Role of ultrasonic treatment, inoculation and solute in the grain refinement of commercial purity aluminium

Effect of laser-induced ultrasound treatment on material structure in laser surface treatment for selective laser melting applications

A new mechanism for controlling the microstructure of products in manufacturing processes based on selective laser melting is proposed. The mechanism relies on generation of high-intensity ultrasonic waves in the melt pool by complex intensity-modulated laser irradiation. The experimental study and numerical modeling suggest that this control mechanism is technically feasible and can be effectively integrated into the design of modern selective laser melting machines.

Effect of Melt Overheating on Structure and Mechanical Properties of Al-Mg-Si Cast Alloy

The paper discusses the complex effect of melt overheating with subsequent fast cooling down to the pouring temperature on the crystallization process, microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-Mg-Si aluminum alloy. The results obtained facilitated the establishment of rational modes of melt overheating, leading to a significant change in the dispersion and morphology of structural components. In particular, with an increase in the melt overheating temperature to 900 °C with holding and subsequent rapid cooling to the casting temperature, a decrease in the average size of dendritic cells of the aluminum solid solution from 39 μm to 13 μm was observed. We also noticed the refinement of eutectic inclusions of the Mg2Si phase with compact morphology. An increased level of mechanical properties was noted; the maximum values of tensile strength and elongation reached 228 MPa and 5.24%, respectively, which exceeded the initial values by 22.5% and 52.3%, correspondingly. The microhardness of the aluminum solid solution sequentially increased from 38.21 to 56.5 HV with an increase in the temperature during melt overheating. According to the EDS linear scanning, an increase in the superheat temperature of the melt is accompanied by an increase in the degree of saturation of the solid solution with magnesium.

Grain refinement of commercially pure aluminum with addition of Ti and Zr elements based on crystallography orientation

The edge-to-edge matching (E2EM) model and electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) technique are used to explore the grain refinement mechanism of commercially pure Al through the addition of Ti and Zr elements. EBSD results show that there are favorable crystallography orientation relationships (ORs) between both Al₃Ti and Al₃Zr particles with α-Al matrix. Due to these ORs Al₃Ti and Al₃Zr particles act as the heterogeneous nucleation site during solidification nucleation of Al–Ti and Al–Zr alloys, respectively. Furthermore, both Al₃Ti and Al₃Zr particles have small values of interplanar spacing mismatch and interatomic spacing misfit with respect to α-Al matrix by using E2EM. It shows that micro-addition of Ti and Zr element is efficient heterogeneous nucleation refiner in commercial purity Al or Al alloys. Besides, there may be some other mechanisms in grain refinement of Al alloys with addition of Ti grain refiner.

Acoustic resonance for contactless ultrasonic cavitation in alloy melts

Contactless ultrasound is a novel, easily implemented, technique for the Ultrasonic Treatment (UST) of liquid metals. Instead of using a vibrating sonotrode probe inside the melt, which leads to contamination, we consider a high AC frequency electromagnetic coil placed close to the metal free surface. The coil induces a rapidly changing Lorentz force, which in turn excites sound waves. To reach the necessary pressure amplitude for cavitation with the minimum electrical energy use, it was found necessary to achieve acoustic resonance in the liquid volume, by finely tuning the coil AC supply frequency. The appearance of cavitation was then detected experimentally with an externally placed ultrasonic microphone and confirmed by the reduction in grain size of the solidified metal. To predict the appearance of various resonant modes numerically, the exact dimensions of the melt volume, the holding crucible, surrounding structures and their sound properties are required. As cavitation progresses the speed of sound in the melt changes, which in practice means resonance becomes intermittent. Given the complexity of the situation, two competing numerical models are used to compute the soundfield. A high order time-domain method focusing on a particular forcing frequency and a Helmholtz frequency domain method scanning the full frequency range of the power supply. A good agreement is achieved between the two methods and experiments which means the optimal setup for the process can be predicted with some accuracy.

Quantitative approach to realization of ultrasonic grain refinement of Al-7Si-2Cu-1Mg alloy

Ultrasonic melt treatment (UST) was applied to Al-7Si-2Cu-1Mg melt at various temperatures of 620, 650, 700 and 785 °C. MgAl2O4 particles which were often found to be densely populated along oxide films, became effectively dispersed and well-wetted by UST. Transmission electron microscopy work combined with crystallography analysis clearly indicates that MgAl2O4 particles can act as α-Al nucleation site with the aid of UST. However, with UST, grain refinement occurred only at temperature of 620 °C and the grain size increased from 97 to 351 μm with increase of melt temperature to 785 °C for UST. In quantitative analysis of grain size and MgAl2O4 particle diameter, it was found that ultrasonic de-agglomeration decreased mean particle size of the MgAl2O4 particles, significantly reducing size from 1.2 to 0.4 μm when temperature increased from 620 to 785 °C. Such a size reduction with increased number of MgAl2O4 particles does not always guarantee grain refinement. Thus, in this work, detailed condition for achieving grain refinement by UST is discussed based on quantitative measurement. Furthermore, we tried to suggest the most valid grain refinement mechanism among the known mechanisms by investigation of the relationship between grain size and particle size with variation of melt temperature.

Ultrasonic Processing for Structure Refinement: An Overview of Mechanisms and Application of the Interdependence Theory

Research on ultrasonic treatment (UST) of aluminium, magnesium and zinc undertaken by the authors and their collaborators was stimulated by renewed interest internationally in this technology and the establishment of the ExoMet program of which The University of Queensland (UQ) was a partner. The direction for our research was driven by a desire to understand the UST parameters that need to be controlled to achieve a fine equiaxed grain structure throughout a casting. Previous work highlighted that increasing the growth restriction factor Q can lead to significant refinement when UST is applied. We extended this approach to using the Interdependence model as a framework for identifying some of the factors (e.g., solute and temperature gradient) that could be optimised in order to achieve the best refinement from UST for a range of alloy compositions. This work confirmed established knowledge on the benefits of both liquid-only treatment and the additional refinement when UST is applied during the nucleation stage of solidification. The importance of acoustic streaming, treatment time and settling of grains were revealed as critical factors in achieving a fully equiaxed structure. The Interdependence model also explained the limit to refinement obtained when nanoparticle composites are treated. This overview presents the key results and mechanisms arising from our research and considers directions for future research.

The Role of Acoustic Pressure during Solidification of AlSi7Mg Alloy in Sand Mold Casting

New alloy processes have been developed and casting techniques are continuously evolving. Such constant development implies a consequent development and optimization of melt processing and treatment. The present work proposes a method for studying the influence of acoustic pressure in the overall refinement of sand cast aluminum alloys, using and correlating experimental and numerical approaches. It is shown that the refinement/modification of the α-Al matrix is a consequence of the acoustic activation caused in the liquid metal directly below the face of the acoustic radiator. Near the feeder, there is a clear homogeneity in the morphology of the α-Al with respect to grain size and grain circularity. However, the damping of acoustic pressure as the melt is moved away from the feeder increases and the influence of ultrasound is reduced, even though the higher cooling rate seems to compensate for this effect.

Influence of Vibration Treatment and Modification of A356 Aluminum Alloy on Its Structure and Mechanical Properties

A series of casting experiments was conducted with A356 aluminum alloys by applying vibration treatment and using Al-TiB2 composite master alloys. The main vibration effects include the promotion of nucleation and a reduction in as-cast grain size. Using composite master alloys with titanium diboride microparticles allows further reduction in the average grain size to 140 µm. The reasons for this behavior are discussed in terms of the complex effect on the melt, considering the destruction of dendrites, and the presence of additional crystallization centers. Tensile tests were performed on the samples obtained during the vibration treatment and with titanium diboride particles. The tensile strength increased from 182 to 227 MPa after the vibration treatment for the alloys containing titanium diboride.

Relevance of electrical current distribution to the forced flow and grain refinement in solidified Al-Si hypoeutectic alloy

Significant grain refinement in cast metals can be achieved through the application of electric currents during the solidification process. The present paper investigates the distribution of electric currents on the grain size of solidified Al-7wt.%Si alloy under the application of electric current with constant parameters flowing through two parallel electrodes into the melt within a cylindrical mould. The distribution of electric current was controlled by applying an electrical insulation material coating, boron nitride (NB), to the sidewall of the electrodes. Experimental results showed that the employment of these insulated electrodes can reduce grain size in comparison with the reference case of electrodes without BN coating. Flow measurements were performed in Ga-20wt.%In-12wt.%Sn liquid metal. Higher intensity forced flow occurred when the sidewall of the electrodes was insulated. In order to understand the underlying mechanism behind the stronger forced flow, corresponding numerical simulations were performed to reveal the distributions of the electric current, magnetic field, Lorentz force, and the resultant forced flow. The results achieved indicate that the mechanism of grain refinement driven by electric current is dendrite fragmentation induced by forced flow. In addition, a novel approach to enhance the grain refinement without additional input of current energy was developed.