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Structural and crystallographic study on 3004 aluminum alloy ingot by horizontal direct chill casting under combined electromagnetic fields

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2015

Lei Li*
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Processing of Materials, Ministry of Education, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, People's Republic of China
Qingfeng Zhu
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Processing of Materials, Ministry of Education, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, People's Republic of China
Zhihao Zhao
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Processing of Materials, Ministry of Education, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, People's Republic of China
Haitao Zhang
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Processing of Materials, Ministry of Education, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, People's Republic of China
Yubo Zuo
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Processing of Materials, Ministry of Education, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, People's Republic of China
Jianzhong Cui
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Processing of Materials, Ministry of Education, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, People's Republic of China
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: lilei@epm.neu.edu.cn
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Abstract

Effect of combined electromagnetic fields (EMFs) on the structures of a 3004 aluminum alloy ingot produced by horizontal direct chill casting was crystallographically investigated. The results showed that the structure was transformed from a mixture of equiaxed and fine columnar grains to coarse columnar grains with switching off the EMFs. With the EMFs the grain size is small and shows a uniform distribution, whereas without the EMFs it is increased and reveals inhomogeneous distribution on the cross section. Besides, a transition region composed of fine equiaxed grains appeared at the moment the EMFs were switched off (between the mixture and coarse columnar grains). Furthermore, the microstructure transformation is accompanied by a crystallographic orientation change from a preferred <100> orientation to a random orientation, and then to an intense <100> fiber texture. The structural and crystallographic transformations are mainly related to the forced convection in the melt due to the induced Lorentz force by the EMFs.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2015 

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References

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