The University of New South Wales

School of Materials Science and Engineering

MATS 1101/9520 Practical Laboratory

Exercise

Casting & Recrystallisation

Name: Student No:
Tutor:
Group: Date: Mark:

I declare that this is my own work.

Signed……………………………….

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Calculated Results

Ultimate Tensile Strength (MPa) Ductility (% elongation)

As cast
Cold worked
Annealed

Short Answer Questions

Explain how the shrinkage pipe occurs.

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Explain why the material becomes stronger and less ductile after cold working.

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Explain why the material becomes soft and ductile again after annealing.

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Explain why the annealed material has higher strength than the cast material.

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1. Casting & Recrystallisation

This laboratory experiment:

 Demonstrates casting, cold working and annealing of commercial purity
aluminium
 Shows the grain structure developed during solidification and how this grain
structure can be altered by cold mechanical working, and again by annealing.
 Demonstrates the changes in mechanical properties produced by cold working and
the subsequent changes that occur on annealing.

Casting:
 Casting involves pouring molten metal into a mould; heat is extracted through the
sides of the mould, and this cools the molten metal and causes solidification.
 Solidification occurs through the formation of solid nuclei within the liquid
(nucleation), followed by growth of these nuclei into crystals and the formation of
a grain structure.
 Grains that grow equally in all directions are known as equiaxed grains.
 Grains that grow principally in one direction are known as columnar grains.
 In a casting, a thin layer of fine equiaxed grains usually develops at the mould
walls and these are called chill crystals. A few of these chill crystals are suitably
oriented for rapid growth and grow inwards to become columnar grains. Equiaxed
grains are often found at the centre of the casting.
 During solidification, the atoms, which are arranged in an irregular manner in the
liquid, become packed regularly on the crystal lattice. This reduces the space
between the atoms and shrinkage occurs. In a casting, solidification starts at the
mould walls and progresses inwards. Liquid is drawn from the centre of the casting
to compensate for the shrinkage as the solid forms. Eventually the supply of liquid
runs out and a cavity is left at the centre of the casting. This is known as a
shrinkage “pipe”.

Mechanical Working:
 While some articles are cast into the finished shape, others are made by
mechanically deforming (working) a cast ingot into the desired shape; e.g: sheet
and plate materials are made by rolling a cast ingot.

 In mechanical working, layers of atoms slide over one another within the
crystalline grains by the process of slip. Slip occurs by the movement of
dislocations (see Dislocations Tutorial for further details). Grains become
elongated in the direction of deformation during mechanical working. Note that
while the process of slip causes the grains to change in shape, eg, become
elongated in the direction of deformation, their volume remains constant.
 During deformation the moving dislocations interact with other dislocations and
become tangled and multiply dramatically in number. Due to these processes,
work hardening (strain hardening) occurs and the material becomes harder,
stronger and less ductile

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 The effects of cold mechanical working can be removed by heating the worked
material to temperatures above about 0.3-0.5 TM (TM = melting temperature in
Kelvin), and this treatment is called annealing.
 New stress-free grains form within the old deformed grain structure by a process
of recrystallisation giving a new equiaxed grain structure. The size of the new
recrystallised grains decreases with increased amounts of prior cold work.
 During annealing, the dislocations untangle and their numbers decrease. As a
result the strength and hardness of the material decrease and ductility is restored.
 When mechanical working is carried out at temperatures above the
recrystallisation temperature, so that recrystallisation takes place simultaneously
with deformation, the process is then known as hot working. Many metals are hot
worked rather than cold worked since work hardening does not occur and
therefore ductility is maintained during the working process.

2. Experimental Procedure

 Casting:
 Commercially pure aluminium is cast into an ingot. Observe the solidification
process noting the location of any visible shrinkage.
 A cross section of the casting is etched to reveal the grain structure. Note the
different types of grain and how they are organized.
 Cold Rolling:
 A section from the aluminum casting is cold rolled to produce a sheet with
thickness reduced by about 90%.
 The cold rolled sheet is etched to reveal the altered grain structure. Note the
shape of the grains and compare it with the structure before cold rolling.

 Mechanical Testing:
 Samples of the cast metal, cold rolled metal and annealed metal were tested in
uniaxial tension to determine their strength and ductility.
 The results of these tests are given in part 4. Use the graphs and the given
equations to calculate the strength and the ductility for each material.

3. Students are Required to:

a. complete the strength and ductility table (page 2) using the given graphs and
equations,
b. append calculations carried out,
c. complete the short answer questions,
d. complete (write CLEARLY your name and student number) and sign the front
page,
e. submit the report one week after the tutorial online through Moodle

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4. Results:

a. Graphs for the three tensile test pieces: as cast, cold worked and annealed

As Cast
Thickness Width Initial Length Final Length
1.88 mm 12.56 mm 50.00 mm 56.76 mm

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 Cold Worked
Thickness Width Initial Length Final Length
2.00 mm 12.56 mm 50.00 mm 53.14 mm

Annealed
Thickness Width Initial Length Final Length
2.00 mm 12.56 mm 50.00 mm 70.78 mm

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b. Grain structure of test pieces: as cast, cold worked and annealed

Grain Structure

As cast

Cold
worked

Annealed

c. Fractured Test Pieces: as cast, cold worked and annealed

As cast

Cold
worked

Annealed

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Note: The specimens were all the same length before testing

Strength and Ductility Calculations:

Ultimate Tensile Strength

The ultimate tensile strength is obtained by dividing the maximum load by the cross
sectional area, that is:

Ultimate Tensile Strength = Max Load

Cross-Sectional Area

Ductility

The ductility as %elongation is found by dividing the final length minus the initial
length by the initial length, and multiplying by 100, that is:

% Elongation = 100  Final Length minus Initial Length

Initial Length