| The recent advances in scientific and engineering tools have allowed researchers to integrate more science into manufacturing, leading to improved and new innovative processes. As a result, important accomplishments have been reached in the area of designing and engineering new materials for various industrial applications. This subject is of critical significance because of the impact it could have on the manufacturing industry. In the casting industry, obtaining the desired microstructure and properties during solidification may reduce or eliminate the need for costly thermo-mechanical processing prior to secondary manufacturing processes.; Several techniques have been developed to alter and control the microstructure of castings during solidification including semi-solid processing, electromagnetic stirring, electromagnetic vibration, and mechanical vibration. Although it is established that mold vibration can significantly influence the structure and properties of castings, however, most of the studies are generally qualitative, limited to a small range of conditions and no attempts have been made to simulate the effect of vibration on casting microstructure. In this work, a detailed experimental and numerical investigation is carried out to advance the utilization of mold vibration as an effective tool for controlling and modifying the casting microstructure.; The effects of a wide range of vibration amplitudes and frequencies on the solidification kinetics, microstructure formation and mechanical properties of Al-Si alloys are examined. Results show strong influence of mold vibration on the resulting casting. The presence of porosity was significantly reduced as a result of mold vibration. In addition, the changes in microstructure and mechanical properties can be successfully represented by the changes in solidification characteristics. Increasing the vibration amplitude tends to reduce the lamellar spacing and change the silicon morphology to become more fibrous. The corresponding changes in mechanical properties suggest that ductility is more influenced by vibration than the tensile strength and can be increased by as much as 100% under certain conditions. The increase in ductility is believed due to structure refinement. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
