The inhomogeneity of density and mechanical properties of A357 aluminum alloy in the semi-solid state were investigated.Numerical simulation and backward extrusion were adopted to study the preparation of cup shells.The results show that the relative density of the wall is the lowest in samples,and that of the base is the highest.With increasing the billet height,more time is needed for relative density of the corner to reach the maximum value,and the relative densities in every region improve evidently with increasing the pressure.The tensile stress was simulated to be the largest at the corner,and the hot tearings were forecasted to mainly appear at the corner too.By employing proper billet height and pressure,the extruded samples consisted of fine and uniform microstructures,and can obtain excellent mechanical properties and Brinell hardness.
Tensile properties of as-deformed 2A50 aluminum alloy were investigated in the high temperature solid and semi-solid states. The results show that temperature has almost no effect on the maximum tensile stress between 500 ℃ and 530 ℃, and the maximum tensile stress decreases rapidly when the temperature is above 532 ℃. The ductility decreases with increasing temperature and has an obvious fall when the temperature is above solidus temperature. This alloy almost has no ductility above 537 ℃, and cannot sustain tensile stress above 550℃. A brittle temperature range in which this alloy is prone to form microcracks was derived. The relation between microstructure, fraction solid and tensile properties were also investigated by examining the metallograph and fracture surface morphology of tested specimens, which could provide reference for forecasting the microcracks in this alloy occurring in semi-solid processing.
The semi-solid filling-plastic flowing integrated forging process of semi-solid 6061 Al alloy was simulated by commercial finite element software DEFORM-3D.Temperature,fluid and stress-strain fields were considered in numerical simulation.The simulation results show that the plastic deformation of billet of the ends is higher than that of billet in the straight cylinder.The value of plastic deformation varies with loading mode and plastic deformation fields at the stage of increasing pressure to constant value.When the thixoforging experiments were performed at 590 ℃,15 mm/s of punch velocity and 46 MPa of pressure side urn,it gets the filling wholly and dense internal organization of semi-solid thixoforging parts is gotten.Finite element analysis results are compatible with experimental ones.
The homogenization on microstructure and mechanical properties of 2A50 aluminum alloy prepared by liquid forging was investigated.Wheel hubs were produced using direct and compound loading.The results show that the microstructure and mechanical properties are inhomogeneous in direct forged samples.The microstructure of the wall is coarser than that of the base,and the mechanical properties are lower and some defects are detected at the wheel corner.Using compound loading,the microstructure and mechanical properties of the wall are improved evidently.With increasing feeding amount,the microstructure and mechanical properties become more homogeneous.The defects disappear when the feeding amount is 4 mm.The forged wheel hubs could obtain fine and homogeneous microstructure with grain size of 20-30 μm,tensile strength of 355 MPa and elongation of 10% when the feeding amount is 10 mm.The microstructure and mechanical properties of liquid forged workpieces could be controlled and homogenized using compound loading.
