2002•Acta Metallurgica SinicaRequires access
MICROSTRUCTURE OF NEARBY LIQUIDUS SEMI-CONTINUOUS CASTING ALUMINUM ALLOY A356
Jianzhong Cui
Open publisher page 7 citations
Abstract
The microstructure of aluminum alloy A356 with fine equiaxed nondendritic grains was obtained by means of nearby liquidus semi-continuous casting method, which is needed by semisolid metal process. The influences of casting temperature, heat preservation time and cooling rate on nearby liquidus casting microstructure are investigated. The results show that in the nearby of liquidus, the grains size becomes tiny with reducing of casting temperature, the least average equal- area circle grain diameter is 42.6 um, and the original solid fraction may reach 98.4%. Prolonging the heat preservation time makes grain size coarse at the same temperature, and increasing the cooling rate makes grain size fine. The microstructure of ingot cast in the Fe-mould is finer than that in the graphite-mould. The grains size of ingot middle is coarser, more even and equiaxed than that at the edge of ingot in the same ingot cast.