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Characterization of Flow Behavior of Semi-Solid Slurries with Low Solid Fractions

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Abstract

Semi-solid slurry casting is a metal-forming process that involves transforming liquid metal into slurry having a low solid fraction and then forming the slurry into solid parts. To successfully apply this slurry-forming process, it is necessary to fully understand the flow behavior of semi-solid slurries. This present work applied the rapid quenching method and the modified gravity fluidity casting to investigate the flow behavior, which involves characterizations of the initial solid fraction, fluidity, and microstructure of semi-solid slurries. Three commercial aluminum alloys were used in this study: 383 (Al-Si11Cu), 356 (Al-Si7MgFe), and 7075 (Al-Zn6MgCu) alloys. The results show that the initial solid fractions can be controlled by varying the rheocasting time. The rapid quenching mold can be used to determine the initial solid fractions. In this method, it is important to apply the correcting procedure to account for growth during quenching and to include all the solid phases. Results from the fluidity study of semi-solid slurries show that the fluidity decreases as the initial solid fraction increases. The decrease is relatively rapid near the low end of the initial solid fraction curves, but is quite slow near the high end of the curves. All the three alloys follow this trend. The results also demonstrate that the slurries that contain high solid fractions of up to 30 pct can still flow well. The microstructure characterization results show that the solid particles in the slurries flow uniformly in the channel. A uniform and fine microstructure with limited phase segregation is observed in the slurry cast samples.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Higher Education Research Promotion and the National Research University Project of Thailand, Office of the Higher Education Commission (Contract No. ENG540551b). In addition, the authors gratefully thank the funding from Prince of Songkla University for Ph.D. 50% Scholarship, PSU Ph.D. Scholarship, the Royal Golden Jubilee Ph.D. program (Grant No. PHD/0173/2550 and Grant No. PHD/0134/2551), and the Thai Research Fund (Contract No. MRG5280215). We also thank the Innovative Metal Technology (IMT) team, Mrs. N. Mahathanninwong for data analysis, Mr. J. Thammajai for helping with the experiments, and Mr. J. Sawatdiwong for equipment construction. In addition, we would like to thank the PSU Department of Mining and Materials Engineering for facilities.

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Author notes

  1. Tanate Rattanochaikul (Engineer)

    Present address: Thailand Smelting and Refining Company (THAISARCO), Phuket, Thailand

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand

    Thiensak Chucheep (Ph.D. Student, Lecturer), Jessada Wannasin (Associate Professor), Rungsinee Canyook (Ph.D. Student) & Somjai Janudom (Ph.D. Student)

  2. Faculty of Science and Industrial Technology, Prince of Songkla University, Suratthani Campus, Suratthani, Thailand

    Thiensak Chucheep (Ph.D. Student, Lecturer)

  3. GISSCO, Co., Ltd., Business Incubation Center, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand

    Tanate Rattanochaikul (Engineer)

  4. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Merton C. Flemings (Toyota Professor Emeritus, Professor)

  5. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand

    Sirikul Wisutmethangoon (Associate Professor)

Authors
  1. Thiensak Chucheep
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  2. Jessada Wannasin
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  3. Rungsinee Canyook
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  4. Tanate Rattanochaikul
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  5. Somjai Janudom
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  6. Sirikul Wisutmethangoon
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  7. Merton C. Flemings
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jessada Wannasin.

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Manuscript submitted September 19, 2012.

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Chucheep, T., Wannasin, J., Canyook, R. et al. Characterization of Flow Behavior of Semi-Solid Slurries with Low Solid Fractions. Metall Mater Trans A 44, 4754–4763 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-013-1819-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-013-1819-3

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