Evolution of the Solidification Microstructure of Rheocast High Purity Aluminium

Abstract

High purity aluminium has been successfully rheocast using the CSIR-RCS system combined with high pressure die casting. Analysis of the as-cast microstructure by SEM and EBSD revealed the presence of in-grain substructures. These morphological features show that the overall growth mode of the globular grains during rheocasting is planar, but the presence of these features indicates that the solidification mode is cellular at some stages during the slurry production process. Cellular solidification is associated with unstable growth at the solid-liquid interface and is initiated and exacerbated by solute gradients between the melt and the newly formed solid. This high purity alloy exhibits the same cellular growth, indicating that even minor solute variations have an effect on the stability of the solid-liquid interface and, hence, the mode of solidification during semi-solid rheocasting.