Grain refinement of tough pitch copper by electromagnetic vibrations during solidification

Abstract

Electromagnetic vibrations, which are generated by simultaneous imposition of a static magnetic field and an alternating electric field, were applied to the refinement of crystal grains of tough pitch copper. The electromagnetic vibrations of the frequency range from 100 Hz to 10 kHz were imposed during solidification of the copper rod. Within this frequency range, the vibration frequency of about 100 Hz was found to be the most effective in refining the copper crystal grains and the average grain size was refined up to 200 urn, which otherwise was around 600 um in a nonvibrated specimen. It was concluded that by the electromagnetic vibration process tough pitch copper could also be refined as well as Al-Si alloys and AZ91D alloys. © 2006 The Japan Institute of Metals.