Semi-solid slurry preparation technologies and mechanism of microstructure formation were surveyed.A novel method for semi-solid slurry preparation that is self-inoculation method（SIM）was presented

in which self-inoculator（the same composition to that of the alloy melt）was introduced into the melt

and then the melt was poured into a fluid director for further inoculation.Solid-liquid mixed slurry with non-dendritic primary phase can be obtained by controlling alloy melt temperature and partial under-cooling to create amounts of nuclei

and by nucleating with self-inoculation nuclei to generate nuclei with a small critical radius for grain growth based on local under-cooling

flow scouring which enhanced self-inoculation effects and promoted grain multipilication and inhibited grain growth.AM60 alloy was used to conduct series of experiments.The results reveal that semi-solid slurry with approximately 51μm in average size

uniform and non-dendritic primary phase is observed with 11% self-inoculator addition after the melt is processed by SIM at 650℃.