Evolution of Microstructure During Solidification of an Aluminium Alloy Under Stirring

摘要

In the present work, the evolution of microstruc ture during solidification of A356 alloy under stirring is per formed experimentally in a high temperature concentric viscometer. The stirring during solidification results a semi-solid slurry in the annular space between the cylinders. This slurry is removed periodically during processing using a vacuum removal quartz tube and quenched in water for micrograph analysis. From the micrograph analysis, the shape, stacking arrangement and corresponding microstruc-tural evolution of the suspended primary particles in the slurry are studied. The work also predicts the fraction of solid present in the extracted slurry. Finally, the effect of microstructure and the solid-fraction on the slurry viscosity is presented.