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Investigating the Grain Refinement Mechanisms of Pulsed Electric Current, Ultrasonic and Melt Stirring Solidification of Pure Aluminium

  • Advanced Casting and Melt Processing Technology for Light Alloys
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Abstract

A comparison study between an electric current applied in the pulsed mode (ECP), ultrasonic treatment (UST), and melt stirring treatment (MST) was performed to understand the origin of equiaxed grains during the solidification of pure Al. ECP and UST were applied at 760°C and 700°C before the onset of nucleation, and at one temperature range after the onset of nucleation at 661°C. UST produces excellent refinement in all three temperature ranges compared to ECP. Interestingly, application of the MST process at 661°C over the surface of the solidifying melt also resulted in significant refinement comparable to that of UST (grain size of ~260–460 μm).ECP, UST, and MST techniques differ in terms of the dominant mechanism influencing the grain refinement. Therefore, the present work analyses and discusses the grain refinement mechanisms based on nucleation, fragmentation, and a crystal separation mechanism for the origin of fine grains.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the funding support provided by Australian Research Council Research Hub for Advanced Manufacturing of Medical Devices IH150100024, the ARC Discovery grant DP140100702 and ARC linkage project LP150100950, the National Natural Science Foundation of China grant U1760204 and 51974183. The first author thanks the technical support for conducting experiments at the CAST facility, Shanghai University. Tharmalingam Sivarupan and Nan Yang’s assistance during casting experiments at The University of Queensland is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacturing (AMPAM), School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, 4072, Australia

    Nagasivamuni Balasubramani, Gui Wang, David StJohn & Matthew Dargusch

  2. Center for Advanced Solidification Technology, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200072, China

    Yanyi Xu, Yunhu Zhang & Qijie Zhai

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  1. Nagasivamuni Balasubramani
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  2. Yanyi Xu
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Correspondence to Nagasivamuni Balasubramani.

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Balasubramani, N., Xu, Y., Zhang, Y. et al. Investigating the Grain Refinement Mechanisms of Pulsed Electric Current, Ultrasonic and Melt Stirring Solidification of Pure Aluminium. JOM 73, 3873–3882 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-021-04904-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-021-04904-7

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