Casting of aluminum alloy ingots for thixoforming using a cooling slope

Toshio Haga
a,*
, Shinsuke Suzuki
b
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Osaka Institute of Technology, Osaka, Japan
b
Institute for Metallic Materials, Technical University, Berlin, Germany
Abstract
The present paper examines the casting of ingot for use in thixoforming. Casting of the ingot for thixoforming was attempted by
semisolid casting using a cooling slope. It was claried that the primary crystal became globular when the ingot cast using the cooling slope
was remelted into the semisolid state. Casting factors, which affected the sphericity of the primary crystal when the ingots were remelted,
were investigated. The cooling rate of the ingot in the mold was found to be the most important factor in making primary crystal globular
when the ingot was remelted. # 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Semisolid; Thixoforming; Cooling slope
1. Introduction
The stirring is the common method for producing ingots
for use in thixoforming. Various methods, such as strain-
induced metal (SIM) activation, the isothermal treatment
and casting using a cooling slope are used to produce ingots
for thixoforming [14]. The properties upon which the
cooling slope process is based are very simple [3]. The
primary crystal of the semisolid slurry at the cooling slope
has been reported to become spherical after being main-
tained in the semisolid state [3]. When the semisolid slurry at
the cooling slope is solidied in the mold without being
maintained in the semisolid, the primary crystal does
not become globular. The present study claried that the
primary crystal becomes globular when the ingot is remelted
in the semisolid state. In the present paper, various condi-
tions that affect the sphericity of the primary crystal were
investigated.
2. Semisolid casting process
Fig. 1 shows schematically the two types of semisolid
casting processes that involve in the use of the cooling slope.
The ingot, in which the primary crystal becomes globular,
can be cast by the process shown in Fig. 1(a) [3]. Fig. 1(b)
shows the process of the present study. The difference
between the processes shown in Figs. 1(a) and (b) is the
maintaining of the semisolid state in Fig. 1(a). In the process
of Fig. 1(a), the primary crystal becomes globular while
being maintained in the semisolid state. The primary crystal
remains globular after remelting into the semisolid state.
The size of the primary crystal becomes slightly bigger after
remelting into the semisolid state. In the process of Fig. 1(b),
the primary crystal as-cast is not globular but is similar to the
equiaxed crystal. However, the primary crystal becomes
globular when the ingot is remelted into the semisolid
state. No difference is observed in the primary crystal after
remelt between Figs. 1(a) and (b). In Fig. 2, B and C show
the tensile strength and the elongation of the ingots cast
by Figs. 1(a) and (b), respectively, and A shows those cast
by metal-mold casting. Only a slight difference was
observed in the tensile strength and elongation of the
processes in Figs. 1(a) and (b). The tensile strength and
elongation of Figs. 1(a) and (b) are superior to those of the
metal-mold casting, indicating that the primary crystal of
the ingot cast by semisolid casting using the cooling
slope becomes globular when the ingot is remelted to the
semisolid temperature.
3. Experimental conditions
The experimental conditions are shown in Table 1. In the
present study, the effects of melt temperature, contact length
between the melt and the cooling slope, and the material
used to construct the mold (cooling rate) on the morphology
of the primary crystal were investigated. The primary crystal
of the ingot used to induce the cold deformation becomes
Journal of Materials Processing Technology 118 (2001) 169172
*
Corresponding author. Fax: 81-6-6957-2134.
E-mail address: haga@med.oit.ac.jp (T. Haga).
0924-0136/01/$ see front matter # 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S0 9 2 4 - 0 1 3 6 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 8 8 8 - 3
globular after heating in the semisolid state. The primary
crystal of the specimen that was cast by the process exam-
ined in the present study was compared to that induced by
cold deformation. The compound effect of semisolid casting
using the cooling slope and the induction of the cold
deformation was investigated.
4. Experimental results
4.1. Effect of melt temperature and mold material
Fig. 3 shows the microstructures of as-cast and as-
quenched ingots that were cast fromthe melt at temperatures
of 640, 660 and 6808C into the metal and insulator mold,
respectively. The size of the primary crystal of the as-cast
ingot cast into the metal mold is smaller than that cast into
the insulator mold. The size of the primary crystal of the
ingot of as-cast was affected by the mold material. When the
thermal conductivity of the mold material is high, the
cooling rate of the ingot becomes high, and as a result,
the primary crystal becomes small. When the metal mold
was used, the primary crystal of the as-quenched ingot
Fig. 1. Semisolid casting process using a cooling slope. (a) Maintaining a semisolid condition P: pouring; : maintaining at semisolid; : quench; :
remelting up to semisolid; : quench. (b) Without maintaining at semisolid condition PS: pouring and solidification; : remelting up to semisolid; :
quench.
Fig. 2. Tensile strength and elongation: (A) metal-mold casting; (B)
Fig. 1(a); (C) Fig. 1(b), metal mold, slope length 300 mm; (D) Fig. 1(b),
insulator mold, slope length 300 mm; (E) Fig. 1(b), metal mold, slope
length 100 mm.
Table 1
Experimental conditions
Specimen Al6 mass%Si
Casting temperature 6408C (660, 680, 7208C)
Slope
Material Mild steel
Coating BN
Angle 608
Length 300 mm (100 mm)
Reheat temperature 6008C (590, 6108C)
Mold Metal (insulator)
Fig. 3. Effect of the melt temperature on the microstructure of the specimens at as-cast and as-quench using a metal mold (a) and an insulator mold (b),
respectively. Slope length is 300 mm.
170 T. Haga, S. Suzuki / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 118 (2001) 169172
became globular at 640, 660 and 6808C. However, when the
insulator mold was used, the primary crystal of the as-
quenched ingot cast at 6408C became globular, whereas
those cast at 660 and 6808C did not become globular. The
cooling rate of the ingot at solidication in the mold is
thought to have affected the sphericity of the primary crystal
when the ingot was remelted. In Fig. 2, C and D show the
tensile strengths and the elongations of the specimens cast
from the melt at 6408C into the metal mold and insulator
mold, respectively. The tensile strength and the elongation of
the specimen cast using the metal mold were superior to
those of the specimen that was cast using the insulator mold.
4.2. Effect of length of cooling slope
Fig. 4 shows the microstructures of the ingots at as-cast
and as-quenched that were cast using cooling slopes having
lengths of 100 and 300 mm, respectively. The microstructure
of the as-cast ingots is of equiaxed structure when the slope
length was 100 mm. When the slope length was 300 mm, the
primary crystal of the as-cast ingot more closely resembles
the globular crystal than that obtained using a 100 mm long
slope. The primary crystal of the as-quenched ingot became
globular for both the slope lengths. When the melt tempera-
ture is 6408C, the slope length of 100 mm was sufcient to
Fig. 4. Effect of slope length on the microstructure of the specimen at as-cast and as-quenched using a metal mold. Melt pouring temperature is 6408C.
Fig. 5. Microstructure of the reheated ingot after cold rolling: (a) casting from melt and cold rolling; (b) semisolid casting using the cooling slope and cold
rolling.
T. Haga, S. Suzuki / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 118 (2001) 169172 171
make the primary crystal round when the ingot was remelted
into the semisolid state. In Fig. 2, C represents the tensile
strength and the elongation of the specimen that was cast
using the 300 mm slope, and E represents those for the
specimen cast using the 100 mm slope. C and E show that
the tensile strength and the elongation of the specimen, that
was cast using the 300 mm slope, are superior to those of the
specimen that was cast using the 100 mm slope.
5. Comparison with other methods
5.1. Induction of strain (cold rolling)
The primary crystal of the cold-rolled ingot becomes
globular when the ingot is remelted at the semisolid tem-
perature. The microstructure of 20% cold-rolled ingot after
remelting is shown in Fig. 5. The size and the degree of
globularization of the primary crystal were affected by the
mold material. After the remelt in the semisolid state, the
primary crystal of the ingot cast in the metal mold was
observed to become more globular and smaller than that cast
in the insulator mold. No difference in size or degree of
globularization of the primary crystal was observed between
the ingot that was cast using the cooling slope and the cold-
rolled ingot that was cast in the metal mold.
5.2. Compound effect of cooling slope and cold rolling
The compound effect of the cooling slope and cold rolling
was investigated. The process and results are shown in
Fig. 5. Cold rolling of the ingot cast using the cooling
slope was performed, and this ingot was remelted in the
semisolid state. No difference in size was observed between
the primary crystal of the ingot that was subject to the
combination of the cooling slope and cold rolling, and that
which was cast using the cooling slope or cold rolling alone.
Thus, no compound effect to reduce the size of the primary
crystal was observed for combination of the cooling slope
and cold rolling.
5.3. Low-temperature casting
The process and the results of the low-temperature casting
are shown in Fig. 6. When the melt temperature was 6408C
and the metal mold was used, the primary crystal became
globular. No difference was found between the shape of the
primary crystal of the ingot that was cast by low-temperature
casting and that cast using the cooling slope. When the
insulator mold was used, the primary crystal did not become
globular. Moreover, when the melt temperature was 6808C,
the primary crystal did not become globular. The primary
crystal becomes globular when the superheat is small and the
cooling rate in the mold is high. When the cooling rate of the
ingot cannot be made high or the melt temperature above
the liquidus line must be maintained above 308C, semisolid
casting using the cooling slope is more useful than the low-
temperature casting, because the primary crystal of the ingot
that was cast by low-temperature casting did not become
globular.
6. Conclusion
The primary crystal of the ingot cast by semisolid casting
using the cooling slope becomes globular when the ingot is
remelted. The factor which most strongly affects the glo-
bularization of the primary crystal is the cooling rate in the
mold. No difference was observed in the shape of the
primary crystal of the ingot cast by the combination process
designed in the present study and that of the cold-rolled
specimen or the low-temperature casting specimen.
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Fig. 6. Microstructure of the reheated ingot after low-temperature casting.
172 T. Haga, S. Suzuki / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 118 (2001) 169172