Magnetic field-assisted solidification of W319 Al alloy qualified by high-speed synchrotron tomography

Zihan Song, Elodie Boller, Alexander Rack, Peter D Lee, Biao Cai

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Abstract

Magnetic fields have been widely used to control solidification processes. Here, high-speed synchrotron X-ray tomography was used to study the effect of magnetic fields on solidification. We investigated vertically upward directional solidification of an Al-Si-Cu based W319 alloy without and with a transverse magnetic field of 0.5 T while the sample was rotating. The results revealed the strong effect of a magnetic field on both the primary α-Al phase and secondary β-Al5FeSi intermetallic compounds (IMCs). Without the magnetic field, coarse primary α-Al dendrites were observed with a large macro-segregation zone. When a magnetic field is imposed, much finer dendrites with smaller primary arm spacing were obtained, while macro-segregation was almost eliminated. Segregated solutes were pushed out of the fine dendrites and piled up slightly above the solid/liquid interface, leading to a gradient distribution of the secondary β-IMCs. This work demonstrates that rotating the sample under a transversal magnetic field is a simple yet effective method to homogenise the temperature and composition distributions, which can be used to control the primary phase and the distribution of iron-rich intermetallics during solidification.
Original languageEnglish
Article number168691
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Alloys and Compounds
Volume938
Early online date31 Dec 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 Mar 2023

Keywords

  • Al alloys
  • Intermetallic compounds
  • Synchrotron X-ray tomography
  • Magnetic field-assisted solidification

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