Comparative experiments are performed in friction stir welding (FSW) of dissimilar Al/Mg alloys with and without assistance of ultrasonic vibration. Metallographic characterization of the welds at transverse cross sections reveals that ultrasonic vibration induces differences in plastic material flow in two conditions. In FSW, the plastic material in the peripheral area of shoulder-affected zone (SAZ) tends to flow downward because of the weakening of the driving force of the shoulder, and a plastic material insulation layer is formed at the SAZ edge. When ultrasonic vibration is exerted, the stirred zone is divided into the inner and outer shear layers, the downward material flow trend of the inner shear layer disappears and tends to flow upward, and the onion-ring structure caused by the swirl motion is avoided in the pin-affected zone. By improving the flow behavior of plastic materials in the stirred zone, ultrasonic vibration reduces the heat generation, accelerates the heat dissipation in nugget zone and changes the thermal cycles, thus inhibiting the formation of intermetallic compound layers.
The magnesium (Mg) alloy low-pressure expendable pattern casting (EPC) process is a newly developed casting technique combining
the advantages of both EPC and low-pressure casting. In this article, metal filling and the effect of the flow quantity of
inert gas on the filling rate in the low-pressure EPC process are investigated. The results showed that the molten Mg alloy
filled the mold cavity with a convex front laminar flow and the metal-filling rate increased significantly with increasing
flow quantity when flow quantity was below a critical value. However, once the flow quantity exceeded a critical value, the
filling rate increased slightly. The influence of the flow quantity of inert gas on melt-filling rate reveals that the mold
fill is controlled by flow quantity for a lower filling rate, and, subsequently, controlled by the evaporation of polystyrene
and the evaporation products for higher metal velocity. Meanwhile, the experimental results showed that the melt-filling rate
significantly affected the flow profile, and the filling procedure for the Mg alloy in the low-pressure EPC process. A slower
melt-filling rate could lead to misrun defects, whereas a higher filling rate results in folds, blisters, and porosity. The
optimized filling rate with Mg alloy casting is 140 to 170 mm/s in low-pressure EPC. 相似文献