Floating Behavior of Entrapped Gas in Semi-Solid Metal

Abstract:

Semi-solid die casting technology has great advantages at defects control and has been successfully used to produce high quality aluminum alloy components for several years. In this process, semi-solid metal with high apparent viscosity and low plunger velocity are used to avoid surface turbulence which is the main source of entrapped gas in conventional die casting processes. But, entrapped gas still has other sources, such as melting, pouring, surface flooding and confluence weld. Solution heat treatment is always used to strengthen semi-solid die castings. The entrapped gas leads to blister defects, which directly decreases the acceptance rate of semi-solid die castings. So, the entrapped gas is still a serious issue in semi-solid die casting process. We studied the floating behavior of entrapped gas bubble in semi-solid metal. Two floating models were established for gas bubbles with different sizes. These models were used to analyze the possibility of entrapped gas escaping from semi-solid metal in casting practice. The results showed that entrapped gas from feed billet could not escape from the semi-solid metal in the casting process of impeller, which was proved by experiment results. These results emphasized the importance of clean melt and semi-solid metal. Some advices were given at last for avoiding or removing the entrapped gas in semi-solid die casting process.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volume 898)
• Pages: 1254-1260
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.898.1254
• Online since: June 2017
• Authors: Hong Xing Lu*, Qiang Zhu, Da Quan Li, Fan Zhang
• Keywords: Floating, Gas Bubble, Semi-Solid Metal

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