Design and Fabrication of Cooling Slope System

Abstract

Currently, the usual methods available for large scale production of semisolid slurry are mechanical stirring, electromagnetic stirring, etc. These suffer from drawbacks like complex design, high cost, structural inhomogeneity and low efficiency. The cooling slope is considered to be a simple but effective method because of its simple design and easy control of process parameters, low equipment and running costs, high production efficiency and reduced inhomogeneity. With this perspective, the primary objective of the present research is to design and fabricate a cooling slope setup for experimental investigations of slurry and cast billets. In most casting applications, dendritic microstructure morphology is not desired because it leads to poor mechanical properties. Forced convection is one of the means to suppress these dendrites which flow away to form slurry. This slurry, consisting of rosette or globular particles, provides less resistance to flow even at a high solid fraction and can easily fill the die-cavity. The stated principle is the basis of a new manufacturing technology called “semi-solid forming” (SSF), in which metal alloys are cast in the semi-solid state. This technique has numerous advantages over other existing commercial casting processes, such as reduction of macrosegregation, reduction of porosity and low forming efforts.