Deformation behavior of semi-solid forged A356–5TiB2 nano-in situ composites

Abstract

The research work investigates the application of semi-solid metal processing (SSMP) to predict the deformation behavior of semi-solid A356–5TiB2 nano-in situ composites. The semi-solid forging of A356–5TiB2 in situ composites was carried out in three steps. In the first step, cooling slope (CS) casting setup was developed to generate the non-dendritic feedstock of the composites for subsequent thixoforging. In the second step, differential thermal analysis was used to estimate the semi-solid temperature range in order to achieve partial remelting temperatures and solid fraction profiles of the composites. In the final step, the non-dendritic feedstock of the composites was thixoforged with different % reductions ranging from 30 to 50%. It is noted that the semi-solid A356–5TiB2 nano-in situ composites with 40% deformation attained the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 318 MPa, in peak aged condition which is about 110.6% compared to gravity-cast alloy. This is attributed due to the presence of nano-TiB2 particles in the semi-solid forged A356–5TiB2 in situ composite, which clearly indicates the influence of semi-solid forging on the deformation behavior and tensile properties of composites.