Thesis (PhD ) - Open University. BLDSC no.DXN075767.

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Over the last few decades, the specifications for wrought aluminium products have become increasingly strict. Not only are the dimensional tolerances important, but also the material properties (strength, earing performance, corrosion resistance) must meet specified levels. The material properties are controlled by the microstructure. Hence the necessity for a modern aluminium plant to control the microstructure of the finished product through the processing parameters. This microstructure strongly depends on the microstructures produced during each of the processing steps. Therefore, it is necessary to control the microstructure throughout the production process. lt is thus imperative to know and model the influence of the processing conditions at each step. The present work focuses on one processing step: break-down rolling. During this step, the thickness of the ingot is reduced from 500 to 25 mm on a reversing mill. Compared with the other production steps, break-down rolling has not been studied extensively. One of the reasons for this is the absence of a laboratory technique that simulates this process accurately. During this work the Sheffield Mill for Aluminium Roughing at Temperature (SMART) was developed and it was proven that SMART can be used to simulate industrial break-down rolling. Furthermore, the data generated from SMART have been used to validate and refine a model from the literature. This model (developed at NTNU in Norway) predicts the evolution of the recrystallised fraction, the grain size and certain texture components throughout a multi-pass rolling operation. lt is shown here that the model predictions show a reasonable agreement with the results from SMART. Using the present experimental data, a set of recommendations to improve the model has been derived. Apart from the microstructural data, the experiments on SMART were also used to model the lateral spread that occurs during laboratory rolling. A new model is proposed that shows a better performance compared with the models that are available from the literature. The present work was carried out on AA3104 (AI-1Mn-1Mg) which is mostly used for the production of beverage cans.

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Aluminium alloys are the most promising lightweight materials used in the automotive industry to achieve weight reduction for improving fuel efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions. High pressure diecasting (HPDC) is a fast and economical near-net shape manufacturing method to produce engineering components. About 80% of cast aluminium alloys are currently manufactured by HPDC. The increased demands of manufacturing structural components by HPDC process require high strength Al-alloys for the automotive industry. However, the currently available die cast Al-alloys are unable to fulfil this requirement. Al-Mg2Si alloy is known as an alloy capable of providing superior high strength by Mg2Si particles. However, Al-Mg2Si alloy is not applicable in the HPDC process because of the severe die soldering problem. This has limited its applications throughout industries. Moreover, the existing studies on the Al-Mg2Si alloy are mainly focused on the hyper-eutectic alloys and limited information is available for hypo-eutectic alloys. Generally, the mechanical properties of Al-alloys are determined by the alloy composition, the defect levels in the components, the microstructure which is mainly controlled by the casting process and heat treatment process. Due to the high cooling rate provided by the die block in the HPDC process, the refined microstructure in the die cast Al-Mg2Si alloys can be obtained to improve the mechanical properties. Therefore, the development of high strength Al-Mg2Si based alloys for the HPDC process is significant for manufacturing quality automotive components. The present study mainly focuses on the alloy development for the HPDC process. In order to make die castable Al-Mg2Si based alloys, the effect of excess Mg has been investigated to modify the hypo-eutectic Al-Mg2Si system for improving the mechanical properties. The effect of excess Mg on the solidification and microstructural evolution, and the mechanical properties of Al-Mg2Si alloys, has also been investigated by the combination of thermodynamic calculation and the experimental validation. The excess Mg in the hypo-eutectic Al-Mg2Si alloys has been found to be able to shift the eutectic composition to a lower Mg2Si content, which means that the hypo-eutectic composition of Al-Mg2Si alloy can be at eutectic or hyper-eutectic compositions after adding different levels of excess Mg. The experimental trials have also found that Al-8Mg2Si-6Mg alloy provides the best combination of strength and ductility in the as-cast castings made by the HPDC process. This can be further enhanced by adding 0.6wt.% Mn, which exhibits yield strength of 189MPa, UTS of 350MPa, and elongation of 6.5%. Investigations have also revealed that the Al-8Mg2Si-6Mg alloy exhibits a relatively high tolerance to the Fe impurity because of the insignificant reduction of ductility of the alloy. The elongation is still at a level of 5% when Fe is at 1.6wt.% in the alloy. Furthermore, Cu and Zn can further enhance the mechanical properties of the Al-8Mg2Si-6Mg-0.6Mn alloy. Cu contents between 0.31wt.% and 0.92wt.% in the Al-8Mg2Si-6Mg-0.6Mn alloy can increase the yield strength from 193MPa to 207MPa, but decrease the UTS from 343MPa to 311MPa, and the elongation from 4.8% to 3.8% under as-cast condition. This can be attributed to the formation of hot tearing defects in castings. Therefore, the Cu content in the alloy should be limited to a low level. On the other hand, zinc can be controlled to a level of 4.3wt.%, which will dramatically increase the tensile strength of the alloy. More importantly, Zn can significantly increase the mechanical properties of the alloy after a quick T6 heat treatment under a condition of solution at 490oC for 15 mins and ageing at 180oC for 90 mins, at which the yield strength is 345MPa, UTS is 425MPa, and elongation is 3.2 %. In the present study, the solidification and microstructural evolution, the relationship between the microstructure and mechanical properties, and the strengthening mechanisms in the developed alloy are discussed on the basis of the experimental results. A two stage solidification has been recognised to be responsible for the microstructure formation in the HPDC process. The primary α-Al phase is formed as prior phase for the hypo-eutectic alloy and the primary Mg2Si phase is formed as prior phase for the hyper-eutectic alloy. The solute elements including Mg, Mn, Fe, Cu, and Zn can enhance the solution strengthening and/or the precipitation strengthening in the alloys, but alter the solidification ranges, which will affect the formation of defects in the castings. In the quick T6 heat treatment, the AlMgZn phase is dissolved into the Al phase during solution treatment and precipitated during ageing treatment. The quick heat treatment is also found to be able to spheroidise the Mg2Si phase. Only η′ MgZn phase is precipitated during aging in Zn containing alloys. The alloy with 4.3wt.% Zn provides the best combination of the mechanical properties because of the high density of MgZn precipitates in the α-Al phase.

The ideal aluminium smelting cell should operate at a fixed temperature and superheat. However, spatial and temporal operating strategies cause changes in temperature, which usually result in variations in superheat as well. Contrasting, in the long term, for mature cells the aluminium fluoride consumption is fairly accurately reflected by the soda and calcium oxide contents of the primary alumina. Therefore the poor control of aluminium fluoride concentration reflects the poor understanding of the causes of variation in aluminium fluoride concentration and molten bath mass within the cell. The aims of this thesis were to i. Develop a better understanding of how the dynamics of the aluminium smelting process impact process conditions ??? hence bath chemistry ii. Subsequently develop and evaluate diagnostic models that may be used to minimise the variations in chemistry in individual operating cells The key control feature to minimise adverse effects is Superheat. The ideal aluminium smelting cell should operate at a fixed temperature and superheat. However, spatial and temporal operating strategies cause changes in temperature, which usually result in variations in superheat as well. In this thesis industrial aluminium reduction cells and their material handling and dry scrubbing operation were analysed in respect to their energy and material balance. A number of experiments were carried out to study the influence of process parameters and operations on the state and path function of a cell. Bath inventory measurements lead to a better understanding of the underlying process behaviour, and it was obvious that energy and mass balance cannot be controlled independently. With regard to the response of bath inventory, bath and liquidus temperature to pot operation, the following interesting phenomena were identified: - some cells are active or inactive with respect to their response to aluminium fluoride additions - positive and negative voltage steps cause non-proportional changes in liquidus and bath temperatures - the liquidus temperature, bath volume and composition can respond rapidly to changes due to alumina feeding Successful application of the results and understanding developed in this research resulted in an energy requirement reduction of 1 kWh/kg

Proefschrift--natuurwetenschappen--Universiteit Leiden, 2003. / Notes bibliogr. en fin de chap.

Thèse de doctorat : Physique : Metz : 2007. / Thèse soutenue sur ensemble de travaux. Bibliogr. f. 32, [54], 67, 87, 140-141.

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