• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.252-259
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• 2021

The magnesium is one of the important alloying elements in the conventional aluminum alloys. The addition of magnesium to aluminum is well known to increase the mechanical strength of the aluminum without the trade-off of the decreased elongation. However, the content of magnesium in aluminum alloys has been limited to be lower than about 5wt.% because of the high oxidation tendency of magnesium element during the manufacturing processes such as casting, hot-forming and post heat-treatments, which can deteriorate the quality and properties of the final products. In this study, new 'ECO-Almag6~9' (containing 6~9wt%Mg) alloys were investigated to be made of the ECO-Mg master alloy, which has been invented to reduce the oxidation tendency of itself. It was successfully demonstrated that ECO-Almag6~9 alloys can be fabricated through the mass-production facilities of DC casting and extrusion routes without the problems of magnesium oxidation. In addition, it was confirmed that the strength and ductility were simultaneously improved due to the addition of high magnesium contents.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.235-240
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• 2021

We present the effect of the critical cooling rate during rapid solidification on the nucleation of precipitates in an Fe₇₅B₁₃P₅Nb₂Hf₁C₄ (at.%) alloy. The thermophysical properties of the rapidly solidified Fe₇₅B₁₃P₅Nb₂Hf₁C₄ liquids, which were obtained at various cooling rates with various sizes of gas-atomized powder during a high-pressure inert gas-atomization process, were evaluated. The cooling rate of the small-particle powder (≤20 ㎛) was 8.4×10⁵ K/s, which was 13.5 times faster than that of the large-particle powder (20 to 45 mm; 6.2×10⁴ K/s) under an atomized temperature. A thermodynamic calculation model used to predict the nucleation of the precipitates was confirmed by the microstructural observation of MC-type carbide in the Fe₇₅B₁₃P₅Nb₂Hf₁C₄ alloy. The primary carbide phase was only formed in the large-particle gas-atomized powder obtained during solidification at a slow cooling rate compared to that of the small-particle powder.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.241-251
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• 2021

7000-series aluminum alloys are noted for their superior strength compared with other Al alloys, and their billets are generally fabricated by direct-chill (DC) casting. Surface defects in a DC-cast aluminum billet are mainly related to exudation and the meniscus freezing phenomenon, which are influenced by alloy compositions, casting speed, and casting temperature. 7000-series aluminum alloys have a wide freezing range during solidification, which makes it easy for casting defects to occur. In this study, we investigated surface defect evolution in casting billets of Al-8Zn-2Mg-2Cu alloy fabricated by a DC casting process. The billets showed "wavy" or "dotted" surfaces. The wavy surface was formed by meniscus freezing at a lower casting speed (200 mm/min) and temperature (655 ℃). In the wavy surface, refined dendritic cells were observed in a concave region due to the constitutional supercooling caused by meniscus freezing. Meanwhile, at a higher casting temperature (675 ℃), the dotted surface was formed by pore formation. In the dotted surfaces in the billet formed at a high casting speed (230 mm/min), an exudation layer was formed by the high metallostatic head pressure. The dotted region and the smooth region had a refined dendritic morphology and a columnar morphology at the exudation layer, respectively. This is attributed to the formation of gas pores in the dotted region.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.505-515
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• 2021

Creep properties of directionally solidified Ni-based superalloy CM247LC under various temperature and stress conditions have been investigated. In the heat-treated specimen, some portion of eutectic γ-γ' remained, and uniform cubic γ' was observed in the dendrites. At low temperature (750℃) and high stress condition, a large amount of deformation occurred during the primary creep, while the tertiary creep region accounted for most of the creep deformation under high temperature and low stress condition. γ' particles are sheared by dislocation dissociated into super lattice partial dislocations separated by stacking faults at 750℃. No stacking faults in γ' were found at and above 850℃ due to the temperature dependence of the stacking fault energy. Raft structure of γ' was found after creep test at high temperature of 950℃ and 1000℃. At 850℃, the deformation mechanism was shown to be dependent on the stress condition, and so rafting was observed only under low stress condition.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.535-542
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• 2021

In this study, to improve the interfacial bond strength of cast iron-aluminum dissimilar materials, graphite was removed to a certain depth from the cast iron surface through de-graphitization heat treatment. As the heat treatment time increased, the depth at which graphite was removed increased, showing a linear relationship between the heat treatment time and depth. Aluminum was filled to a certain depth on the de-graphitized cast iron surface through die-casting method, and no intermetallic compounds were formed on the cast iron-aluminum interface. The interfacial bonding strength showed a value of 90 MPa regardless of the heat treatment time, which is very high compared to the 12MPa bonding strength of the material without de-graphitization heat treatment. This result is thought to be due to the mechanical bonding of the undercut structure as the liquid aluminum, penetrated by the high pressure die-casting process, solidified in the de-graphitized region of the cast iron.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.349-356
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• 2021

Effects of cooling condition after solidification on the microstructure and the mechanical properties of 0.36Mn containing ductile cast iron have been studied based on the minimized addition of Cu and Sn for vehicle component applications with better quality and cost competitiveness. Cu and Sn were selected for additional elements judging from the well-known fact of strong tendency of pearlite promotion followed by the tensile property improvement. After pouring of the Mg treated cast iron melt with various chemical compositions into the block specimens, two ways of post solidification cooling conditions were applied for comparison; both cooling in the mold and cooling in the air after dismantle at 800℃. The pearlite fraction of the mold-cooled specimens was analyzed as 27-44%, with the tensile strength and elongation of 513-568N/mm² and 10.4-14.3%, respectively. Whilest, the air cooled specimens showed the pearlite fraction of 77~85%, with the tensile strength and elongation of 728~758N/mm² and 3.2~6.0%, respectively. It is worthwhile to note that the remarkable improvement of both tensile strength and elongation of the ductile iron was achieved by the present air cooling condition with the minimized combined addition of Cu and Sn to the 0.36Mn containing ductile iron.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.273-281
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• 2022

In order to understand the solidification behavior and microstructural evolution of the Al-Cu-Si ternary eutectic alloy system, changes of the microstructure of the Al-Cu-Si ternary eutectic alloy with different cooling rates were investigated. When the mold preheating temperature is 500℃, primary Si and Al2Cu dendrites are observed, with (α-Al+Al2Cu) binary eutectic and needle-shaped Si subsequently observed. In addition, even when the mold preheating temperature is 300℃, primary Si and Al2Cu dendrites can be observed, and both (α-Al+Al2Cu+Si) areas observed and areas not observed earlier appear. When the mold preheating temperature is 150℃, bimodal structures of the binary eutectic (α-Al+Al2Cu) and ternary eutectic (α-Al+Al2Cu+Si) are observed. When the preheating temperature of the mold is changed to 500℃, 300℃, and 150℃, the greatest change is in the Si phase, and upon reaching the critical cooling rate, the ternary eutectic of (α-Al+Al2Cu+Si) forms. If the growth of the Si phase is suppressed upon the formation of (α-Al+Al2Cu+Si), the growth of both Al and Cu is also suppressed by a cooperative growth mechanism. As a result of analyzing the Al-27wt%Cu-5wt%Si ternary eutectic alloy with a different alloy design simulation programs, it was confirmed that different results arose depending on the program. A computer simulation of the alloy design is a useful tool to reduce the trial and error process in alloy design, but this effort must be accompanied by a task that increases reliability and allows a comparison to microstructural results derived through actual casting.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.271-278
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• 2023

In the present study, A356 melt degassing experiments were conducted under various impeller rotation speed and inert gas flow rate conditions to determine changes in the melt temperature, composition and density during a degassing treatment. The melt temperature was found to decrease gradually as the degassing time increased, but a clear correlation between the impeller rotation speed or inert gas flow rate and the melt heat loss could not be confirmed. Regardless of the impeller rotation speed or inert gas flow rate, the Mg and Ti contents in the A356 melt scarcely changed, even after degassing for more than 10 minutes, while Sr contents decreased at the maximum degassing rate of 70 ppm. From a quantitative analysis of the degassing rate under each experimental condition based on the hydrogen concentration in the melt derived from the melt density and the degassing model equation, the inert gas flow rate was found to affect the degassing rate rather than the impeller rotation speed under the degassing operation condition employed in the present study.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.302-309
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• 2023

In general, castings often have complex shapes and significant variations in thickness within a single product, making grid generation for simulations challenging. Casting flows involve multiphase flows, requiring the tracking of the boundary between air and molten metal. Additionally, considerable time is spent calculating pressure fields due to density differences in a numerical analysis. For these reasons, the Cartesian grid system has traditionally been used in mold filling simulations. However, orthogonal grids fail to represent shapes accurately, leading to a momentum loss caused by the stair-like grid patterns on curved and sloped surfaces. This can alter the flow of molten metals and result in incorrect casting process designs. To address this issue, simulations in the Cartesian grid system involve creating a large number of grids to represent shapes more accurately. Alternatively, the Cut Cell method can be applied to address the problems arising from the Cartesian grid system. In this study, analysis results based on the number of grid in the Cartesian grid system for a casting flow analysis were compared with results obtained using the Cut Cell method. Casting flow simulations of actual products during various casting processes were also conducted, and these results were analyzed with and without applying the Cut Cell method.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.269-278
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• 2013

Recently, fundamental manufacturing industry such as casting foundry, plasticity, welding etc. is rise to concerned. This study is the analysis of using structural equation method in order to verify the significant activation factor of quality management activities and the effect on business performance in fundamental manufacturing industry. To perform this research, we surveyed CEOs, managers, workers working for manufacturing business. We analysed valid 357 questionnaires that we could use for this research using SPSS 15.0 and AMOS 18.0. The results through this research is following. First, we verified the relationship between organizational supports and employee's participation to quality management activity, we could get the result that positive influence on to interrelation. Second, we analysed that organizational supports had a meaningful effect on not process performance but business performance. Third, we found that employee's participation to quality management activity had a significant to business performance, and process performance had a meaningful effect to business performance.