Evaluation of nucleation in A-356 aluminum alloy by thermal analysis

Grain Refinement process is an important stage in production of aluminum castings. There is common question for all producer of aluminum castings that how they can be sure about the quality of nucleation. Thermal analysis is an important tool to answer this question. In this research, different types of inoculants were used to investigation of nucleation in A356 aluminum alloy. The cooling curve of each sample was recorded and by using a special computer program, the first derivative was calculated. By calculating zero curve and analyzing the cooling curve, it is possible to predict the quality of nucleation and calculation fraction of solids, latent heat and other information. The result of this research have shown that if maximum undercooling of nucleation was approximately 4 C, the quality of nucleation process will be more reliable.