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Procedia Engineering
Procedia 00 (2011)
Engineering 000–000
27 (2012) 490 – 501
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

2011 Chinese Materials Conference

Effect of casting temperature on porous structure of lotus-type

porous copper
Xinhua Liu , Xuefeng Li, Yanbin Jiang, Jianxin Xie
Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing (MOE), University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083,
People’s Republic of China

Abstract

Lotus-type porous copper was fabricated using unidirectional solidification method by only changing casting
temperature. Porous structure of the lotus-type porous copper was quantitatively characterized and analyzed. Effect of
casting temperature on the porous structure was investigated and its mechanism was discussed. The results showed
that casting temperature had little effect on porosity of the lotus-type porous copper at the temperature range of
1120℃-1180℃, i.e., the porosity was only increased by 2.7% at the above temperature range. Casting temperature
had an obvious effect on the porous morphology and structure of the lotus-type porous copper. When casting
temperature was raised, both the size of pore and thickness of pore-free zone decreased, and both the number and
uniformity of pore increased. The above results were mainly ascribed to the solubility of gas in molten metal, the
nucleation and growth mode of pore, and the growth mode of pore-free zone.
© 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review  under responsibility of Chinese Materials
© 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Select ion and/or peer-review under responsibility of Chinese Materials
Research Society Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Research Society

Keywords: Unidirectional solidification; Lotus-type porous metal; Casting temperature; Porous structure

1. Introduction

Porous metal exh ibits relatively low density, high specific surface area, excellent specific mechanical
properties and novel physical properties (electricity, acoustics etc). Therefore, porous metal has the dual
performance of structure and function, which is widely applied in the fields of the light weight
construction materials, energy absorption materials, filter separator and heat transfer control etc .[1,2].
Lotus-type porous metal is a kind of advanced porous material which has been developed in the 1990s.
Co mpared with traditional porous metal with porous structure of spherical and subsphaeroidal pores, the


Corresponding author. Tel.: +86-10-62332253.
E-mail address: liuxinhua18@163.com.

1877-7058 © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review  under responsibility of Chinese Materials Research Society
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2011.12.478
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lotus-type porous metal with long colu mnar pores regularly arrayed in a special d irection has higher
mechanical property and special physical property, which exh ib its the significant application potentials on
light weight construction, energy absorption, filtering, catalyst carrier, thermal insulation, radiat ing,
noise-absorbing and noise damping etc.[3,4]. Lotus-type porous metal was firstly fabricated by Shapovalov
using gas-solid eutectic unidirectional solid ification method (Gasar method)[5]. Later, Nakajima exp lored
continuous unidirectional solid ification technology, continuous zonemelt ing technology and thermal
decomposition of compound technology for producing lotus-type porous metal[6-8]. So far, Gasar method
has been developed into a major method because it can facilitate to control porosity, pore size and pore
direction of lotus-type porous metal. Porous structure is main ly controlled by overpressure of molten
metal, overheating of mo lten metal and solidificat ion rate, etc.[9]. It is significant to understand the effect
of various process parameters on porous structures for controlling and optimizing fabricat ion of lotus -type
porous metal. In recent years, the effects of solid ification rate, gas pressure and preheating temperature of
casting mold on porosity, pore size and distribution of lotus -type porous metal have been systemically
investigated [9-11]. Casting temperature, as an important processing parameter, influences solubility of gas
as well as solidification behavior of metal matrix. Th is imp lies that casting temperature may have an
important impact on porous structure of lotus -type porous metal. However, little work has been reported
on the effect of casting temperature on porous structure of lotus -type porous metal. In th is work, the lotus -
type porous copper was prepared by Gasar method, and the effect of casting temperature on porosity, pore
size and distribution, the thickness of lateral pore-free zone are mainly investigated.

2. Experi mental Procedures

2.1. Preparation of lotus-type porous copper

Stopper Pressure gage

Inlet of gases

Electric Top chamber

resistance
heater Outlet of
chamber
Molten copper cooling water

Crucible
Funnel

Alumina
mould
Inlet of
chamber Mould
cooling water heater
Copper
chiller
Inlet of copper Outlet of
chiller cooling copper chiller
water cooling water

Fig.1. Unidirectional solidification equipment of lotus-type porous metal

The lotus-type porous copper was prepared on the self-made equip ment by unidirect ional solid ification
method, as showed in Fig.1. Firstly, the solidification equipment was vacuumized. When vacuum degree
approached to 1.0M Pa, 0.2MPa of hydrogen was filled. Secondly, the copper was melt at 1120℃, 1150℃,
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1180℃ in the graphite crucible, respectively. In order to make gas saturated in molten copper, the set
temperature was kept for 0.5 h. Alu mina casting mo ld with an inner diameter of 50 mm and a height of
170 mm was preheated to the temperature of 900℃ before the copper liquid was cast into it. When the
temperature was increased to the set value, the graphite stick was lift and then molten copper was cast
into the preheated alumina casting mold through funnel. The lotus -type porous copper was finally formed
in the way of unid irectional solidification.
For analysis of pores morphology on cross section at different height, the lotus-type porous copper
billet was cut by linear cutting along the direction perpendicular to pore axis, at the d istance of 20, 75,
120mm respectively away fro m bottom of the billet.

2.2. Characterization of porous structure of lotus-type porous copper

After both the top and bottom of the lotus -type porous copper billet were removed, porosity(P) of the
samples can be calculated by the follo wing Eq.(1),

 M 
1  V
P  100% (1)
 d 
 
Where M is weight of lotus-type porous copper (g), V is volu me of lotus-type porous copper (cm3 ), ρd
is density of dense pure copper (g/cm3 ).
After cleaning the lotus-type porous copper using supersonic wave, it can be ground by sand paper and
observed by digital camera.
Image J software was used to statistically analyze the number, size, distribution of pore at different
cross sections of the lotus-type porous copper billet. The density of pores can be obtained by the ratio of
number of pore on cross section to the area of the cross section. The average thickness of lateral pore -free
zone can be obtained at least 6 measure value.

3. Results and Discussion

Fig.2 shows the macrostructure of the lotus-type porous copper fabricated at different casting
temperatures and at the different heights away fro m the bottom. It can be seen that casting temperature
has a great impact on the pore morpholorgy of the lotus-type porous copper. With increasing the casting
temperature, pore diameter decreases and the distribution homogeneity of pores improves. Meanwhile,
there are few b ig and irregular spherical pores in the samples at height of 120 mm. With increasing the
height, however, the evolution of pore morphology of the lotus-type porous copper is similar, i.e., pore
size increases and the most homogeneous distribution of pore occurs in the sample at height of 75 mm ,
while the worst homogeneous distribution of pore occurs in the sample at height of 120 mm, with many
big and irregular spherical pores inside. Base on the experiment result, formation of lotus-type porous
metal can be divided into three stages: initial s tage, steady state stage, disorder stage [12].

3.1. Effect of casting temperature on porosity of the lotus-type porous copper

Fig.3 shows the variation of porosity of the lotus-type porous copper with casting temperature. It can
be seen that casting temperature has a little effect on porosity. With increasing casting temperature, the
porosity increase slightly. The porosity of the lotus-type porous copper fabricated at 1180℃ is only
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increased by 2.7%, co mpared with that at 1120℃. Both dissolvability of gas in mo lten metal and gas
pressure outside have effects on porosity change of the lotus-type porous metal. On the one hand,
dissolvability of hydrogen increases with casting temperature, but the increment is slight in a small
temperature range [13].
(a) (b) (c)

(f)
(d) (e)

(g) (h) (i)

Fig.2. Cross section pattern of lotus-type porous metal in different casting temperature. (a-c) melt temperature is 1120℃, distance
from bottom is 20, 75,120mm; (d-f) melt temperature is 1150℃, distance from bottom is 20, 75, 120mm；(g-i) melt temperature is
1180℃, distance from bottom is 20, 75, 120mm.
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On the other hand, only part of hydrogen dissolved in molten copper contribute to formation of pore.
This imp lies that a large part of gas floats to the surface of mo lten metal and escape to the atmosphere.
The amount of gas escaping depends on atmosphere pressure. In the present work, at mosphere pressure
remained 0.2M Pa during preparation of the lotus-type porous copper, which indicates that the amount of
gas escaping at different casting temperature is appro ximately the same. The porosity change of the lotus-
type porous copper with casting temperature is s mall, due to the above two aspects.
65
o
Preheating temperature of the mold:900 C
60
Porosity /%

55

50

45

40
1120 1130 1140 1150 1160 1170 1180 1190
o
Pouring temperature / C

Fig.3. The variation of porosity with casting temperature

3.2. Effect of casting temperature on pore diameter and distribution

The effects of casting temperature and billet height on average size of pores in the lotus-type porous
copper are showed in Fig 4. With increasing casting temperature, the average diameter of pore on the
cross section of the same height reduces. For sample with a height of 120 mm, the average diameter of
pore is maximu m (0.58 mm) when casting temperature is 1120 ℃ . While the average diameter of pore is
0.38mm when casting temperature is 1180℃ . With increasing billet height, the average diameter o f pore
on cross section of billet increases.
Fig.5 shows the variation of pore density with casting temperature and b illet height. W ith increasing
casting temperature, the pore density increases on the billets ’ cross section at same height. The pore
density of sample fabricated at 1180℃ is twice mo re than that at 1120℃ or 1150℃. As billet height
increases, the pore density reduces at the same casting temperature.
Fig.6 shows pore diameter d istribution of the lotus-type porous copper fabricated at d ifferent casting
temperatures. Referring to Fig.2, with increasing casting temperature, the diameter distribution range of
pore reduces gradually, which indicates that increasing cast temperature favourably imp roves the size
homogeneity of pore in the lotus-type porous copper. By a similar analysis method, it can be found that
with increasing the billet height, the size d istribution range of pore increases gradually, and this implies
that increasing the height reduces the size distribution range of pore, which is in good agreement with
Fig.4.
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1.6
o
1.4 Melting temperature 1120 C
o
Melting temperature 1150 C

Mean pore diameter /mm

1.2 o
Melting temperature 1180 C
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
-0.2
-0.4
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Distance from the bottom of the billets /mm

Fig. 4. The variation of average pores diameter with casting temperature and billet height (error is standard deviation)

5
o
Melting temperature 1120 C
o
Melting temperature 1150 C
4 o
Melting temperature 1180 C
-2
Pore density /mm

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Distance from the bottom of billets /mm

Fig. 5. The variation of pore density with casting temperature and billet height (error is standard deviation)

The formation of porous structure is mainly ascribed to pore formation mechanism during preparation
of the lotus-type porous metal. Base on the observation of pore mo rpholorgy at d ifferent heights in Fig.2,
three mechanisms can be responsible for the process of pore nucleation and growth of the lotus-type
porous metal during unid irectional solidification: nucleation of pore in the solid -liquid interface, diffusion
growth of pore, mergence growth of pore, as showed in Fig.7. Mechanism ① and ② work during the
whole preparat ion of the lotus-type porous metal, while mechanis m ③ works main ly in the disorder stage
of solidification. The size of pore formed by mechanis m ① is small, which is indicated by the arrows in
Fig.2 (f). The large pores with regular and spherical-shaped are formed by mechanism ② , which are
indicated by the arrows in Fig.1 (e). The pores formed by The mechanism ③ can result in the formation
of large pores with irregular shape, which are indicated by the arrows in Fig.2 (c).
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2000 2000
o o
1800 Melting temperature: 1120 C 1800 Melting temperature: 1150 C
(a) Position:20mm (b) Position:20mm
1600 Pore parameters
1600 Pore parameters

Number of pores
Number of pores

1400 Mean:0.40mm 1400 Mean:0.28mm

SD:0.28mm SD:0.23mm
1200 Maximum:1.92mm
1200 Maximum:1.88mm
1000 Minimum:0.09mm 1000 Minimum:0.09mm
Number:3252 Number:3947
800 800
600 600
400 400
200 200
0 0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5
Pore diameter, D/mm Pore diameter, D/mm
2000
o
Melting temperature: 1180 C
1750
(c) Position:20mm
1500 Pore parameters
Number of pores

Mean:0.26mm
1250 SD:0.19mm
Maximum:1.77mm
1000 Minimum:0.026mm
Number:8786
750

500

250

0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5
Pore diameter, D/mm

Fig. 6. Pore diameter distribution of the lotus-type porous copper fabricated at different casting temperatures

For the preparation of lotus-type porous metal at a special temperature, formation of pores is main ly
ascribed to the mechanism ① and ② before the disorder stage, while the mechanism ③ rarely occurs.
Therefore, nu merous small pores and some large spherical pores can be formed and size distribution of
pore is often uniform, as shown in Fig.2 (20mm o r 75mm). When solidificat ion proce eds, due to the
influence of the pre-solidified part, cooling ability of cooling water weakens gradually and the
solidification rate of copper decreases, which reduces growth rate of pore and increases lateral heat
radiation. When the solid ification of the lotus-type porous metal enters the disorder stage, the mechanism
③ apparently occur. Lots of pores are favourably merged to form large and irregular spherical pores
(120mm in Fig.2). Ho wever, the mechanis m ① and ② also occur in this stage, which can be
demonstrated that small pores at the edge of billet and the large sp herical pores in the center are observed
in the sample with the height of 120 mm.
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Li qui d
① ② ③

Interface

Solid

Gas
Fig.7. Mechanism of pores nucleation and growth in lotus-type porous metal (①nucleation in the solid-liquid interface; ②diffusion
growth; ③mergence growth)

The effect of casting temperature on pores size and distribution of the lotus-type porous metal can be
discussed through analyzing nucleation mechanism of pore. Fo r homogeneous nucleation , homogeneous
nucleation rate I can be described by Eq. (2):

NkT Ga  Ghetero
I exp( ) (2)
h kT
Where N is nu mber of ato m in liquid phase, k is Bolt zmann constant, T is absolute temperature, h is
Ga is activation energy of single atom, G 
hetero is crit ical Gibbs free energy.
planck’s constant,
According to Eq. (2), It can be seen that nucleation rate I increases with casting temperature. This
means that with increasing casting temperature, nucleation ability of pores in the solid-liquid interface
increases remarkably, and the number of nucleation size at the solid -liquid interface increases , which
indicates that the mechanism ② occur apparently. As a result, the sample fabricated at higher casting
temperature has more pores at the same height. Nu merous initial pores with small size form due to the
large nu mber of nucleation sites at high casting temperature. Co mpared with the large pores, the s mall
pores have large capillary pressure, which limits the gas diffu sion from liquid phase to the formed pores.
In contrast, when casting temperature is lo w, nucleation rate of pore is low, and the mechanis m ① is
suppressed. Meanwhile, the number of pores is small, and the mechanism ② is dominated. Fro m Fig.2,
when casting temperature is low, the size distribution of pore is inho mogenous and large spherical pores
are formed , which indicates that the growth of pore is mainly ascribe to diffusion mechanism. Meanwhile,
this implies that the mechanism ① and mechanism ② are predominate during nucleation and growth of
pore, however, there is a co mpetition between this two mechanisms. Moreover, during the initial stag e
and steady stage of lotus-type porous metal’s solidification, the mechanism ③ rarely occurs because of
weak lateral heat radiat ion, wh ich was only found around lateral pore-free zone(Fig. 2(b)).
When solidification comes to the disorder stage, the lateral heat radiation of molten metal increases
remarkably. For both the high casting temperature and low casting temperature, the increasing lateral heat
radiation induces the disordered growth of pore, which forms some large irregular pores, as shown in Fig.
1(c)). However, when casting temperature is high, the disordered level of pore is low. Th is is because the
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size of the fo rmed pore is s mall, capillary pressure is large and the growth o f individual pore is stable,
which limits pore mergence to some extent.

3.3. Effect of casting temperature on lateral pore-free zone thickness

The effect o f both casting temperature and height of b illet on lateral pore -free zone thickness of the
lotus-type porous copper is showed in Fig.8. For the same height, with increasing casting temperature, the
lateral pore-free zone thickness reduces with an increase in casting temperature. For the same casting
temperature, with increasing height of billet, lateral pore-free zone thickness increases firstly and reduces
later, which can be a lso seen in Fig.2.
Thickness of the lateral pore-free zone /mm

o
2.8 Melting Temperature 1120 C
o
Melting Temperature 1150 C
o
2.4 Melting Temperature 1180 C

2.0

1.6

1.2

0.8

0.4

0.0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Distance from the bottom of billets /mm

Fig.8. The variation of lateral pore-free zone thickness with casting temperature and height of billet

The change of lateral pore-free zone thickness of the lotus-type porous metal is related to its growth
mode. Taking lateral pore-free zone thickness of lotus-type porous metal as study aim, the growth of
lateral pore-free zone in transversal direction and longitudinal direction simultaneously occur during the
solidification, due to a temperature gradient in both direct ions, as showed in Fig. 9.
In order to study effect of casting temperature on lateral pore-free zone thickness, growth ratio (λ) is
defined as follo ws:
Rl (3)

Rw
Where Rl is gro wth rate in longitudinal direct ion, Rw is growth rate in transversal direction. When λ is
equal to one (λ=1), lateral pore-free zone grows in the mode of rectangle, as showed in Fig.10 (a).When λ
is more than one (λ>1), lateral pore-free zone grows in the mode of t rapezoid, as showed in Fig.10 (b).
When λ is less than one (λ<1), lateral pore -free zone grows in the mode of inverse trapezoid, as showed in
Fig.10 (c).
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Li qui d

Interface

Solid
Gas
Rw

Rl

Fig.9. The model of growth mode in lotus-type porous metal

(a) (b) (c)

Fig.10. Growth mode in different growth ratio. (a) mode of rectangle; (b) mode of trapezoid; (c) mode of inverse trapezoid

When the casting temperature is fixed, growth of lateral pore-free zone is main ly affected by
longitudinal solidification rate and transversal heat rad iation. At in itial stage of solidificat ion, the cooling
ability of cooling water is very strong, and growth rate in longitudinal direction (Rl ) is high. When
solidification proceeds and solid-liquid interface rises, the cooling ability of cooling water becomes weak,
which reduces Rl . The temperature of mo lten decreases gradually during its casting, and this implies that
the temperature of mo lten during the init ial casting is higher than that during the later solidificat ion.
Therefore, the temperature g radient between molten metal and casting mold during the init ial casting is
higher than that during the later solidificat ion (preheating temperature of casting mold is constant at
900℃), wh ich decreases the growth rate in the transversal direction (Rw). However, during the init ial
stage and steady stage, the reduction of Rl is always lower than the decrease of Rw . This means that the
growth ratio is less than one (λ<1), and lateral pore-free zone grows in the mode of trapezo id.
When solidification comes to the disorder stage, the increasing lateral heating radiation leads to the
disordered nucleation and growth of pore. On the one hand, pore nucleates at longitudinal gro wth front of
ectotheca. On the other hand, the growth direction of pore around lateral pore-free zone deviates, which
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induces pore mergence and forms large irregular pores around lateral pore-free zone (ind icated by arrow
in Fig.2(c)). Therefore, lateral pore-free zone thickness reduces during the later solidificat ion due to the
combination of these two aspects.
The effect of casting temperature on lateral pore-free zone thickness is also related to longitudinal-
transversal growth ratio. The higher casting temperature is, the great degree of superheat in molten metal
is and the higher the temperature gradient at solid -liquid interface. Co mpared with low casting
temperature, the high temperature gradient increases Rl . Moreover, superheat degree of molten metal
increases Rw to some extent. Ho wever, effect of degree of superheat in molten metal on Rw is not as good
as that on Rl , which suggests increase of Rw is smaller than that of Rl , i.e., the increasing rate of Rl is
higher than that of Rw. Therefore, increasing casting temperature decreases growth ratio (λ ), wh ich
reduces the thickness of lateral pore-free zone.

4. Conclusions

1. With increasing casting temperature fro m 1120℃ to 1180℃, the change of porosity is slight, and
porosity of the sample fabricated at 1180℃ is merely increased by 2.7% co mpared with that at
1120℃.
2. Casting temperature has an obvious effect on pore morphology and structure of the lotus-type
porous copper. With increasing cast temperature, average pore diameter decreases, the number of
pore increases, and the distribution homogeneity of pore improves. The reason for this change is
that the effect of casting temperature on pore morphology and structure of the lotus-type porous
copper is mainly controlled by three mechanisms of nucleation and growth of pore, and with
increasing casting temperature, the effect of the nucleation mechanis m in the solid-liquid interface
is predominated.
3. Casting temperature has a great impact on the thickness of lateral pore-free zone. With increasing
casting temperature, the thickness of lateral pore-free zone decreases. The reason is that when
casting temperature is increased, the longitudinal-transversal growth ratio of lateral pore-free zone
thickness of the lotus-type porous copper is less than one (λ<1). Then lateral pore -free zone grows
in the mode of trapezo id.

Acknowledgement

The present work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation (Grant 50904004) and State
Key Lab of Advanced Metals and Materials .

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