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The Effect of Fluxes on the Melt Quality of AlSi7MgCu Alloy
372-380Views:209The presence of inclusions such as oxides, carbides or refractory particles can be harmful to the mechanical and surface characteristics of castings. Inclusion-rich metals result in lower fluidity and feeding capability during casting. Nowadays, solid fluxes are widely used in foundries in order to reduce the inclusion content of aluminium melts. In this study, the effect of four different fluxes on the melt quality was studied. First, the inclusion content of the flux-treated melt, and then the properties of the fluxes (i.e. chemical composition and melting temperature) were examined.
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Investigation on Double Oxide Film Initiated Pore Formation in Aluminum Casting Alloys
141-153Views:363The most common, and in fact, the most deleterious defects of aluminum casting alloys are the so-called double oxide films or bifilms, which have a central role in porosity formation, as they can easily unfurl and inflate into pores during the solidification of the alloys. Sr addition is generally used in the foundry industry for the modification of the eutectic Si phase of hypoeutectic Al-Si alloys. However, Sr microalloying usually leads to an increased pore formation tendency. As bifilms are preferred sites for pore formation, it should be expected that Sr additions have a significant effect on the number and/or the structure of double oxide films present in the melt. In this work, the relationship between Sr-concentration and the susceptibility to pore formation has been investigated through the evaluation of melt quality of melts which had different levels of Sr. The bifilm content of the melts was investigated by the analysis of K-mold specimens and X-ray computed tomography (CT) of reduced pressure test (RPT) samples. It was found that liquid alloys with a higher Sr concentration had a significantly greater tendency to pore formation, which can be explained by the presence of a larger number of bifilm defects in the liquid alloy.