Ultrasound cavitation induced nucleation in metal solidification: an analytical model and validation by real-time experiments

Huang, Haijun; Qin, Ling; Tang, Haibin; Shu, Da; Yan, Wentao; Sun, Baode; Mi, Jiawei

Abstract

Microstructural refinement of metallic alloys via ultrasonic melt processing (USMP) is an environmentally friendly and promising method. However, so far there has been no report in open literature on how to predict the solidified microstructures and grain size based on the ultrasound processing parameters.In this paper, an analytical model is developed to calculate the cavitation enhanced undercooling and the USMP refined solidification microstructure and grain size for Al-Cu alloys. Ultrafast synchrotron X-ray imaging and tomography techniques were used to collect the real-time experimental data for validating the model and the calculated results. The comparison between modeling and experiments reveal that there exists an effective ultrasound input power intensity for maximizing the grain refinement effects for the Al-Cu alloys, which is in the range of 20-45 MW/m2. In addition, a monotonous increase in temperature during USMP has negative effect on producing new nuclei, deteriorating the benefit of microstructure refinement due to the application of ultrasound.

Citation

Huang, H., Qin, L., Tang, H., Shu, D., Yan, W., Sun, B., & Mi, J. (2021). Ultrasound cavitation induced nucleation in metal solidification: an analytical model and validation by real-time experiments. Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, 80, Article 105832. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultsonch.2021.105832

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 13, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Nov 16, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021-12
• Deposit Date: Apr 1, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 4, 2022
• Journal: Ultrasonics Sonochemistry
• Print ISSN: 1350-4177
• Electronic ISSN: 1873-2828
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 80
• Article Number: 105832
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultsonch.2021.105832
• Keywords: Modelling; Ultrasound melt processing; Ultrasound Cavitation; Nucleation of metal alloys; Ultrafast synchrotron X-ray imaging and tomography
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3885173