INTERACTION BETWEEN STRUCTURE FORMATION AND MELT FLOW DURING SOLIDIFICATION: FIRST RESULTS ON EXPERIMENTS WITH ELECTROMAGNETIC PUMP

摘要

Melt flow is an intrinsic feature of casting processes and strongly influences the resultant structure of a cast product. Only few experimental data are available on the effects of melt flow on structure formation during solidification. The paper describes a new experimental setup and first results on the interaction between melt flow and structure formation during solidification of an Al-4.5% Cu alloy. An electromagnetic pump is used as a base for the experimental installation that includes also a control system, a metal-guiding circuit and a water-cooled chill for solidification of an alloy under controlled melt flow conditions. Such parameters as melt temperature, flow rate (2 to 25 cm/s) and temperature gradient are controlled. Samples are formed at the bottom of the water-cooled bronze chill placed on the top of the channel with moving melt. The examined structure parameters are grain size, growth direction and morphology, and dendritic arm spacing.