Study on Composite Interface of 4045/3003 by Cladding Casting

Abstract

With the cladding casting equipment, which was self-designed and self-made, 4045/3003 composite ingot, which is in size of Φ140mm/Φ110mm, has been manufactured by direct cooling continuous casting by adjusting and optimizing the technological parameters. The process was investigated involving macro-morphology and microstructure near the interface between the two different aluminum alloys at different positions, and distributions of both components and hardness of the cladding ingot. In addition, the tensile strengths were tested. The results showed that metallurgical bonding of two different aluminum alloys could be obtained by direct-chill semi-continuous casting process. The diffusion layer, which is about 15μm on average, has formed on the two sides of composite interface during casting process. From the side of 4045 aluminum alloy to the side of 3003 aluminum alloy, the Si content has a trend to decrease, as well as the hardness, while the Mn content has a trend to increase gradually. Tensile strength of the coated ingot reaches 117.3MPa, which is higher than the core-material matrix (3003 aluminum alloy), indicating the bonding of the two alloys belongs to metallurgical bonding.