Rapid S Process

Semi Solid Metal Casting

Prof. Anders E. W. Jarfors
Dr. Magnus Wessn
Content
What is semi solid metal casting?
Overview/ Historical background
Advantages / Limitations in relation to liquid casting
processes
Overviewof some existing SSM casting processes
The Rapid S process An innovation from J TH
Concluding remarks
What is semi solid metal casting?
Metal shaping processes at various
temperatures
What is semi solid metal casting?
Al
o
o + Si
o + L
L
Metal shaping processes at various
temperatures
What is semi solid metal casting?
Liquid casting
Al
o
o + L
L
o + Si
Metal shaping processes at various
temperatures
What is semi solid metal casting?
Forging, Rolling, Extrusion
Al
o
o + L
L
o + Si
Metal shaping processes at various
temperatures
What is semi solid metal casting?
Semi-solid casting
(Semi-solid forging)
Al
o
o + L
L
o + Si
Metal shaping processes at various
temperatures
What is semi solid metal casting?
Semi-solid casting
(Semi-solid forging)
Al
o
o + L
L
o + Si
Metal shaping processes at various
temperatures
What is semi solid metal casting?
Semi-solid casting
(Semi-solid forging)
Eutectic alloys
Pure metals
Al
o
o + L
L
o + Si
Overview /
Historical background
Couette viscometer trials at MIT 1972
Ref: D.B. Spencer, R. Mehrabian, M.C. Flemings,
Metallurgical Transactions, Vol. 3, no. 7, 1972
Overview / Historical background
1.5*10
3
2.1*10
6
Dendrites Globular grains
Rheological behaviour of a semi-solid
slurry with globular grains
Overview / Historical background
Two main SSM processing routes
Overview / Historical background
Ref: T. Basner, SAE World Congress,
Detroit, MI, USA, 6-9 March 2000,
paper no. 2000-01-0059
Advantages / Limitations of SSM in
relation to liquid casting processes
Ref: M. Shehata, E. Essadiqi and C. Loong,
MTH/ Canmet, Natural Resources Canada,
IMI/NRC, Industry Canada, Presentation at
Windsor Workshop, J une 5, 2001
Interrupted shot experiments
1. Laminar filling - Less risk for air
entrapment
Advantages /Limitations
Experiments using varying
- Solid fractions (0 50 %)
- Flow velocities (0.5 5 m/s)
Advantages /Limitations
1. Laminar filling - Less risk for air
entrapment
Ref: J .L. J orstad, Q.Y. Pan, D Apelian,
NADCA conf., Houston, Texas, 2007
Liquid
Fs = 0.5
2. Reduced solidification shrinkage
Advantages /Limitations
Temperature
V
o
l
u
m
e
T
L
T
S
Liquid
contraction
Solidification
contraction
Solid
contraction
3. Semi-solid cast components can often
be heat treated
HPDC components are normally not heat treatable due to the
expansion of entrapped gas inside the components, which causes
surface blistering at elevated temperatures
Advantages /Limitations
Alloy Yield strength Tensile strength
Al-A356 ~120 MPa ~180 MPa
Al-A319 ~130 MPa ~230 MPa
Al-A356 T6 ~240 MPa ~280 MPa
Al-A319 - T6 ~380 MPa ~440 MPa
4. Process benefits
Higher production rate
Less die soldering problem and less need
for lubrication
Less melt impact on the die inserts during cavity filling
Longer die life
Small holes (using small pins) and more complex geometries
can be cast directly to near net shape
Smaller HPDC machines can be used as less intensification
pressure is needed
Lower environmental impact
Advantages /Limitations
Drawbacks / Limitations
1. Thick ingates are used in order to
obtain sufficient feeding from the
bisquit
Cutting / Sawing of ingates is
needed
Advantages /Limitations
2. Alloys with small solidification
ranges less suitable
3. Strict temperature control is needed in most processes
4. Metal flow needs to be optimized in order to avoid
cold flows / cold seams
Overview of some existing
SSM casting processes
Thixomoulding process
Developed by Dow Chemical / Thixomat and today
commercialized by Husky (USA) and J SW (J apan). (from ~1995)
Mg-alloys
Overviewof some existing SSM casting processes
NRC New Rheocasting process
Developed and commercialized by
UBE Industries (J apan, ~1996)
Al-alloys
Overviewof some existing SSM casting processes
SSR-process
Developed by a US/DoE funded consortiumby Worchester
Polytechnic Institute, Massachussetts Institute of Technology
and Oak Ridge National Laboratories
Commercialized by Idra Prince /Bhler
Al-alloys
Graphite rod
Overviewof some existing SSM casting processes
The Rapid S process
Developed at School of Engineering,
Jnkping University 2004
Spin off company RheoMetal is now
commercialising the process
The process is based on controlling the enthalpy instead of
the temperature when controlling the solid fraction of the metal
slurry. This is a fundamental difference from most other semi-
solid forming processes.
Enthalpy Exchange Material (EEM)
Patented in Sweden, China and South Africa, Worldwide patents pending
The Rapid S Process
Internal cooling
The Rapid S Process
Heat balance during slurry
formation
| |
slurry
S
melt Slurry
melt
melt melt melt melt
f H T T Cp V Q A + = A ) (
0

Energy released when melt cools down and partially solidifies

melt cooling
partial solidification
| | ) 1 ( ) (
0 slurry
S
eem eem Slurry eem eem eem eem
f H T T Cp V Q A + = A
Energy taken up during heating and partial melting of the EEM
EEM heating
partial melting
The Rapid S Process
Lab experiment AM60 alloy
The Rapid S Process
Temperature evolution in melt/slurry (AM60)
230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300 310
618
620
622
624
626
628
630
Time (s)
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

(

C
)
Melting point of AM60 alloy
Liquidus temperature
The Rapid S Process
Rotio o Iolumc =
Iol. otcr mclting
Initiol Iol.
Temperature evolution in melt/slurry
The Rapid S Process
Stenal Rheo1(left) Alloy 6082(right)
Temperature evolution in melt/slurry
The Rapid S Process
Microstructure - A356 Al alloy
The Rapid S Process
Implementation
The Rapid S Process
J arfors, Kainer, Tan, Yong
COSMOS, Vol. 5, No. 1
(2009) 2358
Feature capability fo Rapid S with
Stenal Rheo 1
The Rapid S Process
Porosity HPDC vs. Rapid S
Rapid S
HPDC
The Rapid S Process
On-going research for Rapid S at JTH
Process stabilization for extended alloy range
Stenal Rheo 1 benchmark
6082 and similar lowSi alloys for improved heat
conductivity
Heat treatment behaviour for lowSi alloys
Mg-alloy capability
Process settings for standard casting alloys (AZ, AM
series and mechanical properties testing
Mg-MMC for improved thermal stability and wear
resistance
Rapid S Process
Concluding remarks
Concluding remarks
Rapid S is established for
A356, Stenal Rheo 1
Superior shape capability
High internal soundness better than HPDC and
comparable to other SSM methods
Process stability developed to extend alloy
capability
Low Si alloys for thermal transfer
Light weight alloys including Mg alloys
Concluding remarks