Design and manufacturing of a novel continuous casting technique for the addition of ceramic particulate reinforcement, alloying elements and grain refiners in Al-system

Abstract

Processing of aluminium and its alloy in an economical way is still a big challenge for the industry. In the present work, a novel continuous casting set-up has been designed and manufactured to introduce alloying elements, particulate reinforcement and grain refiners in any Al system by implementing mechanical force convection and bottom-feeding of elements or particles in liquid aluminium. The main objectives behind the design are to minimize capital cost, running cost, time, energy consumption and defects in the cast products. The present set-up does not lead to vortex formation during mixing to disperse the particles. Thus, there is less possibility of entrapment of gasses and hence subsequent formation of casting defects is comparatively fewer. A detailed study on the various temperature zones in the set-up has been accomplished using a data logger. The cast alloy, metal matrix composite and grain refiner added aluminium alloy were subjected to optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction studies. The results showed uniform distribution of reinforcement particles and alloying elements in metal matrix composite and commercial pure aluminium alloy, respectively. Grain refinement in aluminium alloy was also observed after the addition of grain refiner. A cost analysis study of the casted product showed that, the present proposed process is comparatively economical than the conventional available process.