Modification of the Cast Structure in a Cu-12.6 Wt Pct Sn Alloy by Heat Treatment in the Semisolid State

Abstract

The dendritic structure in a cast Cu-12.6 wt pct Sn alloy can be transformed to a globular structure if the alloy is heat treated in the semisolid range. A Cu-12.6 wt pct Sn alloy has a wide solidification range which encourages the development of a cored dendritic structure during solidification. In order to transform it into a globular structure, heat treatment was carried out separately at three temperatures in the semisolid range, namely 1183 K, 1153 K, and 1123 K (910 °C, 880  °C, and 850 °C) with corresponding liquid volume fractions of 50, 40, and 20 pct, respectively. An attempt was made to optimize the temperature and vol pct of liquid combination. It was observed that microstructural modification proceeded mainly through coarsening, fragmentation, and spheroidization of the dendrite arms. Semisolid heat treatment at 1123 K (850 °C) for 2 hours with 20 vol pct liquid yielded the best result. This microstructure was compared with the microstructure developed by solid-state heat treatment at 1023 K (750 °C) for 2 hours. Assessment of the structure–property co-relation demonstrated that hardness, yield stress, ultimate tensile stress, and toughness of the semisolid heat-treated samples were superior to those of subcritically annealed samples.