• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.218-225
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• 2022

For hydrogen-vehicle applications (air pressure control valve housing, APCVH), an investigation was conducted to determine how micro-defects in a high- pressure die-casted Al alloy (industrial code: ALDC12) could be controlled by means of a post-treatment using an organic-based impregnation solution in order to improve the air- tightness of the die-casted Al sample. Two different impregnation solutions were proposed and its test results were compared to a imported product from Japan with respect to the processing variables used. A structural investigation of the components under study was conducted by means of computer tomography and 3D X-ray micro-CT. These observations revealed that the use of the impregnation treatment to seal micro-defects led to highly significant and beneficial changes which were attributed mainly to interconnections among inherent micro-pores. A leak test after impregnation revealed that the performance improvement rate of the die-casted Al sample was ~70% for INNO-01. Therefore, the developed impregnation solutions offer an effective strategy to control the micro-defects found in various vehicle parts via die-casting.