Grain Structure Development of C2Cl6-Refined Magnesium Alloy AM60

Abstract

The demand for weight reduction in automotive industry has generated great interest in research and development of magnesium applications, especially for powertrain components. Recently, the squeeze casting process is increasingly used on magnesium alloys mainly because of their great ability of eliminating the porosity in the castings. In this study, the effect of hexachloroethane (C2Cl6) as a grain refiner added into the squeeze casting AM60 magnesium alloys was investigated. The results of thermal analysis and microstructural analysis indicate the occurrence of heterogeneous nucleation of primary magnesium during solidification. The microstructural analysis suggests that the nucleation behavior of C2Cl6-treated AM60 alloy may be attributed to the increase in nuclei and nucleation rate during the solidification of the magnesium alloy.