Development of a high strength Al-Mg2Si-Mg-Zn based alloy for high pressure die casting

A high strength Al-Mg2Si-Mg-Zn based alloy has been developed for the application in high pressure die casting to provide improved mechanical properties. The effect of various alloying elements on the microstructure and mechanical properties including yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and elongation of the alloy was investigated under the as-cast and heat-treated conditions. The typical composition of the high strength alloy has been optimised to be Al-8.0wt%Mg2Si-6.0wt%Mg-3.5wt%Zn-0.6wt%Mn (Al-11.0wt%Mg-2.9wt%Si-3.5wt%Zn-0.6wt%Mn) with unavoidable trace impurities. The mechanical properties of the alloy were enhanced by a quick solution treatment followed by ageing treatment. The improved tensile properties were at a level of yield strength over 300MPa, the ultimate tensile strength over 420MPa and the elongation over 3% assessed using international standard tensile samples made by high pressure die casting. The microstructure of the die-cast alloy consisted of the primary α-Al phase, Al-Mg2Si eutectics, AlMgZn intermetallics and α-AlFeMnSi intermetallics under the as-cast condition. The AlMgZn intermetallic compound was dissolved into the Al-matrix during solution treatment and subsequently precipitated during ageing treatment for providing the effective improvement of the mechanical properties.The financial support is gratefully acknowledged for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) (Project number: EP/I038616/1), Technology Strategy Board (TSB) (Project number: 101172) and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), United Kingdom

High-Pressure Die Casting: A Review of Progress from the EPSRC Future LiME Hub

This article provides an overview of high-pressure die casting (HPDC)-related research undertaken at the EPSRC Future LiME Hub between 2015–2022. The project aimed to identify the cause of variability in the tensile ductility of die-cast structures, and to develop novel processing techniques to address this issue. Variability in tensile ductility was related to the size of large pores and non-metallic inclusions. It was proposed that these non-metallic inclusions formed during the pyrolysis of commercial plunger lubricants in the shot sleeve, and that these large pores derived from dilatational strains introduced during semi-solid deformation. Processing parameters and die design were found to significantly influence the microstructure of die-cast products, and the subsequent variability in tensile ductility. To close, recent progress on the application of intensive melt shearing to HPDC is reviewed. Intensive melt shearing was found to induce significant grain refinement in both Al and Mg alloys due to the effective dispersion of native oxide particles, and the use of these particles as heterogeneous nucleation substrates. The presence of native oxide particles also enabled the use of novel heat treatment procedures that avoided conventional issues such as surface blistering and geometrical distortion

An epitaxial model for heterogeneous nucleation on potent substrates

© The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and ASM International 2012In this article, we present an epitaxial model for heterogeneous nucleation on potent substrates. It is proposed that heterogeneous nucleation of the solid phase (S) on a potent substrate (N) occurs by epitaxial growth of a pseudomorphic solid (PS) layer on the substrate surface under a critical undercooling (ΔT ). The PS layer with a coherent PS/N interface mimics the atomic arrangement of the substrate, giving rise to a linear increase of misfit strain energy with layer thickness. At a critical thickness (h ), elastic strain energy reaches a critical level, at which point, misfit dislocations are created to release the elastic strain energy in the PS layer. This converts the strained PS layer to a strainless solid (S), and changes the initial coherent PS/N interface into a semicoherent S/N interface. Beyond this critical thickness, further growth will be strainless, and solidification enters the growth stage. It is shown analytically that the lattice misfit (f) between the solid and the substrate has a strong influence on both h and ΔT ; h decreases; and ΔT increases with increasing lattice misfit. This epitaxial nucleation model will be used to explain qualitatively the generally accepted experimental findings on grain refinement in the literature and to analyze the general approaches to effective grain refinement.EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Liquid Metal Engineerin

Grain refinement of deoxidized copper

This study reports the current status of grain refinement of copper accompanied in particular by a critical appraisal of grain refinement of phosphorus-deoxidized, high residual P (DHP) copper microalloyed with 150 ppm Ag. Some deviations exist in terms of the growth restriction factor (Q) framework, on the basis of empirical evidence reported in the literature for grain size measurements of copper with individual additions of 0.05, 0.1, and 0.5 wt pct of Mo, In, Sn, Bi, Sb, Pb, and Se, cast under a protective atmosphere of pure Ar and water quenching. The columnar-to-equiaxed transition (CET) has been observed in copper, with an individual addition of 0.4B and with combined additions of 0.4Zr-0.04P and 0.4Zr-0.04P-0.015Ag and, in a previous study, with combined additions of 0.1Ag-0.069P (in wt pct). CETs in these B- and Zr-treated casts have been ascribed to changes in the morphology and chemistry of particles, concurrently in association with free solute type and availability. No further grain-refining action was observed due to microalloying additions of B, Mg, Ca, Zr, Ti, Mn, In, Fe, and Zn (~0.1 wt pct) with respect to DHP-Cu microalloyed with Ag, and therefore are no longer relevant for the casting conditions studied. The critical microalloying element for grain size control in deoxidized copper and in particular DHP-Cu is Ag

Vav3 oncogene activates estrogen receptor and its overexpression may be involved in human breast cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Our previous study revealed that Vav3 oncogene is overexpressed in human prostate cancer, activates androgen receptor, and stimulates growth in prostate cancer cells. The current study is to determine a potential role of Vav3 oncogene in human breast cancer and impact on estrogen receptor a (ERα)-mediated signaling axis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Immunohistochemistry analysis was performed in 43 breast cancer specimens and western blot analysis was used for human breast cancer cell lines to determine the expression level of Vav3 protein. The impact of Vav3 on breast cancer cell growth was determined by siRNA knockdown of Vav3 expression. The role of Vav3 in ERα activation was examined in luciferase reporter assays. Deletion mutation analysis of Vav3 protein was performed to localize the functional domain involved in ERα activation. Finally, the interaction of Vav3 and ERα was assessed by GST pull-down analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that Vav3 was overexpressed in 81% of human breast cancer specimens, particularly in poorly differentiated lesions. Vav3 activated ERα partially via PI3K-Akt signaling and stimulated growth of breast cancer cells. Vav3 also potentiated EGF activity for cell growth and ERα activation in breast cancer cells. More interestingly, we found that Vav3 complexed with ERα. Consistent with its function for AR, the DH domain of Vav3 was essential for ERα activation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Vav3 oncogene is overexpressed in human breast cancer. Vav3 complexes with ERα and enhances ERα activity. These findings suggest that Vav3 overexpression may aberrantly enhance ERα-mediated signaling axis and play a role in breast cancer development and/or progression.</p

Tiny Medicine: Nanomaterial-Based Biosensors

Tiny medicine refers to the development of small easy to use devices that can help in the early diagnosis and treatment of disease. Early diagnosis is the key to successfully treating many diseases. Nanomaterial-based biosensors utilize the unique properties of biological and physical nanomaterials to recognize a target molecule and effect transduction of an electronic signal. In general, the advantages of nanomaterial-based biosensors are fast response, small size, high sensitivity, and portability compared to existing large electrodes and sensors. Systems integration is the core technology that enables tiny medicine. Integration of nanomaterials, microfluidics, automatic samplers, and transduction devices on a single chip provides many advantages for point of care devices such as biosensors. Biosensors are also being used as new analytical tools to study medicine. Thus this paper reviews how nanomaterials can be used to build biosensors and how these biosensors can help now and in the future to detect disease and monitor therapies

Repeatability of tensile properties in high pressure die-castings of an Al-Mg-Si-Mn alloy

© 2015 The Korean Institute of Metals and Materials and Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht High pressure die-castings of an Al-Mg-Si-Mn alloy have been assessed in terms of the repeatability of the mechanical properties including yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and elongation by the normal standard deviations method and by the Weibull statistical model with three parameters. It was found that the round samples had the maximum Weibull modulus, indicating the best repeatability. The machined samples exhibited the second best of Weibull modulus. Among the square samples, the 2 mm and 5 mm thick samples had the lowest and the highest Weibull modulus respectively, indicating that the repeatability for the castings was influenced by the wall thickness. The microstructural uniformity and porosity levels are critical factors in determining the repeatability of the high pressure die-castings. A less segregation in the microstructure could uniform the stress distribution in the die-castings and a less porosity in the casting could reduce the sources for brittle fracture. These improved the repeatability in casting production.The authors acknowledge the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) in United Kingdom for financial support

Heterogeneous Nucleation and Grain Initiation on a Single Substrate

Recently, we have proposed a new framework for early stages solidification, in which heterogeneous nucleation and grain initiation have been treated as separate processes. In this paper, we extend our atomic-level understanding of heterogeneous nucleation to spherical cap formation for grain initiation on a single substrate using molecular dynamics calculations. We first show that heterogeneous nucleation can be generally described as a three-layer mechanism to generate a two-dimensional (2D) nucleus under a variety of atomic arrangements at the solid/substrate interface. We then introduce the atomistic concept of spherical cap formation at different grain initiation undercoolings (&Delta;Tgi) relative to nucleation undercooling (&Delta;Tn). When &Delta;Tn &lt; &Delta;Tgi, the spherical cap formation is constrained by the curvature of the liquid/solid interface, produces a dormant cap, and further growth is only made possible by increasing undercooling to overcome an energy barrier. However, when &Delta;Tn &gt; &Delta;Tgi, spherical cap formation becomes barrierless and undergoes three distinctive stages: heterogeneous nucleation to produce a 2D nucleus with radius, rn; unconstrained growth to deliver a hemisphere of rN (substrate radius); and spherical growth beyond rN. This is followed by a theoretical analysis of the three-layer nucleation mechanism to bridge between three-layer nucleation, grain initiation and classical nucleation theory