Abstract
Semi-solid ZCuSn10P1 alloy slurry was fabricated by a novel enclosed cooling slope channel (ECSC). The influence of pouring length of ECSC on the microstructures of ZCuSn10P1 alloy semi-solid slurry was studied with an optical microscope an optical microscope (OM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). Liquid squeeze casting and semi-solid squeeze casting were performed under the same forming conditions, and the microstructure and properties were compared. The results show that primary α-Cu phase gradually evolved from dendrites to worm-like or equiaxed grains under the chilling action of the inner wall of the ECSC. The mass fraction of tin in the primary α-Cu phase increased from 5.85 to 6.46 after the ECSC process, and intergranular segregation was effectively suppressed. The finest microstructure can be obtained at 300 mm pouring length of ECSC; the equivalent diameter is 46.6 μm and its shape factor is 0.73. The average ultimate tensile strength and average elongation of semi-solid squeeze casting ZCuSn10P1 alloy reached 417 MPa and 12.6%, which were improved by 22% and 93%, respectively, as compared to that of liquid squeeze casting.
Highlights
Tin bronze has excellent flexibility, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, and high strength, and is widely used in the ship-building industry and is important in gears, valves, worm gears, etc. [1,2,3]
The results show that the size of plate method, and the effect of tin mass fraction on the microstructure of semi-solid slurry was primary α-Cu phase decreases with the increase of tin mass fraction
This is attributed to the grain refinement and homogeneity of microstructure
Summary
Tin bronze has excellent flexibility, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, and high strength, and is widely used in the ship-building industry and is important in gears, valves, worm gears, etc. [1,2,3]. The primary α-Cu phase is a coarse dendritic structure and the segregation of tin in traditional tin-bronze ZCuSn10P1 is significant [4], which leads to microstructural heterogeneity and poor properties, limiting its uses in industry. Semi-solid process is widely studied due to its many technical and economic advantages; it includes rheo-casting and thixo-casting [5]. Rheo-casting has attracted the interest of many researchers, and there are several ways to prepare non-dendrite microstructures [6,7,8]. The cooling slope plate method is a simple way to prepare semi-solid slurry. Abdelsalam et al [9] fabricated A356/Al2 O3 metal matrix nano-composites by a combination of stir casting and cooling slope casting typically
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