The large and small sized Cu（solid）/Al（liquid） couples were prepared to investigate the directional growth behavior of primary a（Al） phase during a concentration-gradient-controlled solidification process under various static magnetic fields（SMFs）.The results show that in the large couples,the α（Al） dendrites reveal a directional growth character whether without or with the SMF.However,the 12 T magnetic field induces regular growth,consistent deflection and the decrease of secondary arm spacing of the dendrites.In the small couples,the α（Al） dendrites still reveal a directional growth character to some extent with a SMF of ≤5 T.However,an 8.8 T SMF destroys the directional growth and induces severe random deflections of the dendrites.When the SMF increases to 12 T,the a（Al） dendrites become quite regular despite of the consistent deflection.The directional growth arises from the continuous long-range concentration gradient field built in the melt.The morphological modification is mainly related to the suppression of natural convections and the induction of thermoelectric magnetic convection by the SMF.
The evolution of hardness and microstructures of 1050 aluminum alloy prepared by hot rolling and subsequent equal- channel angular pressing at cryogenic temperature (cryoECAP) after annealing at 150?400 °C for 1 h without and with magnetic field of 12 T was investigated. The electron back scattering diffraction pattern (EBSD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were utilized to characterize the grain microstructures and dislocations. It is demonstrated that the hot rolling before cryoECAP produces more equiaxed grains with a smaller average size and a higher fraction of high angle boundaries (HABs) in the subsequent cryoECAPed 1050 aluminum alloy, thus accelerating the recovery and recrystallization of cryoECAPed alloy and produces more homogeneous microstructure during annealing. The magnetic field promotes the recovery and recrystallization and leads to much lower hardness at 150?250 °C, while it can suppress the abnormal grain growth and form more homogeneous grain size distributions annealed at 300?400 °C.
AA4045/AA3003 cladding billet was prepared by direct chill semi-continuous casting process. The macrostructures, microstructures, temperature distribution, compositions distribution and the mechanical properties at the bonding interface were investigated in detail. The results show that the cladding billet with few defects could be obtained by semi-continuous casting process. At the interface, diffusion layer of about 10μm on average formed between the two alloys due to the diffusion of alloy elements in the temperature range from 596 to 632 °C. From the side of AA4045 to the side of AA3003, the Si content has a trend to decrease, while the Mn content has a trend to increase gradually. Tensile strength of the cladding billet reaches 103.7 MPa, the fractured position is located on the AA3003 side, and the shearing strength is 91.1 MPa, revealing that the two alloys were combined metallurgically by mutual diffusion of alloy elements.
