Professional Documents
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School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Dongguan EONTEC Corporation, Ltd., Dongguan 523662, China
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Received 19 November 2015
Received in revised form 2 April 2016
Accepted 4 April 2016
Available online 5 April 2016
Keywords:
Forced convection stirring process
Semisolid slurries
Rheo-HPDC
Microstructure
Mechanical properties
a b s t r a c t
A simplied process, namely forced convection stirring (FCS), was proposed to prepare four different
semisolid slurries of Al and Mg alloys. A simple rheological high pressure die-casting (Rheo-HPDC) process
was developed by combining the FCS device with a HPDC machine. The temperature and composition
elds of the melt in the FCS process were simulated. The microstructures and mechanical properties
of the alloys formed by the FCS Rheo-HPDC were studied and compared with those formed by HPDC
and other Rheo-HPDC processes. The results showed that the FCS process can prepare slurries in which
the primary particles are ne, spherical and uniformly distributed in the matrix and the process can
effectively suppress macrosegregation. The strong convection rapidly promotes the uniformity of the
temperature and composition of the melt. Compared to HPDC and other Rheo-HPDC alloys, the alloys
formed by FCS Rheo-HPDC have an improved ultimate tensile strength, yield strength, elongation and
hardness, due to the renement of microstructure and the decrease of porosity. Heat treatments can be
utilized to further enhance the mechanical properties of FCS Rheo-HPDC alloys.
2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
For the past few years, in order to provide solutions to environmental and energy issues, the importance of Al and Mg alloys
as light-weight metals has been widely recognized, especially in
the elds of 3C (computer, communication and consumer electronics) and automotive (Sui et al., 2015). Nowadays, high pressure
die-casting (HPDC) is the process that is primarily used for manufacturing the majority of Al and Mg alloys applications, due to
its low cost and high efciency. However, Jin et al. (2015) demonstrated that many porosities, caused by gas entrapment during the
high speed mold lling, exist in HPDC parts. Cceres and Selling
(1996) showed that porosity can seriously decrease mechanical
performance by serving as local strain concentration. Porosity also
causes issues during heat treatment, where heat results in the
expansion of air within the pores, creating bubbling in HPDC parts.
Improvement of the HPDC process to form parts with high
quality and increased performance is thus of highly worthwhile.
Flemings (1991) demonstrated that the Rheo-HPDC technique can
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: qimfan@163.com (M. Qi).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2016.04.003
0924-0136/ 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
354
Table 1
Chemical compositions (wt.%) and freezing ranges ( C) of the Al-alloys and Mg-alloy.
Alloy
Si
A356
A380
7075
AZ91D
6.93 0.01
8.47 3.18
0.12 2.01
0.04 <0.01
Cu
Mn
Fe
0.01 0.17
0.27 1.05
0.01 0.20
0.20 <0.01
Zn
Cr
Ti
Mg
Al
TL
TS
TL-S
0.01
1.58
5.12
0.66
0.23
0.15
0.12
<0.01
0.38
0.09
2.48
Bal.
Bal.
Bal.
Bal.
9.45
615
585
640
598
560
504
477
468
55
81
163
130
4S
L2
(1)
2. Experimental procedure
where S and L are the area and perimeter of the particle, respectively.
The FCS device is presented in Fig. 1. It consists of a stirring system, a temperature control system and a discharge system. The
stirring system contains a stirring rod equipped with a helicoid
blade, and its major function is to turn the melt into high-quality
semisolid slurry under the FCS action. There are huge amounts
of changing interfacial areas among the solidifying melt, helicoid
blade and barrel during slurry preparation. This makes the preparation process of slurry signicantly efcient for fast heat dissipation.
Heating cables are twined around the stainless steel barrel wall.
The discharge operation is controlled by a discharge handle and a
graphite blockage, which are linked using a center pin. It should be
noted that a graphite lining is embedded in the stirring chamber
for solving sticking problem.
=
Ci Ca
100%
Ca
(2)
355
Fig. 1. The schematic diagram (a) and actual image (b) of the integrated FCS device.
Table 2
The detailed melt mass and process parameters for the slurry preparation and part forming.
Alloy
The melt mass and FCS process parameters for the slurry preparation
HPDC machine models and HPDC parameters for the part forming
Melt mass Pouring temperature Rotation speed Barrel temperature Stirring time Model Injection
A356
A380
7075
AZ91D
kg
2.8
3.2
5.7
3.0
640
615
640
610
rad.s
18.84
18.84
6.2818.84
18.84
590
550
600
560
s
20
25
15
20
YIZUMI DM400
FUXIN XT650
YIZUMI DM400
TOSHIBA DC1250J-MC
MPa
2.0
1.8
2.0
1.5
70
75
80
70
220
250
220
210
Table 3
Detailed parameters and initial conditions for simulation.
Simulation of the temperature and composition of the 7075 alloy melt
Input
Value
Input
Value
640
2000
600
600
6.28, 12.56, 18.84
129
23.4
20000
605
220
0.25
2.0
28.6
3000
ET = exp 143
100ET 0.0135
1 + (0.25ET )2 2
0.4
(3)
273
0.527
T 355.6
(4)
105 ET 0.0025
1 + (100.792ET )2 2
ET = exp 1553.7
3. Simulation results
0.6
(5)
Table 4
The average element concentration in the whole radial ingot (Ca ) and the average
segregation ratio () of 7075 alloy ingots prepared by NC and FCSC.
Element
Casting process
Ca / (wt.%)
/%
Zn
NC
FCSC
NC
FCSC
NC
FCSC
5.4
5.3
2.5
2.5
2.2
2.1
6.9
5.7
8.6
4.5
11.6
5.9
Mg
273
0.25
T + 233.362
(6)
Cu
356
Fig. 2. Photographs of the four different parts formed by FCS Rheo-HPDC technology.
Fig. 3. The simplied 3D model (a) and generation mesh (b) of the FCS device.
357
Fig. 4. Temperature eld simulation of the melt in a FCS device at different stirring time.
Fig. 5. Distribution simulation of the particles in a FCS device at different stirring time.
difference is eliminated when the stirring time is 10 s. Such conditions are favorable for the formation of spherical grains.
4. Experimental results
4.1. Effect of FCS on microstructure
358
Fig. 6. Microstructures of the four different alloy ingots prepared by NC and FCSC: (a) A356-NC, (b) A380-NC, (c) 7075-NC, (d) AZ91D-NC, (e) A356-FCSC, (f) A380-FCSC, (g)
7075-FCSC, (h) AZ91D-FCSC.
dispersed in the liquid matrix, and the particles are much smaller
and rounder in comparison to NC microstructures.
359
Fig. 7. The radial element concentration evolution of the NC and FCSC 7075 Al-alloy ingots (a) and a sketch of the six tested locations (b).
Fig. 8. Temperature and solid fraction simulations as well as the microstructures of the 7075 Al-alloy melt at different rotation speeds.
360
Fig. 9. Temperature difference variation of the melt over stirring time at different
rotation speeds.
Fig. 10. Effect of the rotation speed on the average size and shape factor of 1 -Al
particles.
0.88. The results indicate that increasing rotation speed can greatly
improve slurry quality.
Fig. 10 shows the average size and shape factor of 1 -Al particles at different rotation speeds. It shows that the quantitative
analysis results are in agreement with the microstructure observation in Fig. 8. When the rotation speed increases from 6.28 rad/s
to 18.84 rad/s, the average size of the 1 -Al particles decreases
from 91 m to 64 m, and the shape factor increases from 0.61 to
Fig. 11. Pore defects of control arm parts at different locations by HPDC and FCS Rheo-HPDC.
361
with areas ranging between pinholes to more than 15 mm2 . In contrast, the FCS Rheo-HPDC process has greatly reduced the amount
of pores. Firstly, the number of pores is generally decreased for the
area less than 5 mm2 , and the pore number is basically eliminated
for the area over 10 mm2 . Secondly, the total pore areas from the
amplication locations of HPDC and Rheo-HPDC parts, as shown in
Fig. 11, are 734 and 182 mm2 respectively. The pore areas of RheoHPDC parts have been decreased by 3 times in comparison to that
of the HPDC parts.
4.5. Microstructure of FCS rheo-HPDC parts
Fig. 13. Microstructures of HPDC (a-c) and FCS Rheo-HPDC (d-f) A380 alloy shock absorber parts at different regions: (a), (d) region A; (b), (e) region B; (c), (f) region C.
362
Fig. 14. The eutectic silicon morphology of HPDC (a) and FCS Rheo-HPDC (b) A380 alloy parts.
Fig. 15. Microstructures of AZ91D alloy steering wheel parts formed by HPDC and FCS Rheo-HPDC as well as EDX line-scans: (a) HPDC AZ91D; (b) FCS Rheo-HPDC AZ91D;
(c) EDX line-scan for HPDC AZ91D in (a); (d) EDX line-scan for Rheo-HPDC AZ91D in (b).
363
Table 5
Statistics of the particle size, shape factor, porosity level and mechanical properties of the four alloys formed by different processes and mechanical properties of FCS
Rheo-HPDC alloys heat treated under different conditions.
Alloy
Process
Shape factor
(m)
Mechanical properties
2 -Mg/2 -Al
Porosity level
UTS
YS
Elongation
Hardness
(m)
(%)
(MPa)
(MPa)
(%)
(HV)
A356
75
67
52
135
41
0.62
0.65
0.82
0.31
0.81
24
7
8
1.0
2.1
0.5
254
235
242
221 17
260 6
275 8
323 10
135 6
181 4
166 6
232 7
7.5
7.4
12.5
3.7 1.4
8.4 0.5
13.6 1
7.3 0.8
73
71 9
79 5
82 7
93 8
A380
41
34
47
22
0.84
0.69
0.35
0.85
13
8
1.3
1.7
0.4
263
303
272 16
310 8
321 11
328 9
164
147 5
217 7
173 8
246 8
4.3
5.1
2.8 0.9
5.3 0.4
7.1 0.8
4.5 0.6
110
105 10
119 7
130 7
137 10
7075
44
82
169
61
0.84
0.85
0.43
0.88
9
6
1.9
0.3
292
516
281 25
337 11
543 15
458
222 9
249 6
506 9
3.1
4.5
1.6 0.9
5.2 0.6
4.1 0.7
86 14
96 11
172 15
44
155
40
81
84
23
0.78
0.76
0.78
0.74
0.35
0.82
21
14
6
7
1.7
0.3
2.0
0.4
225
255
248
210
200 15
265 7
270 8
282 7
138
157
145
125
144 8
169 7
110 5
171 8
4.5
2.3
7.4
4.0
2.5 0.7
7.1 0.4
11.3 0.6
5.8 0.4
77
83 11
95 7
86 6
107 9
Fig. 16. SEM images of FCS Rheo-HPDC parts of AZ91D alloy after T4 heat treatment (a) and T6 heat treatment (b).
large. Such pores act as the fracture source while applying load to
parts and accelerate the fracture process. Compared to HPDC parts,
the fracture surfaces of parts formed by FCS Rheo-HPDC indicate
typical ductile dimple fracture mode and no pore zone is found in
the fractographs (Fig. 17c and d). Some tearing edges appear in the
fractograph of Rheo-HPDC parts (Fig. 17d), which show the characteristic of ductile fracture. Thus the Rheo-HPDC parts have high
mechanical properties. After solution treatment at 420 C for 12 h,
the failure surface is characterized by a few river patterns and many
clear tear ridges (Fig. 17e). When the fracture surface is observed
at a large magnication, some ruptured eutectics, secondary cracks
and numerous coarse dimples are observed around the river patterns (Fig. 17f), indicating local ductile fracture. This indicates that
the fracture mode of the parts treated by T4 is a mix of quasicleavage and local ductile fracture, explaining their high elongation
of 11.3%. Fig. 17g and h shows the fracture surfaces of the T6 treated
parts. All areas indicate the typical cleavage characteristic. Many
364
Fig. 17. SEM fractographs of the AZ91D Mg-alloy tensile parts: (a) low magnication, HPDC; (b) high magnication, HPDC; (c) low magnication, FCS Rheo-HPDC; (d) high
magnication, FCS Rheo-HPDC; (e) low magnication, FCS Rheo-HPDC + T4 treatment; (f) high magnication, FCS Rheo-HPDC + T4 treatment; (g) low magnication, FCS
Rheo-HPDC + T6 treatment and (h) high magnication, FCS Rheo-HPDC + T6 treatment.
5. Discussion
5.1. Microstructure formation mechanism of FCS process
The melt experiences strong convection in the FCS device during slurry preparation (Zhou et al., 2014a,b), and the FCS action
greatly changes the heat and mass transfer process of the melt. It is
365
Fig. 18. Schematic diagrams of traditional crystal dissociating (a) and crystal dissociating in the FCS device (b).
Semisolid slurry
preparation
Die-casting
Isothermal
stirring
Rapid
cooling
Temperature
grains generate on the mold wall and leave it into the melt inside
when the strong convection occurs at the early stage of solidication (Fig. 18a). Based on the crystal dissociating theory, due to the
strong convection and lower melt temperature in the FCS process,
the nucleation on the barrel wall, helicoid blade and stirring rod
and the disengagement of nuclei also play a key role in increasing
the nucleation rate (Fig. 18b).
After the formation of nuclei, the grain growth stage begins
promptly. Under the isotropic environment caused by the strong
convection, the constitutional supercooling near the solid-liquid
interface is greatly reduced or eliminated, which favors the spherical growth of nuclei.
Based on the M-S unsteady theory by Minkoff (1986), the nuclei
initially grow in a spherical shape and then the growth morphology turns into dendritic as the grain reaches a certain size. Part
of the nuclei distributed on the barrel wall and screw blade grow
into dendrites in the undercooling melt, which are highly sheared
by the blade, resulting in the dendrites shattering and dissociating
into the melt (Fig. 18). Due to uniform composition and temperature elds, the preferred growth does not occur to dissociative
dendrites. Yang et al. (2010) demonstrated that the surface energy
has an effect on dissociative dendrites and urges them to grow in
the direction of shrinking surface area. Guo et al. (2009a) reported
that grains self-rotate as they grow under convection, and make the
temperature and composition distributions more uniform, which
helps the spheroidization of the grains. All of the above comprise
the main mechanism for the growth and globularization of primary
particles.
Cooling
Liquidus
Slurry
transfer
Solidus
Cooling in Filling
shot sleeve
Cooling in
die cavity
FCS Rheo-HPDC
HPDC
Time
Fig. 19. The solidication process of the melt in HPDC and FCS Rheo-HPDC techniques.
366
1999). Generally, the YS as a function of grain size can be represented by the Hall-Petch equation.
= 0 + Kd1/2
(7)
367
Zhou, B., Kang, Y.L., Qi, M.F., Zhang, H.H., Zhu, G.M., 2014a. Microstructure and
property of rheo-diecasting magnesium-alloy with forced convection mixing
process. Solid State Phenom 217-218, 455460.
Zhou, B., Kang, Y.L., Qi, M.F., Zhang, H.H., Zhu, G.M., 2014b. R-hPDC process with
forced convection mixing device for automotive part of A380 aluminum alloy.
Materials 7, 30843105.