Abstract
Al–Si–Mg based alloys can provide high strength and ductility to satisfy the increasing demands of thin wall castings for automotive applications. This study has investigated the effects of T6 heat-treatment on the microstructures, the local mechanical properties of alloy phases and the fracture behavior of high vacuum die-cast AlSiMgMn alloys using in-situ scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in combination with nano-indentation testing. The microstructures of the alloys at as-cast and T6 treated conditions were compared and analyzed. It is found that the T6 heat treatment plays different roles in affecting the hardness and the Young’s modulus of alloy phases. This study also found that the T6 heat treatment would influence the failure modes of the alloys. The mechanisms of crack propagation in the as-cast and T6 treated alloys were also analyzed and discussed.
Highlights
High pressure die-casting (HPDC) has been considered as a simple but effective method for the fabrication of aluminum alloy parts [1,2]
The aim of this paper is to reveal the effects of heat treatments on the different alloy phases and mechanical behavior of AlSiMgMn material produced by high vacuum HPDC
The investigated AlSiMgMn alloys were from practical automotive shock tower components fabricated with Buhler 3500 tons cold chamber die-casting machine integrated with high vacuum units
Summary
High pressure die-casting (HPDC) has been considered as a simple but effective method for the fabrication of aluminum alloy parts [1,2]. Due to its advantages of high efficiency and short production cycle, HPDC has been widely employed by automotive industries. Among aluminum-silicon and aluminum-silicon-magnesium based alloys, AlSiMgMn alloys, designated as AA365 (Silafont 36® ), usually have good castabilities and excellent mechanical properties [3], and they are widely used to make automotive structural components by HPDC process [4–7]. In the conventional die-casting process, the high velocity injection of molten metal unavoidably entraps a certain amount of cavity gas in the material, which results in the formation of porosities in the castings [8–11]. In HPDC process, high vacuum technology can significantly reduce porosities by avoiding gas entrapment [14,15] and increase the casting integrity. The mechanical properties of high vacuum die-cast AlSiMgMn alloys in actual production show considerable variations.
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