Effect of Magnetic Field on Solidification Behavior of a MnCu Damping Alloy

Abstract

Preparation of Mn-Cu based damping alloy ingots coupled with strong magnetic fields shows many interesting phenomena on the solidification microstructure and the crystal lattice. In this study, modified M2052 ingots were prepared under different magnetic fields to investigate the bulk solidification behavior by using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Metallographic analysis reveals that the deflection angle of the primary dendrite arm increases with the increase of magnetic field strength. The distribution of chemical composition characterized by X-ray Fluorescence discloses that Mn is enriched while Cu is depleted along the circumferential surface side, and the variation tendency changes from almost a level to a sloping line under applied magnetic field. High magnetic field have altered the orientation of the γ-Mn dendrites from (200) to (111), and the coupling mechanism of alloy solidification with strong magnetic field is discussed based on the experimental results.