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Semisolid Microstructure Evolution during Cooling

Slope Casting under Vibration of A380 Aluminum Alloy
a

S. Gencalp & N. Saklakoglu

Department of Mechanical Engineering , Celal Bayar University , Manisa, Turkey

Published online: 08 Sep 2010.

To cite this article: S. Gencalp & N. Saklakoglu (2010) Semisolid Microstructure Evolution during Cooling Slope Casting under
Vibration of A380 Aluminum Alloy, Materials and Manufacturing Processes, 25:9, 943-947, DOI: 10.1080/10426911003636944
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10426911003636944

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Materials and Manufacturing Processes, 25: 943947, 2010

Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1042-6914 print/1532-2475 online
DOI: 10.1080/10426911003636944

Semisolid Microstructure Evolution during Cooling Slope

Casting under Vibration of A380 Aluminum Alloy
S. Gencalp and N. Saklakoglu

Downloaded by [University Of South Australia Library] at 08:35 11 August 2014

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Celal Bayar University,

Manisa, Turkey
This study is concerned with the inuence of the vibration at a specic frequency to the inclined plate during cooling slope casting. A380
aluminum alloy was employed in the present work. The alloy was poured from the inclined plate with an angle of 60
and a length of 500 mm
at a pouring temperature of 630
C. The pouring was carried out on an inclined plate with and without vibration. Microstructures of specimens
obtained from both conditions were examined. Grain size analysis of specimens was carried out. Experimental results showed that the application of
vibration affected the microstructure. Hence, it was determined that the application of vibration increased the nucleation and led to more breaking
of dendrite arms. In this study, the convection of melt by vibration played an important role on formation of non-dendritic primary Al-particles.
Keywords Casting; Semisolid; Vibration.

of applying shear stress and melt ow. Finally, they are

distributed into the melt [6]. In this method, the alloy,
poured throughout the inclined plate, has non-dendritic and
globular microstructures that are required for thixoforming
when reheated to the semisolid temperature [7].
Appliying a vibration to the solidifying melt has also
proved successful in controlling the microstructure. Taghavi
et al. [8], and Wu et al. [9] suggest as an alternative method
to apply mechanical vibration on mold during casting for
producing semisolid slurry with thixotropic microstructure.
Guan et al. [10] applied a vibration on wave like plate, they
observed microstructural evolution from globular/dendritic
structure to globular/equiaxed structure and to globular
structure. They pointed out that wavelike ow and
vibration can enable heterogonous nucleus to escape off
the plate, which lead to nucleus multiplication. Globular
microstructure is the key factor for semisolid processing.
Authors believe that it can strengthen the globularization to
apply a vibration to the slope not only wave like but also
a at plate during casting. Semisolid processes are still in
the beginning stage of industrialization. It is believed that,
this process will contribute to commercialization.
The stationary cooling slope casting can be modied
with vibration. The cooling slope casting process under
vibration offers various advantages compared to the
stationary cooling slope casting. First, it is a suitable
and low cost process to prepare ingots with high quality.
Microstructures of ingots prepared in the process are
quite ne. Secondly, when the casting is performed on
the stationary inclined plate some remnant material on
the surface can occur in spite of coated to the surface.
However, this remnant material can efciently be avoided
when the casting is performed under vibration. Finally,
this process includes dynamical solidication behaviors and
microstructure formation mechanisms [10].

Introduction
Today, semisolid metal processing has been posed as
a modern and advanced technology in the manufacturing
of engineering components. Semisolid metal processing
enables us to manufacture complicated shape components
with near-net wall, good mechanical properties and
high-dimension tolerance accuracy. Thixoforming is a
technology of producing semisolid metal components [1].
Thixoforming requires semisolid slurries containing ne
and globular solid particles uniformly distributed in a
liquid matrix in which it can be handled as a solid and
ow like a liquid when sheared during the forming or
injection process [2]. Various methods, such as mechanical
stirring, magnetohydrodynamic stirring, strain induced melt
activation (SIMA), and casting using a cooling slope are
used to produce ingots for thixoforming [3].
A380 aluminum alloy used in the present work has good
uidity, resistance towards hot cracking, good mechanical
properties and contains Si element relatively higher A356
and A357 casting alloy employed for thixoforming. A380
aluminum alloy is used in automotive industries brake
castings, gear cases, and air-cooled cylinder heads [4].
The essence of the cooling slope is a very simple
water-cooled plate as shown in Fig. 1 [5]. In this process,
molten metal with a suitable superheat is cast into the
mould after owing along the slope plate made from mild
steel. In order to prevent sticking of solidied metal, the
surface of the cooling slope is frequently coated with boron
nitride. Solid nuclei are formed by the contact between the
melt and slope plate, which causes rapid heat transferring.
These nuclei are detached from the surface as a result
Received December 3, 2009; Accepted January 9, 2010
Address correspondence to S. Gencalp, Department of Mechanical
Engineering, Celal Bayar University, Campus f Muradiye, Manisa 45140,
Turkey; E-mail: simge.gencalp@bayar.edu.tr

943

944

S. GENCALP AND N. SAKLAKOGLU

Table 1.Chemical composition of A380 aluminum alloy using in the present
work.
Si
8.163

Downloaded by [University Of South Australia Library] at 08:35 11 August 2014

Figure 1.Schematic illustration of the thixoforming process using a cooling

slope [6].

In this study, a stationary inclined cooling plate was

modied with vibration, and the effect of vibration on
microstructure formation was investigated.
Experimental
The inclined plate made from mild steel has a cooling
system. The details of the system are given in Fig. 2. The
vibration system was integrated with an inclined plate in
the cooling slope casting unit. During casting process, the
inclined plate can vibrate under vibration system with four
mechanical springs. The alloys temperature is measured
with a K-type thermocouple. The process was carried out
at a pouring temperature of 630
C, and the cooling slope
casting under vibration was compared with the stationary
cooling slope casting process. The vibration frequency
applied to inclined plate by vibration system was 5.75 Hz.
The frequency value was determined with an accelerometer
positioned to inclined plate surface.
When the alloy was poured on the inclined plate under
vibration, it lled the steel mould with the diameter of 
30 mm and a length of 160 mm. The slope of inclined plate
was 60
and the length of inclined plate was 500 mm. The
surface of inclined plate was coated with boron nitride.
There were no remnant materials on the surface of inclined
plate when casting under vibration. However, remnant
material was found on the surface of inclined plate without
vibration.

Figure 2.Cooling slope casting unit integrated vibration system.

Fe

Cu

Mn

Mo

Zn

Cr

Ni

0.972

2.987

0.170

0.144

0.737

0.0181

0.196

The experimental materials were A380 aluminum alloys.

The chemical composition of the alloy is shown in Table 1.
The melting range and solid fraction vs. temperature of
A380 aluminum alloy was determined by Differential
Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) technique. The DSC curve
of A380 aluminum alloy shows a liquidus temperature
of 582
C and solidus temperature is 524
C. The pouring
temperature was set at 630
C. The required semisolid
temperature for thixoforming is 567
C, as shown in Figs. 3
and 4. At this temperature the suitable fs (solid fraction)
value for thixoforming is about 0.40.5 solid fraction.
The ingots obtained from the cooling slope casting
under vibration were examined metallographically. Then,
the ingots were heated to a semisolid temperature and held
at this temperature for 5 minutes. The reheating process was

Figure 3.DSC curve of A380 alloy during solidication.

Figure 4.Solid fraction vs. temperature curve of A380 alloy derived from
DSC curve.

SEMISOLID MICROSTRUCTURE EVOLUTION

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realized in an induction heating unit. The semisolid slurries

were quenched in water to observe the microstructure of
the semisolid slurries. The metallographic examinations
were carried out using NIKON Ecilipse LV100 optical
microscope supported by CLEMEX digital camera. Solid
fraction and sphericity were obtained from CLEMEX
PROFESSIONAL EDITION analysis program.

945

Results and discussions

The remnant material that formed on the stationary
inclined plate surface was investigated to examine the
breaking of the dendrite structure that happened during
the material ow from the inclined plate. Metallographic
examinations of the remnant material remained on the
inclined plate were performed from three different points
as top, middle and bottom. Result of this examination is
shown in Fig. 5. From top the bottom on the inclined plate,

grain number increased due to nucleation on the cooling

slope, and dendrite breaking is caused by the shear stress
due to the slope of the ow.
The cooling slope during casting was exposed to vibration
with frequency of 5.75 Hz. In Fig. 6, microstructures
obtained from the cooling slope casting under vibration
were shown in comparison to the stationary cooling slope
casting. When the material ows on the inclined plate,
the rst solidication occurs. Figure 6 shows that the
vibration increased the nucleation amount. The vibration
throughout the inclined plate causes more uniform cooling
and increases the amount of nucleation. The particles collide
with each other due to vibration when the molten metal
ows on the inclined plate. Vibration assists the heat transfer
mechanism in every direction between the colliding grains.
Normally, efcient cooling occurs only at the oor of plate;
with vibration it can be distributed uniformly throughout
the whole melt owing across the inclined plate. Thus,
the nucleus distribution became more homogenous and the
nucleation number increased due to more a uniform cooling.
When the microstructures were examined in this direction,
it was observed that the dendrite structure was changed
to the desired rosette structure due to the shear stress and
vibration during ow. Vibration led to uniformly distributed

-Al particles in the structure and did not indicate tendency

Figure 5.Microstructure evolution of the remnant material consisted on the

inclined plate surface; (a) upper; (b) middle; and (c) bottom.

Figure 6.Microstructure evolution of the stationary cooling slope casting

(a), the cooling slope casting under vibration (b) when casting at 630
C.

946

S. GENCALP AND N. SAKLAKOGLU

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Figure 8.Microstructure evolution of the stationary cooling slope casting

(a), the cooling slope casting under vibration (b) when reheating at 567
C for
5 minutes.

Figure 7.Microstructure of remnant material remained on the surface of

stationary cooling slope: (a) and (b), remained on the surface of cooling slope
under vibration: (c) and (d).

of aggregation. According to Taghavi et al. [8] vibrational

energy leads to forced convections in the liquid. Flows
induced by vibration insert external forces on dendrite.
Detached dendrite arms are moved toward the liquid by
ow and act as new sources of nucleation. Furthermore,
the remnant material that formed during the stationary
cooling slope casting was removed due to the cooling slope
casting under vibration.
The remnant material remained on the inclined plate
surface at low pouring temperature was examined from
cross-section to indicate heat transfer mechanism. Thus,
heat transfer direction and nucleation amount can be
exhibited by microstructure. This examination is shown in
Fig. 7 comparing casting under vibration and stationary
casting. It was observed in the stationary cooling slope
casting method that the main dendritic structure grew
through to the inclined plate surface. This revealed the
direction of heat transfer. A uniform heat distribution
was in question because the heat transfer direction during
cooling slope casting under vibration would change in every
direction. Thus, the rst nuclei can be developed uniformly
in every direction to ensure globular microstructures
distributed homogeneously during growth. Guan et al. [10]
obtained the data that supporting this present work. Heat
diffusion direction developed towards the inclined plate
surface is shown in Figs. 7(a) and (b). However, random
grain growth style was seen in every direction as shown
in Figs. 7(c) and (d). The cooling slope casting under
vibration provided both more broken dendrites and nucleus
multiplication with uniform heat diffusion in the every
direction.
A380 cast ingots were reheated to semisolid range and
held isothermally at semisolid temperature. The materials
were reheated to semisolid range in the induction furnace.
While almost all of the
-Al primary phase of A380
aluminum alloy at 567
C remained solid, the eutectic
component melted. The materials were held isothermally
for 5 minutes. The results of microstructural evolution are

shown in Fig. 8 with typical optical microscope gures.

As it is seen, the rosette morphology of cast ingots changed
to globular grains after reheating and holding isothermally.
Vibration during cooling slope casting yielded to more
spherical
-Al particles which dispersed uniformly in the
matrix [Fig. 8(b)].
Solid/liquid fractions at semisolid reheating temperature
and sphericity values of grains in spherical form were
obtained with grain size analysis. The solid fraction is
shown in Fig. 9, the sphericity is shown in Fig. 10 as
the cooling slope casting process under vibration compared

Figure 9.Schematic of solid fraction versus conditions of casting when

reheating at 567
C for 5 minutes.

Figure 10.Schematic of sphericity versus conditions of casting when

reheating at 567
C for 5 minutes.

947

SEMISOLID MICROSTRUCTURE EVOLUTION

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to the stationary cooling slope casting. Suitable fs value

for thixoforming is about 0.40.5 solid fraction, and this
value was obtained by holding at 567
C for 5 minutes. Solid
fraction (fs ) values for either cast conditions were close.
The best spherical form is obtained when the sphericity
is 1.0. Under this condition, most spherical grain structure
were reached with the cooling slope casting under vibration
at a reheating temperature of 567
C and a holding time
of 5 minutes. Much more spherical grain structure was
reached with casting under vibration (Fig. 10). The grains
dispersed more homogeneous in the matrix and were
exposed to a more effective shear stress during cooling slope
casting under vibration than under stationary cooling slope
casting.
Conclusions
The feedstock for thixoforming should have a
non-dendritic microstructure in which spherical grains are
uniformly dispersed in the liquid matrix. The cooling slope
casting under vibration caused more homogeneous grains
and non-dendritic microstructure formation. Casting on the
inclined plate yields to high the shear stress due to the
slope of the ow resulting in increased grain number and
dendrite fragmentation. In addition, vibrational energy leads
to forced convections which insert external forces and
uniform heat transfer. Therefore, there is more nucleation,
dendrite fragmentation, and uniform grain distribution. The
globular microstructure plays a very important role for
thixoforming.
Non-dendritic morphology in specimens obtained from
cooling slope casting changed to more uniform and globular
microstructure after partial remelting and holding A380
aluminum alloy isothermally. The best rened and globular
microstructure with a uniform distribution of A380 was
obtained at a reheating temperature of 567
C and at a
holding time of 5 minutes in which
-Al phase with the
sphericity of 0.892 was achieved.
The authors believe that the vibration frequency and
pouring temperature can affect the microstructure formation.
Therefore, it is proposed that this study can be extended.

Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank Celal Bayar University
(Project Code: FBE 2007-081) and TUBITAK (The
Scientic and Technological Research Council of Turkey)
(Project Code: 107M300) for providing nancial support
for the project.
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