Fractures

(hot tears and room temperature cracks)

“Cold” Fracture due to
overload
Fractures follow Al-Si eutectic
(grain boundaries)
SEM images of crack surface due to SEM images of hot tear due to
overloading. Brittle fracture. overloading at high temperature
Oxides
Oxide inclusion
Oxides due to turbulent filling
Oxides due to turbulent filling
Oxide inclusion due to inadequate
holding furnace cleaning practice
(“old oxide”). Instead of foldings,
a solid oxide rich on Mg, Sr and Ti
is observed.
Bubbles
Bubble originated at the water jacket
sand core gas generated during casting.
SEM image of the defect in
question. Bubble foldings are
clearly observed. Gas evolved
from sand core water jacket.
XRD analysis shows the oxide
layer caused by sand core gas
evolution. No exogenous materials
were found.
Mounting resin residue. This is not part of
the defect. The sample was mounted in
resin for metallographic analysis. It was not
possible to remove for SEM analysis without
damaging bubble surface.

Bubble origin (and trail). Bubble

due to gas core released during
casting.
Bubbles dur to trapped air.
Shrinkages
Shrinkage
Mechanical Fatigue
Mechanical
Fatigue

Plastic
Defortmation lines

Nucleation
point
Mechanical Fatigue Fracture

Plastic
Defortmation lines

Mechanical
Fatigue Zone

Nucleation
point
Porosity
Microporosity due to high Hydrogen
content in the liquid alloy.
Pore morphology is gas related. The
amount of gas found in the part
suggests that liquid metal was not
degassed prior to casting.
SEM images. All observed defects are gas-
phase related.
Porosity due to interaction between
liquid metal and sand core.
Porosity distribution after dye penetrant application. Porosity is due to a
combination of slow solidification rate hydrogen content.
Mixture of gas porosity and microshrinkages inherent to the process are observed.
Non metallic inclusions
Sand inclusion. Silica sand residues
are still observed.
Sand core fin
Sand core fin due inappropiate
core blowing.
Organic residues mixed with silica grains and crushed
silica particles sand are found mixed together.
Excess glue during sand core assembly,
leads to bubbles and therefore cavities in
the casting.
Organic material inclusion.
Surface defects
 Combustion chamber

Dendritic segregation

The superficial material is mainly

composed by Cu and Al. It is
easily observed that dendritic
segregation it is still part of the
core alloy and does not represent
a risk of detachment.
 This phenomenon has been previously observed. It is
called dendritic (or inverse) segregation. This is observed
at some faces of castings where heat is rapidly extracted,
in this case combustion chambers.
Grain size
Grain size distribution (not a defect!)