Influence of casting speed on fabricating Al-1%Mn and Al-10%Si alloy clad slab

Abstract

In this paper, the effect of casting speed on fabricating Al-1%Mn and Al-10%Si alloy clad slab was investigated. Before the trials with the semi-continuous casting process were conducted, a series of simulation with the engineering software FLUENT was made to forecast the influence of the casting speed on the temperature field and the liquid fraction of the clad slab. The simulation results indicated that the increase of the casting speed reduces the time in the cooling zone, thus the thickness of the Al-1%Mn solidification shell under the dividing plate gets thinner. Based on the simulation results, the Al-1%Mn alloy and Al-10%Si alloy clad slab was successfully produced by semi-continuous casting process. The interface of clad ingots was investigated by methods of metallographic and electron probe microanalysis. The tests on the interface confirmed the simulation results and showed that a clad slab of two different aluminum alloys with excellent metallurgical bonding was achieved by semi-continuous casting. According to the result of the tensile tests, the strength of the specimens remains at 110 MPa, and the fracture position located in the Al-1%Mn alloy indicates that the strength of the interface is higher than that of the Al-1%Mn alloy.

Keywords

• aluminum alloys
• casting
• interface
• macrostructure
• microstructure
• semi-continuous
• simulation