Apparent Viscosity and Rheological Behavior of Aluminum-Alloy Slurry Containing Nano-Sized SiC Particles

Abstract

The apparent viscosity and rheological behavior of nanoSiCP/Al-5Cu composites were studied by using a high temperature coaxial rotating cylinder viscometer. The results show that mass fraction of nanoSiCP is an important factor for apparent viscosity of the nanoSiCP/Al-5Cu composites, and there is a great enhancement of apparent viscosity of the slurry with the increase of nanoSiCp content. It can attribute to the viscous force between nanoSiCp and matrix alloy melt above the liquidus. The increased amplitude of apparent viscosity in semi-solid state is far less than those in liquid state with the increase of mass fraction of nanoSiCp. The apparent viscosities of the composites reinforced with 0.5%, 1%, 1.5% and 2% nanoSiCp at 700°C were 24.78%, 95.25%, 160.29% and 228.62% higher than that of Al-5Cu alloy, respectively. Besides, the rheological model of nanoSiCP/Al-5Cu composites was established based on the fitting curve, which can precisely describe the relationship between the apparent viscosity of nanocomposites slurry and nanoSiCp mass fraction.