Effect of Casting Size on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Thixocastings

2014 ◽  
Vol 217-218 ◽  
pp. 45-52
Author(s):  
Hong Xing Lu ◽  
Qiang Zhu ◽  
You Feng He ◽  
Da Quan Li ◽  
Stephen P. Midson

A general rule in conventional liquid metal casting processes is that smaller size would produce better metallurgical quality and mechanical properties. The conclusion that semi-solid thixocasting process doesnt follow this rule has been made recently. The microstructure and mechanical properties of semi-solid thixocastings are much less dependent on casting size and cooling rate than the liquid castings. The step casting in the previous study is specially designed and simplified. The practical castings, e.g. turbocharger impellers, are more complex than the step castings. In this work, the turbocharger impeller is used to study the impact of section size representing the casting size on the microstructure and mechanical properties of semi-solid thixocastings, compared with the step casting. Section thickness decreases from 50 mm to 3.5 mm. In addition, the impact of casting thickness on the eutectic phase is also presented. The results reveal that the size of primary α-Al particles is insensitive to the casting thickness in semi-solid thixocasting. The cooling rate has a notable impact on the size and geometric characteristics of the eutectic silicon particles, but the impact is reduced by the following T61 heat treatment. The association between the casting thickness and casting defects is discussed, in order to further understand the impact of casting size on durability and reliability of real casting components.

2016 ◽  
Vol 877 ◽  
pp. 27-32
Author(s):  
Hai Tao Zhang ◽  
Dong Tao Wang ◽  
Ke Qin ◽  
Xing Han ◽  
Bo Shao ◽  
...  

The effect of phosphorus on primary silicon, phosphorus and mischmetal (Ce-50La) modification on primary and eutectic silicon and cooling rate on microstructure of Al-25%Si are investigated. The results show that, with the addition of phosphorus, the size of primary silicon decreases from 93.6μm to 24.75μm. The morphology of primary silicon changes from irregular to polygonal. When Al-25%Si is modified by phosphorus and mischmetal, primary and eutectic silicon all change effectively. Addition of mischmetal on the basis of phosphorus modification have no influence to primary silicon, but it can make morphology of eutectic silicon change from lamellar to short rod-like when the content of mischmetal reaches 0.5%. The cooling rate curves show the change of temperature in different height of wedge-shaped mould. When cooling rate increases, microstructure of Al-25%Si refines, the size of primary silicon decrease to 22.7μm. The results obtained from mechanical testing demonstrate that the addition of mischmetal and increasing of cooling rate increase hardness value of Al-25%Si alloy.


Metals ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 773
Author(s):  
Y.H. Guo ◽  
Li Lin ◽  
Donghui Zhang ◽  
Lili Liu ◽  
M.K. Lei

Heat-affected zone (HAZ) of welding joints critical to the equipment safety service are commonly repeatedly welded in industries. Thus, the effects of repeated welding up to six times on the microstructure and mechanical properties of HAZ for AISI 304N austenitic stainless steel specimens were investigated by a Gleeble simulator. The temperature field of HAZ was measured by in situ thermocouples. The as-welded and one to five times repeated welding were assigned as-welded (AW) and repeated welding 1–5 times (RW1–RW5), respectively. The austenitic matrices with the δ-ferrite were observed in all specimens by the metallography. The δ-ferrite content was also determined using magnetic and metallography methods. The δ-ferrite had a lathy structure with a content of 0.69–3.13 vol.%. The austenitic grains were equiaxial with an average size of 41.4–47.3 μm. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and yield strength (YS) mainly depended on the δ-ferrite content; otherwise, the impact energy mainly depended on both the austenitic grain size and the δ-ferrite content. The UTS of the RW1–RW3 specimens was above 550 MPa following the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) standard. The impact energy of all specimens was higher than that in ASME standard at about 56 J. The repeated welding up to three times could still meet the requirements for strength and toughness of welding specifications.


2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiyuan Liang ◽  
Wanhua Sha ◽  
Qinxin Zhao ◽  
Chongbin Wang ◽  
Jianyong Wang ◽  
...  

AbstractThe effect of aging heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of 10Cr20Ni25Mo1.5NbN austenitic steel was investigated in this article. The microstructure was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometry and transmission electron microscopy. Results show that the microstructure of 10Cr20Ni25Mo1.5NbN austenitic is composed of austenite. This steel was strengthened by precipitates of secondary phases that were mainly M23C6 carbides and NbCrN nitrides. As aging treatment time increased, the tensile strength first rose (0–3,000 h) and then fell (3,000–5,000 h) due to the decrease of high density of dislocations. The impact absorbed energy decreased sharply, causing the sulfides to precipitate at the grain boundary. Therefore, the content of sulfur should be strictly controlled in the steelmaking process.


2016 ◽  
Vol 879 ◽  
pp. 530-535
Author(s):  
Xiao Gang Fang ◽  
Shu Sen Wu ◽  
Shu Lin Lü

Mg-Zn-Y alloys containing a thermally stable icosahedral quasicrystal phase (I-phase) will have wide application future on condition that primary α-Mg dendrite and the I-phase can be refined during the casting process. In this research, the microstructure and mechanical properties of the rheo-squeeze casting (RSC) Mg-6Zn-1.4Y alloys have been investigated. The Mg alloy melt was exposed to ultrasonic vibration (USV) with different acoustic power densities from 0 W/mL to 9 W/mL, and then the slurry was formed by squeeze casting. The results show that good semi-solid slurry with fine and spherical α-Mg particles could be obtained with the acoustic power density of 6 W/mL, and the average grain size and shape factor of primary α-Mg were 32 μm and 0.76, respectively. Meanwhile the coarse eutectic I-phase (Mg3Zn6Y) was refined obviously and dispersed uniformly. Compared with the samples without USV, the tensile strength and elongation of the RSC casting samples with 6 W/mL acoustic power density were elevated by 10.6% and 55.5%, respectively.


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