Table of content

INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................... 2
RHEOCASTING............................................................................................................................................ 2
MICROSTRUCTURE.................................................................................................................................... 3
REINFORCED PARTICLE............................................................................................................................ 5
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF RHEO-CAST AL ALLOY........................................................................6
SUMMARY.................................................................................................................................................... 7
REFERENCE................................................................................................................................................ 7

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An extensive survey of available literature was carried out, and the summary of the literature review is
presented under the following headings:

1. Preparation of alloy using Rheocasting

2. Microstructural analysis
3. Reinforced particle
4. Mechanical Properties of Rheo-Cast Al Alloy

INTRODUCTION:

The semi-solid metal structure was invented in the early 1970's by Spencer and Flemings at MIT.
They found that by mechanically agitating a solidifying alloy in the solid-liquid temperature range, the solid
phase would not be in the form of dendrites, but instead spheroidal particles and these non-dendritic
natures of the solid phase gave these metal "slurries" unique theological properties.

The applications of both gravity die-casting and high-pressure die-casting aluminium alloys in high
quality and integrity of components in automotive and aerospace sectors have been restricted due to their
poor quality resulting from harmful gas entrapment in the solidified metal as well as the presence of large
amounts of micro-porosity. Rheocasting is emerging as a preferred process to prevent these defects
produce a high-quality commercial casting part.

RHEOCASTING:

The recent trend in semi-solid metal forming is to advance the Rheocasting approach. Rheocasting
has immediate advantages over Thixocasting

1) liquid alloy can be formed into a non-dendritic metal slurry at the part manufacturing site,

2) scrap can be recycled on site.[1]

Figure 1: Rheocasting process [7]

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 There are several designed patents and approach to create metal slurry and making non-dendritic
aluminium structures. One approach is mixing two alloy streams of specified composition and temperature
to create a third alloy composition, at a temperature just below its liquidus, possessing a high density of
crystal nuclei which can ripen into spheroids. Another novel approach is the Osprey process, which mists
liquid metal to create a metal slurry. [3-4] Thermal conditions cause smaller droplets in the mist to solidify and
larger droplets to remain liquid. Both solid and liquid droplets are recaptured and combined to form a slurry.

The process innovatively adapts the well-established high shear dispersive mixing action of the
twin-screw mechanism attaching it to existing HPDC machines to the task of in situ creation of SSM slurry
with fine and spherical solid particles.[5] The twin-screw mechanism helps in higher heat extraction and RDC
technique is achieved by standard cold chamber HPDC to achieve final component shaping.

MICROSTRUCTURE:

a) Dendritic fragmentation

They proposed that the dendrites that form in liquid adjacent to a chill may be so fine and/or fragile
that when convection is present, they are fragmented almost instantaneously after forming. Whether
convection aids in the dendrite breakage or simply transports fragments into the bulk liquid remains
undetermined.

It has been proposed that the convection produced during the solidification causes dendrite arms to
“melt” off or “break” off, which then act as “secondary nuclei” particles. [2] The likely mechanism of this
process is grain multiplication. In this case, convection is effectively achieved by the flow of fine gas
bubbles in the melt. The convection helps to generate “secondary nuclei” particles, resulting in a non-
dendritic SSM structure.

Figure 2: Schematics emphasising the microstructure of SSM material and compare to liquid casting. [6]

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b) Mechanical stirring rate:

Influence of mechanical stirring on the interaction between solidification front and melt flow, which
changes the morphological of particles from dendritic to spherical. In this case, laminar flow alters the
growth pattern, from a dendritic morphology to rosette; the move to a turbulent regime changes it from a
rosette to a spheroidal morphology. This theory is applied using the twin-screw slurry maker, it is
characterised by high shear rate and high intensity of turbulence, which in turn promotes effective
nucleation and spherical growth during solidification, resulting in a fine and uniform microstructure. Under
optimised conditions, the RDC samples have close-to-zero porosity, a fine and uniform distribution of
intermetallic compounds and are free from other casting defects.[5]

Microstructure

(a) (b)

Figure3: Microstructure of (a) liquid A356 and (b) semi-solid A356 (both 50x

The microstructure of these alloys confirms the cream-like flow behaviour (Figure a and Figure b
show the fine non-dendritic and globular structure of the alloys.[8]

REINFORCED PARTICLE

To meet the needs for the development of advanced composites, many types of particles have been added
into the metal matrices as reinforcements, such as oxides (e.g., Al2O3) nitrides (e.g., BN), and carbides
(e.g., B4C, Tic, SiC). Among these reinforcements, the SiC particle with its combination of the high elastic
modulus, high technical maturity, and low cost, has been one of the most commonly used reinforcements in
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industries. However, the presence of the particle can reduce ductility, which limits the application in
structural components. Generally, the composite strength increases with the decreasing particle size, while
the damage occurs continually during deformation and may lower the strength of the composite in
composites, the actual strength of one particle is determined by its particle size, shape, and even the matrix
strength. With larger particle size larger aspect ratio or higher matrix strength damage of the particles
increases.
In numerical study, Weibull law is often used to modelling the damage behaviour of the particle.
According to this law, particle cracks by its size order from larger size to small size in turn with the
increasing stress, which does not entirely fit the experimental observation.

The larger size particles tend to crack earlier during deformation of the composite. Use of the
particle with small average size and narrow size range can decrease the particle-induced damage and
obtain a good strengthening effect on the composites [10].

Plates of SiC particles with various volume fractions were produced by rheo-processing and
subsequently high pressure dies casting (HPDC). Variation of volume fraction of SiC was achieved through
settling stratification of Dural can F3S.20S MMC in a 20 kg tilting furnace without any form of melt agitation
[9]
.

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF RHEO-CAST AL ALLOY

Bergsma, for instance, reported that the tensile strength of semisolid formed aluminium alloys are
superior to conventionally cast alloys due to the reduction in porosity and the spherical microstructure,
when an effective optimization of heat treatment parameters is achieved. Cerri, showed excellent ultimate
tensile strength and yield strength ssm319 alloy. Another study on an Al–Si–Mg–Fe alloy demonstrated the
influence of the shape of primary α-Al globules on ultimate tensile strength and elongation.

When the shape factor increases (the more rounded the primary globules), tensile and elongation
properties also increase.

Figure4.Shape factor of primary α-Al phase

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 [11]
They pointed out that the UTS, elongation, and hardness of the SSM samples are approximately
57.9%, 42.9%, and 20.6% higher than those of the die-casting ones, respectively. They attributed this to
the finer compact primary Si grains, which can reduce or even eliminate crack initiation, combined with
reduced porosity.

FATIGUE BEHAVIOR

The SSM sample i.e. defect free parts shows higher fatigue resistance and its microstructural
constituents play a key role. High volume fraction of alpha phase increases the resistance to crack also
small globule size as well as finer size and distribution of Si particles acts as a barrier to propagation of
short cracks [11].

WEAR BEHAVIOUR

Pin on disc machine was used to investigate effect of grain refiner on wear behaviour of
hypereutectic and eutectic (Al-Si)alloy, using various parameters such as alloy composition, normal
pressure, sliding speed and sliding distance[13].Specific wear rate decreases with increase in normal
pressure and sliding speed due to the addition of Si. However, at higher sliding distances, a higher wear
rate with abnormal wear loss was observed. This higher wear rate can be attributed to the formation of
oxide layer, which influenced the frictional force at the interface of pin and disc causing three body
abrasions.

CORROSION BEHAVIOR OF SIC WITH AL ALLOY

At room temperature, the Al/SiC composites exhibited better corrosion resistance than the pure Al
matrix. Increasing the volume fraction of the SiC particulates increased the corrosion resistance of the
Al/SiC composites. Moreover, reducing the SiC particles size enhanced significantly the corrosion
resistance of the SiC composites. At elevated temperature, the Al/SiC composites exhibited lower corrosion
resistance than the pure Al matrix

However, increasing the volume fraction and/or the SiC particles size reduce(s) the corrosion rates
of the Al/SiC composites. The corrosion rates of the pure Al as well as the Al/SiC composites were found to
increase linearly with the temperature [12].

SUMMARY:

The brief literature review revealed that preparation of alloy using Rheocasting technique has non- dendritic
globular microstructure close-to-zero porosity, a fine and uniform distribution of intermetallic compounds
and are free from other casting defects, which proved in better mechanical properties also studies on
mechanical properties and wear behaviour of RDC Al-Si alloys with Sic particles reinforcement are very
limited.

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REFERENCE:

[1] RA Martinez - Boston: Formation and processing of rheocast microstructures Department of Materials
Science, 2004.

[2] US, I. (2021). Effect of Semi-Solid Process on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Medium
Carbon Steel Produced by Continuous Casting. Retrieved 10 August 2021, from
https://www.academia.edu/3239757/Effect_of_Semi_Solid_Process_on_Microstructure_and_Mechanical_P
roperties_of_Medium_Carbon_Steel_Produced_by_Continuous_Casting

[3] M. Findon, A.M. de Figueredo, D. Apelian, M.M. Makhloufi. Melt Mixing Approaches for the Formation of
Thixotropic Semisolid Metal Structures, Proceedings of the 7th Int. Conf. on Semi-Solid Processing of
Alloys and Composites, Tsukuba, Japan, Sept. 25-27, 2002, pgs. 557-562.

[4] P. Mathur, D. Apelian, A. Lawley. Acta Metallurgical, (37), 1989, pgs. 429-443.

[5] Fan, Z., Fang, X., & Ji, S. (2005). Microstructure and mechanical properties of rheo-diecast (RDC)
aluminium alloys. Materials Science and Engineering: A, 412(1-2), 298-306. doi:
10.1016/j.msea.2005.09.001

[6] Czerwinski, F. (2021). Semisolid Processing—Origin of Magnesium Moulding. Retrieved 10 August

2021, from

[7] A Comparison Between Semisolid Casting Methods for Aluminium Alloys by Anders E. W. Jarfors.

[8] Development of a semi-solid metal processing technique for aluminum casting applications
Jessada Wannasin* and Sangop Thanabumrungkul.

[9] CURLE, U., & IVANCHEV, L. (2021). Wear of semi-solid rheocast SiCp/Al metal matrix composites.
Retrieved 10 August 2021, from

[10] ZHENG, Z., JI, Y., MAO, W., YUE, R., & LIU, Z. (2021). Influence of rheo-diecasting processing
parameters on microstructure and mechanical properties of hypereutectic Al–30%Si alloy. Retrieved 10
August 2021, from

[11] Annalisa Pola 1, ID , Marialaura Tocci 1 and Plato Kapranos 2, Microstructure and Properties of Semi-
Solid Aluminum Alloys: A Literature Review, 1 DIMI—Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department,
Via Branze, 38-25123 Brescia, Italy; m.tocci@unibs.it 2 Department of Materials Science & Engineering,
The University of Sheffield, Sir Robert Hadfield Building, Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 3JD, UK;13 March
2018
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[12] Zakaria, H. (2014). Microstructural and corrosion behaviour of Al/SiC metal matrix composites. Ain
Shams Engineering Journal, 5(3), 831-838. doi: 10.1016/j.asej.2014.03.003

[13] Kori, S., & Chandrashekharaiah, T. (2007). Studies on the dry sliding wear behaviour of hypoeutectic
and eutectic Al–Si alloys. Wear, 263(1-6), 745-755. doi: 10.1016/j.wear.2006.11.026