Effect of the intensity and frequency of electromagnetic vibrations on refinement of primary silicon in Al-17%Si alloy

Abstract

Electromagnetic vibrations, which are the interaction between a static magnetic field and an alternating electric field, were applied to the structural refinement of Al-17%Si hyper-eutectic alloy. The relationship between the intensity and frequency of the electromagnetic vibrations and the refinement of primary silicon particles is quantitatively investigated. In the frequency range from 10 Hz to 30 kHz, the vibration frequency near 1 kHz was most effective for the refinement of silicon particles, and silicon particles of sizes up to approximately 5 μm were refined at that frequency. The level of refinement increased with increasing the intensity of electromagnetic vibrations. A primary silicon particle was sufficiently refined with a magnetic field intensity of only approximately 1.6 Tesla (T).