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Investigation of the Influence of Indirect Squeeze Casting Process Parameters on the Solidification Microstructure and Properties of A356.2 Aluminum Alloy

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Abstract

Effects of indirect squeeze casting process parameters on the microstructure and mechanical properties of an A356.2 alloy engine hanger were studied. A 4-factor, 4-level orthogonal test was used to study the effects of applied pressure, punch velocity, pouring temperature and mold preheating temperature. The pressure, punch speed, pouring temperature and mold preheating temperature of the optimum process parameters were determined by range analysis (RA) as 100 MPa, 60 mm/s, 700 °C and 200 °C, respectively. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the only significant factor affecting the microstructure and mechanical properties was pouring temperature, while the other three factors were not significant. The specimens demonstrated mechanical characteristics akin to forged hangers, boasting a tensile strength of 297 MPa, 10.2% post-fracture elongation, and 105 HBW hardness. After T6 heat treatment, except the eutectic silicon morphology changed significantly, the microstructure basically maintained its as-cast characteristics. The samples’ microstructure were categorized into three regions: coarse grain α-Al (A), eutectic structure (B), and fine grain structure (C). It was found that elevated pouring temperature could keep the pressure transmission channel open, which was helpful to improve the feeding ability and form a refined grain structure in zone C. However, with the excessive increase in casting temperature, α-Al grains in region A would be coarse, which would lead to the decline of mechanical properties. Therefore, 700 °C was determined as the best pouring temperature.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical, Electronic and Control Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, 100044, China

    Xiaolong Jiang, Shuming Xing, Hongji Sun, Guangyuan Yan & Qian Hu

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  1. Xiaolong Jiang
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  2. Shuming Xing
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  3. Hongji Sun
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  4. Guangyuan Yan
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  5. Qian Hu
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Contributions

XJ: Writing—original draft, Conceptualization, Investigation, Data curation. SX: Writing—review & editing, Conceptualization. HS: Methodology, Validation and Writing. GY: Investigation. QH: Validation.

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Correspondence to Shuming Xing.

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Jiang, X., Xing, S., Sun, H. et al. Investigation of the Influence of Indirect Squeeze Casting Process Parameters on the Solidification Microstructure and Properties of A356.2 Aluminum Alloy. Inter Metalcast (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40962-023-01178-4

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