Monitoring strain evolution and distribution during the casting process of AlSi9Cu3 alloy with optical fiber sensors

The strain evolution and distribution during an aluminum alloy AlSi9Cu3 casting were monitored with the arrays of optical fiber Bragg grating sensors. A high degree of correlation was found between the solidifi-cation phases of the aluminum alloy and the strain behavior during casting. A gradient strain distribution after solidification, which might be related to the residual stresses, was further revealed. The final com-pressive strain reached -10,000 microstrains due to the shrinkage of the aluminum alloy. A shrink-fit model was applied to theoretically predict the interaction between the embedded fiber and the cast aluminum after the solidification. The good agreement between the theoretical calculation and the experimental re-sults further proved that the obtained strain information with our optical fiber sensors was trustworthy. Our research provides a new perspective to study the solidification process of aluminum alloy during casting. (c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.