A self-developed forced convection rheoforming （FCR） machine for the preparation of light alloy semisolid slurry was introduced. The microstructure characteristics of 7075 aluminium alloy semisolid slurry at different stirring speeds prepared by the FCR process were analyzed. The experimental results suggest that with the increase of the stirring speed, the mean grain size of the semisolid decreases and the shape factor as well as the number of primary grains increase. Meanwhile, the preparation process of semisolid slurry was numerically simulated. The flow characteristics of the melt in the device and the effect of the stirring speed on temperature field and solid fraction of the melt were investigated. The simulated results show that during the preparation process of semisolid slurry, there is a complex convection within the FCR device that obviously changes the temperature field distribution and solid fraction of the melt. When the convection intensity increases, the scope of the undercooling gradient of the melt is reduced and temperature distribution is improved.
Semi-solid 7075 Al slurry was prepared by inverted cone-shaped pouring channel process （ICSPC） and temperature homogenization （TH） treatment was combined to make the slurry uniform and have a controllable solid fraction suitable for the follow-up rheocasting. The influence of cooling rate on the microstructure evolution of primary α（Al） during TH treatment was investigated. The results show that as the cooling rate of the slurry after being prepared reduces, the growth of primaryα（Al） in the slurry tends to be nearly spherical and the uniformity of the organization is also enhanced. This may be due to the fact that lower cooling rate plays an important role in achieving the uniformity of temperature and composition in the remaining liquid, which is crucial to the formation of the spherical and homogeneous microstructure. However, a too low cooling rate will lead to a significant increase in grain growth time, which makes too coarse grains and more particles coalesce, so a certain abnormal growth of grain appears and the shape factor decreases slightly.
An innovative one-step semi-solid processing technique of A356 Al alloy,the serpentine channel pouring rheo-diecasting process （SCRC）,was explored.The mechanical properties and microstructures of the tensile samples made by the SCRC technique were tested in the as-cast and T6 heat treatment conditions.The experimental results show that the as-cast ultimate tensile strength can reach about 250MPa and the elongation is 8.6%？13.2%.The ultimate tensile strength can increase approximately 30% higher than that of the as-cast one but there is some slight sacrifice of the plasticity after T6 heat treatment.Under these experimental conditions,the semi-solid A356 Al alloy slurry with primary α1（Al） grains,which have the shape factor of 0.78？0.89 and the grain diameter of 35？45μm,can be prepared by the serpentine channel pouring process.The primary α2（Al） grains are very fine during the secondary solidification stage.Compared with the conventional HPDC process,the SCRC process can improve the microstructures and mechanical properties of the tensile test samples.The advantages of the SCRC process include easily incorporating with an existing HPDC machine,cancelling the preservation and transportation process of the semi-solid alloy slurry,and a higher cost performance.
