Rheological behavior of semi-solid 7075 aluminum alloy at steady state

The further application of semi-solid processing lies in the in-depth fundamental study like rheological behavior. In this research, the apparent viscosity of the semi-solid slurry of 7075 alloy was measured using a Couette type viscometer. The effects of solid fraction and shearing rate on the apparent viscosity of this alloy were investigated under different processing conditions. It can be seen that the apparent viscosity increases with an increase in the solid fraction from 10% to 50%(temperature 620 oC to 630 oC) at steady state. When the solid fraction was fi xed, the apparent viscosity can be decreased by altering the shearing rate from 61.235 s-1 to 489.88 s-1 at steady state. An empirical equation that shows the effects of solid fraction and shearing rate on the apparent viscosity is fi tted:. The microstructure of quenched samples was examined to understand the alloy’s rheological behavior.