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Role of Grain Refinement in the Hot Tearing of Cast Al-Cu Alloy

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Abstract

The effects of grain refinement on hot tear formation and contraction behavior in a modified Al-Cu alloy 206 (M206) have been studied. The experiments were conducted using a newly developed mold which could simultaneously measure the contraction force/temperature during solidification for a restrained casting, and thereby could be used to investigate hot tear formation. Quantitative information on crack initiation and propagation was obtained by analyzing load measurement data. Al-Ti and Al-Ti-B master alloys were added to the melt to refine the grains to obtain grains ranging from columnar dendritic to equiaxed dendritic and globular structures. Effects of grain structure and grain size on hot tearing susceptibility were investigated. The correlations between microstructure evolution in grain-refined castings at various levels and hot tear formation were determined and discussed. Grain refinement was found to have a complex effect on load onset. Hot tearing tendency was significantly affected by both grain size and grain morphology as reflected by the measured data.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the member companies of the Advanced Casting Research Center (ACRC) for their support of this work and for their continued support of research focused on the science and technology of metal casting at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The authors also would like to thank Jim Thomson, Geethe Nadugala, and Stuart Amey of CANMET for their support during this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Metal Processing Institute WPI, Worcester, MA, 01609, USA

    Shimin Li (Post-Doctoral Associate) & Diran Apelian (Alcoa-Howmet Professor of Engineering)

  2. CANMET—Materials Technology Laboratory, Hamilton, ON, L8P 0A5, Canada

    Kumar Sadayappan (Senior Research Scientist)

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  1. Shimin Li
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  2. Kumar Sadayappan
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  3. Diran Apelian
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Correspondence to Diran Apelian.

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The following copyright notice pertains only to K. Sadayappan: Printed by permission of Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Natural Resources, 2013.

Manuscript submitted December 20, 2010.

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Li, S., Sadayappan, K. & Apelian, D. Role of Grain Refinement in the Hot Tearing of Cast Al-Cu Alloy. Metall Mater Trans B 44, 614–623 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-013-9801-4

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