Eco-Friendly Grain Refinement for A3003 Alloy

2009 ◽  
Vol 620-622 ◽  
pp. 89-92
Author(s):  
Hoon Cho ◽  
Jae Hong Ha ◽  
Byoung Soo Lee ◽  
Sung Ho Chang ◽  
Je Sik Shin

Eco-friendly grain refinement of A3003 alloy was studied by addition of non-toxic Al-Ti alloy because of toxic-fluorine in Al-Ti-B alloys which used as a representative grain refiner for aluminum and its alloys. TiAl3 phase in Al-Ti alloy bring to decrease grain size of A3003 alloy. But, grain growth occurred with prolonged holding time due to the solution of Ti into aluminum matrix. In contrast, lasting grain refinement of A3003 alloy was occurred in graphite crucible. It can be mentioned that carbon comes from graphite crucible was combined with Ti solute in aluminum melt and then TiC acts as a heterogeneous nucleation for A3003 alloy.

2013 ◽  
Vol 631-632 ◽  
pp. 556-561 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheng Yuan Gao ◽  
Shi Lian Qu ◽  
Yue Yuan ◽  
Bao Qin Fu

The effects of electromagnetic stirring and Al4C3grain refiner on the grain refinement of semi-continuously cast AZ31 magnesium alloy were discussed in this investigation. The results indicate that electromagnetic stirring has effective refining effect on the grain size of AZ31 magnesium alloy under the effect of Al4C3grain refiner. Electromagnetic stirring can “activate” the Al4C3particles, resulting in more heterogeneous nucleation sites for the primary α-Mg grains. But, longer holding time can “inactivate” the Al4C3particles, and the optimal experimental holding time is 60 min in the present investigation. The activated rate of the electromagnetic under the experimental condition ρ2=1.65%.


2012 ◽  
Vol 05 ◽  
pp. 307-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.A. TORBATI-SARRAF ◽  
R. MAHMUDI

Different amounts of Al -5 Ti -1 B master alloy ( TiBAl ) were added to the AZ 31 magnesium alloy ( Mg -3 Al -1 Zn -0.2 Mn ) as grain refiner and the resulting microstructure and grain size distributions were studied after extrusion and equal channel angular pressing (ECAP). Results showed that the addition of 0.6% TiBAl had the strongest grain refinement effect, reducing the grain sizes by 54.5 and 48.5% in the extruded and ECAPed conditions, respectively. The observed grain refinement was partly due to the presence of the thermally-stable micron- and submicron-sized particles in the melt which act as nucleation sites during solidification. During the high-temperature extrusion and ECAP processes, dynamic recrystallization (DRX) and grain growth are likely to occur. However, the mentioned particles will help in reducing the grain size by the particle stimulated nucleation (PSN) mechanism. Furthermore, the pinning effect of these particles can oppose grain growth by reducing the grain boundary migration. These two phenomena together with the partitioning of the grains imposed by the severe plastic deformation in the ECAP process have all contributed to the achieved ultrafine-grained structure in the AZ 31 alloy.


2011 ◽  
Vol 675-677 ◽  
pp. 771-774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Song Wei Gu ◽  
Hai Hao ◽  
Can Feng Fang ◽  
Shou Hua Ji ◽  
Xing Guo Zhang

A fine grain size generally leads to improved structural uniformity of magnesium alloys. AlN has been identified as a potential grain refiner and electromagnetic stirring may have great effects on microstructure and grain growth. This study will be focused on the effects of AlN particles and electromagnetic stirring on the as-cast structure of AZ31 alloys.The grain refinement mechanism of both methods on magnesium alloy and their interaction effects are also discussed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdallah Elsayed

For the A1-5Ti-1B grain refiner, the addition of 0.1 wt.% provided a 68 % reduction in grain size as compared to the unrefined AZ91E alloy at a holding time of five minutes. Grain growth restriction by TiB₂ particles was the source of grain refinement. With the addition of A1-5Ti-1B, only a small reduction in hot tearing susceptibility ws observed because large TiA1₃ particles bonded poorly with the eutectic and blocked feeding channels.The addition of 1.0 wt.% A1-1Ti-3B provided a grain size reduction of 63% as compared to the unrefined AZ91E alloy at a holding time of five minutes. The grain refinement with A1-1Ti-3B addition was attributed to a combination of TiB₂ grain growth restriction and A1B₂ nucleating sites. A significant reduction in hot tearing susceptibility was observed with A1-1Ti-3B addition as a result of a higher cooling rate and shorter local soldification time as compared to the AZ91E alloy. The reduction in hot tearing susceptibility was attributed to the good interface between eutectic and TiB₂ particles. Both grain refiners demonstrated a good resistance to fading during the holding times investigated. In addition, the AZ91E + A1-5Ti-1B and AZ91E + A1-1Ti-3B castings showed much fewer dislocation networks as compared to the untreated AZ91E casting.The development of efficient A1-Ti-B refiners can also improve castability of magnesium alloys. In addition, the fade resistant A1-Ti-B grain refiners can reduce operating costs and maintain productivity on the foundry floor. Thus, magnesium alloy with A1-Ti-B treatment have the potential for more demanding structural applications in the automobile and aerospace industries. Vehicle weight in the aerospace and automotive industries directly impacts carbon emissions and fuel efficiency. An increase in the use of lightweight materials for structural applications will result in lighter vehicles. Low density materials, such as magnesium (1.74 g/cm³) are a potential alternative to aluminium (2.70 g/cm³), to reduce component weight in structural applications.However, current magnesium alloys still do not have adequate mechanical properties and castability to meet the performance specifications of the automotive and aerospace industries. Grain refinement can significantly improve mechanical properties and reduce hot tearing during permanent mould casting. Recently, Al-Ti-B based grain refiners have shown potential in grain refining magnesium-aluminum alloys such as AZ91E. This study investigates the grain refining efficiency and fading of A1-5Ti-1B and A1-1Ti-3B in AZ91E magnesium alloy and their subsequent effect on hot tearing.The grain refiners were added at 0.1, 0.2, 0.5 and 1.0 wt.% levels. For the grain refinement and fading experiments, the castings were prepared using graphite moulds with holding times of 5, 10 and 20 minutes. For the hot tearing experiments, castings were produced representing the optimal addition level of each grain refiner. The castings were prepared using a permanent mould with pouring and mould temperatures of 720 and 180 ºC, respectively. The castings were characterized using SEM, TEM, optical microscopy and thermal analysis.


2014 ◽  
Vol 644-650 ◽  
pp. 4772-4775
Author(s):  
Shao Qiang Yuan ◽  
Guo Li Liang ◽  
Yue Hui Yang

The metallographic observation, thermo-simulation test and quantitative statistics were used to investigate the grain growth on different parts of the samples for Fe-40Ni-Ti alloy. The experiment results demonstrate that: near the center of the sample corresponding to the summit point of the temperature, the grain grows rapidly in 5s when the temperature reaches 1350°C, whose size is about 180μm; While the grain size of parent metal and HAZ (4mm to the welding line) remains nearly unchanged, whose size is about 80μm. The size of TiN particles in the welding line is fine than that of the parent metal obviously and the hinder to the grain boundaries can be observed. With the aid of Fe-40Ni-Ti alloy, the austenitic grain growth in the steel can be simulated.


Author(s):  
Jiawei Yang ◽  
Yijiang Xu ◽  
Sarina Bao ◽  
Shahid Akhtar ◽  
Ulf Tundal ◽  
...  

AbstractIt is well known that the filtration efficiency of ceramic foam filters (CFF) on aluminum melt can be significantly reduced by the addition of grain refiner particles under a high inclusion load. Also, it is usually considered that the filtration process has little impact on grain refinement efficiency. In this work, the influence of inclusions and filtration on the grain refinement effect of AA 6060 alloy has been studied. This was done through TP-1 type solidification experiments where the aluminum melt prior to and after the filter during a pilot-scale filtration test was investigated. In the experiments, 80 PPi CFFs were used to filtrate aluminum melt with an ultra-high inclusion load and two addition levels of Al–3Ti–1B master alloys. It is found that both inclusions and filtration significantly reduce the grain refinement efficiency of the grain refiner master alloys. A detailed characterization of the used filters shows that the reduction of grain refinement efficiency is due to the strong adherence of TiB2 particles to the oxide films, which are blocked by the CFF during filtration. A grain size prediction model based on deterministic nucleation mechanisms and dendritic growth kinetics has been applied to calculate the solidification grain size and estimate the loss of effective grain refiner particles during filtration. It is shown that due to the strong adherence between TiB2 particles and oxide films in the melt, the high addition level of aluminum chips also has an influence on reducing the grain refinement efficiency of aluminum melt without filtration. The results of this study extended our understanding of the behavior and performance of inoculant particles in CFF and their interactions with the inclusions.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Zhongtang Wang ◽  
Lingyi Wang ◽  
Lizhi Liu

Microstructure evolution of AZ31 magnesium alloy in annealing process had been investigated by experiment study at heating temperature range of 150°C–450°C and holding time range of 15 min–60 min. The effects of heating temperature and holding time on grain growth had been analyzed. The results presented that the grain size tends to grow up with the increase of holding time at a certain temperature. At a certain holding time, the grain size increased firstly and then decreased at the heating temperature range of 150–250°C. And when heating temperature is higher than 250°C, the grain grows up gradually with the increase of heating temperature. The grain growth model of AZ31 Mg alloy has been established by regression based on the experimental data at temperature of 250–450°C, and the relative error between model calculation results and experimental results is less than 19.07%. Activation energy of grain growth of AZ31 magnesium alloy had been determined.


2013 ◽  
Vol 749 ◽  
pp. 328-336
Author(s):  
Quan Lin Jin

A study on grain evolution character of discal parts roll forming was carried out by means of experiment and numerical simulation. The discal part material is aluminum alloy 6061 and titanium alloy TC4. The roll forming temperature is 480-500 and 930-1020 for aluminum alloy 6061 and titanium alloy TC4, respectively. A digital double-sided roll forming machine was used for roll forming experiment of discal parts. The high frequency induction heating was used for disk heating, where the deformation zone is in the state of constant temperature. A numerical simulation of roll forming of the 6061 aluminum alloy disk was carried out. The simulated results include macroscopic deformation and various grain size evolution variables. The dynamic recrystallization, the dynamic and static grain growth were considered in the numerical simulation. The experimental and simulated results showed that there may appear not only the grain refinement due to dynamic recrystallization but also dynamic and static grain growth. It is different that from discal parts integrally forging there are the largest deformation, the highest strain rate and the best recrystallization and grain refinement in the zones contacted with the roll tools. In the zones far from the rollers, the strain rate is very low and average grain size increases until once again contact to the rollers and start new grain refinement.


Author(s):  
Xiaoming Wang

Master alloys are routinely added into aluminum melts before casting for grain refinement purposes. The widely used master alloys contain titanium and boron in the forms of Al3Ti and TiB2 particles in an aluminum matrix. Upon addition into aluminum melts, Al3Ti dissolves into the aluminum melts and promotes the heterogeneous nucleation of the α-Al grains while restricting the growth of α-Al grains through a constitutional cooling effect in solidification. Meanwhile, TiB2 is stable and acts as a substrate for the heterogeneous nucleation of α-Al grains through a layer of Al3Ti on the surface. Sharing these in common, different mechanisms for the grain refinement of aluminum by Al-Ti-B-type master alloys have been proposed. Another kind of popular master alloys is Al-Ti-C, which is used in a lesser extent for the grain refinement of Al alloys containing elements that are poisoning Al-Ti-B master alloys. Titanium and carbon exist as Al3Ti and TiC particles. TiC is not as stable as TiB2 and decomposes in aluminum melts. TiC in Al-Ti-C therefore acts as heterogeneous nucleation sites for α-Al grains similar to TiB2. However, the fading of Al-Ti-C master alloys is irreversible, which is the major disadvantage of Al-Ti-C master alloys. Al-Ti master alloys do not contain hard particles and are used industrially for products that are sensitive to hard TiB2 and TiC particles. There are also other master alloys that show high grain refinement potentials in lab tests but have never been used industrially for mainly low-volume production and high costs. This article gives an overview of the grain refinement of aluminum by master alloys with an emphasis on Al-Ti-B master alloys, from the production to the industrial applications of the master alloys.


2014 ◽  
Vol 622-623 ◽  
pp. 679-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuan Ming Huo ◽  
Bao Yu Wang ◽  
Qian Bai ◽  
Jian Guo Lin

Ductile damage inadvertently exists in the steel during hot tension. The ductile damage during hot forming directly influences the mechanical properties of 25CrMo4 steel for high-speed railway axle. To investigate the grain growth/refinement rule and damage features of 25CrMo4 in hot forming, grain growth test and grain refinement test were conducted using the thermal mechanical simulator Gleeble-1500. In the grain growth test, the specimens were compressed to ensure that the initial austenitic grain size was small enough, then held at the deformation temperatures (1223K, 1273K, 1323K and 1373K) for 0min, 10min, 20min and 30min, respectively, to study the grain growth rule. In the grain refinement test, the specimens were stretched to different strain level at three temperatures (1313K, 1373K and 1433K) with two strain rates of 1.0/s and 10.0/s to study the grain refinement rule. The micro-voids and micro-cavities were found in tensile specimens during grain refinement test. Based on damage evolution mechanisms, damage constitutive equations are formulated to model the evolution of micro-voids and micro-cavities for 25CrMo4 under hot forming conditions. Partial experiment data were used to determine the material constants in damage constitutive equations by using the Genetic Algorithm (GA) method. To validate the model, the experimental data and computed curves of effective stress and grain size were compared. Close agreements were found between the experimental and prediction results. The developed viscoplastic damage equations are able to characterize the deformation behaviour of 25CrMo4 in hot tension process.


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