The reheating of the billet in the semi-solid state as quickly and homogeneously as possible is one of the most important aspects. From this point of view, an optimal design of the induction coil is necessary. The objective of inductive coil designsi a uniform induction heating over the length of the billet. The effect of coil length, diameter, the gap between coil surface and billet and axial position of the billet on temperature distribution of billet has been investigated. These design parameters have an important effectiveness on the electro-magnetic field. Therefore, in this study an optimal coil design to minimize electromagnetic ed effect will be proposed by defining the relationship between billet length and coil length. In particular, key point in induction heating process is focussed on optimizing the coil design with regard to the size of the heating billet and the frequency of induction heating system. After demonstrating the suitability of an optimal coil design through the FEM simulation of the induction heating process, the results of the coil design are also applied to the reheating process to obtain a fine globular microstructure. Its considered that the reheating conditions of aluminum alloys for thixoforging and a new CAE model of the induction heating process are very useful for thixoforging practitioners including induction heating ones.

Mg-Zn-Zr ternary alloys containing 6wt% Zn and (0, 0.4, 0.6)wt% Zr, which is added for grain refinement, can be cast into complex shape by squeeze casting. The influence of Zn and Zr as additional elements on microstructure and mechanical characteristics is investigated by OM, SEM, WDX, XRD and microvickers hardness measurement. The microstructure of Mg-Zn-Zr alloys consists of primary ${\alpha}-Mg$ and MgZn eutectic compound between dendrites. The grain size is decreased from $136{\mu}m$ to $97\;{\mu}m$ by Zr addition, resulting in that the hardness is increased from 42Hv to 59Hv. Furthermore, the grain size is changed to $83{\beta}$ and the hardness is increased to 65Hv by additional infiltration pressure. These results indicate that the Zr addition and additional infiltration pressure are effective for grain refinement acting as an important factor to increase the hardness. The increment in hardness by the Zr addition is slightly larger than that by the additional infiltration pressure.

To overcome the undesirable deformation, peeling off and geometrical restrictions which were mainly caused by differences in thermal expansion coefficients during the cladding of aluminum strip and stainless strip, new processing method based on vacuum die casting is designed and implemented in fabricating Fe-17wt%Cr steel (stainless steel). To increase cast-bonding ability, the surface of Fe-17wt%Cr steel is electrochemical etched to have optimum pit size (above 0.2 mm) and pit density (above 30%). The implementation of vacuum die casting by using surface treated stainless steel (Fe-17wt%Cr Steel) produces good trial products having acceptable cast-bonding ability. The enabling conditions for cast-bonding are pouring temperature $690^{\circ}C$, filling speed 30 m/sec and casting pressure $800\;kg/cm^2$. The microscopic observation of cast-bonded Al/Fe-17wt%Cr steel does not show any evidence of intermetallic compounds. The bonding strength of trial products is $150-400\;kg/cm^2$ and this is stronger than conventionally cladded metal having $30-70\;kg/cm^2$.

Hardening behavior and metal-mold reaction of phosphate bonded investments for titanium and titanium alloys were investigated. Alumina and $Y_2O_3-stabilized$ zirconia, which are thermodynamically more stable than Titania, were used as major filler materials. $NH_4H_2PO_4$ was used as binder, and MgO was used as hardening acceleration material. A different composition ratio of binder and hardening acceleration material had effected on general hardening behavior and castings. And adding $YO_3-stabilized$ zirconia to alumina, metal-mold reaction characteristics for castings was evaluated. Considering working conditions and effects on castings, the best composition ratio conditions were both 10:10 and 12:8($NH_4H_2PO_4vs.\;MgO$). On the other hand, increasing the contents of $Y_2O_3-stabilized$ zirconia for filler material, metal-mold reaction layer of titanium castings was greatly decreased.

Most investment castings contain some porosities and microcavities. In this study, we investigated the elimination trends of various internal defects in IN738LC investment castings for industrial gas turbine blade by hot isostatic pressing. The results showed that cylindrical defects which are under $0.6mm{\Phi}{\times}7mm$ size are mostly eliminated and aspect ratio of defects is more sensitive factor than their cross section shape in removing these defects. Increasing hot isostatic pressure and holding time doesn't affect the elimination trend of cylindrical defects over $0.6mm{\Phi}{\times}7mm$ size because first step(plastic deformation) of HIP densification doesn't occur under these HIPping conditions.

Rapidly solidified Mg-Al-Si base alloys containing Ca were obtained by melt spinning. The melt-spun ribbons were aged isochronally or isothermally to investigate age hardening phenomena and microstructural change according to the alloy composition. Age hardening occurred after aging at $200^{\circ}C$ for 1h mainly due to the precipitation of $Al_2Ca$ and $Mg_2Ca$, which have coherent interfaces with the matrix. With the increase of Ca content, the hardness values of the alloy ribbons were increased. Among the alloys, Mg-10Al-2 Si-3Ca alloy showed a good thermal stability at elevated temperature.