Thermal strain in the mushy zone related to hot tearing

A volume-averaged two-phase model addressing the main transport phenomena associated with hot tearing in an isotropic mushy zone during solidification of metallic alloys has recently been presented elsewhere along with a new hot tearing criterion addressing both inadequate melt feeding and excessive deformation at relatively high solid fractions. The viscoplastic deformation in the mushy zone is addressed by a model in which the coherent mush is considered as a porous medium saturated with liquid. The thermal straining of the mush is accounted for by a recently developed model taking into account that there is no thermal strain in the mushy zone at low solid fractions because the dendrites then are free to move in the liquid, and that the thermal strain in the mushy zone tends toward the thermal strain in the fully solidified material when the solid fraction tends toward one. In the present work, the authors determined how variations in the parameters of the constitutive equation for thermal strain influence the hot tearing susceptibility calculated by the criterion. It turns out that varying the parameters in this equation has a significant effect on both liquid pressure drop and viscoplastic strain, which are key parameters in the hot tearing criterion. However, changing the parameters in this constitutive equation will result in changes in the viscoplastic strain and the liquid pressure drop that have opposite effects on the hot tearing susceptibility. The net effect on the hot tearing susceptibility is thus small

Cold cracking in DC-cast high strength aluminum alloy ingots: An intrinsic problem intensified by casting process parameters

For almost half a century the catastrophic failure of direct chill (DC) cast high strength aluminum alloys has been challenging the production of sound ingots. To overcome this problem, a criterion is required that can assist the researchers in predicting the critical conditions which facilitate the catastrophic failure of the ingots. This could be achieved at first glance by application of computer simulations to assess the level and distribution of residual thermal stresses. However, the simulation results are only able to show the critical locations and conditions where and when high stresses may appear in the ingots. The prediction of critical void/crack size requires simultaneous application of fracture mechanics. In this paper, we present the thermo-mechanical simulation results that indicate the critical crack size distribution in several DC-cast billets cast at various casting conditions. The simulation results were validated upon experimental DC-casting trials and revealed that the existence of voids/cracks with a considerable size is required for cold cracking to occur.Materials Science & EngineeringMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin

Cold cracking development in AA7050 DC-cast billets under various casting conditions

Materials Science and EngineeringMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin