Influence of Morphology on the Rheological Behavior of Semi-Solid A356 Aluminum Alloy

Abstract:

The morphology of semi-solid alloy is one of the key influence factors on the rheological behavior of slurry during die filling and the mechanical properties of formed parts. However, it is difficult to study such effect due to hard controlling of morphology in semi-solid state. In this paper, a self-developed Searle-type viscometer was used to determine the rheological behavior of A356 aluminum alloy in different morphology, which was refined with the salts mixture of K2TiF6 and KBF4. The results indicated that the flow behavior of refined A356 alloy in the semi-solid state possesses obviously thixotropic behavior under isothermal shearing condition with less time to reach steady state and lower steady apparent viscosity as compared to that of the A356 alloy. During continuous cooling at a constant shearing rate, the apparent viscosity of refined A356 slurry in the same solid fraction decreased with the content of Ti. It is shown from quantitative image analysis that the primary α-Al grain in the refined alloy evolves from dendrites to rosettes or sphericitys, and then tends to be rounder and finer in higher Ti content. The mechanism of the influence of morphology on rheological behavior was also discussed in this paper.

• Periodical: Solid State Phenomena (Volumes 116-117)
• Pages: 601-605
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/SSP.116-117.601
• Online since: October 2006
• Authors: Heng Hua Zhang, Xian Nian Zhang, Guang Jie Shao, Luo Ping Xu, Yi Tao Yang, Bao Liang Sun
• Keywords: Aluminium Alloy, Apparent Viscosity, Morpholoy, Semi-Solid Slurry

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