Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 3719–3725

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Materials Science and Engineering A

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/msea

Degassing, hydrogen and porosity phenomena in A356

D. Dispinar a,∗ , S. Akhtar b , A. Nordmark a , M. Di Sabatino a , L. Arnberg b
a
SINTEF, Materials and Chemistry, Trondheim, Norway
b
NTNU, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Trondheim, Norway

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The decrease in the solubility of hydrogen in liquid aluminium with temperature has been believed to be a
Received 21 January 2010 major source of porosity. Therefore, degassing treatment is carried out in foundries to decrease porosity in
Received in revised form 25 January 2010 castings. However, it was shown that it is difficult to nucleate hydrogen porosity in the absence of bifilms
Accepted 26 January 2010
where bifilms simply aid the growth of pores. For this purpose, several casting experiments were carried
out with commercial A356 alloy. In the first series of testing, the melt was degassed and then upgassed
to three different levels. In the second series, the melt was first upgassed and then degassed gradually. In
Keywords:
another test, hydrogen level was kept constant and sample collection was carried out. In all the trials, 10
Bifilms
Hydrogen
bars were cast into sand mould to produce cylindrical samples for tensile testing. A step mould was used
Porosity to investigate the porosity distribution and tensile samples were also collected from the same casting.
Degassing For each casting experiment, a reduced pressure test sample was taken to check metal quality by using
bifilm index. It was found that the turbulence and vortex (i.e. increase in bifilm population) during rotary
degassing has a more significant effect on mechanical properties and porosity than the hydrogen content.

© 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Al–Si alloys are attractive materials with increasing applications
due to their good castability and strength. Currently, one of the
main challenges of the foundry industry is to achieve consistent
quality throughout the casting of a single charge.
Campbell [1] has done an extensive work in the field of casting
quality. Yang and Campbell [2] demonstrated the optimised pour-
ing basin; Rezvani et al. [3] and Nyahumwa et al. [4] showed the
importance of filling systems over the reliability of the mechanical
properties of castings; and Green and Campbell [5] used Weibull
analysis to show the importance of oxide films on casting qual-
ity. The common conclusion of the several researches in the field
showed that the entrained oxide films have apparent effect on the
reliability of the castings.
These entrained oxide films, the bifilms, have rather compli-
cated characteristics. Campbell [6] describes this mechanism as
‘folding/unfolding’ and ‘furling/unfurling’. Due to the several rea-
sons, e.g. convection and/or turbulence, the bifilms may become
compacted and crumpled which may result in a reasonably less
harmful state. However, when bifilms start to unfold or unfurl
(due to the diffusion of hydrogen into the gap between the
unbonded oxides and the negative pressure generated by shrink-
age), this may lead to the formation of large defects like pores or
cracks.
In general, hydrogen has been held as the major source for
porosity in casting of aluminium and its alloys. Due to its lowered
solubility in the solid, hydrogen is rejected by the growing dendrites
during solidification and causes porosity which is a detrimental
defect for the casting product quality and its mechanical proper-
ties. In contrast to the conventional theories of porosity formation,
Dispinar and Campbell [7] had proposed a new approach to the
porosity phenomenon: “the opening of a bifilm involves negligible
force, being so easy that it can be assumed that this process will be
overwhelmingly favoured. As a result, for the initiation of all poros-
ity, whether gas or shrinkage, and whether in conditions that are
well fed or unfed, or high gas or well degassed levels, it is assumed
that bifilms are the initiation source”.
There is a long going investigation in the field of hydrogen and
porosity [8–13]. Therefore, in this study, the aim was targeted to
find the correlation between hydrogen content, metal quality and
tensile properties of cast A356 alloy. Rotary degassing was carried
out to achieve different hydrogen levels and the comparison of the
bifilm index [14] change with the tensile properties was investi-
gated.

2. Experimental work

∗ Corresponding author. Fax: +47 73597043. The composition of the commercial alloy used in the experi-
E-mail address: derya.dispinar@gmail.com (D. Dispinar). ments is given in Table 1.

0921-5093/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.msea.2010.01.088
3720 D. Dispinar et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 3719–3725

Table 1
Chemical composition of A356 used in the experiments (wt%).

Si Mg Mn Fe Ti Na Sr P Al

6.9 0.32 0.002 0.116 0.11 0.0012 0.0005 0.0002 rem.

75 kg of charges from the same batch of A356 was melted in

a resistance furnace at 750 ◦ C. Rotary degasser (Fesoco XSR Rotor
Ø135, at 500 rpm) was used to control the melt hydrogen level.
Three levels of hydrogen were selected: 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 mL/100 g Al.
For ease of use, the terms “low”, “mid” and “high” will be used in the
text. Argon gas was used to degass the melt to low and mid levels;
whereas ‘Ar + 10% H2 ’ gas mixture was used to upgas the melt to
mid levels and ‘Ar + water vapour’ mixture was used to achieve the
high hydrogen levels. The gasses were purged with 5 L/min rate
continuously during all the operations. Hydrogen content of the
melt was analysed by ALSPEK H® analyser [15]. Melt quality was
checked with reduced pressure test (RPT) by using bifilm index [14].
In the first test, the melt was upgassed to high level, and then to
mid level and finally to the low level (Fig. 1). In the second series, the
melt was first degassed to low level and then gradually upgassed
to mid and high levels. In the third series of the tests, a melt was
degassed to low hydrogen level and sample was collected while
the hydrogen was kept constant. The same test was carried out
on second day in the same way to check the reproducibility of the
results. The final test was similar to the latest test but the hydrogen
was kept at mid levels.
At each level of hydrogen in each of the tests, step moulds were
cast into a coated die that was heated up to 320 ◦ C; 10 bars were
cast into a sand mould for tensile testing and RPT samples were
collected for bifilm index measurement. The schematic drawing of
the samples produces is given in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Castings produced in the experiments. (a) Step mould castings, (b) tensile
test bars, and (c) RPT sample

Fig. 1. The test matrix of the experiments. (a) Upgassing and degassing tests with
varying hydrogen content. (b) Melts where hydrogen level is kept constant
Two samples from the top edges of each step of the step mould
castings were used for tensile testing, while mid section was used
for porosity measurements.
Weibull statistics was used to analyse the reproducibility of the
tensile tests results obtained from the bars cast into the sand mould.
 D. Dispinar et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 3719–3725 3721

Fig. 3. Bifilm index change with hydrogen level and treatment sequence.

3. Results

The bifilm index change of the melts after each treatment is

given in Fig. 3. When the melt is upgassed first to high level
and then gradually degassed to low levels, the bifilm index
change is 70, 90 and 120 mm respectively. In the next test
where the melt is degassed first to low level and then upgassed
to mid and high levels; the bifilm index change is as follows:
10, 15, 95 mm.
Mechanical test results collected from the step mould castings
are summarised in Fig. 4. Fig. 5. (a) UTS, (b) elongation values Weibull distribution of two melts at low hydro-
Weibull distribution comparison of tensile test results obtained gen but treated at a different sequence (hydrogen level: 0.1 mL/100 g Al).
from the bars cast into the sand mould (where two melts at same
hydrogen level but different treatment sequence) can be seen in

Fig. 4. Change in the UTS and elongation with changing hydrogen content and the Fig. 6. (a) UTS, (b) elongation values Weibull distribution of two melts at mid hydro-
step thickness (a) upgassed melt; (b) degassed melt. gen but treated at a different sequence (hydrogen level: 0.2 mL/100 g Al).
3722 D. Dispinar et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 3719–3725

Fig. 7. (a) UTS, (b) elongation values Weibull distribution of two melts at high Fig. 9. Tensile test results of step mould castings for 0.1 mL/100 g Al hydrogen level:
hydrogen but treated at a different sequence (hydrogen level: 0.4 mL/100 g Al). comparison of Day 1 and Day 2.

Figs. 5–7. The bifilm indices of the melts are also given in the same
graphs next to the legends.
The bifilm index change of the melts where the hydrogen level
was kept constant at low and mid levels for two different days is
given in Fig. 8.
The mechanical property change along the different thickness
of the step mould castings are given in Figs. 9 and 10.
The Weibull analysis of the tensile properties collected from the
sand mould castings at low and mid hydrogen levels are given in
Figs. 10 and 11 and Figs. 12 and 13 respectively.
A relationship between bifilm index and mechanical properties
was also examined and it is shown in Fig. 15.

Fig. 8. Bifilm index change of melts for Day 1 and Day 2; for 0.1 and 0.2 mL/100 g Al Fig. 10. Tensile test results of step mould castings for 0.2 mL/100 g Al hydrogen
hydrogen levels. level: comparison of Day 1 and Day 2.
 D. Dispinar et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 3719–3725 3723

Fig. 11. Weibull analysis of tensile test property change through the sequence of Fig. 13. Weibull analysis of tensile test property change through the sequence of
samples collected from melt with 0.2 mL/100 g Al hydrogen (Day 1) (a) UTS, (b) samples collected from melt with 0.2 mL/100 g Al hydrogen (Day 1) (a) UTS, (b)
elongation. elongation.

Fig. 12. Weibull analysis of tensile test property change through the sequence of Fig. 14. Weibull analysis of tensile test property change through the sequence of
samples collected from melt with 0.1 mL/100 g Al hydrogen (Day 1) (a) UTS, (b) samples collected from melt with 0.2 mL/100 g Al hydrogen (Day 2) (a) UTS, (b)
elongation. elongation.
3724 D. Dispinar et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 3719–3725
Fig. 15. Change in the mechanical properties (a) UTS, (b) elongation with bifilm
index.
Fig. 16. Dross formation over the melt during rotary degassing.
4. Discussion
In the melt that was degassed first and then gradually upgassed
to three different hydrogen levels, the bifilm index was increased
from 10 mm to 15 mm and 90 mm (Fig. 3). It can easily be assumed
that this increase in the bifilm index could be due to the increase in
the hydrogen level. Since hydrogen content increases, it would be
possible that the size of the pores would increase as well. However,
in the reverse treatment where the melt was upgassed first and
then degassed, similar trend was also observed in terms of bifilm
index. It was increased from 70 mm to 95 mm and 120 mm (Fig. 3).
This shows that hydrogen content does not have a predominant
effect over bifilm index.
This increase in the bifilm index regardless of the hydrogen con-
tent was not surprising. The reason for this was that dross was
formed on the surface of the melt (Fig. 16) which was being sucked
into melt due to the vortex and thus leading to an increase in the
number of entrained bifilms.
The tensile test results’ comparison of these melts clearly sup-
ports this finding. The results were plotted in Figs. 5–7 such that the
same hydrogen levels were shown in the same figure. The Weibull
analysis illustrates a notable correlation between bifilm index and
Weibull modulus. In general, the castings with low bifilm index
have higher Weibull modulus. These results appear to be more
reproducible and reliable. As the bifilm index increases, the scatter
of the results increases leading to a lowered Weibull modulus. This
is particularly true for low and mid hydrogen levels (Figs. 5 and 6).
In Fig. 7 at high hydrogen level, both melts have similar bifilm index
and thereby have similar scatter (i.e. Weibull modulus).
The change in UTS and elongation taken from the different step
thickness of the step mould castings were given in Fig. 4. It can
be seen that the trend of the change appears closely for different
hydrogen contents. There is not much scatter in the results. For the
degassed melt, high hydrogen level has the lowest UTS, on the other
hand has the highest elongation. In the upgassed melt, both UTS and
elongation are lowest in comparison to the other hydrogen levels.
It is important to note that all the values are quite closely followed.
For the melts where hydrogen levels were kept constant, the
tensile properties are in good agreement with the bifilm indices
(Figs. 9 and 10). The castings with the high bifilm index have low
properties.
The Weibull analysis of the tensile property change through the
sequence of samples cast into sand mould were given in Figs. 11–14.
When comparing the reproducibility of the results for low and mid
hydrogen levels, it appears that for both Day 1 and Day 2 melts
with high hydrogen level have higher repeatability. All data in
Figs. 13 and 14 are almost coinciding with close Weibull modu-
lus values (except for few data points in Fig. 14 for casting #2). On
the other hand, for the melts with 0.1 mL/100 g Al hydrogen level,
the Weibull modulus values of 5 castings are close however the UTS
and elongation values appeared to deteriorate from casting #1 till
casting #5 (Figs. 11 and 12).
5. Conclusions
Uncontrolled rotary degassing of the melt may lead to a bad
quality due to the entrained bifilms from the surface.
Bifilm index varies with the number of bifilms regardless of the
hydrogen content.
There is no difference in the tensile properties of the melts
with different hydrogen contents. Mechanical properties seem to
be more sensitive to defect content (i.e. bifilm index).
As the bifilm index decreases, mechanical properties increase.
In addition, Weibull modulus increases; meaning that high quality
melts with similar properties (hence high reproducibility) can be
obtained.
Acknowledgements
The European Integrated Project NADIA (New Automotive
components Designed for manufactured by Intelligent process-
 D. Dispinar et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 527 (2010) 3719–3725
ing of light Alloys—Contract NMP2-CT-2006-026563) is gratefully
acknowledged for financial support. Authors would also like to
acknowledge FREMSTØT project and the help of Mr. Kurt Sandaunet
during the experiments.
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