Effects of Cooling Condition on Hot Tearing during Investment Casting

Abstract

In the present study, the effect of cooling condition on hot tearing tendency and hot tearing fracture surface morphology were investigated. Results show that, the hot tear fracture surface characteristics are nearly similar under different cooling conditions. The hot tear surface exhibits two main features; the brittle region and the ductile region. The results also indicate that cooling condition has multifaceted effects on hot tearing phenomenon. Increasing cooling rate increases the thermal gradient, which raises the hot tearing tendency; concomitantly it decreases the grain size and dendrite arm spacing which increases the strength of the material. The occurrence of hot tearing phenomenon under different cooling conditions is discussed and evaluated based on the competition between these opposing factors during the solidification process.