Effect of original microstructures on microstructural evolution of A2017 semi-solid alloy billets during reheating

The microstructural evolution of the A2017 semi-solid alloy billets provided with rheocasting and extruding/extending forming by shearing-cooling-rolling(SCR) technology during reheating in semi-solid state was investigated. The microstructural differences and their generation causes for both billets were also analyzed. The results show that during reheating, the grains of rheocasting billets grow up and spheroidize gradually with the prolongation of isothermal holding time, the eutectic liquid phase at low melting point forms mainly among the grains. However, the grains of the extruding/ extending forming billets grow up abnormally through grain coalescence in the initial stage of the reheating, the entrapment of large amount of liquid within grains occurs, and the grain sizes in the reheating billets are coarse and inhomogeneous. Compared with extruding/ extending forming billets, rheocasting billets have smaller and uniform grains in reheating microstructure and can rapidly form liquid phase among grains. Therefore, rheocasting billets are more suitable for the semi-solid forming than the extruding/ extending forming billets.