Influence of Rheocasting process conditions on microstructural properties of A356 alloy and slurry yield behaviour

Sammanfattning: Recent decades have attracted board interest in the Rheocasting process. The High demand for lightweight, strong alloys and complex design parameters involves challenges in maintaining cost-effectiveness and energy consumption. A new rheocasting technique based on Rapid Slurry Formation (RSF), called the RheoMetal™ process enables the manufacture of near net-shaped as-cast components. This research aimed to improve the Rheometal™ process by capacitating the Comptech SLURRYMAKER to improve the microstructural properties and estimate the solid fraction and contiguity as per the process parameters. The influence of slurry preparation parameters, solid fraction, and contiguity on rheological behaviour leads to a variety of viscosity, shear stress, shear rate, yield shear stress, and yield point. The study shows a correlation between control variables of the slurry, which are melt temperature, melt mass, Enthalpy Exchange Material (EEM) addition, EEM diameter, EEM stirring speed, impeller stirring speed, and impeller stirring time against solid fraction and contiguity of the A356 alloy microstructure in the state of Semi-Solid Metal (SSM).