Jet processing of direct chill cast aluminum ingots

Macrosegregation of solute elements during casting operations has been a subject of observation, discussion, and research for several hundred years. The unique casting conditions found in the Direct-Chill aluminum casting process can lead to significant accumulation and depletion of solute elements throughout the cast product. In particular, the center of ingots are generally characterized by a depletion of up to 20 % of solute elements. In this investigation we confirm the dominant role mobile, solute-depleted grains play on magrosegregation along ingot centerlines. We propose that avalanche events drive the grains from the solidification front to the ingot center. In order to demonstrate and control this preferential settling, we propose the use of a turbulent jet to re-suspend the avalanching grains. An analytical expression is derived in order to optimize the dimension of the jet with the goal of minimizing centerline segregation. We then performed a series of experiments in order to validate the analytical expression across ingot dimensions and alloy families. Our experiments indicate that the use of a properly sized turbulent jet can reduce the degree of centerline segregation by up to 70% from standard conditions.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Wagstaff, Samuel Robert

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Antoine Alla.

• Materials Science and Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/108965

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/108965