Mechanical Modification of Al-6%Si By Semisolid Process

In this study by semisolid processing of Al-6%Si alloy, it has been found that small additions of Ti-6Al-4V shift the liquidus temperature up and the recalescence decreases. The nucleation event takes place at higher temperatures. Furthermore, the rate at which growth temperature increases is less than that of nucleation temperature and therefore more nuclei form with less potential for growth. In this processing refiner increases the α-Al percentage and reduces globule size. Improvement of mechanical property and microstructure characterization are the main advantages of this study.

A Study on Bubbles in Semisolid Alloys

Bubble or blowhole is one of the most common defects in the workpiece produced by a semisolid alloy process. Except some bubbles are discharged out of the melt, many of the bubbles remained in the semisolid slurry will be deformed, enlarged or merged in the storage and transport process of the semisolid slurry, and be compressed, burst, flattened into crack which is called as gas induced crack in the further semisolid process. How to control and reduce the bubble defects is a key problem to give full play to the advantages of semisolid processing technology in industrial applications. In this paper, the behaviors of growing, floating, escaping and changing of the bubbles in semisolid alloys were theoretically explored during the smelting, filling and forming, and the mathematical models for predicting bubble dimensions and remained bubble ratio in the semisolid slurry were derived based on the theory of twophase flow and the principle of rheology. Moreover, the mechanism and critical conditions for forming the bubbles defects and gasinduced cracks defects in a workpiece were discussed by mechanics analysis. Finally, the relationships between blowhole defects, cracks defects and process parameters were built through kinetic analysis for the rheology behaviors of the semisolid slurry and bubble growing process. These mathematical models will provide a reference for controlling and preventing defects of the blowhole and cracks in the semisolid process.

Grain Refining through Semisolid Processing

Semisolid process can be used as grain refining method to replace conventional chemical grain refining approach. Typical semisolid slurry making techniques were introduced in the paper as potential semisolid grain refining methods. The temperature and morphology control for grain refining through semisolid process were enhanced to achieve fine particle size and large particle number rather than spheroidal particle shape or low viscosity of the slurry comparing with conventional rheo-forming process. The grain refinement effect was demonstrated by a 40 mm cylinder casting of AZ31 alloy.

Effects of Post Heat Treatment on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of RAP-Processed Cr-V-Mo Steel

Owing to the phase segregation occurred during semisolid process, the ferroalloys products manufactured by semisolid process always exhibit inhomogeneous microstructure and poor mechanical properties. In this study, the post heat treatments including quenching treatment and tempering treatment with various processing parameters were carried out to improve the quality of Cr-V-Mo steel (JIS SKD61, AISI H13, DIN 1.2344) which processed by RAP (recrystallization and partial melting) processed. The microstructural characteristics (phase transformation, morphology of carbides, and distribution of alloying elements) and mechanical properties (hardness, tensile strength, elongation, impact toughness, and resistance to high-temperature wear) of specimens processed by RAP and heat treatments under various experimental conditions were investigated experimentally. Being quenched from 1050 °C after isothermal holding for 480 s and then tempered twice at 560 °C for 2 h, the microstructural evolution took placed in both former solid-phase and liquid-phase regions of the RAP-processed Cr-V-Mo steel specimen. During this post heat treatment strategy, the weakening of phase segregation, the redistribution of carbides, and the release of residual stress occurred and resulted in the improvement of microstructure and a good combination of mechanical properties.

Squeeze Flow of Thixotropic Semisolid Slurries

An essential element for the integration of a semisolid process in the production of complex commercial components is the availability of accurate mathematical and computational tools that could describe both the rheological behavior and the material characteristics of the suspension, which are strongly affected from its internal structure and its evolution during deformation. In this study we considered the squeeze flow experiment, which is a standard method used to determine material properties of semisolid slurries, where a fixed amount of material is compressed from its topside either under constant load or constant velocity, while the bottom side remains fixed. Through high fidelity computational modeling we simulated the classical compression experiment by including the effects of thixotropy in order to demonstrate its role in determining material constants. More specifically a structural viscoplastic model based on the Bingham plastic constitutive equation is proposed. The yield stress is assumed to vary linearly with the structural parameter which follows a first-order rate equation accounting for the material structure break-down and build-up. The development of the yielded/unyielded regions in relation to material structural changes is analyzed. Furthermore, we performed also simulations, where the compression is interrupted for a short time, in order to study the material internal structure after a short relaxation time.

Production of Zr-Based Metallic Glass Matrix Composites by Semisolid Process

It was reported that micrometer-sized ductile crystalline phases can improve the ductility of Zr-based bulk metallic glasses. The present authors reported the synthesis of bulk metallic glass composites by a process combining cooling slope casting and suction casting for Zr66.4Nb6.4Cu10.5Ni8.7Al8alloys. This study aims to investigate basics of Zr-based metallic glass matrix composites with semisolid structure. As a result, it was found that the Zr-based metallic glass matrix composites with very uniform semisolid structure can be produced by heat treatment process at semisolid region. Moreover, it was found that experimental results can be explained by the pseudo-binary phase diagram.

Evolution of Globular Microstructures during Direct Partial Re-Melting Experiment of AISI D2 Tool Steel

Steel is a mostly challenging metal to semisolid process because of the high temperatures implicated and the prospective for surface oxidation. Slurry processing experiment was performed with AISI D2 cold work tool steel to identify the evolution of globular microstructures via Direct Partial Re-Melting Method (DPRM). Samples were heated in an argon atmosphere up to 1330°C which corresponded to about 38% of liquid fraction and held for 5 minutes. The typical microstructure after DPRM consists of globular grains (average grain size about 50μm) while the remaining interspaces were filled by precipitated eutectic carbides on the grain boundaries and lamellar network. Based on the requirements of thixoformability, the current work confirms the suitability of the AISI D2 cold work tool steel as a candidate material for semi-solid forming.