• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.281-287
• /
• 2014

Microstructural and mechanical characteristics of Al-6Si-2Cu alloy for engine mount bracket prepared by gravity casting (as-cast) and die-casting (as-diecast) process have been investigated. For the microstructural characterization, the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), optical microscope (OM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) analyses are conducted. For the intermetallic phases, the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) are also conducted with quantitative and qualitative analysis. Micro Vickers hardness and static tensile test are achieved in order to measure mechanical properties of alloys. Secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) of as-cast and as-diecast show 37um and 18um, respectively. A large amount of coarsen eutectic Si, $Al_2Cu$ intermetallic phase and Fe-rich phases are identified in the Al-6Si-2Cu alloy. Mechanical properties of gravity casting alloy are much higher than those of die-casting alloy. Especially, yield strength and elongation of gravity casting alloy show 2 times higher than die-casting alloy. After shot peening, shot peening refined the surface grains and Si particles of the alloys by plastic deformation. The surface hardness value shows that shot peening alloy has higher value than unpeening alloy.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.31 no.6
• /
• pp.84-89
• /
• 2013

The demand of LNG tank and the constituting material, i.e., the Al5083 thick plate, increased due to the rapid growth LNG market. To weld the Al5083 thick plate, the gas metal arc welding (GMAW) of high current is necessary to increase manufacturing productivity incurred by the multi pass welding. However, the arc welding vaporizes the volatile element such as magnesium (Mg). This phenomenon changes the Mg composition of the weld metal and the mechanical properties. The study investigated the weldability of Al5083 alloys after conducting high current GMAW. The Al5083 alloy was welded by using different size of welding wires and high current (800-950A). As the arc current increased from 800A to 950A, the mechanical strength decreased and the secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) increased. Even though the arc current increased SDAS, the mechanical strength decreased due to the Mg loss in the weldment. The large diameter of welding wire decreased the dilution of the weld, therefore increasing the Mg content and the strength of the weld. For the reason, the content of Mg in welds was a major parameter to determine the mechanical property for the high current GMAW. For the arc current between 800A and 950A, the yield strength of the weldments showed a relationship with the weight percent of Mg content ($X_{Mg}$): Y.S = 27.9($X_{Mg}$)-11.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.16 no.9
• /
• pp.41-47
• /
• 1999

The scale of dendritic structure of a cast preform plays a key role in determining the mechanical properties of cast/forged products. In this study, casting experiments are carried out to reduce dendrite arm spacing (DAS) to smaller than 20 ${\mu}$m by increasing cooling rate of the mold and then to spheriodize dendritic structures by addition of alloying elements such as Zr and Ti-B. From the casting experiments, appropriate casting conditions for producing the cast preform of a motorcycle connecting rod are obtained. To obtain fine microstructures of the cast preform, mold temperature must set to be low whilst cooling rate being high. When cooling rate is 10 $^{\circ}C$/s, the size of DAS is 17.4 ${\mu}$m. And the degree of spheriodization of a grain in the cast preform is described by aspect ratio, which is defined as the ratio of major and minor radii of an elliptical grain. When 0.5% Zr and 0.24 % Ti+B are added to the molten aluminum alloy, the best aspect-ratio 0.75 is obtained. After forging the cast preform of a motorcycle connecting rod, the microstructure and mechanical properties of the cast preform are compared with those of the cast/forged product. Cast/forged products are superior in microstructure and in mechanical properties such as ultimate strength, elongation, and hardness.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.34-42
• /
• 2019

In this study, various alloying elements (Cr, Sr, Ca, Cd) were added to improve the mechanical properties of ADC12 fabricated by a die casting process. The effect of alloying elements on the microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated. The phase analysis results of the modified ADC12 alloy with conventional ADC12 alloy, showed the similar characteristics of Al matrix, Si phase, $CuAl_2$ phase and the Fe intermetallic phase. As a result of the microstructure observation, the secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) was shown to have decreased after the addition of the alloying elements. The eutectic Si phase, which existed as flake form in the conventional ADC12 alloy, was modified finely as a fiber form in the modified ADC12 alloy. It was observed that the $CuAl_2$ phase as the strengthening phase was relatively finely distributed in the modified ADC12 alloy. The Fe intermetallic appeared as a Chinese script shaped $Al_6$ (Mn,Fe) which is detrimental to mechanical properties in conventional ADC12 alloy. On the other hand, in the modified ADC12 alloy, polyhedral ${\alpha}-Al_{15}Si_2$ $(Fe,Mn,Cr)_3$ was observed. The tensile properties were improved in the modified ADC12 alloy. The yield strength and tensile strength increased by 12.4% and 10.0%, respectively, in the modified ADC12 alloy, and the elongation was also seen to have been increased. As a result of the pin on disk wear test, the wear resistance properties were also improved by up to about 7% in the modified ADC12 alloy. It is noted that the wear deformation microstructures were also observed, and it was found that the fine eutectic Si and strengthening phases greatly improved abrasion resistance.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
• /
• v.37 no.3
• /
• pp.121-127
• /
• 2024

We investigate the effect of T6 heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of AA365 (Al-10.3Si-0.37Mg-0.6Mn-0.11Fe, wt.%) alloy fabricated by vacuum-assisted high pressure die casting by means of thermodynamic calculation, X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, and tensile tests. The as-cast alloy consists of primary Al (with dendrite arm spacing of 10~15 ㎛), needle-like eutectic Si, and blocky α-AlFeMnSi phases. The solution treatment at 490 ℃ induces the spheroidization of eutectic Si and increase in the fraction of eutectic Si and α-AlFeMnSi phases. While as-cast alloy does not contain nano-sized precipitates, the T6-treated alloy contains fine β' and β' precipitates less than 20 nm that formed during aging at 190℃. T6 heat treatment improves the yield strength from 165 to 186 MPa due to the strengthening effect of β' and β' precipitates. However, the β' and β' precipitates reduce the strain hardening rate and accelerate the necking phenomenon, degrading the tensile strength (from 290 to 244 MPa) and fracture elongation (from 6.6 to 5.0%). Fractography reveals that the coarse α-AlFeMnSi and eutectic Si phases act as crack sites in both the as-cast and T6 treated alloys.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.33 no.5
• /
• pp.53-60
• /
• 2015

Laser surface Melting Process is getting hardening layer that has enough depth of hardening layer as well as no defects by melting surface of substrate. This study used CW(Continuous Wave) Yb:YAG and STD11. Laser beam speed, power and beam interval are fixed at 70mm/sec, 2.8kW and 800um respectively. Hardness in the weld zone are equal to 400Hv regardless of melting zone, remelting zone overlapped by next beam and HAZ. Similarly, microstructures in all weld zone consist of dendrite structure that arm spacing is $3{\sim}4{\mu}m$, matrix is ${\gamma}$(Austenite) and dendrite boundary consists of ${\gamma}$ and $M_7C_3$ of eutectic phase. This microstructure crystallizes from liquid to ${\gamma}$ of primary crystal and residual liquid forms ${\gamma}$ and $M_7C_3$ of eutectic phase by eutectic reaction at $1266^{\circ}C$. After solidification is complete, primary crystal and eutectic phase remain at room temperature without phase transformation by quenching. On the other hand, microstructures of substrate consist of ferrite, fine $M_{23}C_6$ and coarse $M_7C_3$ that have 210Hv. Microstructures in the HAZ consist of fine $M_{23}C_6$ and coarse $M_7C_3$ like substrate. But, $M_{23}C_6$ increases and matrix was changed from ferrite to bainite that has hardness above 400Hv. Partial Melted Zone is formed between melting zone and HAZ. Partial Melted Zone near the melting zone consists of ${\gamma}$, $M_7C_3$ and martensite and Partial Melted Zone near the HAZ consists of eutectic phase around ${\gamma}$ and $M_7C_3$. Hardness is maximum 557Hv in the partial melted zone.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.45 no.4
• /
• pp.400-409
• /
• 2007

Morphology of methane/propane clathrate hydrate crystal was investigated under different undercooling conditions. After the water pressurized with compound guest gas was fully saturated by agitation, medium within the vessel was rapidly undercooled and maintained at the constant temperature while the visual observations using microscope revealed detailed features of subsequent crystal nucleation, migration, growth and interference occurring within liquid pool. The growth of hydrate was always initiated with film formations at the bounding surface between bulk gas and liquid regions under all tested experimental conditions. Then a number of small crystals ascended, some of which settled beneath the hydrate film. When undercooling was relatively small, some of the settled crystals slowly grew into faceted columns. As the undercooling increased, the downward growth of crystals underneath the hydrate film became dendritic and occurred with greater rate and with finer arm spacing. The shapes of the floating crystals within liquid pool were diverse and included octahedron and triangular or hexagonal platelet. When the undercooling was small, the octahedral crystals were found dominant. As the undercooling increased, the shape of the floating crystals also became dendritic. The detailed growth characteristics of floating crystals are reported focused on the influences caused by undercooling and memory effect.