Abstract:Al and Mg lightweight alloys are becoming ideal materials instead of steel, while the development and application of integrated die-casting technology also helps to achieve lightweight. Due to the restricted materials available for body structural parts, which is dominated by heat-treated aluminum alloys, the development of heat treatment-free aluminum alloys with high strength and toughness has an important value for engineering applications. Large-scale integrated die-casting technology is in the infancy, and there exists a number of major technical challenges, such as the design of structural parts and connection with the body structure, large-scale die-casting equipment development and intelligent, as well as the development of molds and process. In addition, the integrated die-casting technology of Mg alloy is currently in the research stage, which has great potential for lightweight applications. The die casting forming technology of integrated die-casting Al and Mg alloys as well as large-scale integrated structural components in recent years was mainly reviewed, providing reference for the research and development of integrated die-casting large and complex vehicle body structural components.
Keywords:Integrated Die Casting;Lightweight;Aluminum Alloys
Abstract:Integrated die casting has been successfully applied in the manufacturing of new energy vehicles, leading the manufacturing revolution in the automotive industry in terms of component performance, production efficiency and manufacturing cost. The key aspects of integrated die casting were analyzed, including integrated design, heat-free aluminum alloy, casting technology, machining technology, assembly technology, and testing technology. The current application status of integrated die casting in the automotive field was introduced, and the relevant technical problems were reviewed.
Keywords:Integrated Die Casting;Aluminum Alloy;New Energy Vehicles;Lightweighting
Abstract:With the rapid expansion of new energy vehicle market, integrated die-casting technology has gradually become an important development direction for the manufacturing of body structural components. A heat-free die-casting aluminum alloy with high strength and toughness was successfully developed based on AlSi8 series, achieving high tensile strength and high elongation in as-cast state through fine composition regulation. The simulation card was exploited through fracture tensile test and fatigue endurance test, and the mechanical properties and riveting properties were verified in an integrated die-casting front cabin of new energy vehicle.
Keywords:Heat-free Aluminum Alloy;Integrated Die Casting;Front Cabin Parts
Abstract:Integrated die-casting parts have the characteristics of large projection area and thin wall thickness, which requires large molds and vacuum die-casting technology. Therefore, multiple hydraulic vacuum valves driven by oil cylinders are required. The closing response time of hydraulic vacuum valve in the mold is currently long, while the untimely closing causes feeding of hydraulic vacuum valve, leading to mold failure. Sufficient safety valve closing time can shorten the vacuum pumping time, resulting in an increase in production vacuum degree, thus affecting product quality. Therefore, improving the response time of hydraulic vacuum valve in the mold can reduce mold failures, contributing to production. The design and application of the maximum speed response control of the hydraulic vacuum valve in integrated die casting mold were investigated, achieving the maximum speed response time within 35 ms.
Keywords:Integrated Die Casting;Mold Hydraulic Vacuum Valve;Response Design
Abstract:Integrated die-casting parts have the features of large mold projection area and thin wall thickness, which have extremely high requirements for mold temperature, and exsits problems such as interference in the layout of temperature control equipment and insufficient reserved installation and maintenance space. An integrated die casting mold temperature control system was established to achieve hardware integration and software integration control of multiple temperature control devices, reducing the layout area of temperature control equipment, improving the efficiency of process setting work and process control ability of die casting mold temperature control.
Keywords:Integrated Die Casting;Mold Temperature Control;System Design;Mold Cooling;Mold Heating
Abstract:Aiming at the problems such as insufficient acquisition accuracy and monitoring range of die temperature, fuzzy image and interference of die temperature during large-scale integrated die casting production process, the design and application of integrated die temperature monitoring system based on die temperature monitoring technology were explored. According to the design verification, the mold temperature monitoring system was selected and designed reasonably, and real-time monitoring and data collection of the mold temperature were realized, improving the production efficiency of large-scale integrated die casting.
Keywords:Integrated Die Casting;Mold Temperature Monitoring;System Design;Thermal Imaging
Abstract:Centered on influencing of elongation on high vacuum die-casting structural components during the performance testing process, mechanical properties of flat plate molds, test bar molds, and structural components were investigated in depth. Toughening effects of composition on heat-free alloys were explored, and the significant effects of sampling methods and structural design on mechanical properties of the alloy were emphasized. Key factors such as specimen type and gauge size of aluminum alloys with high strength and toughness during testing process were analyzed, providing testing methods and suggestions for obtaining ideal properties. In addition, the fluctuation deviation between body sampling and ideal properties of traditional AlSi10MnMg heat treated materials and heat-free materials with high strength and toughness were analyzed comparatively.
Keywords:High-strength and Toughness;Heat-free Aluminum Alloy;Sampling Method;Mechanical Properties
Abstract:The composition characteristics of aluminum alloy with high strength and toughness at home and abroad were comprehensively analyzed, and the classification of heat-free aluminum alloy was systematically clarified. The mechanical properties of typical AlSi7 and AlSi9 series heat-free materials in as-cast state were deeply explored, and key properties such as hardness, bending angle, and short-term thermal stability were analyzed. The actual application of heat-free alloys in large structural components was summarized. The future development direction of die cast aluminum alloy with high strength and toughness was prospected based on current technological development trends.
Keywords:Heat-free Aluminum Alloy;Integrated Die Casting;High Strength and Toughness;Mechanical Properties
Abstract:The rapid development of new energy vehicles promotes the development of aluminum alloy die castings towards directions of large-scale, integrated, and lightweight. The production of integrated die castings should solve the problem of increased demand for clamping force caused by excessive product size, temperature balance of mold caused by excessively long casting process, excessive production pace, deformation, low quality of aluminum liquid caused by insulation furnace limitations as well as soup feeding efficiency. In this case, solutions to integrated die-casting unit equipment were proposed, including die-casting unit layout, mold spray lubrication, aluminum liquid supplement, mold temperature balance control, and control technology of die-casting ultra-high vacuum.
Keywords:Integrated Die Casting;Unit Equipment;Unit Layout
Abstract:Cu-based friction materials with different particle sizes of Ni powders (425 μm, 150 μm, 75 μm, 38 μm) were fabricated by powder metallurgy.The microstructure, density, hardness, porosity, friction and wear properties of materials were investigated.The results indicate that the Ni particles with small size can increase the contact area with Cu matrix, enhancing the solid solution strengthening effect during sintering.The smaller the size of Ni particles, the better the sintering effect, and the higher hardness enhancement. With the particle size of Ni reducing from 425 μm to 38 μm, the density of material is increased by 0.37 g/cm3, the porosity is reduced to 5.3%, and the hardness is increased by 7.96 HB. However, the friction coefficient curve reaches the maximum value at 75 μm, where the wear amount is the minimum value. With the further reducion of particle size, the friction coefficient is decreased since clamping force of materials to hard particle becomes stronger. During the braking process, the shedding of hard particle become difficult due to the excessive hardness during the friction process, reducing the friction coefficient.
Keywords:Cu-based Powder Metallurgy;Friction Material;Ni Particle Size;Friction and Wear
Abstract:B4C reinforced Al/Mg layered composites(B4C@Mg/Al-MIL)were fabricated with AZ31 foil, Al powder and B4C powder as raw materials. Effects of hot-pressing temperature and B4C content on microstructure and mechanical properties of the composites were investigated and strengthening mechanism were described. The results indicate that the optimal performance is achieved with 40% B4C content in the mixed powder, where the bending strength is 347 MPa, specific strength is 192 kN·m/kg, and the impact toughness is 19 J/cm2, which are greatly enhanced compared to the matrix (Mg/Al-MIL), while tensile strength reaches 212 MPa. B4C particles promote the brittle phase to break and absorb energy, and induce the formation of multiple tunnel cracks through load transfer, improving the negative impact of brittle intermetallic compounds on laminated composites.
Abstract:The current research status on types, formation mechanisms, and suppression methods of cracks in laser additive manufactured Mar-M247 and CM247LC superalloys was comprehensively reviewed. The development trend of crack-free Mar-M247 and CM247LC alloys by laser additive manufacture was prospected from aspects of parameter optimization, field assistance and material development. The application of advanced parameter statistics to accelerate process screening, the design of more flexible preheating methods, and the development of novel printing materials enabled by artificial intelligence can be an important development direction.
Abstract:Aiming at the complexities of diverse casting surface defect detection objects, ambiguous targets, and varying features, an enhanced YOLOv5-based model for casting surface defect detection was proposed. The data samples were subjected to flipping, rotation, and color adjustment techniques, alongside the utilization of 9-Mosaic data enhancement to broaden sample pool and enrich characteristics. CSPDarknet53 module was replaced with C2f module, aiming to enrich gradient information within lightweight network. CA attention mechanism was introduced to enhance generalization capabilities of model. Additionally, coupled-head module was replaced with decoupled-head module, enabling a faster fitting process. Consequently, the modified CCD-YOLOv5 model exhibits an increasing defect detection accuracy from 78.2% to 82.9%, and recall rate is enhanced from 74.3% to 76.7%, while mAP@0.5 value is enhanced from 76.4% to 81.0%. The results indicate that the modified model effectively enhances overall recognition performance.
Abstract:Block UI Styler block style editor was utilized to design the pre-processing wizard interface based on NX10.0 platform, and the development of post-processing defect display and overflow groove interface was completed. Using the secondary development tool, the program of NX mesh segmentation by slice method was written. The simulated flow field file was traversed to look up the enrolling defects, and the surface related API function of UFUN was adopted to complete the post-processing display of enrolling and porosity defects, achieving the numerical simulation system integration of die casting. The NX expression technique was applied to create a parametric model of overflow groove as well as corresponding expression. The overflow groove location was obtained by gravity center projection of defect, and the rapid modeling of overflow groove was realized. The application example of shell die casting indicates that the system simplifies the simulation steps, and improves the efficiency of product development, which is of practical value.
Abstract:TC4p/ZK60 magnesium matrix composites were prepared by melt stirring casting, and effects of extrusion temperature on microstructure and properties of TC4p/ZK60 magnesium matrix composites were investigated. The results indicate that a portion of TC4p is dissolved during the process, and partial Ti and V elements are diffused into Mg matrix, which fail to form new phases with the elements in matrix. Zn element tends to accumulate at the interface between TC4p particles and the substrate to generate a large number of fine MgZn2 phase. After extrusion, partial recrystallization occurs inside the composites, and the degree of recrystallization around the particles varies with the extrusion temperature, exhibiting a higher degree of recrystallization along the extrusion direction than that of ones along perpendicular direction. Within 200~300 ℃, the degree of recrystallization of the composites and grain size are increased as extrusion temperature increases, leading to a reduction in strength and rise in elongation. When the extrusion temperature is 200 oC, the tensile strength, yield strength and elongation of TC4p/ZK60 composites reach 394.6 MPa, 353.6 MPa and 2.8%, respectively.
Abstract:Comparative specimens of GH3625 superalloy were manufactured by laser selective melting technology, and eight pore defects were prefabricated in the interior. The influence of different radiation directions on detection sensitivity of internal pore defects was investigated. The location, morphology, and size of internal pores were obtained using 225 kV micro-CT, and results indicate that sizes of all pore are larger than the designed ones. The No.2 pore was extracted and a 3D model in STL format was exported, and a new defect detection model was constructed combined with the sample model. CIVA software was utilized to simulate the X-ray DR imaging under different radiation directions, and contrast-to-noise ratio of pore defects under different radiation directions was analyzed to quantitatively evaluate the effect of radiation direction on detection sensitivity of pore defect. The results reveal that various CNR values of No.2 pores are obtained along different radiation directions, reaching the maximum at 10° and the lowest at 230°, indicating the significant impact of radiation direction on detection sensitivity of pore defect.
Keywords:Additive Manufacturing;Pore;Micro Computed Tomography;Contrast-to-noise Ratio
Abstract:Effects of Mg content on microstructure, thermal conductivity and hardness of as-cast and T6 heat-treated Al-10Si-xMg alloys prepared by spray ejection were investigated. The results indicate that Mg inhibits the formation of dendrites and promotes spheroidization for α-Al grains, and reduces the segregation of eutectic Si, distinctly improving homogeneity of eutectic Si phase in T6 heat-treated alloys. The optimization of eutectic Si can reduce electron scattering and effect of Mg solution on electron scattering, leading to a high electron mobility of 399.2 cm2/(V∙s) for the T6 alloys with Mg content of 0.4%, and thermal conductivity is 172.4 W/(m∙K), which is decreased by 5.5% compared to that of Al-10Si alloy. Meanwhile, the micro-hardness is significantly enhanced due to strengthening of eutectic Si and Mg2Si phase, and a large Vickers hardness of 1.13 GPa is achieved for T6-treated specimens with Mg content of 0.4%, which is increased by 126% compared to that of Al-10Si alloy. The results reveal that the thermal conduction and mechanical properties of Al-10Si-xMg alloys can be synergistically regulated by tailoring Mg content, resulting in excellent comprehensive performance.
Abstract:In order to explore the relationship between welding speed and the process or performance of 7075 aluminum alloy friction stir welding, friction stir welding (FSW) was carried out on 7075 aluminum alloy under the rotation speed of 300 r/min and welding speed of 100 mm/min, 120 mm/min and 150 mm/min, respectively. Effects of different welding speeds on microstructure, mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of welded joints were analyzed by means of optical microscopes, universal testing machines, scanning electron microscopes, contact angle measurement and electrochemical workstations. The results indicate that with the increase of welding speed, the grain size of stir zone (SZ) and thermo mechanical affected zone (TMAZ) becomes smaller. Under the constant welding process parameters, the grain size of TMAZ on the advancing side is smaller than that of one on the retreating side. With welding speed rising from 100 mm/min to 150 mm/min, the tensile strength and elongation of the joint is firstly increased and then decreased, and tensile strength reaches the maximum of 382.7 MPa at 120 mm/min, which is 70% of the base metal (550 MPa). As the welding speed increases, the contact angle of the stir zone presents a trend of increasing firstly and then decreasing, and the corrosion resistance also shows a similar trend. Under the process parameters of 300 r/min and 120 mm/min, the corrosion resistance is desirable, where the contact angle and corrosion potential of the stir zone reach maximum values, which are 87.996°and -0.74 V, respectively, and self corrosion current density of 4.0×10-6 A/cm2 can be obtained.
Abstract:Ni-based CM247LC superalloy specimen was directionally solidified using Bridgman method with pulling speed of 2.5 mm/min to investigate the microstructure evolution along solidification direction. The microstructure and performance of as-cast specimen were characterized by stereomicroscope (SM), metallurgical microscope (OM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy spectrometer (EDS), as well as thermodynamic calculation software JMatPro and casting simulation software ProCAST. The results indciate that the competitive growth of columnar grains mainly occurs in the range of height below 60 mm from the water-cooling plate. The variation of dendrite arm spacing mainly depends on the axial temperature gradient and variation of growth rate, which gradually slows down with the distance from water-cooling plate increasing. The as-cast microstructure is composed of γ/γ' eutectic and MC carbides in addtition to γ dendrites, of which the size variation law is similar to that of dendrite arm spacing.
Abstract:The precipitated phase structure of Al-Mg-Si-Ag alloy was systematically investigated by first-principles calculation and spherical aberration corrected transmission electron microscopy in aspects of formation enthalpy, charge density and atomic scale microstructure. The results indicate that the stability of β″ phase is decreased after Ag microalloying, and Ag atoms tend to segregate at the β″ phase/matrix interface, which is mainly attributed to the electron grabbing effect of Ag. Ag microalloying is beneficial to the structural stability of β′ phase. Ag atoms can enter the interior of β′ phase, possibly occupying the Si1 and Si2 positions, and the formation enthalpy is lower than that of β″ phase, promoting the transformation of β″ phase into β′ phase, which is related to the strong covalent bond between Ag-Al atoms. Ag microalloying is adverse to the structural stability of β phase, which results from the weak bond strength between Ag-Mg atoms.
Abstract:The integrated die casting was used for the crankcase of agricultural cultivator engines to achieve product functional integration and lightweight. Due to the large size of casting and uneven wall thickness, the bottom surface of the casting during the molding process reveal more serious cold shut defects, and mold sticking phenomenon occurrs in some region. To eliminate these defects, Cast Supre software was used to analyze the die-casting process and optimize the design of the gating and exhaust system of the original plan. The auxiliary inner gate was introduced in the middle of the casting to increase the filling temperature of the bottom surface of the casting. Finally, the product qualification rate reached up to 97% by new scheme.
Keywords:Integrated Die-casting;Cold Shut Defects;Gating and Exhaust System
Abstract:The effects of different pulsed magnetic field process parameters on the solidification microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg-4Y-2.5Nd-0.5Gd-0.5Zr alloy were investigated by OM, SEM, XRD, EDS and universal tensile testing machine. The results indicate that the pulsed magnetic field can effectively improve the solidification structure and mechanical properties of Mg-4Y-2.5Nd-0.5Gd-0.5Zr alloy. In the range of 0~300 V, 0~10 Hz and 200~600 ℃, the grain size of Mg-4Y-2.5Nd-0.5Gd-0.5Zr alloy is gradually decreased with the increase of pulse voltage, and then increased with the increase of pulse frequency and mold temperature, where the tensile strength and elongation are gradually increased with the increase of pulse voltage, and first increased and then decreased with the increase of pulse frequency and mold temperature. With the pulse voltage of 300 V, the pulse frequency of 5 Hz and the mold temperature of 400 ℃, the grain size of the alloy reaches a minimum value of 41.66 μm, which is 18.82% smaller than that of the untreated alloy. At the same time, the tensile strength and elongation of the alloy reach the maximum value of 184.88 MPa and 4.67%, respectively, which are 10.2% and 45.94% higher than that of the untreated alloy. The optimal pulsed magnetic field treatment process parameters of Mg-4Y-2.5Nd-0.5Gd-0.5Zr alloy are presented as follows: pulse voltage of 300 V, pulse frequency of 5 Hz, mold temperature of 400 ℃.
Keywords:Pulsed Magnetic Field;Mg-4Y-2.5Nd-0.5Gd-0.5Zr Alloy;Solidified Microstructure;Mechanical Properties
Abstract:The hot compression test was conducted on 6451 aluminum alloy by Gleeble-3500 thermal simulation test machine to investigate relationship between hot compression flow stress and strain of alloy under the deformation temperatures of 350~560 ℃ and strain rate of 0.01~20 s-1. The processing map was established and optimal hot process window was determined. Furthermore, hot deformation mechanism was explored by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The results indicate that the flow stress of 6451 alloy exhibits positive strain rate sensitivity and negative temperature sensitivity. Under lower temperature and strain rate, strain is concentrated at the center, and great difference between the center and surface leads to the flow instability. Under the condition of 1~20 s-1 and 350~480 ℃ or 0.1~10 s-1 and 480~560 ℃, 6451 alloy exhibits excellent hot processing performance. With lower deformation temperature and higher strain rate, the soft mechanism of 6451 alloy is characterized by dynamic recovery. With the increase of temperature and decrease of strain rate, the fraction of small angle grain boundary is decreased and that of large angle grain boundary is increased. Meanwhile, subcrystalline size is increased, and recrystallized grains can be observed, where the soft mechanism is converted from dynamic recovery to the co-exist of dynamic recovery and recrystallization.
Abstract:The initial complex stator manufactured by parting technique of core assembly has the problems of unstable dimensions of blades and low cleaning efficiency. By analyzing the structural feature of stator blade and combining with the die structure of core puller with loose pieces, the parting technique of blade core of stator was modified, and the core with integral parting technique was designed. The above problems have been thoroughly solved.