Abstract:Significant progress has been made in recent years in understanding and modelling the rheology of semi-solid metals. These models show the effects of the microstructure in terms of size and morphology of globules on the material response. More recently it has been shown that semi-solid metals can behave as compacted granular materials such as sand. A particular signature of such deformation is that the deformation becomes concentrated into shear bands which are 10−20 grains wide. Such bands have also been observed in a range of cast products. Recently, it has been clearly shown that shear bands in high pressure die cast (HPDC) products are also the results of Reynolds dilatancy. Shear bands are also known to be a common feature in semi-solid metal products. The segregation banding in semi-solid metal (SSM) material and its dependence of plunger velocity were investigated. Shaped castings were made with the RHEOMETAL™ process with a range of different plunger velocities. The microstructural characteristics were investigated, with a particular emphasis on shear bands. It is shown that ingate velocities influence the location and characteristics of the shear bands.

Key words: rheocasting; shear bands; segregation; Al-alloys; RHEOMETAL™