Assessment of Some Al Alloy Casting Produced by Special Casting Technique

Abstract

The main objective of this work is to study the enhancement of microstructure & mechanical properties of A356/ZrO2 Metal Matrix nano composites. For completing such study different treatments were executed for the additives at different volume fraction using stir casting technique. Also heat treatment affected the fabricated composites was studied. Recent investigation has-been divided into three parts: Part I: This section describes the effect of using different nanoparticles feeding routes (direct, capsulate & regular) treatments of nanoparticles (as additives) on the microstructure and mechanical properties of A356 alloy. A number of cast samples of A356 alloy were prepared by rheo-casting in a specially designed and built resistance furnace unit allowing feeding ZrO2 nano- particles (30nm) in to the slurry in the semi-solid state with mechanical stirring at constant parameter (temp stirring 595-610°C, stirring speed 670 r.p.m at stirring time 2 minute). Part II: This section presents the effect of different weight% of nano particles addition (1%, 2%, 3%, 4% & 5%) on the microstructure and the mechanical properties of the nano ZrO2 reinforced A356 cast alloy. Part III: This section presents the results obtained in this work for the microstructure and mechanical properties of capsulate feeding 3% ZrO2 nanoreinforced A356 alloy with compare to monolithic cast A356 alloy in T6 heat treated condition. The samples were solution treated at temperature of 550°C for 2 hours, followed by aging at different