The Effect of Electromagnetic Stirring on the Microstructural and Mechanical Properties of A356 Casting Alloy

Aluminium casting alloys, having high strength, high corrosion resistance, high thermal conductivity and low density, are widely used in automotive and many other industrial areas. However, to meet new demands from the industry for superior properties the conventional cast aluminium alloys still need further improvements. In recent years, the desire of new processes to improve the properties of aluminium casting alloys resulted in new researches into high performance and low cost processes such as semi solid forming. Semi-solid forming processes are widely used for Al-Si casting alloys having large eutectic proportions, high fluidity and good castability such as the A356 alloy. In this process the morphology of the primary alpha phase and the formation of thixotropic material structure play an important role. There are several techniques for producing thixotropic materials through degenerating the dendrites and the most effective of them is electromagnetic stirring. In this study, the effect of electromagnetic stirring on the microstructural and mechanical properties during solidification of A356 alloy which has been produced with electromagnetic stirring has been investigated.