Influence of the Volume Fraction Solid on the Properties of Semi-Solid Cast A356 Parts

The New Rheocasting Process (NRC) is a novel semisolid casting technology starting from a fully liquid melt with low superheat, which is poured into steel cups and thereby quenched into the semi-solid regime, and then cooled to forming temperature by controlled cooling. Due to the containment of the semi-solid melt in the steel cop it is not necessary to prepare stable alloy slugs for further handling operations and therefore, possible to adjust the fraction solid to the requirements of the casting. Thin walled castings may require lower fraction solid then thicker walled castings.

This paper investigates the influence of variations in volume fraction solid on the resulting mechanical properties of the NRC parts. Different fractions solid are equal to different slug temperatures during forming and may result in different surface temperatures in the die. This influence was investigated as well.