HORIZONTAL DIRECTIONAL SOLIDIFICATION OF ZN-AL ALLOYS

ALICIA E. ARES; SERGIO F. GUEIJMAN; CARLOS E. SCHVEZOV

San Diego, CA, USA

Simposio; 139º TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition. TMS 2011; 2011

TMS

Zinc-Aluminum alloys were solidified in horizontal form and the results obtained analyzed.During solidification the distribution of temperatures were measured by using thermocoupleslocated strategically. From the measured temperatures the following parameters were derived;the local temperature gradient, the cooling rate and the velocities of the liquid and solidus fronts.Comparing the structure of the samples and the values of these parameters it was found that thetemperature gradient reaches minimum values of as low as 1 °C/cm, and velocities of the frontsof around 0.1 cm/s. In addition the grain size and secondary dendritic arm spacing was measuredalong the samples. The spacings and grain sizes are correlated with thermal parameters andcompared with the predictions from available models. The results are presented and discussed inthe frame of the results obtained for other alloys