Study of Compound Casting of Aluminum Alloy/Ductile Iron Bimetal : Final Report of Thesis Project, Product Development and Materials Engineering (Master Programme)

Abstract: Today’s transportation highly depends on hydrocarbon fuels, and reducing the weight could help a lot in reducing the air pollutants and carbon footprints in the environment to comply with the strict regulations set by reputable standard organizations in the world. Utilizing lightweight materials in automobile parts is one of the key factors to succeed in meeting the goals defined in the standards. Replacing the conventional single material component with a multi-material component having the same geometry but lighter weight could help the automakers to achieve these goals. Compound casting is one of the methods to produce such components. The aluminum alloy/ductile iron bimetal component produced by compound casting was investigated. During the production of the experimental sample of the compound casting, component two parameters were considered, melt-to-solid volume ratio and pre-heat temperature of the solid insert. The results showed that the increasing melt-to-solid volume ratio caused the formation of a stronger metallurgical bond between the two materials compared to the lower melt-to-solid volume ratio. However, pre-heating the solid insert under the atmospheric condition caused the formation of iron oxide layers on the surface, and as a result, no metallurgical bonding was formed, no matter which melt-to-solid volume ratio was used during the production process. So, inspired by AlFin process, the solid inserts were first dipped inside the aluminum alloy bath with the target temperature of 750 °C for two extended periods, 15 minutes and 30 minutes, to ensure that the preliminary metallurgical bonds were formed at the interface surfaces without disturbance by the surrounding atmosphere. To make the experimental components and to develop the metallurgical bonds, the aluminized inserts were then quickly placed inside the sand molds, and the cast alloy was poured inside the molds and around the inserts immediately after placement. In this way, although the formation of the aluminum oxide layer was unavoidable on the surfaces of the aluminized inserts, there was still liquid aluminum alloy melt underneath, which could be easily washed away during the pouring of the cast alloy.Nevertheless, the metallurgical bonds in the compound casting products having a lower melt-to-solid volume ratio didn’t withstand the shear loads and only the product having a higher melt-to-solid volume ratio with the aluminized insert dipped for a longer time could resist against the loads. In addition to the mechanical strength of the experimental products, their metallurgical bonds were specified and characterized using microscopic examination and EDS analysis. The successful results of the experimental product were then proposed to modify the design of a model from the automobile industry, called the truck wheel hub.