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Abstract
The present paper examines the casting of ingot for use in thixoforming. Casting of the ingot for thixoforming was attempted by
semisolid casting using a cooling slope. It was claried that the primary crystal became globular when the ingot cast using the cooling slope
was remelted into the semisolid state. Casting factors, which affected the sphericity of the primary crystal when the ingots were remelted,
were investigated. The cooling rate of the ingot in the mold was found to be the most important factor in making primary crystal globular
when the ingot was remelted. # 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Semisolid; Thixoforming; Cooling slope
1. Introduction
The stirring is the common method for producing ingots
for use in thixoforming. Various methods, such as straininduced metal (SIM) activation, the isothermal treatment
and casting using a cooling slope are used to produce ingots
for thixoforming [14]. The properties upon which the
cooling slope process is based are very simple [3]. The
primary crystal of the semisolid slurry at the cooling slope
has been reported to become spherical after being maintained in the semisolid state [3]. When the semisolid slurry at
the cooling slope is solidied in the mold without being
maintained in the semisolid, the primary crystal does
not become globular. The present study claried that the
primary crystal becomes globular when the ingot is remelted
in the semisolid state. In the present paper, various conditions that affect the sphericity of the primary crystal were
investigated.
2. Semisolid casting process
Fig. 1 shows schematically the two types of semisolid
casting processes that involve in the use of the cooling slope.
The ingot, in which the primary crystal becomes globular,
can be cast by the process shown in Fig. 1(a) [3]. Fig. 1(b)
shows the process of the present study. The difference
between the processes shown in Figs. 1(a) and (b) is the
*
Corresponding author. Fax: 81-6-6957-2134.
E-mail address: haga@med.oit.ac.jp (T. Haga).
0924-0136/01/$ see front matter # 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 2 4 - 0 1 3 6 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 8 8 8 - 3
170
Fig. 1. Semisolid casting process using a cooling slope. (a) Maintaining a semisolid condition P: pouring; : maintaining at semisolid; : quench;
remelting up to semisolid; : quench. (b) Without maintaining at semisolid condition PS: pouring and solidification; : remelting up to semisolid;
quench.
:
:
Table 1
Experimental conditions
Specimen
Casting temperature
Slope
Material
Coating
Angle
Length
Reheat temperature
Mold
Al6 mass%Si
6408C (660, 680, 7208C)
Mild steel
BN
608
300 mm (100 mm)
6008C (590, 6108C)
Metal (insulator)
4. Experimental results
4.1. Effect of melt temperature and mold material
Fig. 3 shows the microstructures of as-cast and asquenched ingots that were cast from the melt at temperatures
of 640, 660 and 6808C into the metal and insulator mold,
respectively. The size of the primary crystal of the as-cast
ingot cast into the metal mold is smaller than that cast into
the insulator mold. The size of the primary crystal of the
ingot of as-cast was affected by the mold material. When the
thermal conductivity of the mold material is high, the
cooling rate of the ingot becomes high, and as a result,
the primary crystal becomes small. When the metal mold
was used, the primary crystal of the as-quenched ingot
Fig. 3. Effect of the melt temperature on the microstructure of the specimens at as-cast and as-quench using a metal mold (a) and an insulator mold (b),
respectively. Slope length is 300 mm.
171
Fig. 4. Effect of slope length on the microstructure of the specimen at as-cast and as-quenched using a metal mold. Melt pouring temperature is 6408C.
Fig. 5. Microstructure of the reheated ingot after cold rolling: (a) casting from melt and cold rolling; (b) semisolid casting using the cooling slope and cold
rolling.
172
make the primary crystal round when the ingot was remelted
into the semisolid state. In Fig. 2, C represents the tensile
strength and the elongation of the specimen that was cast
using the 300 mm slope, and E represents those for the
specimen cast using the 100 mm slope. C and E show that
the tensile strength and the elongation of the specimen, that
was cast using the 300 mm slope, are superior to those of the
specimen that was cast using the 100 mm slope.
5. Comparison with other methods
5.1. Induction of strain (cold rolling)
The primary crystal of the cold-rolled ingot becomes
globular when the ingot is remelted at the semisolid temperature. The microstructure of 20% cold-rolled ingot after
remelting is shown in Fig. 5. The size and the degree of
globularization of the primary crystal were affected by the
mold material. After the remelt in the semisolid state, the
primary crystal of the ingot cast in the metal mold was
observed to become more globular and smaller than that cast
in the insulator mold. No difference in size or degree of
globularization of the primary crystal was observed between
the ingot that was cast using the cooling slope and the coldrolled ingot that was cast in the metal mold.
cooling rate in the mold is high. When the cooling rate of the
ingot cannot be made high or the melt temperature above
the liquidus line must be maintained above 308C, semisolid
casting using the cooling slope is more useful than the lowtemperature casting, because the primary crystal of the ingot
that was cast by low-temperature casting did not become
globular.
6. Conclusion
References