Aerospace Engineering.

BEng Aerospace Engineering FT Individual Investigative Project

Interim Report

CASTING OF ALUMINUM 201 IN THE SEMI-SOLID STATE

LATONA NAHID AKTARE HOUSSAINE (mea10nal)

21st November 2011

Supervisor: Dr P. KAPRANOS

1 INTRODUCTION:

The main purpose of this project is to investigate the casting of aluminium alloy 201 in the semi-solid state. The alloy A201 shall be subjected to two types of casting process: 1) Gravity casting and 2) Semi-Solid Rheocasting (SSR) process, following which, a thorough analysis of the mechanical properties and crystal structures shall be performed. It is proposed that different billets will be manufactured via the gravity and SSR casting processes, and that the resulting specimens will be metallographically examined to compare and contrast microstructural features as well as subjected to tensile testing in order to compare the mechanical properties of the two processes. The alloy used will be A201, an aluminium/copper alloy with a small addition of silver, will be heated in a furnace above its melting point around approximately and then in the case of gravity casting will be cast from the liquid state in a pre- heated mould, whilst in the SSR case the liquid will be stirred by a graphite or copper finger prior to pouring into a pre-heated mould. The main reason for using a pre-heated mould is to reduce the probability of the alloy freezing before mould filling has taken place. It is proposed to set the pre-heated mould in a sand pit with the sand acting as an insulator to reduce heat losses during the casting process. Clearly a number of casting iterations might have to take place before we can obtain successful products with either casting process; the success is to be judged by complete mould filling, appropriate microstructures and good mechanical properties of following any recommended heat treatment for A201, such as T6. In order to improve our chances of successful castings, a number of different approaches shall be explored in terms of feeding the molten metal from its pouring temperature to the mould and subsequent solidification at ambient temperature. Contraction due to solidification and compensation for shrinkage, pouring technique, i.e. molten metal straight into the mould cavity or by using some kind of sprue-well, V-shape ceramic channel tilted at certain angle to dispense the fluid into the cavity will be considered as they bound to have an effect in the final microstructures and therefore the mechanical properties. The flow of the liquid or semi-liquid aluminium alloy into the mould has to be carefully considered, as there is a critical velocity at which the fluid flow becomes turbulent rather than the preferred laminar one. In the case of the melt being directly poured into the mould, the rate, height and velocity of pouring will have to be carefully considered as inappropriate techniques will lead to internal defects such as porosity and laps. The possible use of a sprue-well or a V-channel made of ceramic might alleviate some of these problems when pouring into the mould cavity. In order to reduce the trial and error approach, the critical velocity at which the molten metal should be fed will be calculated for the proposed experiments. Further explanations shall be carried out under literature review.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW:

2.1) HISTORY OF SEMI-SOLID METAL FORMING Semi-solid metal (SSM) forming or thixoforming, has provided the platform of expanding the potential of engineering aluminium applications by forming near net-shape products that are significantly more ductile than those obtained through conventional casting processes [1, 2]. Aluminium alloys produced by thixoforming routes are competitive materials in a number of markets such as automotive, electronic consumer products and military applications however, they have still not been able to break into the lucrative aerospace market. It all started back in the 1970s when SPENCER et al were investigating the hot tearing of some foundry alloys using a rotational Couette type viscometer [3] they found that when the molten alloys were subjected to shearing from the liquid state and through the semi-solid range they attained near spheroidal, non-dendritic rather than conventional dendritic microstructures and an unexpected result that these alloys possessed thixotropic behaviour, i.e when in the semi-solid state when left undisturbed they behaved like solids but when they were subjected to shear forces they behaved like liquids [3, 4]. The potential of this behaviour as a possible fruitful manufacturing route for shaping metal alloys was quickly recognised by Prof. M.C. Flemings and his co-workers who immediately moved to protect their IP and initiated the early development of SSM. The formation of semi-solid slurries with non-dendritic microstructures from the liquid state is the key process to implement the manufacturing stage known as the Semi-Solid Rheocasting process (SSR) [5]. 2.2) A201 ALLOY CHARACTERISTICS The alloy to be investigated in this study is aluminium A201. A201 is a very competitive material due to its following attributes: High mechanical properties Excellent machinability and Ductile However, despite its attractive mechanical properties, the alloy is difficult to cast successfully and if not cast correctly it suffers from hot-tearing. When casting this particular alloy (A201) into mould or die, special techniques need to be adopted to minimise the possibility of hot-tearing through solidification stresses. The two effective techniques are: 1. Utilizing a pre-heated mould/ die shall and 2. Avoid designs that accentuate tensile stresses during solidification and eject cast parts from the die at the highest practical temperature. [6] In conventional casting of A201 at quantities of less than 0.5 wt% of Ag (silver) as a microalloying element generate a retarding force for the formation of stable dispersion strengthening phase which controls the grain size, with little removal of Cu in the form of coarse intermetallics.

Normally those alloys withstand a T6 heat treatment which occurs in two phases: - Quench phase - Aging phase 3 CURRENT STATUS OF WORK: 3.1) GRAVITY CASTING PROCESS Based on the information acquired through literature search, the main focus of this project is to obtain cast prototypes using traditional gravity and SSR casting techniques in order to assess both the cast-ability and the resulting microstructures and mechanical properties of the final products. The use of pre-heated die/mould and sand as a lagging material to reduce heat losses could be sufficient to allow shaping of alloy A201 through the SSR process. In addition, in order to avoid defects, solidification shrinkage has to be catered for, probably through the use of reservoirs of liquid metal during casting and the fluidity of the semi-solid slurry has also to be taken into consideration. Below is the schematic of the gravity die cast feed methodology that shall be adapted for this project.

A201.0 Prototype model. Created by: NahidLatona via Pro-e software

In the case of directly feeding into the mould cavity, the height at which the metal is poured and the flow of the liquid through the cavity will be carefully considered. The height is the parameter that will determine the velocity of the flow. In this experimental approach we will use Sir Isaac

Newtons laws as well as Bernoullis equation to obtain some mathematical insight as to what is happening to the liquid metal being cast. At maximum height there is potential energy where the initial velocity, is . The height from which the fluid is poured, h, is given by the time taken to reach the mould multiplied by the average velocity during the fall [8]: Hence, the velocity of pour is given by: (2) (1)

In casting, the volume of metal flowing through the system per second (Flow Rate Q) can be calculated from: (3) Assuming that any channels in the system are completely filled and because of the conservation of mass, the mass flow rate in the system must be constant (VA = Constant). The Reynolds number constitutes the measure of the flow manner, i.e. laminar flow will have NR<2,000 and turbulent 2,000<NR<20,000, above this value we will have severe turbulence. The critical velocity of pouring and the angle the v-channel will be positioned will be carefully considered so as to avoid turbulent flow of the melt. The diagram illustrates the gravity die cast of 2nd specimen for porosity reduction. 3D VIEW OF GRAVITY DIE CAST

A201.0 RECTANGULAR PROTOTYPE. Created by: NahidLatona via Pro-e software.

Once the A201 alloy is poured, the liquid stream will experience frictional effects as it flows over the sprue-well or v-channels, the runner walls and the mould cavity surfaces. The velocity of the molten metal will be reduced by these frictional forces areas as well as through loss of heat to its surroundings. Pre-heating the mould should alleviate any premature solidification before complete mould filling. 3.2) SEMI-SOLID RHEOCASTING Rheocasting approach for semi-solid metal processing is another alternative where usage of gas bubbles could prove improvement. After melting the alloy at approximately , the slurry would be prepared by immersing a porous graphite in the molten alloy and stirred or introducing fine inert gas bubbles in the melt as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: 3D Schematic of Semi-Solid Rheocasting Process.

The success of this realization will be contingent on the solid fraction at which the mold cavity will be filled in. According to some preliminary studies, semi-sold fraction more than 10% is a likelihood of unsuccessful filing of the die cavity [9]. The diagram below illustrates a 2D view of Semi-Solid Rheocasting process.

Figure 2: 2D Schematic of SSRheocasting Process.

4 PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING:

Casting of aluminum 201 in a semi-solid state.

Figure 3: Gantt Chart 2011

REFERENCES: 1. Date Accessed: 21st October 2011 The Influence of Mn on the tensile properties of SSM-HPDC Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloy 201. Author(s): H. Mller*, E.P. Masuku*, U.A. Curle*, P.C. Pistorius, R.D. Knutsen, and G. Govender* 2. Date Accessed: 21st October 2011 Rheocasting of Al-Cu Alloy A201 with Different Silver Contents. http://www.scientific.net/SSP.141-143.151 Author(s): G. Hirt, A. Rassili, A. Bhrig-Polaczek 3. Rheological characterization of A201 aluminum alloy. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1003632609603514 Mechanical and Manufacturing Department, Faculty of Engineering, Mondragon Unibertsitatea, Loramendi 4, 20500 Arrasate, Spain. Author(s): A. BLANCO, Z. AZPILGAIN, J. LOZARES, P. KAPRANOS, I. HURTADO 4. Aluminum Cast Alloys: Enabling Tools for improved performance By: D. Apelian NADCA 2009. 5. Semi-Solid Processing of Alloys. Springer series in Materials science ISSN: 0933-033X Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York ISBN: 978-3-642-00706-4. 6. TALAT 2101.01 Training in Aluminum Application Technologies. Understanding Aluminum as a material 7. Date Accessed: 22nd October 2011 T6 Heat Treatment http://www.kgiec.com/news/item_2671.html 8. The Technology of Castings v1.0 Editor: P. Kapranos February 2000 9. Research and development of gas induced semi-solid process for industrial applications. Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 20(2010) s1010-s1015