Research & Development

February 2010

Evolution of microstructure in
centrifugal cast Al-Cu alloy
*Sui Yanwei1, 2, Li Bangsheng2, Liu Aihui3, Guo Jingjie2 and Fu Hengzhi2
(1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, Jiangsu, China; 2.
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, Heilongjiang, China; 3. Department of
Mechanical Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai'an 223003, Jiangsu, China)

Abstract: In this research, the effects of centrifugal radius and mould rotation speed on microstructure in
centrifugal-cast Al-Cu alloy have been investigated. The results show that, with increase of the centrifugal radius
or mould rotation speed, the grain size of centrifugal-cast Al-Cu alloy decreases gradually, while the content of
white phases containing the Al2Cu precipitated from α-phase, divorced eutectic and regular eutectic microstructure
increases, leading to higher Cu macrosegregation. The variation level of microstructure in centrifugal-cast Al-Cu
alloy at 600 rpm of mould rotation speed is greater than that at 300 rpm.

Key words: centrifugal casting; Al-Cu alloy; microstructure

CLC number: TG146.2+1 Document code: A Article ID: 1672-6421(2010)01-043-04

T he microstructure of castings is of great importance

due to its role in mechanical properties. In general,
grain refining methods currently available include change in
laws of microstructure in centrifugal-cast Al-Cu alloy have
also been studied.

processing parameters (e.g. for rapid cooling), mechanical 1 Experimental

vibration, addition of grain refinement agent and so on. With
The Al-Cu11 (wt%) alloy was prepared with a resistance
the development of solidification technology, many new
furnace by melting the pure Al (99.9wt%) and Cu (99.9wt%)
microstructure refining processes have emerged, in which
raw materials in a graphite crucible at 740 ℃ for 5 min. When
the external field processing is a remarkable method. The
the centrifugal turntable rotated smoothly, the molten Al-Cu
centrifugal force field[1-5] is an optimal external field processing
was poured into the permanent mould which was preheated
method for its low cost and low casting defect, as well as high
at 100 ℃. The mould rotation speeds used in the experiment
efficiency and precision[6-8]. Thus, the centrifugal force field is
were 0 rpm, 300 rpm and 600 rpm, respectively. The rotation
an advanced materials processing and preparation method.
direction was clockwise. The casting mould employed for this
Al-Cu alloy is a high strength-ductility cast alloy. It is
work is shown in Fig.1, where 0 and r are rotating center and
often used to cast large structures and bearing components to
centrifugal radius, respectively. Positions 0, 1, and 2 are in the
realize the integrated casting structure from assembly casting
same straight line. The vertical distance is 5 mm from position
parts. Al-Cu alloy substituting for some forging blank may
1 to X axis.
decrease production cost. Therefore, the Al-Cu alloys have
Metallographic specimens were taken from positions 1
been widely used in aerospace, automobile, and airplane
and 2 of the Al-Cu alloy casting along X-axis direction, and
applications [9-10]. Although a great number of researches on
the centrifugal radius was 0.2 m at position 1 and 0.16 m at
Al-Cu alloys have been conducted, little has been reported on
position 2, respectively, as shown in Fig.1. The specimen
grain refining by means of the centrifugal force field. Hence,
dimension was 10 mm × 10 mm × 4 mm. The specimen
in the present work, the effects of centrifugal radius and mould
preparation for metallographic observation included (a)
rotation speed on the grain size, content of white phases and
grinding using SiC papers from 220 up to 1200 grit, (b)
segregation have been investigated. In addition, the evolution
diamond paste polishing, (c) ultrasonic cleaning for five
*Sui Yanwei minutes, and (d) etching (1vt.% HF-1vt.% HNO3-98vt.% H2O)
for 10-20 s. An optical microscope (OLYMPUS BH2-UMA)
Male, born in 1981, Ph.D, lecturer. He graduated from Harbin was used for the observation of the specimens. The grain sizes
Institute of Technology on materials processing engineering in
were measured with the Digital Micrograph. By means of a
2003, and obtained the doctor's degree in 2009. His research
interests mainly focus on solidification techniques of metal scanning electron microscope (S-570SEM) with EDS, the
materials, numberical simulation of solidification process, design microstructure and alloy composition in different parts of the
and preparation technology of light alloy. specimens were analyzed. The contents of white phases (in
E-mail: [email protected] area percentage) in corresponding parts of the specimens were
Received: 2008-12-17; Accepted: 2009-06-16 determined using a Micro-color Image Analysis System V5.2.
43
 CHINA FOUNDRY Vol.7 No.1

(a) (b)

Fig.1: Steel mould for centrifugal casting (the arrow indicates the cutting position)

2 Results and discussion 0 rpm, the solidification structure of the casting is almost
entirely dendritic with very limited equiaxed grain structure.
2.1 Effect of centrifugal radius and mould Comparing Fig.2(a) with Fig.2(b), it could be noted that there
rotation speed on grain size is a negligible difference in grain size. This is due to the fact
Figure 2 shows the micrographs of Al-Cu alloy with that the cooling rates in position 1 and position 2 are the same
various mould rotation speed and centrifugal radius. In at the rotation speed of 0 rpm.
Figs. 2(a) and 2(b) with the same mould rotation speed of

(a) (b) (c)

(a) Position 1, 0 rpm (b) Position 2, 0 rpm (c) Position 1, 300 rpm

(d) (e) (f)

(d) Position 2, 300 rpm (e) Position 1, 600 rpm (f) Position 2, 600 rpm

Fig.2: The optical microstructure of Al-Cu alloy at different centrifugal radius for various mould rotation
speeds in centrifugal casting

It can be seen that the solidification structures shown in of centrifugal force, mechanical vibration and convective
Figs. 2(c) through 2(f) are all equiaxed grain structures with a flow [3, 5, 11]. In the centrifugal process, the turbulence in the
mould rotation speed of 300 rpm or 600 rpm. Obviously, their liquid becomes more intensified inside the mould, enhancing
grain sizes are finer than those in Figs. 2(a) and 2(b). that the detached melt (solidified fractions) may collide
Figure 3 presents the effect of centrifugal radius on grain with each other and fracture into small fragments. Similarly,
size at the rotation speed 300 rpm and 600 rpm, respectively. the inherent vibration of the equipment also increases the
It is clear that grain size decreases gradually with increasing number of fragments. These fragments move outside along
the centrifugal radius, and that at the same centrifugal radius, the centrifugal radius direction and accumulate at the farther
the grain size at 600 rpm is finer than that at 300 rpm. This is position. These fragments act as new nuclei and consequently
attributed to the following reasons. increase the number of solidification sites in the inner part of
As the centrifugal radius increases, finer microstructure is the casting, resulting in the finer equaled grain size with radial
formed. The most probable mechanism is the combined effect distance. In this work, the effect of centrifugal pressures on

44
 Research & Development
February 2010

2.2 Effect of centrifugal radius and mould

300 rpm rotation speed on the content of white
200 phase and segregation
600 rpm
Figure 4 shows the microstructure of centrifugal-cast Al-Cu
150 alloy. The content of white phases (area %) and the effect of
Grain size (μm)

rotation speed on it are shown in Fig.5. Figure 6 presents the

100 effect of rotation speed on the content of Cu element (wt%).
From Figs.5 and 6, it can be seen that the contents of white
phases and Cu increase with the increase of rotation speed
50
for the same position. As the centrifugal radius increases,
the contents of white phases and Cu are basically the same
0 0.16 0.2 at 0 rpm, while they increase at 300 rpm and 600 rpm. The
Fig.3: Effects of centrifugal radius on grain size of
increasing rate of the contents of white phases and Cu at
centrifugal-cast Al-Cu alloy for various mould 600 rpm is higher than that at 300 rpm with increase of the
rotation speeds centrifugal radius. To understand this, it is necessary to
solidification diagram is completely negligible based on the examine the equilibrium phase diagram for binary aluminum
numerical values worked out from the Clausius-Clapeyron alloys with Cu. During the Al-Cu alloy solidification process,
equation. Thus, the solidification diagram remains the same the primary α first precipitates from the liquid metal, and then
during the centrifugal process. Due to lower rotation speed in as the eutectic transformation temperature is reached, the
the experiment, the microstructures are greatly different from eutectic reaction takes place and forms simultaneously α phase
those obtained in literatures [4, 12]. and Al2Cu phase. The α-phase produced by eutectic reaction
It can be also seen in Fig. 3 that the difference in grain size grows adherently to the primary α-phase. The Al2Cu phase
between position 1 and position 2 at 300 rpm is smaller than distributes at the grain boundaries of α-phase. This is because
that at 600 rpm. This is because the centrifugal force and the the Al-Cu alloy used in this experiment is a hypoeutectic alloy,
turbulence affect significantly the number of fragments so as to and divorced eutectic partially transforms during the eutectic
increase the difference of solidification sites between position 1 reaction. With further decrease in temperature, the Al2Cu phase
and position 2 at a higher rotation speed. Thus, the difference of precipitates from the α-phase. The white phases in SEM image
grain size between position 1 and position 2 at 600 rpm is larger. consist of Al2Cu phases precipitated from the α-phase and the

(a) (b) (c)

(a) Position 1, 0 rpm (b) Position 2, 0 rpm (c) Position 1, 300 rpm

(d) (e) (f)

(d) Position 2, 300 rpm (e) position 1, 600 rpm (f) position 2, 600 rpm
Fig.4: Microstructures of the centrifugal-cast Al-Cu alloy

45
 CHINA FOUNDRY Vol.7 No.1

(2) Compared 600 rpm with 300 rpm, the variation

amplitude of microstructure of centrifugal-cast Al-Cu alloy
increase with increasing the rotation speed.

References
[1] Mesquita R A, Leiva D R, Yavari A R and Botta Filho W J.
Microstructures and mechanical properties of bulk AlFeNd(Cu,Si)
alloys obtained through centrifugal force casting. Materials
Science and Engineering A, 2007(452-453): 161-169.
[2] Wu Shiping, Liu Dongrong, Guo Jingjie,et al. Numerical
simulation of microstructure evolution of Ti-6Al-4V alloy in
Fig.5: Effects of mould rotation speed on the content vertical centrifugal casting. Materials Science and Engineering
of white phase A, 2006, 426: 240-249.
[3] Halvaee A and Talebi A. Effect of process variables on
microstructure and segregation in centrifugal casting of
C92200 alloy. Journal of Materials Processing Technology,
2001, 118(1-3):123-127.
[4] Yeh Jien-Wei and Jong Shang-Haw. Cast structure of a 7075
alloy produced by a water-cooling centrifugal casting method.
Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, 1994, 25(3): 643-650.
[5] Chirita G, Soares D and Silva F S. Advantages of the centrifugal
casting technique for the production of structural components
with Al–Si alloys. Materials and Design, 2008, 29: 20-27.
[6] Wu Shiping, Guo Jingjie, Su Yanqing and Jia Jun. Verification
of a numerical simulation of the mould filling processes on
centrifugal casting of exhausting valves of TiAl based alloys.
Foundry, 2001, 50(9): 560-563. (in Chinese)
Fig.6: Effects of mould rotation speed on segregation [7] Suzuki Ken-ichiro, Nishikawa Koji and Watakabe Sirou. Mold
filling and solidification during centrifugal precision casting of
divorced eutectic, as well as normal eutectic microstructure. Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Materials Transactions, JIM, 1996, 37(12):
Under the action of the density difference, the α-phase moves 1793-1801.
towards the rotating center while the Al2Cu phase moves away [8] Bi Xiaoqin and Ni Feng. Microstructure and defects of ZA27
alloy by centrifugal casting. Special Casting and Nonferrous
the rotating center, resulting in the segregation. With increase
Alloys, 1999, 5: 14-16. (in Chinese)
of the centrifugal radius and the mould rotation speed, on the [9] Yu Guilin and Zhao Xin. The casting process of large closed
one hand, the segregation worsens, resulting in higher amount annular castings made of high strength Al-Cu alloy. Journal of
of white phase and Cu, and on the other hand, the amount of Materials Engineering, 2000, (9): 42-45.
α-phase also increases because the eutectic point is shifted to [10] Gao Hongji, Xu Bin, Niu Yuchao, Wang Weimin and Sun Bailai.
the right [13] and the cooling rate increases [1, 3]. But the effect of Effects of different pouring conditions on the microstructure
of Al-Cu alloy. Special Casting and Nonferrous Alloys, 2006,
the compositional segregation is the primary reason for the α
26(1): 10-13. (in Chinese)
phase increase. [11] Campbell J. Entrainment defects. Materials Science and
Technology, 2006, 22(2): 127-145.
[12] Chang S R, Kim J M and Hong C P. Numerical simulation of
3 Conclusions microstructure evolution of Al alloys in Centrifugal casting. ISIJ
International, 2001, 41(7): 738-747.
(1) With increase of the centrifugal radius and mould [13] Shu Zhen, Liu Jinshui, Yuan Bin, et al. Research on squeeze
rotation speed, the grain size of centrifugal-cast Al-Cu alloy casting of new type high-aluminum zinc base alloy. Journal of
decreases, and the contents of white phase and Cu increase. Hunan University, 1994, 21(3): 47-52. (in Chinese)

The present work was supported by the China National Natural Science Foundation (grant no. 50434030).

46