Castability of aluminium alloys

Castability is the ability of an alloy to be cast without formation of defects such as cracks, segregations, pores or misruns. Alloy dependent phenomena that determine castability are fluidity, macrosegregation, hot tearing and porosity. These phenomena have been known for a long time but have only recently become well understood and work is underway to develop predictive castability models. These models require input of physical properties, such as solidification path, dendrite coherency, solidification shrinkage and interdendritic permeability. Some of these properties are difficult to determine experimentally but new experimental techniques are being developed to extract such data. This paper will review the phenomena that limit castability of aluminium alloys. The influence of alloy composition on fluidity, macrosegregation, hot tearing and porosity will be described. Models for castability prediction will be briefly reviewed and data on coherency, fluidity, permeability and shrinkage will be presented.     

Influence of Mould and Insulation Design on Soundness of Tool Steel Ingot by Numerical Simulation

 The solidification of 4. 4 t cold work tool steel ingot type X210Cr12 was simulated by Magma software. By the reduction of ingot height, solidification modeling and pouring of a new 3 t ingot were performed and decreasing the porosity formation potential in 3 t ingot in comparison with 4. 4 t ingot on the basis of Niyama criterion was observed which was in good accordance with experimental data. In order to produce sound ingot, a new 2. 8 t ingot mould was designed which includes some parameteric changes in mould such as mould slope, slenderness ratio, mould concavity radius, fillet radius of mould internal corners and feeding diameter to ingot upper diameter ratio. Furthermore, the effects of insulating between kokil and feeding ring and also insulating the outer surface of feeding ring as well as insulating the outer surface of one third of kokil upper part on centerline porosity formation were investigated in both 2. 8 and 4. 4 t ingots. The results show that the ingot which was produced in new designed 2. 8 t mould has a better Niyama pattern and the centerline porosities were eliminated.     

连铸控流模式对大方坯及棒材组织结构与宏观偏析影响

以中碳结构钢大方坯及其热轧棒材为研究对象,通过对铸坯和轧材进行低倍侵蚀和成分分析,揭示了连铸控流模式对大方坯凝固组织与宏观偏析分布特征的影响及其铸轧遗传性。研究表明:常规直通水口浇注模式下,结晶器电磁搅拌(Mold electromagnetic stirring, M-EMS)电流由0增加到800 A,铸坯等轴晶率由6.06%仅可增加到11.71%,难以有效避免大方坯常见的中心缩孔缺陷与突出的中心线偏析。采用新型五孔水口浇注模式,即使不开启M-EMS,铸坯中心等轴晶率仍可达23.1%,大方坯中心缩孔级别可降至1.0级以下,满足后续热轧大棒材探伤要求。同时发现,五孔水口浇注模式下,大方坯铸态组织中往往会出现较为明显的柱状晶到等轴晶转变(Columnar to equiaxed transition, CET)区,铸坯断面碳偏析指数呈M型分布,表现为断面1/4位置CET区域碳偏析指数最高。大棒材轧制基本改变不了铸坯断面宏观偏析的分布形态,且可能导致中心线偏析指数增加。同时指出,基于连铸控流模式的作用规律和铸?轧遗传性特征,以及特殊钢长材热加工对中心致密度和偏析分布与程度的要求,实际生产中应从连铸工艺源头合理地控制铸态组织与宏观偏析分布形态。      

Hot Tearing Modeling: A Microstructural Approach Applied to Steel Solidification

Hot tearing during solidification processes has been deeply investigated in past and recent years through testing, modeling, and development of a number of macroscopic hot tearing criteria. The objective is predicting the crack occurrence during industrial solidification processes, which, in the steel production, are mainly ingot and continuous casting. The present work is inspired by the criterion proposed in the work of Bellet et al.[1] called CBC criterion, from which the methodological approach and experimental data used for calibration, related to nine carbon steels, have been derived. The proposed hot tearing criterion adopts as parameters: primary and secondary arm spacing, the mechanical resistance near the solidus temperature, the solidification parameters G (gradient) and v (dendrite tip velocity), the brittle range extension in the dendritic front and the temperature of formation of manganese sulfides. The new formulation is an attempt to substitute to brittle temperature range and steel content, appearing in the CBC criterion, the dendritic structure characteristics, in the aim of: (a) moving toward a generalized expression of the cracking index applicable to different steel classes; (b) introducing the dependence of the crack susceptibility on the cooling conditions. The agreement of the new hot tearing index values with the experimental ones is of the same kind as that of the CBC criterion, indicating that the parameters and the dependences adopted in the new criterion make a sense. Further study and experimental work are needed to assess the influence of the microstructure morphology on the hot cracking sensitivity and to check the suitability of the approach to a wider range of steel compositions.     

Development of new feeding-distance rules using casting simulation: Part I. Methodology

A methodology is developed to relate measured shrinkage porosity levels in steel castings to predictions from casting simulations, in order to determine feeding distances. Low-alloy steel casting trials were conducted to acquire a statistically meaningful set of experimental data for top-risered cast steel sections having various ASTM shrinkage X-ray levels. Simulations of the casting trials were then performed, using casting data recorded at the foundries during the trials. The actual casting soundness resulting from these trials, measured in terms of the ASTM shrinkage X-ray level, is quantitatively compared to the soundness predicted by simulations, measured in terms of a local thermal parameter known as the Niyama criterion. A relationship is shown to exist between the X-ray level and both the minimum Niyama criterion value as well as the area (in the plane of the X-ray) with Niyama values below a threshold value. Once the correlations developed in Part I of this article were established, an extensive set of additional casting simulations was performed to determine the feeding distances for castings with a wide variety of casting parameters. These data were then used to develop a new set of feeding-distance rules, which are given in Part II of this article.     

Simulation of convection and macrosegregation in a large steel ingot

Melt convection and macrosegregation in casting of a large steel ingot are numerically simulated. The simulation is based on a previously developed model for multicomponent steel solidification with melt convection and involves the solution of fully coupled conservation equations for the transport phenomena in the liquid, mush, and solid. Heat transfer in the mold and insulation materials, as well as the formation of a shrinkage cavity at the top, is taken into account. The numerical results show the evolution of the temperature, melt velocity, and species concentration fields during solidification. The predicted variation of the macrosegregation of carbon and sulfur along the vertical centerline is compared with measurements from an industrial steel ingot that was sectioned and analyzed. Although generally good agreement is obtained, the neglect of sedimentation of free equiaxed grains prevents the prediction of the zone of negative macrosegregation observed in the lower part of the ingot. It is also shown that the inclusion of the shrinkage cavity at the top and the variation of the final solidification temperature due to macrosegregation is important in obtaining good agreement between the predictions and measurements.     

Four-Phase Dendritic Model for the Prediction of Macrosegregation,Shrinkage Cavity,and Porosity in a 55-Ton Ingot

A four-phase dendritic model was developed to predict the macrosegregation, shrinkage cavity, and porosity during solidification. In this four-phase dendritic model, some important factors, including dendritic structure for equiaxed crystals, melt convection, crystals sedimentation, nucleation, growth, and shrinkage of solidified phases, were taken into consideration. Furthermore, in this four-phase dendritic model, a modified shrinkage criterion was established to predict shrinkage porosity (microporosity) of a 55-ton industrial Fe-3.3 wt pct C ingot. The predicted macrosegregation pattern and shrinkage cavity shape are in a good agreement with experimental results. The shrinkage cavity has a significant effect on the formation of positive segregation in hot top region, which generally forms during the last stage of ingot casting. The dendritic equiaxed grains also play an important role on the formation of A-segregation. A three-dimensional laminar structure of A-segregation in industrial ingot was, for the first time, predicted by using a 3D case simulation.     

Modeling the Effects of Strand Surface Bulging and Mechanical Softreduction on the Macrosegregation Formation in Steel Continuous Casting

Positive centerline macrosegregation is an undesired casting defect that frequently occurs in the continuous casting process of steel strands. Mechanical softreduction (MSR) is a generally applied technology to avoid this casting defect in steel production. In the current paper, the mechanism of MSR is numerically examined. Therefore, two 25-m long horizontal continuous casting strand geometries of industrial scale are modeled. Both of these strand geometries have periodically bulged surfaces, but only one of them considers the cross-section reduction due to a certain MSR configuration. The macrosegregation formation inside of these strands with and without MSR is studied for a binary Fe-C-alloy based on an Eulerian multiphase model. Comparing the macrosegregation patterns obtained for different casting speed definitions allows investigating the fundamental influence of feeding, bulging and MSR mechanisms on the formation of centerline macrosegregation.     

激光诱导击穿光谱原位分析仪和电子探针在CrMo耐磨铸钢元素偏析分析中的联合应用

CrMo耐磨铸钢是重要的耐磨钢铁材料,凝固过程中的溶质元素偏析是影响CrMo耐磨铸钢组织和性能的重要因素,了解凝固过程中的溶质元素偏析对于CrMo耐磨铸钢的工业化生产具有重要的借鉴意义。宏观偏析和微观偏析是衡量材料偏析程度的两个指标,准确的测量其偏析状况是研究溶质元素偏析的基础。实验以CrMo耐磨铸钢为研究对象,采用激光诱导击穿光谱原位分析仪(LIBSOPA)和电子探针(EPMA)分析钢锭不同部位的宏观偏析和凝固组织中的微观偏析,结果发现,Cr、V和Mn元素在CrMo耐磨铸钢铸锭中宏观偏析程度较小,偏析比接近1,而Mo元素宏观偏析程度较大,其最大宏观偏析比超过1.20;Cr、Mo、V和Mn元素在CrMo钢凝固组织中均存微观偏析,且随着冷却速度的增加,Cr、Mo、V和Mn微观偏析程度也随之增加,其最大微观偏析比分别为1.39、2.63、3.47和1.83。LIBSOPA与EPMA在CrMo耐磨铸钢元素偏析分析中的联合应用,对全面了解CrMo钢铸锭元素偏析,优化铸造以及后续的热加工工艺具有重要借鉴意义。     

Feeding and Distribution of Porosity in Cast Al-Si Alloys as Function of Alloy Composition and Modification

Unmodified, Na-modified, and Sr-modified castings of Al-7?pct Si and Al-12.5?pct Si alloys were cast in molds in which it was possible to create different cooling conditions. It is shown how solidification influences the distribution of porosity at the surface and the center of the castings as a function of modification and Si content in sand- and chill-cast samples. Eutectic modification, Si content, and cooling conditions have a great impact on the distribution of porosity. Unmodified and Na-modified castings are more easily fed with porosity tending to congregate near the centerline of the casting, while Sr-modified castings solidify in a mushy manner that creates a more homogeneous distribution of porosity in the casting. The amount of porosity was highest in the Sr-modified alloys, lower in the Na-modified alloys, and lowest in the unmodified alloys. The size of the porosity-free layer and the effectiveness of the feeders were greater in the castings made with the steel chills due to the increased thermal gradients and consequent increase in the directionality of solidification.     

Modeling of micro- and macrosegregation and freckle formation in single-crystal nickel-base superalloy directional solidification

The formation of macrosegregation and freckles by multicomponent thermosolutal convection during the directional solidification of single-crystal Ni-base superalloys is numerically simulated. The model links a previously developed thermodynamic phase equilibrium subroutine with an existing code for simultaneously solving the macroscopic mass, momentum, energy, and species conservation equations for solidification of a multicomponent alloy. Simulation results are presented for a variety of casting speeds and imposed thermal gradients and for two alloy compositions. It is found that for a given alloy composition, the onset of convection and freckle formation occurs at a critical primary dendrite arm spacing, which agrees well with previous experimental findings. The predicted number and shape of the freckle chains in the unstable cases also agree qualitatively with experimental observations. Finally, it is demonstrated how the onset and nature of convection and macrosegregation vary with alloy composition. It is concluded that the present model can provide a valuable tool in predicting freckle defects in directional solidification of Ni-base superalloys.     

A Quest for a New Hot Tearing Criterion

Hot tearing remains a major problem of casting technology despite decades-long efforts to develop working hot tearing criteria and to implement those into casting process computer simulation. Existing models allow one to calculate the stress-strain and temperature situation in a casting (ingot, billet) and to compare those with the chosen hot tearing criterion. In most successful cases, the simulation shows the relative probability of hot tearing and the sensitivity of this probability to such process parameters as casting speed, casting dimensions, and casting recipe. None of the existing criteria, however, can give the answer on whether the hot crack will appear or not and what will be the extent of hot cracking (position, length, shape). This article outlines the requirements for a modern hot tearing model and a criterion based on this model as well as the future development of hot tearing research in terms of mechanisms of hot crack nucleation and propagation. It is suggested that the new model and criterion should take into account different mechanisms of hot tearing that are operational at different stages of solidification and be based on fracture mechanics, i.e., include the mechanisms of nucleation and propagation of a crack. This article is based on a presentation made in the symposium entitled “Solidification Modeling and Microstructure Formation: In Honor of Prof. John Hunt,” which occurred March 13–15, 2006, during the TMS Spring Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, under the auspices of the TMS Materials Processing and Manufacturing Division, Solidification Committee.     

过热度对GCr15SiMn轴承钢钢锭宏观偏析的影响

针对GCr15SiMn钢锭易出现宏观偏析凝固缺陷的问题,研究了过热度对GCr15SiMn钢锭宏观偏析的影响规律,使用真空感应炉冶炼1 kg的GCr15SiMn钢锭,通过酸侵试验与OPA技术分别测定了钢锭的凝固组织与宏观偏析,并结合ProCAST软件分析了钢液流动的规律。结果表明,高过热度(70 ℃)时,中心下部出现一定程度的负偏析,中心上部形成了较严重的正偏析同时伴随疏松;中过热度(50 ℃)时,疏松范围较小,碳元素分布较均匀;低过热度(20 ℃)与极低过热度(-20 ℃)时,疏松范围扩大,凝固初期是严重负偏析,凝固末期是严重正偏析。过热度影响偏析的机理为,高过热度时,凝固过程热对流较强,溶质上浮,钢锭上部的正偏析严重;当过热度过低时,初期凝固大量形核并保留在钢锭底部,在底部形成严重的负偏析。     

Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of Macrosegregation and Shrinkage in Large-Diameter Steel Roll Castings

Minimizing macrosegregation and shrinkage in large cast steel mill rolls challenges the limits of commercial foundry technology. Processing improvements have been achieved by balancing the total heat input of casting with the rate of heat extraction from the surface of the roll in the mold. A submerged entry nozzle (SEN) technique that injects a dilute alloy addition through a nozzle into the partially solidified net-shaped roll ingot can mitigate both centerline segregation and midradius channel segregate conditions. The objective of this study is to optimize the melt chemistry, solidification, and SEN conditions to minimize centerline and midradius segregation, and then to improve the quality of the transition region between the outer shell and the diluted interior region. To accomplish this objective, a multiphase, multicomponent computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code was developed for studying the macrosegregation and shrinkage under various casting conditions for a 65-ton, 1.6-m-diameter steel roll. The developed CFD framework consists of solving for the volume fraction of phases (air and steel mixture), temperature, flow, and solute balance in multicomponent alloy systems. Thermal boundary conditions were determined by measuring the temperature in the mold at several radial depths and height locations. The thermophysical properties including viscosity of steel alloy used in the simulations are functions of temperature. The steel mixture in the species-transfer model consists of the following elements: Fe, Mn, Si, S, P, C, Cr, Mo, and V. Density and liquidus temperature of the steel mixture are locally affected by the segregation of these elements. The model predictions were validated against macrosegregation measured from pieces cut from the 65-ton roll. The effect of key processing parameters such as melt composition and superheat of both the shell and the dilute interior alloy are addressed. The influence of mold type and thickness on macrosegregation and shrinkage also are discussed.     

Hot tearing susceptibility of Fe-20.96 Cr-2.13 Ni-0.15 N-4.76 Mn-0.01 Mo duplex stainless steel

The hot tearing susceptibility of a Fe-20.96Cr-2.13Ni-0.15N-4.76Mn-0.01 Mo duplex stainless steel was investigated using method of constrained solidification shrinkage in one dimension.An apparatus for realtime measuring the contraction stress and temperature during solidification was developed,which can achieve the in-situ observation of melting and solidification and avoid the large temperature gradient of casting under the condition of pouring.The results show that the contraction stress increases significantly when the core temperature of casting reaches the liquidus temperature.The contraction stress is released when the core temperature of casting reaches 1456°C.At this temperature,the hot tearing susceptibility of duplex stainless steel is the largest.With decreasing the core temperature to 1363°C,the slope of contraction stress increases,which is related to the ferrite-to-austenite transformation.     

Prediction of hot tearing tendency for multicomponent aluminum alloys

It is of practical importance to be able to predict the hot tearing tendency for multicomponent aluminum alloys. Hot tearing is one of the most common and serious defects that occurs during the casting of commercial aluminum alloys, almost all of which are multicomponent systems. For many years, the main criterion applied to characterize the hot tearing tendency of an alloy system was based on the solidification interval. However, this criterion cannot explain the susceptibility-composition relation between the limits of the pure base metal and the eutectic composition. Clyne and Davies correlated the susceptibility-composition relationship in binary systems based on the concept of the existence of critical time periods during the solidification process when the structure is most vulnerable to cracking. The Scheil equation was used in their model using constant partition coefficient and constant liquidus slope estimated from the phase diagram. In the current study, the authors followed Clyne and Davies’ general idea, and directly coupled the Scheil solidification simulation with phase diagram calculation via PanEngine, a multicomponent phase equilibria calculation interface, and extended the model to higher order systems. The predicted hot tearing tendencies correlated very well with the experimental results of multicomponent aluminum alloys. This article is based on a presentation made in the John Campbell Symposium on Shape Casting, held during the TMS Annual Meeting, February 13–17, 2005, in San Francisco, CA.     

Tensile properties of the semi-solid state in solidifying aluminum alloys

Hot tearing is one of the most serious defects encountered in aluminum alloy castings. During solidification of aluminum alloys, the localized region of solidified alloys is submitted to thermally induced strains that can be lead to severe solidification defects, such as shrinkage porosity and hot tearing. The formation of hot tearing is related to the development of local stress or thermal strains. It is such a complicated phenomenon that a full understanding has not been achieved yet, though it has been extensively investigated for decades. Therefore, in order to further understand this complicated phenomenon and establish the mathematical models of hot tearing, it is necessary to obtain the accurate mechanical property data in the mushy zone of alloys. In response to the demand for this purpose, a newly experimental apparatus has been used to perform tensile measurements of aluminum alloys during solidification. Therefore, the tensile properties measurements of the mushy zone in A356 alloy have been carried out. The fracture surfaces and microstructures of the hot tearing samples have been examined by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The results show that the yield stresses are increasing with the increase of the solid fraction. When the solid fraction is close to one, they will keep stable to a certain value. According to the analysis, the yield stresses will change with the evolution of solid fraction, which is in accordance with the Boltzmann Function.     

Simulation of Stresses during Casting of Binary Magnesium-Aluminum Alloys

A viscoplastic stress model is used to predict contraction forces measured during casting of two binary Mg-Al alloys. Force measurements from castings that did not hot tear, together with estimates from data found in the literature, are used to obtain the high-temperature mechanical properties needed in the stress model. In the absence of hot tearing, the simulation results show reasonably good agreement with the measurements. It is found that coherency of the semisolid mush starts at a solid fraction of about 0.5 and that the maximum tensile strength for the Mg-1 and 9 wt pct Al alloys at their final solidification temperatures is 1.5 and 4 MPa, respectively. In the presence of hot tearing, the measured stresses are generally overpredicted, which is attributed to the lack of a fracture model for the mush. Based on the comparison of measured and predicted stresses, it is also shown that coupling of the stress model to feeding flow and macrosegregation calculations is needed in order to accurately predict stresses in the presence of hot tearing.