Under the high-intensity ultrasonic field,AZ80 magnesium alloy was semi-continuously cast.The effects of ultrasonic intensity on the as-cast microstructures and mechanical properties were investigated.The results show that the microstructures of the alloy cast under high-intensity ultrasonic field are fine and uniform,and the grains are equiaxed,rose-shaped or globular with an average size of 257μm.High-intensity field significantly decreases the grain size,changes the morphologies of theβ-Mg17Al12 phases and reduces their area fraction.It is also shown that a proper increase in ultrasonic intensity is helpful to obtain fine,uniform and equiaxed as-cast microstructures.The optimum ultrasonic parameters are that frequency is 20 kHz and ultrasonic intensity is 1 368 W.The mechanical tests show that the mechanical properties of the as-cast AZ80 magnesium alloy billets cast under ultrasonic field are greatly improved,and with increasing the ultrasonic intensity,the mechanical properties of the entire alloy billets are much higher and more uniform than those of the alloy without ultrasonic field.
It was attempted to enhance and accelerate the separation of oxidation inclusions from magnesium alloy melt by virtue of ultrasonic agglomeration technology.In order to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of standing waves for ultrasonic purification of magnesium alloy melt,numerical simulation and relevant experiment were carried out.The numerical simulation was broken into two main aspects.On one hand,the ultrasonic field propagations within the cells with various shapes were characterized by numerical solutions of the wave equation and with a careful choice of geometry a nearly idealized standing wave field was finally obtained.On the other hand,within such a standing wave field the agglomeration behavior of oxidation inclusions in magnesium alloy melt was analyzed and discussed.The agglomeration time and agglomeration position of oxidation inclusions were predicted with numerical simulation method.The results show that the oxidation inclusions whose apparent densities are close to the density of the melt can agglomerate at wave nodes in a short time which to a great extent enhances and accelerates the separation of oxidation inclusions from magnesium alloy melt.
