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Abstract:
Copper has been the most common alloying element almost since the
beginning of the aluminum industry, and a variety of alloys in which copper
is
the
major
addition
were
developed.
In the cast alloys the basic structure consists of cored dendrites of aluminum
solid solution, with a variety of constituents at the grain boundaries or
interdendritic spaces, forming a brittle, more or less continuous network of
eutectics. Wrought products consist of a matrix of aluminum solid solution
with the other soluble and insoluble constituents dispersed within it.
Introduction:
Use of aluminium castings in automobiles has increased from non-structural
demanding, as it is the case of cylinder heads and engine blocks, to
structural parts, such as suspension struts due to the beneficial effects that
arise by combining light weight and mechanical properties. The requirements
for such structural parts are internal soundness, integrity, high strength and
toughness, and, as result of this, AlCu cast alloys are considered to be ideal
candidates. The parameter that exerts the highest influence on the levels of
strength and internal quality required is the solidification rate; as the
microstructure of the material is refined when solidification proceeds at a
higher rate. A further advantage of microstructural refining, when dealing
with aluminium alloys susceptible for heat treating, is the enhancement in
their mechanical properties; as particles formed during solidification will be
smaller and will require less time to dissolve during heat treating [1].
Experimental Procedure:
1. Sand mold was prepared of known specimen.
2. The weighed amount of Al & Cu were taken as per calculated
theoretically.
3. Al was melted in pit furnace.
Difficulties in Al Melting:
The main difficulties in Al melting are porosity, blow holes and gas
absorption.
Drossing: Molten oxide product of metal is called dross.
Gas Absorption: Solubility of gases in the molten metal is known as gas
absorption.
The following reactions take place during the melting of aluminum;
2Al + 3H2O ------------> Al2O3 + 3H2
8Al + 3CO2 -------------> 2Al2O3 + Al4C3
6Al + 3CO --------------> Al2O3 + Al4C3
6Al + 3SO2 ---------------> Al2O3 + Al2S3
Drossing will be more in case of pit furnace melting than induction melting.
As it is obvious from the above reactions that CO & CO2 is source for Dross
formation and it will be available in Pit furnace due to burning of Natural gas.
Dross is heavier than pure metal i.e Al density is 2.7 while Al2O3 density is
3.9. Dross formation always must be kept minimum. There is 80-90% Al in
dross thats why dross comes on top surface otherwise sink. These kind of
inclusions are detrimental to mechanical properties.
H2 gas is soluble in considerable amount in the molten Al. As the
temperature of molten metal increases the amount of H2 solubility also
increases. On solidification H2 solubility decreases and result in the
formation of pin holes and blow holes.
Hydrogen Removal:
Dissolved hydrogen levels can be reduced by a number of methods, the most
important of which is fluxing with dry, chemically pure nitrogen, argon,
chlorine, and freon. Compounds such as hexachloroethane are in common
use; these compounds dissociate at molten metal temperatures to provide
the generation of fluxing gas.
Flux:
A chemical substance used to refine metals by combining with impurities to
form a molten mixture that can be readily removed.
Degasser:
A chemical substance used to remove gas from liquid metal.
Fluxes may also be introduced into the melt by injection in form of a powder
in an inert gas (Argon or Nitrogen) stream.
The simplest flux injection technique is a lance immersed into the melt.
The most effective flux introduction method is injection by rotary degasser.
Cover fluxes
Drossing fluxes
Cleaning fluxes
Treatment fluxes
Cover Fluxes:
Melting point of a cover flux is lower than that of aluminum. Cover flux is
applied on the surface of molten aluminum where it melts forming a
continuous layer protecting the liquid metal from oxidation and absorption of
atmospheric hydrogen. Cover fluxes are composed of a mixture of NaCl and
KCl and may also contain some additions of CaCl2, CaF2 or KF. Fluorides
(CaF2, KF) provide further decrease of the flux melting point and improve its
cleaning ability. The disadvantage of fluoride containing fluxes is harmful
fumes released by the flux at work temperature. Sodium free cover fluxes
are used for melting hyper-eutectic aluminum-silicon alloys (alloys containing
above 12.6% of Si). Hyper-eutectic alloys are modified by phosphorus,
additions of which cause refining of the primary crystals of silicon. Sodium
reduce the refining effect of phosphorus in such alloys.
Drossing Fluxes:
Drossing fluxes promote separation of molten aluminum entrapped in the
dross (sometimes up to 80%). Besides chlorides and fluorides drossing fluxes
contain oxidizing component (KNO3) reacting exothermically with aluminum
when heated. Heat generated by drossing flux improves wettability and
fluidity of the entrapped aluminum, drops of which coalescence and flow
down to the melt. The dross treated by the drossing flux is powdery and dry.
It is easily removed from the furnace. Drossing fluxes helps to reduce losses
of aluminum, which makes it very economically effective particularly in
remelting aluminum scrap (chips, turnings etc.).
Cleaning Fluxes:
Cleaning fluxes remove oxides suspended in the melt. Similarly to the
Drossing fluxes a cleaning flux is composed of mixture of chlorides, fluorides
and an oxidizing agent. Cleaning fluxes generate less heat therefore their
aluminum separation effect is lower. However they possess better ability to
absorb oxides inclusions from the melt.
Treatment Fluxes:
These fluxes enhance the properties of the metal by treatment of metal. eg.
Grain refiner.
Grain refining fluxes composed of salts containing titanium and boron
(K2TiF6 and KBF4). The fluxes cause formation of numerous nuclei of
TiAl3 TiB2 when
aluminum
melt
cools
down.
Aluminum
grains
start
Degassing:
Removal of dissolved gases from the liquid metal is known as degasing.
Degassing of molten Aluminum alloys is a foundry operation aimed to
remove Hydrogen dissolved in the melt.
Hydrogen in aluminum
Degassing by fluxes
Rotary degasser
In the case of diatomic gases such as H 2, O2, or N2, the amount dissolved at
any particular temperature may be expressed by the equation:
atmosphere humidity;
The strength and hardness of some metal alloys may be enhanced by the formation of extremely
small uniformly dispersed second-phase particles within the original phase matrix in a process
known as precipitation or age hardening. The precipitate particles act as obstacles to dislocation
movement and thereby strengthen the heat-treated alloys. Many aluminum based alloys, coppertin, certain steels, nickel based super-alloys and titanium alloys can be strengthened by age
hardening processes.
In order for an alloy system to be able to be precipitation-strengthened, there must be a terminal
solid solution that has a decreasing solid solubility as the temperature decreases. The Al-Cu
(Duralumin is an aluminum alloy of 2XXX group) phase diagram shown in Figure 1 shows this
type of decrease along the solvus between the and + regions. Consider a 96wt%Al 4wt
%Cu alloy which is chosen since there is a large degrease in the solid solubility of solid solution
in decreasing the temperature from 550C to 75C.
Figure 1: The aluminum rich end of the Al-Cu phase diagram showing the three steps in the agehardening heat treatment and the microstructures that are produced.
In an attempt to understand the dramatic strengthening of this alloy, Paul D. Merica and his
coworkers studied both the effect of various heat treatments on the hardness of the alloy and the
influence of chemical composition on the hardness. Among the most significant of their findings
was the observation that the solubility of CuAl2 in aluminum increased with increasing
temperature.
Although the specific phases responsible for the hardening turned out to be too small to be
observed directly, optical examination of the microstructures provided an identification of
several of the other phases that were present. The authors proceeded to develop an insightful
explanation for the hardening behavior of Duralumin which rapidly became the model on which
innumerable modern high-strength alloys have been developed.
They summarized the four principal features of the original Duralumin theory:
hardening is caused by precipitation of the constituent in some form other than that of
atomic dispersion, and probably in fine molecular, colloidal or crystalline form, and
the hardening effect of CuAl2 in aluminum was deemed to be related to its particle size.
Chemical hardening;
Dispersion hardening
Coherency strain hardening results from the interaction between dislocations and the strain fields
surrounding GP zones and/or coherent precipitates. Chemical hardening results from the increase
in applied stress required for a dislocation to cut through a coherent (or semi-coherent)
precipitate. This in turn depends on a number of factors, including:
the extra interfacial area - and hence energy - between precipitate and matrix;
the possible creation of an anti-phase boundary (APB) within an ordered precipitate and
10 nm diameter copper-rich plates on {100}Al planes. These develop into GP2 zones which are
also coherent plates 10 nm thick and 150 nm diameter. These lead to maximum
hardening. Theta' /'/ precipitates then replace the GP zones as semi-coherent particles, a stage
known as over-aging because the hardness begins to decrease. The equilibrium phase CuAl2 has
a tetragonal crystal structure and contributes little to hardness.
In the field of 6000 series precipitation hardening aluminum alloys, for instance, process models
have been able to describe the effect of quench-induced precipitation on structural defects on the
hardening potential during isothermal low-temperature aging.
The fracture toughness of 7000 series alloys has been related to some elements of the
microstructure resulting from the thermo-mechanical treatment in phenomenological models.
The general strategy of process modeling is to use individual equations which have been
developed for well defined experiments and try to integrate them in an integrated manner for the
more complex practical situations where coupled effects operate.
However, a good description is still lacking when several of these phenomena are simultaneously
operative. The understanding of competitive precipitation of several phases (metastable and
stable) on several nucleation sites (e.g. homogeneous and on structural defects) is very limited,
as well as the understanding of the shearing/by-passing transition leading to the maximum
strength for precipitation hardening materials. The strain hardening behavior of materials
containing precipitates (and thus necessarily a solid solution) is poorly understood, and
predicting the fracture toughness in cases where several fracture modes are simultaneously
operating is not possible in the present state of the art.
Experimental Procedure for Precipitation Hardening:
Samples were solution treated at 580 oC for 2 hours and then air
cooled.
Artificial aging was done at 180oC for 1 hour.