Abstract
Fluidity of aluminium foundry alloys plays a key role for aerospace and automotive industries especially when producing thinner and hence lighter casting components. Fluidity is a complex property of the molten metal, which depends on many factors. This paper reports on recent results documenting the effect of important factors such as: casting temperature, grain refinement, alloy chemistry (particularly the presence of Sr, Ti, Mg and Fe), hydrogen and oxygen content, mould coating, etc. Over the years many test methods have been developed to assess fluidity; two specific and different methods were compared and analyzed. The results show that casting temperature, in the range investigated 700–730°C (1292–1346 F), plays the most important role in affecting fluidity. Alloy chemistry plays an important role as well. Neither the addition of a commercial 5:1 Ti: B master alloy, nor variation in the hydrogen level were observed to affect the fluidity of a standard A356 alloy significantly. Mould coating dramatically increases fluidity. The test methods compared give similar trends and can be used to rank alloys.
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Di Sabatino, M., Arnberg, L. & Apelian, D. Progress on the Understanding of Fluidity of Aluminium Foundry Alloys. Inter Metalcast 2, 17–27 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03355430
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03355430