• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.132-137
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• 2015

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the effects of solution treatment time and Sr-modification on the microstructure and property of the Al-Si piston alloy. It was found that as-cast microstructures of unmodified and Sr-modified Al-Si alloys consisted of a coarse acicular plate of eutectic Si, $Cu_3NiAl_6$ and $Mg_2Si$ phases in the ${\alpha}$-Al matrix but different in size and morphology. Both size and inter-particle spacing of Si particles were significantly changed by increasing of the solution treatment time. After a short solution treatment, the coarse acicular plate of the eutectic Si appears to be fragmented. Fully modified microstructure of Sr-modified alloy can reduce the solution treatment time to shorter compared to unmodified alloy. The maximum of a peak hardness value is found in the very short solution treatment of both Al-Si piston alloys. Compared to 10 h solution treatment, the solution treatment of 2-4 h is sufficient to achieve appropriate microstructures and hardness. The short solution treatment is very useful to increase the productivity and to reduce the manufacturing cost of the Al-Si piston alloys.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.530-540
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• 1994

Aluminium-silicon alloy(JIS AC8A) matrix composites reinforced with SiC particles were fabricated by spray-cast forming process, and the microstructure of powders and preforms produced were studied by using an optical and scanning electron microscopy. SiC particles were co-sprayed by mixed phase injection method during the spray casting process. Most of the composite powders formed by this mixed phase injection method exhibit morphology of particle-embedded type, and some exhibits the morphology of particle attached type due to additional attachment of the SiC particles on the surface of the powders in flight. The preforms deposited were resulted in dispersed type microstructure. The pre-solidified droplets and the deposited preform of SiC-reinforced aluminium alloy exhibit finer equiaxed grain size than that of unreinforced aluminium alloy. Eutectic silicons of granular type are crystallized at the corner of the aluminum grains in the preforms deposited, and some SiC particles seem to act as nucleation sites for primary/eutectic silicon during solidification. Such primary/eutectic silicons seem to retard grain growth during the continued spray casting process. It is envisaged from the microstructural observations for the deposited preform that the resultant distribution of SiC injected particles in the Al-Si microsturcture is affected by the amount of liquid phase in the top part of the preform and by the solidification rate of the preform deposited.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.195-201
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• 2016

The effects of Mg addition on heat treatment and mechanical properties of A356 alloy were investigated. With increased amounts of Mg addition to A356 alloy, the grain size decreased and eutectic Si was refined. And, this process can improve the mechanical properties. Solid solution heat treatment causes the spheroidizing of eutectic Si. In this study, although eutectic Si was refined with Mg addition, solid solution time increased from 2 hours to 6 hours with Mg addition, and aging time also increased, from 4 hours to 8 hours. After heat treatment, Mg2Si remained in a formation of Chinese script. And, Chinese script Mg2Si formed with Mg addition caused a reduction of the elongation of the alloys according to the stress concentration.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.269-277
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• 1998

The crystallization method determines the material quality and consequent device performance. This paper investigates the crystallization of a-Si:H films on various substrate materials and analyzes the crystallization effect with and without using eutectic forming metals. From the examinations of the various substrate materials, a metal Mo was selected for the a-Si:H films growth and subsequent crystallization of it. For a sample without any eutectic metal layer, we observed grain size of $0.8{\mu}m$ after $1100^{\circ}C$ anneal treatment. To reduce crystallization temperature, we used some of the eutectic forming metals such as Au, Al and Ag. Poly-Si films with grain size over $10{\mu}m$ and (111) preferential plains were achieved using a premetal layer of Au at an anneal temperature of $700^{\circ}C$. The various crystallization effects of eutectic metal thickness and type were investigated for photovoltaic (PV) device applications.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.195-203
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• 2003

Hyper-eutectic Al-Si alloy is used much to automatic parts and material for the electronic parts because of the low coefficient of thermal expansion, superior thermal stability and superior wear resistance. In this work, A390 alloy specimens were fabricated for control of the Si particle size by various processes, such as spray-casting, permanent mold-casting and squeeze-casting. To minimize the effect of microporosity of the specimens, hot extrusion was carried out under equal condition. Each specimens were evaluated tensile properties at room temperature and thermal expansion properties in the range from room temperature to 400$^{\circ}C$. Ultimate tensile strength and elongation of the spray-cast and extruded specimens which have fine and well distributed Si particles were improved greatly compare to the permanent mold-cast and extruded ones. Specimens which have finer Si particles showed higher ultimate tensile strength and elongation than those having large Si particle size, and coefficient of thermal expansion of the specimens increased linearly with Si particle size. In case of the repeated high temperature exposures, thermal expansion properties of the spray-cast and extruded specimens were found to be more stable than those of the others due to the effect of fine and well distributed Si particles.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.116-123
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• 1996

The equipment for the horizontal continuous casting was built to produce hyper-eutectic Al-Si bars with a small cross-section of 25mm in diameter. The manufacturing processes including withdrawal cycle and secondary cooling methods were modified to refine the primary and the eutectic Si. The longitudinal casting speeds varied over the ranges of 670-1100mm/min for pure Al, and 200-350mm/min for Al-17wt%Si alloy. Due to the difference of cooling rate in the mould, microstructural asymmetry between the lower and the upper part of bar was observed. Thus, manufacturing processes such as cooling and withdrawal method were optimally combinated to get the homogeneous cast structure. With the increase of casting speed, the primary Si size was refined down to $30{\mu}m$ near the surface, and $80{\mu}m$ in the center of the bar.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.66-71
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• 1994

Optical microstructures and mechanical properties of Na gas atomized Al-20Si-5Fe alloying powder and its hot extrudates were studied on 3 different types of powder size distribution. This powder showed the size distribution of 10~210 $\mu\textrm{m}$. Also the microstructures of $\alpha$-Al, primary and eutectic Si and needle shaped intermetallic compounds were observed by optical microscope. These needle shaped intermetallic compounds were identified as ${\delta}Al_4FeSi_2$- by XRD and EDX analysis. The ultimate tensile strength(UTS) of these alloy extrudates was increased from 324 to 390 MPa with decreasing powder size range from 120~210 $\mu\textrm{m}$ to 10~64 $\mu\textrm{m}$. A value of Micro-vic-kers hardness was simillar to the result of UTS. These extrudates showed better wear resistance than those of Al-20Si-2X(X : Ni, Cr, Zr), although they are insensitive to the size distribution. These results indicate that the presentation of ${\delta}Al_4FeSi_2$ intermetallic compounds contributed to the wear resistance improvement.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.89-96
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• 2000

The effects of modification processing on the refinement of primary Si and the wear behavior of hyper-eutectic Al-Si alloys have been mainly investigated. Refining effects of primary Si in Al-17%Si alloy was more efficient than that of B.390 alloy. Optimum condition of getting the finest primary Si microstructure was when AlCuP modifier is added into the melt at $750^{\circ}C$ and held it at $700^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes. Wear loss in the specimens of as-cast condition decreases as the size of primary Si decreases, in the order of B.390 alloy, B.390 alloy with AlCuP addition, Al-17%Si alloy and Al-17%Si alloy with AlCuP addition. Wear loss in the aged condition of Al-17%Si alloy, B.390 alloy and B.390 alloy with AlCuP addition decreased due to the increase of compressive residual stress in the matrix by the aging treatment. While, wear loss increased in the aged specimens of Al-17%Si alloy with AlCuP addition and Hepworth addition in which compressive residual stress decreases by the aging treatment. Therefore, it is assumed that higher compressive residual stress in the matrix can reduce the wear loss in composite materials such as hyper-eutectic Al-Si alloys.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.148-156
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• 2017

The effects of minor additives on the casting properties of AC4A aluminum alloys were investigated. Measurements of the cooling curve and microstructure observations were conducted to analyze the effects of Ti-B and Sr minor elements during the solidification process. A fine grain size and an increase in the crystallization temperature for the ${\alpha}-Al$ solution were evident after the addition of 0.1wt% Al-5%Ti-1%B additive. The modification effect of the eutectic $Mg_2Si$ phase with the addition of 0.05% Al-10%Sr additive was prominent. A fine eutectic $Mg_2Si$ phase and a decrease in the growth temperature of the eutectic $Mg_2Si$ phase were evident. Fluidity, shrinkage and solidification-cracking tests were conducted to evaluate the castability of the alloy. The combined addition of Al-5%Ti-1%B and Al-10%Sr additives showed the maximum filling length owing to the effect of the fine ${\alpha}-Al$ grains. The macro-shrinkage ratio increased, while the micro-shrinkage ratio decreased with the combined addition of Al-5%Ti-1%B and Al-10%Sr additives. The macro-shrinkage ratio was nearly identical, while the micro-shrinkage ratio increased with the addition of the Al-10%Sr additive. The tendency of the occurrence of solidification cracking decreased owing to the effect of the fine ${\alpha}-Al$ grains and the modification of the $Mg_2Si$ phase with the combined addition of Al-5%Ti-1%B and Al-10%Sr additives.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.61-74
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• 2019

The effects of Sr and (Ti-B) additives on the impact and fatigue properties of recycled (35% scrap content) AC4A aluminum alloy are investigated here. The acicular morphology of the eutectic Si phase of as-cast specimens was converted to the fibrous one with Sr additives. The grain size of the α-solid solution decreased by the addition of (Ti-B) additives. The crack initiation energy (E_i) of the impact absorption energy decreased due to the incorporation of an oxide film and inclusions depending on the scrap used. The modification of the eutectic Si morphology by Sr additives is considered as the main factor of the increase of the average impact absorption energy (E_t). The addition of (Ti-B) additives contributed to an increase in the occurrence of crack deflections due to the refining of α-Al grains, resulting in improved fatigue properties.