Aluminum Alloys, Characterization and Processing: Processing and Heat Treatment II
Sponsored by: TMS Light Metals Division, TMS: Aluminum Committee
Program Organizers: Julie Levesque, Quebec Metallurgy Center; Stephan Broek, Kensington Technology Inc
Tuesday 8:00 AM
March 21, 2023
Room: 32A
Location: SDCC
Session Chair: Warren Poole, University of British Columbia
8:00 AM
The Effect of Octagonal Ingot Shape on AA6xxx Hot Rolling Performance: Joshua Lawalin1; Pascal Gauthier2; Tao Wang2; 1Commonwealth Rolled Products; 2Rio Tinto Aluminum
Edge cracking during hot rolling of high-magnesium 5000-series aluminum ingot presents a challenge to rolling mills, resulting in costly rework, scrap loss, and downtime. This study was performed to identify key process and metallurgical factors that result in edge cracking in DC-cast AA5182 ingots during hot deformation. Microstructural investigation was conducted with optical microscope, SEM-EDS, and XRD to understand the impact of as-cast microstructure, ingot composition, and preheating time on edge crack initiation, propagation, and overall edge crack severity. Sodium is known to be a principal contributing factor to edge cracking, while magnesium and titanium content, within typical limits, does not have a noticeable effect. The inverse segregation zone and meniscus bands are found to serve as potential sites for edge crack initiation and propagation and must be minimized with appropriate casting practices. Ingot preheating practices were found to contribute to incipient melting which is detrimental to edge cracking performance.
8:25 AM
The Low-carbon Production of Wrought Aluminum Alloys based on Post-consumer Scrap: Varuzan Kevorkijan1; Sandi Žist1; Matjaz Godec2; Crtomir Donik3; 1Impol R in R d.o.o.; 2Institute of Metals and Technology; 3Institute Of Metals And Technology
The recycling content of End-of-Life (EOL) scrap in wrought aluminum alloys (WWAs) is still far below the expectation. The main obstacles are the lack of reliable sources and more efficient alloy sorting capabilities. As we have proven on a pilot scale, these obstacles can be effectively eliminated through the advanced traceability of alloys in EOL products at all stages of circular aluminum management. This paper describes the process of ensuring the universal traceability of aluminum alloys by type of alloy, manufacturer, and location in the EoL product. Tracking begins with the disassembly of EoL products into their components or components made from WAAs. The solution enables the consistent separation by alloys and extraction of the highest-quality scrap from EoL products, comparable to the quality of the internal or new industrial scrap. In addition, it provides significant decarbonization of the production and an increase in the added value of the products.
8:50 AM
Reducing the Inclusion Levels in Aluminum: Bader Almuhana1; Abdullah Alqarni; 1Ma'aden Aluminum
Reducing the inclusion levels in Aluminum is quite challenging considering the metal cleanliness methods starting from Tac (treatment Aluminum in Crucibles) until the Aluminum been charge into the furnace which then contain a degasser unit to remove the hydrogen from going into the metals a long with A 94 (deep bed filter). Our study to reduce inclusion level in Aluminum which supply slab the inclusion depends upon the percentage of (CRU, reduction, remelt). Our aim to study the inclusion level with different product mix and minimize the inclusion levels with specified metal input mix (CRU,remelt and reduction metal). This study will be done on MRC slab product. ( Ma’aden Rolling Mill Company ) with slab ingot of 3xxx, and 5xxx, and it has to go through metal cleanliness test such as Podfa, Limca, and Alscan to verify the metal cleanliness. The study will provide the inclusion levels with different product mix.
9:15 AM
Effect of Iron and Manganese Content on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of AlSi11 Alloy in Wheels Produced by LPDC-process: Sergey Matveev1; Dmitry Moiseev1; Tatyana Bogdanova2; Roman Vakhromov1; Aleksandr Krokhin3; 1Light Materials and Technologies Institute UC RUSAL; 2LMZ SCAD LLC; 3JSC RUSAL Management
The increased use of aluminium scrap in the production of cast wheels is considered as a condition to satisfy the global trend for carbon footprint reduction. AlSi11 alloy is widely used in the production of wheels by LPDC-process. Typically, the iron content in this alloy does not exceed 0.19wt.%. The increase of the percentage of aluminum scrap leads to higher iron content in the melt. In the Al-Si alloys, iron tends to form the needle-like phase Al5FeSi, presence of which in the structure can significantly reduce the ductility of the alloy. The addition of manganese as an alloying element is used in practice in order to transform the needle-like phase Al5FeSi into a less harmful “Chinese srcipt”-like phase Al15(Fe, Mn)3Si2. The authors investigated the effect of various Fe /Mn content on the structure and mechanical properties of the AlSi11 LPDC-wheels to ensure the amount of Fe tolerated in the alloy.
9:40 AM Break
9:55 AM
Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion of Unhomogenized Aluminum Alloy 6063 Castings with High Iron Content: Scott Whalen1; Nicole Overman1; Brandon Taysom1; Md. Reza-E-Rabby1; Timothy Skszek1; Massimo DiCiano2; 1Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; 2Magna International, Inc.
Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion (ShAPE) was used to fabricate aluminum 6063 tubing directly from secondary scrap. Trimmings from an automotive manufacturing facility were cast into billets spiked with iron (0.34 wt% Fe) to explore the tolerance of ShAPE to Fe contamination. Billets were extruded in the unhomogenized condition to form tubing with an outer diameter of 12 mm and wall thickness of 2 mm. Tensile properties reached 0.2% YS = 223 MPa, UTS = 251 MPa, and U.E. = 15.5% in the T6 temper. Performance exceeds the ASTM minimum standard and ASM typical values for conventional extrusion of primary aluminum billets in the fully homogenized condition. Microstructural characterization shows extensive refinement of grain size and intermetallic phases along with uniform dispersion. This study suggests that ShAPE extrusion may offer a lower carbon manufacturing pathway through direct recycling of secondary aluminum scrap and elimination of the billet homogenization step.
10:20 AM
Solutionization via Severe Plastic Deformation: Effect on Natural Aging in an Al-Mg-Si-(Mn) Alloy: Brian Milligan1; B. Scott Taysom1; Xiaolong Ma1; Scott Whalen1; 1Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion (ShAPE), a severe plastic deformation technique that is fast and scalable, was used to produce thin-wall tubing from alloy 6082 (Al-0.8Mg-0.9Si-0.7Mn) with in-situ solutionization during processing quickly followed quenching. Quench medium and input material heat treatment were varied and natural aging behavior (T1 heat treatment) was evaluated using tensile testing. As-cast input material was found to have higher strength early in post-ShAPE natural aging and homogenized input material was found to have a more strengthening during natural aging. Water quenching gave both greater strength early in natural aging and more strengthening during natural aging versus air quenching. These observations along with microscopy suggest that 1. air quenching was too slow 2. as-cast material was not fully solutionized but plastic deformation broke up the coarse intermetallic particles, which provided strengthening and 3. homogenized material was solutionized well, which led to good natural aging behavior.
10:45 AM
Manufacture of Nano-to-Micron-scale Tic Particulate Reinforced Aluminium Composites By Ultrasound-assisted Stir Casting: Guangyu Liu1; Abdallah Abu Amara1; Dmitry Eskin1; Brian McKay1; 1Brunel University London
Aluminium alloys reinforced with ceramic particles have been extensively investigated for automotive applications. Presently, growing attention has been drawn to their application within electric vehicles due to their high strength and lightweight. Among various reinforcements, titanium carbide (TiC) is of particular interest due to its superior hardness, high wear resistance, excellent elastic modulus, and relatively low coefficients of thermal expansion. This study aims to explore the effect of nano-to-submicron-sized (<2 µm) TiC particles on the mechanical properties of a commercial 6xxx aluminium alloy by incorporating Al-50TiC master powders. Stir casting with the aid of ultrasound processing was applied to facilitate the mixing and dispersion of TiC particles. Composites with additions of 0.5, 1, 2, and 5wt% TiC were prepared by gravity casting using a permanent steel mould. The effect of the TiC particles on the microstructure, with respect to casting defects, particle distributions, and particle/matrix bonding has been investigated.
11:10 AM Cancelled
Effect of Mn Content on Quench Sensitivity on 6082 Alloys: Emrah Ozdogru1; Aleyna Gümüşsoy1; Hilal Colak1; Isik Kaya1; 1TRI Metalurji A.S.
EN AW 6082 alloys are used in many different areas from construction to automotive industry. EN AW 6082 has one of the highest mechanical properties in the 6XXX group. Since studies on quench rate of this alloy has great importance to observe its behavior in different industrial process conditions. The present work was carried out to investigate manganese (Mn) modification effect on microstructure and mechanical properties, depending on quench rate of this alloy. Low and high Mn contained samples homogenized according to industrial practicals and end-quench test method was applied. Then, samples aged for different durations between industrially choosen temperature levels. Depending on quenching sensitivity, mechanical properties and microstructure differences were determined on minimum and maximum Mn contained aluminium alloys.