Microstructural evolution of primary solid particles and mechanical properties of AI-Si alloys by rheocasting

AI-Si계 리오캐스팅합금의 초정입자의 응고조직 및 기계적성질

The morphological changes of primary solid particles as a fuction of process time on Al-Si alloys during semi-solid state processing with a shear rate of 200s were studied. In hypereutectic Al-15.5wt%Si alloy, it was observed that primary Si crystals are fragmented in the early stage of stirring and morphologies of primary Si crystals change from faceted to spherical during isothermal shearing for 60 minutes. In quaternary Al-12.5wt%Si-2.9wt%Cu-0.7wt%Mg alloy system, it was observed both primary silicon and ${\alpha}$-alumunum particles. Microstructural evolution of primary Si crystals was similar to that of the hypereutectic Al-Si alloy but equiaxed ${\alpha}$-Al dendrites are broken into nearly spherical at the early stage of shearing and later stage of the isothermal shearing ${\alpha}$- Al particles are slightly coarsoned by Ostwald ripening. Mechanical properties of Al-Si-Cu-Mg alloy were compared to those from other processes (squeeze casting and gravity casting). After T6 heat treatment, comparable values of hardness were obtained while slightly lower compressive strength values were observed in rheocast alloy. The elongation, on the other hand, exhibited significant increasement of 15% over gravity cast alloy.