bubbling. Castings grain refined using hexachloroethane (0.25, 0.50 and 0.75 wt.%) were compared against ex-situ aluminum-silicon carbide and in-situ aluminum-carbon based grain refiners combined with filtration and argon gas bubbling. Further, in-situ neutron diffraction was utilized for phase analysis and fraction solid determination of magnesium-zinc and magnesium-aluminum alloys. There was a significant improvement in yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and elongation with filtration plus argon bubbling, carbon inoculation or both filtration plus argon bubbling and carbon inoculation. The results indicated that the mechanism of the observed ~20% reduction in grain sizes with carbon inoculation (hexachloroethane, ex-situ aluminum-silicon carbide and in-situ aluminum-carbon) was explained through duplex nucleation of Mn-Al and Al-Mg-C-O (likely Al2MgC2) phases. Finally, in-situ neutron diffraction was used to follow the formation of Mg17Al12 eutectic phase in a magnesium-9 wt.% aluminum alloy. For the magnesium-zinc alloys, in-situ neutron diffraction enabled characterization of the effects of zirconium to the fraction solid growth of (1010), (0002) and (1011) α-Mg planes. The societal and environmental impact of this research is significant. There is a clear demonstration of alternatives to the universally used hexachloroethane grain refiner promoting harmful emissions. Improved mechanical properties resulting from new grain refinement and iv inclusion filtration are a major advancement in promoting weight reduction, improved castability and decreased environmental impact for automotive and aerospace industries.

scholarly journals Inclusion removal and grain refinement of magnesium alloy castings

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdallah Elsayed
Keyword(s):  
Magnesium Alloy ◽  
Neutron Diffraction ◽  
Grain Refinement ◽  
Magnesium Alloys ◽  
Ex Situ ◽  
Inclusion Removal ◽  
Carbon Inoculation ◽  
Aluminum Silicon Carbide ◽  
In Situ Neutron Diffraction

Magnesium alloys show promise to be materials for lightweighting of automotive and aerospace vehicles improving fuel efficiencies and vehicle performance. A majority of magnesium alloy components are produced using casting where susceptibility to forming inclusions and coarse grain sizes could result. Development of effective inclusion removal techniques and better understanding of grain refinement of magnesium alloys could help in improving their mechanical properties to advance them to more structurally demanding applications. This research aimed to develop an environmentally friendly alternative to the grain refinement and inclusion removal capabilities of carbon based hexachloroethane as it releases dioxins, chlorine gas and corrodes foundry equipment. A secondary aim was to pioneer in-situ neutron diffraction to examine the solidification of magnesium alloys. The research involved preparing tensile samples of AZ91E magnesium alloy using permanent mould casting. Inclusion removal was conducted by using filtration and argon gas bubbling. Castings grain refined using hexachloroethane (0.25, 0.50 and 0.75 wt.%) were compared against ex-situ aluminum-silicon carbide and in-situ aluminum-carbon based grain refiners combined with filtration and argon gas bubbling. Further, in-situ neutron diffraction was utilized for phase analysis and fraction solid determination of magnesium-zinc and magnesium-aluminum alloys. There was a significant improvement in yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and elongation with filtration plus argon bubbling, carbon inoculation or both filtration plus argon bubbling and carbon inoculation. The results indicated that the mechanism of the observed ~20% reduction in grain sizes with carbon inoculation (hexachloroethane, ex-situ aluminum-silicon carbide and in-situ aluminum-carbon) was explained through duplex nucleation of Mn-Al and Al-Mg-C-O (likely Al2MgC2) phases. Finally, in-situ neutron diffraction was used to follow the formation of Mg17Al12 eutectic phase in a magnesium-9 wt.% aluminum alloy. For the magnesium-zinc alloys, in-situ neutron diffraction enabled characterization of the effects of zirconium to the fraction solid growth of (1010), (0002) and (1011) α-Mg planes. The societal and environmental impact of this research is significant. There is a clear demonstration of alternatives to the universally used hexachloroethane grain refiner promoting harmful emissions. Improved mechanical properties resulting from new grain refinement and iv inclusion filtration are a major advancement in promoting weight reduction, improved castability and decreased environmental impact for automotive and aerospace industries.

Grain Refinement and Mechanism of Carbon Inoculation in Mg-Al Magnesium Alloys

2014 ◽  
Vol 788 ◽  
pp. 98-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhao Hui Wang ◽  
Xiao Long Zhang ◽  
Shu Bo Li ◽  
Ke Liu ◽  
Wen Bo Du
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Magnesium Alloy ◽  
Grain Refinement ◽  
Magnesium Alloys ◽  
Graphite Powder ◽  
Microstructure And Mechanical Properties ◽  
Refinement Process ◽  
Carbon Inoculation

Grain refinement is important for improving the microstructure and mechanical properties of magnesium alloys. Carbon inoculation is an effective method of grain refinement process for magnesium alloys containing aluminum. In this paper, the C2Cl6 and graphite powder were used as the potential grain refiners for AM60 and AZ91 alloys, respectively. The results show that the microstructure and mechanical properties of these Mg-Al magnesium alloys have been improved with these grain refiners. The mechanism and thermodynamics analyses of grain refinement with carbon inoculation in Mg-Al magnesium alloy have been discussed.

In Situ Neutron Diffraction Studies of the Pseudoelastic-Like Behaviour of Hydrostatically Extruded Mg-Al-Zn Alloy

2008 ◽  
Vol 571-572 ◽  
pp. 107-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ondrej Muránsky ◽  
David G. Carr ◽  
Petr Šittner ◽  
E.C. Oliver ◽  
P. Dobroň
Keyword(s):  
Magnesium Alloy ◽  
Neutron Diffraction ◽  
Diffraction Data ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Extrusion Direction ◽  
Neutron Diffraction Data ◽  
Tensile Stresses ◽  
In Situ Neutron Diffraction ◽  
Zn Alloy

In-situ neutron diffraction has been used to study the pseudoelastic-like behaviour of hydrostatically extruded AZ31 magnesium alloy during stress-strain cycles in compression and tension along the extrusion direction. It has been confirmed that the activation of reversal twinning processes during unloading is responsible for the macroscopically observed hysteresis effect. Moreover, neutron diffraction data reveals the existence of high tensile stresses in grains which have just experienced significant twinning activity prior to the start of the unload cycle. It is thus proposed that this tensile stresses provides the necessary driving force for the activation of untwinning in already twinned grains.

The influence of gadolinium on Al–Ti–C master alloy and its refining effect on AZ31 magnesium alloy

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenxue Fan ◽  
Hai Hao
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Magnesium Alloy ◽  
Grain Refinement ◽  
Magnesium Alloys ◽  
Master Alloy ◽  
Cast Alloy ◽  
Az31 Magnesium Alloy ◽  
Synthesis Mechanism ◽  
Refining Effect ◽  
Master Alloys

Abstract Grain refinement has a significant influence on the improvement of mechanical properties of magnesium alloys. In this study, a series of Al–Ti–C-xGd (x = 0, 1, 2, 3) master alloys as grain refiners were prepared by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis. The synthesis mechanism of the Al–Ti–C-xGd master alloy was analyzed. The effects of Al–Ti–C-xGd master alloys on the grain refinement and mechanical properties of AZ31 (Mg-3Al-1Zn-0.4Mn) magnesium alloys were investigated. The results show that the microstructure of the Al–Ti–C-xGd alloy contains α-Al, TiAl3, TiC and the core–shell structure TiAl3/Ti2Al20Gd. The refining effect of the prepared Al–Ti–C–Gd master alloy is obviously better than that of Al–Ti–C master alloy. The grain size of AZ31 magnesium alloy was reduced from 323 μm to 72 μm when adding 1 wt.% Al–Ti–C-2Gd master alloy. In the same condition, the ultimate tensile strength and elongation of as-cast alloy were increased from 130 MPa, 7.9% to 207 MPa, 16.6% respectively.

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