The heat treatment cycles that are currently applied to semi-solid processed components are mostly those that are in use for dendritic casting alloys. These heat treatments are not necessarily the optimum treatments. It is shown that a decrease of the solution treatment time at 540 o C from 6 hours to 1 hour does not alter the T4 or T6 tensile properties of the SSM processed A356 alloy. Slightl...

The transport of fluid, heat ,and particles (bubbles and solid inclusions) in flowing molten steel is investigated in steel refining ladles, the continuous casting tundish, continuous casting mold and strand, and steel ingot casting processes. The two-equation k-ε model is used to simulate the turbulence. Multiphase fluid flow is numerically simulated with a Lagrangian-Eulerian approach, an Eul...

In this study, bioactive glass (BG, 45S5) particles were added to a biodegradable magnesium alloy (ZK30) through a semi-solid high-pressure casting process in order to improve the surface biocompatibility of the biomaterial and potentially its bioactivity. The observation of the as-cast microstructures of ZK30-BG composites indicated homogeneous dispersion of BG particles in the matrix. SEM, ED...

Non homogeneous particle distribution is one of the greatest problems in casting Metal Matrix Composites (MMC's). To optimize some of the parameters for uniform particle distribution for batch compocasting the present simulation studies were conducted. The simulation involves visualisation experiments. In the visualisation experiments liquid and semi solid aluminium are replaced by other fluids...

The results of a computational study of feeding and the promotion of feeding by yield improvement techniques is presented. The computer simulations were performed using a commercial solidification software package examining the simple plate-like geometries addressed in the SFSA feeding rules. Solidification criteria from the computer model were used to develop simulation determined feeding dist...