Roll Casting of Al-SiCp Strip

Al-SiCp aluminum alloy has some useful advantages i.e., low thermal expansion, better thermal conductivity and wear resistant. Recently, plates of Al-SiCp with thickness less than 1mm was demanded. The Al-SiCp is hard and brittle. Therefore, only hot rolling was a useful process to make thin plate. In the present study, roll casting of Al-SiCp strip was tried by a vertical type high speed twin roll caster to evaluate energy savings. The Al-SiCp strip, with thickness about 2mm, was cast directly from the molten metal. The particles of SiC were dispersed uniformly. The as-cast Al-SiCp could be coiled. The roll cast Al-SiCp had superior ductility. For this reason, the eutectic Si in matrix aluminum alloy (Al-Si alloy) became fine and globular. Cold rolling could be operated after 1-pass of hot rolling. The 1 mm-thick Al-SiCp plate could be made by one-pass of hot rolling and 3-passes of cold rolling and annealing from as-cast strip.