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The application of thermodynamic calculations for the semi-solid processing design

Krzysztof P. Solek 1Roman M. Kuziak 2Miroslaw Karbowniczek 1Zbigniew Mitura 1

1. AGH University of Science and Technology (AGH), al. Mickiewicza 30, Kraków 30-059, Poland
2. Institute for Ferrous Metallurgy (IMZ), Karola Miarki, Gliwice 44-100, Poland

Abstract

Semi-solid metal processing is now a commercially successful manufacturing route producing lots of near net-shape parts. One member of such processing technologies is thixoforming which is based on the special behaviour of alloys with non-dendritic microstructure in the partially liquid state. The semi-solid processing design requires the use of faithful values of thermodynamic material properties. Thermodynamic modelling is a potential tool for predicting alloy compositions suitable for thixoforming. Thixoformable alloys must have a wide melting range with some additional feature. Namely, the slope of the curve of the liquid fraction versus the temperature should be low at the liquid fraction value of 40%. The data from thermodynamic calculations might be also applied in the industrial thixoforming processes design. It is very helpful to find different thermal properties of alloys in order to simulate precisely the temperature distribution inside the formed materials. The thermodynamic calculations allow one to find the heat transfer coefficient, the specific heat value and the latent heat value. The purpose of the present paper is to provide examples of the numerical modelling of the thermodynamic properties for commercial, industrial Al alloys. All the calculations in the present work are performed using JMatPro software. The determination of the phase composition for multi-component alloys is originally based on the Gibbs energy minimisation. Furthermore, the conditions of the non-equilibrium solidification are determined using the Scheil-Gulliver equation. An additional advantage of the software used is the possibility of calculation of the formation conditions for metastable phases which have also an influence on the mechanical properties of the alloys.

 

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Presentation: Oral at E-MRS Fall Meeting 2006, Symposium I, by Krzysztof P. Solek
See On-line Journal of E-MRS Fall Meeting 2006

Submitted: 2006-05-15 17:10
Revised:   2009-06-07 00:44