Solidification microstructures and mechanism of grain refinement of electrolytic low titanium A1 alloys

The solidification microstructures and the mechanism of grain refinement of electrolytic low titanium Al alloys were investigated by means of the wedge-shaped sample, the directional solidification and the rapid solidification ribbon. The results show that the coarse columnar grains formed in pure Al are transformed into the equiaxed grains in electrolytic low titanium Al alloys. The grain refinement is resulted from the constitutional supercooling caused by Ti and heterogeneous nucleation of Al3Ti particles. Under the condition of normal cooling rate, the grains are refined by the increment of constitutional supercooling when the content of titanium is less than 0.2%. With the increment of content of titanium, the grains are mainly refined by heterogeneous nucleation of AI3Ti particles. The grain size is decreased with the increment of cooling rate. When the cooling rate is larger than 10^5 ℃/s, the grain size is decreased to 0.1-10μm, the grain refinement is resulted from the larger cooling velocities mainly. After directional solidification, the equiaxed grains can be formed and the Ti element is distributed at the center of the grains.     

Effects of cooling rates on microporosity in DC casting Al-Li alloy

During the direct chill(DC)casting process,primary cooling from the mold and bottom block,and secondary cooling from the waterjets produce a concave solid shell.The depth of this liquid pocket and mushy zone not only depends on the solidification range of the alloy but also the boundary conditions such as cooling rates.Al-Li alloys solidify in a long solidification range increasing the susceptibility of porosity nucleation in the semi-solid region.In this study,the effects of cooling rate on the porosity formation were quantified for the large ingot casting using X-ray computed tomography(XCT).By characterizing pore size distributions at four different cooling conditions,the correlation between the mechanical properties at both room and high temperatures and the microstructure features was identified.The constitutive equations were constructed.It is found that increasing the cooling rate reduces the grain size,increases the number density of micropores,and minimizes the number of large pores,thereby improving the mechanical performance.Therefore,long mushy zones and deep liquid pockets in Al-Li alloys can be effectively controlled by controlling the boundary conditions of the DC casting solidification process,thereby obtaining castings with excellent mechanical properties.     

Microstructural evolution of directionally solidified DZ125 superalloy castings with different solidification methods

The properties of Ni-base superalloy castings are closely related to the uniformity of their as-cast microstructure,and different solidification methods have serious effect on microstructural uniformity.In this paper,the influences of high rate solidification(HRS) process(with or without superheating) and liquid metal cooling(LMC) process on the microstructure of DZ125 superalloy were investigated.Blade-shape castings were solidified at rates of 40 μm·s-1 to 110 μm·s-1 using HRS process and a comparative experiment was carried out at a rate of 70 μm·s-1 by LMC process.The optical microscope(OM),scanning electron microscope(SEM) were used to observe the microstructure and the grain size was analyzed using electron back scattered diffraction(EBSD) technique.Results show that for the castings by either HRS or LMC process,the primary dendrite arm spacing and size of γ’ precipitates decrease with increasing the withdrawal rate;the dendrites and γ’ precipitates at the upper section of the blade are coarser than those in the middle,especially for the HRS castings without high superheating technique.When the withdrawal rate is 70 μm·s-1,the castings by HRS with high superheating technique have the smallest PDAS with fine γ’ precipitates;while the size distribution of γ’ precipitates is more homogenous in LMC castings,and the number of larger grains in LMC castings is smaller than that in the HRS castings.Moreover,high superheating technique yields smaller grains in the castings.Both the LMC method and HRS with high superheating technique can be used to prepare castings with reduced maximum grain size.     

Microstructure and mechanical properties of high strength as—cast Ti—15—3 alloy

The effects of heat treatment and solidification cooling rate on the microstructure and mechanical properties of as-cast Ti-15-3 alloy prepared by induction skull melting method were investigated.Results show that the microstructure of as-cast Ti-15-3 alloy changes from the features of simplified and larger size of beta grains to finer grain size with increasing solidification cooling rate.After solution treatment and different ageing treatment,alpha phase precipitates in grains interior as well as in grain boundaries.Due to the modification of the precipitate phase,the tensile stength and elongation of the alloy are improved simultaneously.A good combination of the values of 1.406GPa of σb and 4.5% of δ was obtained,which will be satisfied the use of this kind of alloy in critical areas.     

Solidification behaviour of Al-7 %Si-Mg casting alloys

The effects of Mg content and cooling rate on the solidification behaviour of Al-7% Si-Mg(mass fraction)casting alloys have been investigated using differential scanning calorimetry, differential thermal analysis and microscopy. The Mg contents were selected as respectively 0.00%, 0.35% and 0. 70% (mass fraction). DTA curves of Al-7%Si-0.55%Mg(mass fraction) alloy at various cooling rates were accomplished and the alloy melt was cast in different cooling rates. The results indicate that increasing Mg content can lower the liquidus and binary Al-Si eutectic transformation temperatures. Large Fe-rich π-phases (AlsFeMg3Si6) are found in the 0.70% Mg alloys together with some small β-phases (Al5FeSi) ; in contrast, only β-phases are observed in the 0.35% Mg alloys. The test results of the Al-7%Si-0.55% Mg alloys identify that the liquidus and binary Al-Si eutectic transformation temperatures decrease, and the quantity of ternary Al-Si-Mg2 Si eutectic phase decreases as the cooling rate increases.     

Numerical simulation of microstructure evolution and microsegregation of U-Nb alloy during solidification process

In this work, a cellular automaton model has been developed to simulate the microstructure evolution of U-Nb alloy during the solidification process. The preferential growth orientation, solute redistribution in both liquid and solid, solid/liquid interface solute conservation, interface curvature and the growth anisotropy were considered in the model. The model was applied to simulate the dendrite growth and Nb microsegregation behavior of U-5.5Nb alloy during solidification, and the predicted results showed a reasonable agreement with the experimental results. The effects of cooling rates on the solidification microstructure and composition distribution of U-5.5Nb were investigated by using the developed model. The results show that with the increase of the cooling rate, the average grain size decreases and the Nb microsegregation increases.     

Effects of cooling rate on solidification behavior of dilute Al-Sc and Al-Sc-Zr solid solution

Six alloys with different compositions of Al-0.1%Sc, Al-0.3%Sc, Al-0.3%Zr, Al-0.1%Sc-0.1%Zr,Al-0.3%Sc-0.1%Zr and Al-0.3%Sc-0.3%Zr were prepared by casting in a wedge shaped copper mould. The hardness test, microstructure observation, and DSC thermal analysis were applied to fully investigate the solidification behavior of the wedge tip (whose cooling rate is 1000 K/s) and the top surface (cooling rate 100 K/s) of each casting. The results show that the cast structures in the hypoeutectic region of AI-Sc alloys are slightly affected by cooling rates during the solidification. In the case of hypereutectic alloy of Al-0.3%Sc-0.3%Zr, the cast grains were remarkably refined under the condition of a 100 K/s cooling rate, however, under a 1000 K/s cooling rate condition,solute atoms contribute nothing to the grain-refinement, due to the eutectic concentration becomes higher. The hardness can be improved to a greater degree by Sc single addition, compared to single Zr addition, but it can be improved even greater when Sc added together with Zr. It is sensitive to cooling rate, the higher the cooling rate, thegreater the hardness. By combining the results of TEM examination and DSC analysis, it can be seen that a supersaturated Al solid solution forms during the solidification, and the solubility of Sc in Al solution can be improved by increasing the cooling rate.     

Prediction of mechanical properties of Al alloys with change of cooling rate

The solidification process significantly affects the mechanical properties and there are lots of factors that affect the solidification process.Much progress has been made in the research on the effect of solidification on mechanical properties.Among them,the PF(Phase Field) model and CA(Cellular Automata) model are widely used as simulation methods which can predict nucleation and its growth,and the size and morphology of the grains during solidification.Although they can give accurate calculation results,it needs too much computational memory and calculation time.So it is difficult to apply the simulation to the real production process.In this study,a more practical simulation approach which can predict the mechanical properties of real aluminum alloys is proposed,by identifying through experiment the relationship between cooling rate and SDAS(Secondary Dendrite Arm Spacing) and mechanical properties.The experimentally measured values and the values predicted by simulation have relatively small differences and the mechanical properties of a variety of Al alloys are expected to be predicted before casting through use of the simulation.     

Efficient fabrication of semisolid nondendritic Al alloy slurry with high quality

Subjecting a normal mechanical vibration to a cooling slope plate,is a proposed method for preparing semisolid nondendritic slurry,named shear-vibration coupling sub-rapid solidification(SCS).Taking Al-8Si alloy as model material,the temperature field and distribution field of solid or liquid phase during SCS were simulated using COMSOL Multiphysics software to primarily choose the optimal processing parameters.Subsequently,the slurries were prepared with the parameters selected according to the simulation results and the microstructures of the slurries were experimentally investigated.Results indicate that the simulation results could provide a basis for roughly choosing the processing parameters,although the calculated solid fractions are always higher than the experimental ones.The processing parameters affect the primary grain size,shape factor and solid fraction mainly through altering the contact duration of melt on the plate,and thus affecting the cooling effect on the melt,nucleation rate,and grain dissociation and proliferation.Experiments with optimized processing parameters show that the primary grains in the slurry have an average size of about 32μm and shape factor of 1.38,and are quite uniform,even at the highest pouring rate of 2.81 kg·s^-1,the size and shape factor are about 46μm and 1.7,respectively,which implies that the proposed SCS is a promising technology for efficient fabrication of high-quality Al slurry available for engineering applications.     

Dependence of phase selection on cooling rates in as-cast A1-Si-Mg alloys

The effect of cooling rate on the solidification process of Al-2.06%Si-1.58%Mg was numerically and experimentally investigated. The solidification paths and the phase precipitation sequence were predicted based on the solute transportation analysis in the solidification process by coupling the thermodynamic calculation. Due to the different solute diffusion speeds, the solidification paths can be largely influenced by the cooling rates. Different phase precipitation sequences can be obtained through calculation under different cooling rates. And the later experiments have also proved this phenomenon. In the researched Al-2.06%Si-1.58%Mg alloy, the solidification sequences are α（Al）-α（Al）＋Si-α（Al）＋Mg2Si＋Si under low cooling rate and α（Al）- α（Al）＋Mg2Si-α（Al）＋Mg2Si＋Si under high cooling rate, respectively. The experimental results confirm the calculation predications.     

Solidification microstructures of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys prepared by spray deposition and conventional casting methods

High strength Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys were prepared by spray deposition and casting techniques. The microstructures of the Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys were studied using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Secondary phases in the microstructures of the alloys prepared by spray deposition and conventional cast were examined. The results indicate that under the conventional casting condition, the microstructure of the alloy revealed the presence of coarse Al/Mg（ZnCu）2 eutectic phases, and the spray deposited process causes an obvious modification in size, morphology, and distribution of secondary phases in the microstructure as well as reduction of segregation. The superior microstructure of the spray-deposited Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy was attributed to the high cooling rate, and associated with the rapid solidification process.     

Effects of cooling rate and B content on microstructure of near-eutectic Al-13wt%Si Alloy

Under cooling rates of 2 ℃/s and 10℃/s, the influences of B content on the microstructure of near eutectic Al-13.0wt%Si alloy have been investigated. Results showed that the addition of boron resulted in refinement of eutectic grains, and to some extent, had an inhibiting effect on precipitation of the primary phases, and the refining and inhibiting effects are much more obvious at higher cooling rate. When B was not added, higher cooling rate promoted the α-Al dendrites formation. At lower cooling rate, the addition of B did not cause the so called ＂columnar to equiaxed transition （CET）＂, however, at higher cooling rate, this transition was obvious. After the addition of B, the nucleation temperature TN ascended and nucleation mode changed from nucleation mode of from wall towards centre （without B addition） to a nucleation mode that the eutectic nucleated evenly throughout whole sample （with B added）. It can be concluded that the addition of B offers a large amount of nuclei for eutectic solidification, as a result, the eutectic grains was refined. Higher cooling rate will lead to more nuclei, so the effects on the refinement of eutectic grains and on suppression of primary phases are increased.     

Mechanical and Damping Behavior of Age-Hardened and Non-age-hardened Al Alloys After Friction Stir Processing

This study investigated the microstructure, mechanical, and damping properties of a non-age-hardened Al alloy(5086) and an age-hardened Al alloy(7075) after friction stir processing(FSP). Microstructural analyses indicate that FSP led the grain refinement of samples, and the grains size decreased with the decrease in the tool rotation rate. Furthermore, FSP with low rotation rate promotes the η phase precipitation in the 7075 alloy, causing the micron-sized particles in the 5086 alloy to break up. After being subjected to FSP with low rotation rate, the 5086 and 7075 alloys exhibited excellent mechanical and damping properties. Such improved properties were ascribed to their equilibrium grain boundaries, fine grain, low density of dislocations, high fraction of high misorientation angle, and uniform particle distribution.     

Preparation of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy semisolid slurry through a water-cooled serpentine pouring channel

The semisolid slurry of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy was prepared through a self-designed water-cooled copper serpentine pouring channel(WSPC) machine. Influences of pouring temperature, the number of turns and the cooling water flow rate on the microstructure of the semisolid Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy slurry were investigated. The results show that the semisolid Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy slurry with satisfactory quality can be generated by the WSPC when the pouring temperature is in the range between 680 ℃ and 700 ℃. At a given pouring temperature, the average grain size of primary α-Al decreases and the shape factor increases with the increase of the number of turns. When the cooling water flow rate is 450 L·h~(-1), the obtained semisolid slurry is optimal. During the preparation of the semisolid Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy slurry with low superheat pouring, the alloy melt has mixed inhibition and convection flow characteristics by "self-stirring". When the alloy melt flows through the serpentine channel, the chilling effect of the inner wall of the channel, the convection and mixed inhibition of the alloy melt greatly promote the heterogeneous nucleation and grain segregation. This effect destroys the dendrite growth mode under traditional solidification conditions, and the primary nuclei gradually evolve into spherical or nearspherical grains.     

Different grain refinement mechanisms of minor zirconium and cerium in magnesium alloys

Zirconium and rare earth element cerium were added in magnesium and magnesium alloys to study their different grain refinement mechanisms. The results show that zirconium has an obvious refinement effect on the cast grain of magnesium and its alloys without the alloy element Al because the crystal structure of zirconium is the same as magnesium matrix, and the lattice parameters are close to magnesium. Zirconium can decrease the grain size of magnesium from 150 to 20 pm. The rare earth cerium also has a grain refinement effect on Mg and Mg-Al alloy. The cerium atoms tend to remain in the liquid rather than solidify with the solvent atoms magnesium at the solid-liquid interface. The liquid constitutional undercooling can provide a heterogeneous crystal nucleation. The grain is refined from 200 μm to 40-80 μm. These two elements have different grain refinement mechalfism on Mg alloy. The mechanism of zirconium is that it acts as the nuclei of α-Mg. But the mechanism of cerium is that it increases the liquid constitutional undercooling that can provide a heterogeneous crystal nucleation for the alloy.     

Influence of sub-rapid solidification on microstructure and mechanical properties of AZ61A magnesium alloy

The microstructure of sub-rapid solidification processed AZ61A magnesium alloy was presented and discussed. The results show that the grain size of the foil is significantly refined, and the grain morphology is cellular or globular. The eutectic transformation L→α-Mg+β-Mg17Al12 and microsegregation in conventionally solidified AZ61A alloy are suppressed to a great extent.The β-Mg17Al12 phases located in the α-Mg grain boundaries are largely decreased due to high solidification cooling rate. As a consequence, the alloying elements Al, Zn, Mn show much higher solid solubility and the sub-rapid solidification microstructure dominantly consists of supersaturated α-Mg solid solution. The mechanical properties and fractographic analysis reveal that the fracture mechanism and corresponding morphology of the rapture surface of tensile bars are linked to the microstructure obtained and depend on the sub-solidification processes.     

Grain refinement effects of Al based alloys with low titanium content produced by electrolysis

A series of Al based alloys with low titanium contents (mass fraction) from 0.178% to 0.526% were directly produced in ordinary industrial electrolyzer,The electrolyzing results show that producing Al based alloys analysis shows that this method has a great refining effect on transiting the coarse columnar grains in pure Al to equiaxed grains.The grain sizes decrease with the increase of titanium content and tend to a low limit at about 130μm .During the solidification,the non-equilibrium distribution of titanium leads to a great growth-restricting effect and a constitutional under-cooling zone in front of the growing liquid /solid interface.     

Effect of cooling rate on solidification structure and linear contraction of a duplex stainless steel

Cooling rate is a key factor that can drastically affect the phase transformation and thermal stress of duplex stainless steels. Therefore, in this research, different sand moulds were used to explore the influence of cooling rate on the solidification of the 2304 duplex stainless steel (DSS). The macro and micro structures of the 2304 DSS were investigated. Small equiaxed grains are obtained in chromite sand mould sample with a lower pouring temperature and a higher cooling rate, whereas coarse columnar and equiaxed grains are found in silica sand and refractory powder mould samples. The size of austenite phase is significantly increased with decreasing cooling rate, while the ferrite phase content ranging from 51.6% to 53.9% does not change obviously. In addition, the linear contraction of the 2304 DSS decreases from 2.34% to 1.09% when the mean cooling rate above 1,173 K increases from 0.99 K·s-1 to 3.66 K·s-1.     

Microstructure and crystal growth direction of Al-Mg alloy

The microstructures and crystal growth directions of permanent mould casting and directionally solidified Al-Mg alloys with different Mg contents have been investigated. The results indicate that the effect of Mg content on microstructure is basically same for the alloys prepared by these two methods. The primary grains change from cellular crystals to developed columnar dendrites, and then to equiaxed dendrites as the Mg content is increased. Simultaneously, both the cellular or columnar grain region and the primary trunk spacing decrease. All of these changes are mainly attributed to the constitutional supercooling resulting from Mg element. Comparatively, the cellular or columnar crystals of the directionally solidified alloys are straighter and more parallel than those of the permanent mould casting alloys. These have straight or wavy grain boundaries, one of the most important microstructure characteristics of feathery grains. However, the transverse microstructure and growth direction reveal that they do not belong to feathery grains. The Mg seemingly can affect the crystal growth direction, but does not result in the formation of feathery grains under the conditions employed in the study.     

Microstructures and evolution mechanism of highly undercooled Ni-Pb hypermonotectic alloy

The microstructures and evolution mechanism of the undercooled Ni-20%Pb(molar fraction) alloy were investigated systematically by high undercooling solidification technique. The experiment results indicate that the morphology of α-Ni phase and the distribution of Pb element in undercooled Ni-20% Pb alloys change with the in-crease of undercooling. The main evolution mechanisms of α-Ni are dendrite remelting and recrystallization. Pb phase in the microstructure of Ni-20% Pb hypermonotectic alloy originates from L2 phase separated from the parent melt during the cooling process through immiscible gap and L2 phase formed at the temperature of monotectic trans-formation. The solubility of Ph element in α-Ni phase under high undercooling condition is up to 5.83% which is ob-viously higher than that under equilibrium solidification condition. The real reason that causes the solubility difference is distinct solute trapping.