Silicon segregation in aluminium casting alloy

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to find an explanation for the observation made by earlier researchers that the distribution of silicon across dendrite branches in an aluminium–silicon casting alloy is sometimes anomalous, in that the concentration gradient is in the opposite direction to that predicted by solidification theory. Small specimens of aluminium alloy A356 were solidified to give a similar dendritic microstructure. One specimen was quenched from a temperature just above the eutectic temperature, giving the silicon distribution expected from theory, while a second specimen was cooled more slowly to give the anomalous silicon distribution, suggesting that it is caused by something occurring in the solid state. It was noted that there is a rapid decrease in solubility of silicon in aluminium with decreasing temperature below the aluminium–silicon eutectic temperature, so that a substantial amount of silicon is expected to come out of solution at temperatures above 500°C on cooling. An estimate of the diffusion rate of silicon in aluminium showed that, for normal cooling rates, this can occur by diffusion of silicon to the interdendritic silicon particles formed during the final stages of freezing, thereby removing silicon directionally from the dendrite branches and producing the observed anomalous silicon distribution.     

Crystallization of amorphous Te-20 at% Sn alloy

Amorphous Te-20 at% Sn alloy was obtained by rapid cooling from the liquid state. Phase transitions occurring during continuous heating of amorphous films were studied by differential thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. It was found that the crystallization of the amorphous phase begins at 382 K and proceeds via nucleation and growth of metastable phases MS1 and MS2. The first of these phases was assigned the primitive cubic structure with lattice parameter a=3.2Å. The second phase, being a Te (Sn) solution, was assigned the hexagonal structure with lattice parameters a=4.45Å and c=5.85Å. During heating at 410 K the remaining amorphous phase decomposed into a mixture of Te crystals together with metastable phase MS3, which probably has the ZnS type structure with lattice parameter a=6.05Å. Within the temperature range 450 to 550 K the MS1 phase was transformed into SnTe, and the MS2 phase into Te. The metastable intermediate phase MS3 decomposed only near the solidus temperature, and the alloy attained its equilibrium structure.     

Influence of Solid Fraction on Gravity Segregation of Sn in Al-20Sn Alloy Casting

The influence of solid fraction of Al-20Sn alloy mushy on gravity segregation of Sn in casting was studied and, the relationship between solid fraction and the temperature of alloy mushy and that between solid fraction of alloy mushy and size of Sn particle in ingot were determined. The results show that the relationship between solid fraction and the temperature of alloy mushy was fs=1683-4.86t+0.0035t2. The extent of gravity segregation of Sn in casting reduced gradually with the increasing of solid fraction of alloy mushy. When solid fraction of alloy mushy was arger than 40%, the gravity segregation of Sn in casting could be removed basically, and the relationship between solid fraction of alloy mushy and size of Sn particle in ingot was s=-0.64fs+70.8.     

铸态Cu20Ni35Mn合金的直接时效强化研究

制备成分为Cu20Ni35Mn的合金试样,对铸态锰白铜合金直接进行时效处理,研究了不同的时效工艺对锰白铜合金的强化效果,分析了时效强化机理.实验结果表明,锰白铜合金在铸态下可以直接进行时效处理,最佳时效工艺为:时效温度400～470℃,时效时间为60～72h,硬度可达到HV400以上.并发现MnNi相的析出是合金时效强化的主要原因.     

Determination of interfacial energies of solid Sn solution in the In–Bi–Sn ternary alloy

The equilibrated grain boundary groove shapes of solid Sn solution (Sn-40.14 at.% In-16.11 at.% Bi) in equilibrium with the In–Bi–Sn liquid (In-21.23 at.% Bi-19.04 at.% Sn) were observed from the quenched sample at 59 °C. Gibbs–Thomson coefficient, solid–liquid interfacial energy and grain boundary energy of the solid Sn solution have been determined from the observed grain boundary groove shapes. The thermal conductivity of solid phase for In-21.23 at.% Bi-19.04 at.% Sn alloy and the thermal conductivity ratio of liquid phase to solid phase at the melting temperature have also been measured with radial heat flow apparatus and Bridgman type growth apparatus, respectively.     

Swage casting of A380 alloy

Swage casting is a new casting technique which combines the advantages of squeeze, centrifugal and semi-solid casting methods. In this new casting method, components with one rotating axis can be produced on a swage casting machine from molten metal in a one-step operation. A shape like a “bomb-body” is chosen to demonstrate the advantages of this new method by using A380 Al–Si–Cu alloy. The same alloy is also cast with centrifugal and squeeze casting methods. In this study, the swage casting method and its features are briefly described. The final microstructures, mechanical properties and amount of porosity of the cast pieces produced by squeeze, centrifugal and swage casting methods are compared. Swage cast pieces showed a different composition of microstructure that consists of fine dendritic particles at the chill ends and a mixture of spherical and rosette shaped particles at the core. The swage cast pieces also have a slightly higher mechanical strength as indicated by tensile strength and Brinell hardness values.     

Effects of Sn addition on as-cast microstructure, mechanical properties and casting fluidity of ZA84 magnesium alloy

The effects of Sn addition on the as-cast microstructure, mechanical properties and casting fluidity of the ZA84 magnesium alloy are investigated. The results indicate that adding 0.5–2.0 wt.%Sn to the ZA84 alloy not only can result in the formation of Mg₂Sn phase but also can refine the Mg₃₂(Al, Zn)₄₉ phase and suppress the formation of Mg₃₂(Al, Zn)₄₉ phase, and with the increase of Sn amount from 0.5 wt.% to 2.0 wt.%, the morphology of Mg₃₂(Al, Zn)₄₉ phase gradually changes from coarse continuous and/or quasi-continuous net to relatively fine quasi-continuous and/or disconnected shapes. In addition, adding 0.5–2.0 wt.%Sn to the ZA84 alloy can improve the tensile and creep properties, and casting fluidity of the alloy. Among the Sn-containing ZA84 alloys, the ZA84 alloy added 1.0 wt.%Sn exhibits the best ultimate tensile strength, elongation and casting fluidity while the ZA84 alloy added 2.0 wt.%Sn has the best yield strength and creep properties.     

Effects of Sn segregation and precipitates on creep response of Mg‐Sn alloys

Mg‐Sn alloys are promising for the development of new cheap creep resistant magnesium alloys. In the present paper, the creep behaviours of Mg‐Sn and Mg‐Sn‐Ca alloys were examined at the constant temperature and different stresses. The measurements of stress exponents indicate that the dislocation climbing is the dominant mechanism during the creep of Mg‐3Sn or Mg‐3Sn‐2Ca alloys. The poor creep resistance of the binary Mg‐3Sn alloy is caused by the easy movement of dislocation and the segregation of Sn at the boundaries. Both T4 and T6 heat treatments improve the creep resistance of Mg‐3Sn alloy due to the alleviation of Sn segregation at grain boundaries and the precipitation of Mg₂Sn particles, respectively. Ca is an effective alloying element to increase the creep resistance of Mg‐Sn alloys. The Ca addition leads to the formation of thermal stable phases Mg₂Ca and CaMgSn in Mg‐3Sn‐Ca alloys. These two phases effectively hinder the movement of dislocations and the sliding of grain boundaries. On the other hand, the addition of Ca alleviates the segregation of Sn by the interaction of Ca with Mg and Sn to form the phase CaMgSn.     

电脉冲磁场对FeMnSiCr合金铸态管接头形状记忆效应的影响

提出了用电脉冲磁场细化铁基形状记忆合金铸管凝固组织的新工艺，并对铸管的形状记忆效应进行对比研究。实验结果表明，适当频率的电脉冲磁场能够显著改善铁基形状记忆合金的凝固组织，提高其铸态管接头的形状记忆效应，并对其机理进行了初步分析。     

Low cycle fatigue behavior of a eutectic 80Au/20Sn solder alloy

The eutectic 80Au/20Sn solder alloy is widely used in high power electronics and optoelectronics packaging. In this study, low cycle fatigue behavior of a eutectic 80Au/20Sn solder alloy is reported. The 80Au/20Sn solder shows a quasi-static fracture characteristic at high strain rates, and then gradually transforms from a transgranular fracture (dominated by fatigue damage) to intergranular fracture (dominated by creep damage) at low strain rates with increasing temperature. Coffin-Manson and Morrow models are proposed to evaluate the low cycle fatigue behavior of the 80Au/20Sn solder. Besides, the 80Au/20Sn solder has enhanced fatigue resistance compared to the 63Sn/37Pb solder.     

A STEM study of grain-boundary segregation in Al-6.5 wt% Mg alloy

A STEM-EDX analysis study of grain-boundary segregation in an AI-6.5 wt% Mg alloy is presented. STEM-EDX analysis using an electron probe size of nm is shown to provide statistically significant compositional data on grain-boundary segregation in Al-Mg alloys. Solute profiles taken normal to grain boundaries show both non-equilibrium segregation and precipitation phenomena in Al-6.5 wt% Mg alloys water-quenched from 350, 400 and 570° C.     

Influence of the supersaturated silicon solid solution concentration on the effectiveness of severe plastic deformation processing in Al-7 wt.% Si casting alloy

A comparative study of room temperature severe plastic deformation (SPD) of a hypoeutectic Al-7 wt.% Si casting alloy by high pressure torsion (HPT) and equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) has been performed. Microstructural parameters and microhardness were evaluated in the present work. Three different initial Si solid solution contents have been considered: as cast (C sample, 1.6 wt.% Si), annealed and quenched (Q sample, 1.2 wt.% Si) and annealed and furnace cooled (S sample, 0.7 wt.% Si). The samples processed by ECAP have smaller average Si particle sizes (0.9-1.7 μm), than those for samples processed by HPT (2.4-4.4 μm). The initial supersaturated Si solid solution is the major factor affecting the microstructure and the mechanical properties of the material. Fine deformation-induced Si precipitates from the supersaturated solid solution were responsible of the large grain refinement obtained by both SPD processing methods, which was considerably higher than that reported for pure aluminium. Q samples, processed by both SPD methods, containing an intermediate concentration of Si in solid solution, show the highest hardness due to the finest and most homogeneous microstructure. The finest and homogeneous grain size was ∼0.2 μm for the HPTed and ∼0.4 μm for the ECAPed Q samples.     

Deformation behavior of semi-solid A356 Al–Si alloy at low shear rates: Effect of fraction solid

Conventional casting was employed to produce semi-solid metal, SSM, billets of A356 Al–Si alloy. The rheological behavior of the as-cast SSM billets was studied using the parallel plate compression viscometry. The compression tests were carried out at different applied pressures, billet temperatures and fractions solid. The rheological studies were conducted assuming the SSM slurry behaving as Newtonian or non-Newtonian fluid. The calculated viscosity numbers confirmed the pseudoplastic behavior of the SSM billets and were correlated to fraction solid and shear rate, through an empirical equation, to highlight the effect of metallurgical and process parameters on the viscosity of the SSM A356 alloy.

This equation is valid at very low shear rates, less than 0.01 s⁻¹.     

Influence of buoyancy convection on solute distribution in Pd40Ni40P20 alloy

The differences in the solute distribution in microstructure of Pd40Ni40P20 alloy solidified on board a Chinese retrievable satellite and on the ground were studied. In comparison with those crystallized under normal gravity conditions (1 g), it was found that the P content was lower, but the Pd content was higher in the primary phase in microgravity conditions ( g). In the eutectic region the P content, however, was increased but the Pd content was decreased. The differences in solute distribution crystallized under 1 g and g conditions show the influence of buoyancy convection on the mass transport coefficient in liquids under normal gravity conditions. © 1998 Chapman & Hall     

Influence of casting defect and SDAS on the multiaxial fatigue behaviour of A356-T6 alloy including mean stress effect

The effect of mean stress on the multiaxial High Cycle Fatigue (HCF) behaviour of cast A356-T6 alloy containing natural and artificial defects with varying Secondary Dendrite Arming Spacing (SDAS) has been investigated experimentally. Tension, torsion and combined tension–torsion fatigue tests have been performed for two loading ratios: R_σ = 0 and R_σ = −1. A Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to perform fractographic analysis of the fracture surfaces to characterise the defect causing failure. In order to gauge the effect of mean stress and defects, the results are reported with standard Kitagawa and Haigh diagrams. A surface response method has been employed to characterise the influence of defect size and SDAS on the fatigue limit. Relationships and correlations describing the observed behaviour have been incorporated in the Defect Stress Gradient (DSG) criterion with the goal of determining the influence of defects on the fatigue limit through a stress gradient approach.Results clearly show that: (i) the mean stress has a detrimental effect on the fatigue limit. This effect is a function of the loading, which is most pronounced under tension, less under combined tension–torsion, and least pronounced under torsion conditions; (ii) in the absence of defects, the SDAS controls the fatigue limit of cast A356, this effect is much more important under torsion loading; (iii) the DSG criterion is improved by the mean of a parameter describing the microstructure effect through the SDAS.     

酸腐蚀对Sn_(0.4)Co_(0.4)Zn_(0.2)合金结构及电化学性能的影响

采用固相烧结合成Sn0.4Co0.4Zn0.2合金,再以H2SO4进行酸腐蚀,探索了H2SO4浓度对合金结构和电化学性能的影响。实验结果表明,Sn0.4Co0.4-Zn0.2合金由CoSn、Co3Sn2、CoSn2相和单质Zn组成,H2SO4使合金中部分Zn腐蚀溶解,在颗粒内部形成孔隙,并且使颗粒内部失去粘结而粉化,颗粒细化变小。酸腐蚀改善了Sn0.4Co0.4Zn0.2合金的电化学性能,当H2SO4浓度为0.02mol/L时,合金的首次放电容量为295mAh/g,经过100次循环后的放电容量为234mAh/g,保持了首次放电容量的79.3%,表现出良好的电化学活性。     

Influence of rotational speed during centrifugal casting on sliding wear behaviour of the Al-2Si alloy

The microstructures and dry sliding wear behaviour of an Al-2Si alloy cast centrifugally are studied. Results indicate that at optimum speed the cast has a microstructure consisting of uniformly distributed α-Al grains and fine eutectic silicon grains. The cast exhibited better wear resistance compared to the same cast prepared at different rpms. This paper attempts to investigate the influence of the microstructural changes in the Al-2Si alloy by varying the rotational speed of the mould and its combined action on the dry sliding wear behaviour.