Numerical and experimental study on effect of process parameters on preparation of A356 aluminum alloy semi-solid slurry by electromagnetic stirring

A two-dimensional model coupling of the electromagnetic field, the temperature field and the flow field of preparation of A356 aluminum alloy semi-solid slurry by electromagnetic stirring (EMS) was established. The Power Law Cut-Off (PLCO) model was used to model the semi-solid slurry. The effect of process parameters such as stirring frequency, stirring current, pouring temperature and crucible preheated temperature on the electromagnetic field, temperature field and flow field were investigated by finite element code ANSYS combined with secondary development INTEL FORTRAN software and corresponding experimental verification. The results show that the electromagnetic field and flow field increase as stirring frequency and stirring current increase. Similarly, temperature field and flow field increase as pouring temperature and crucible preheated temperature increase. However, too high stirring frequency, stirring current, pouring temperature and crucible temperature may lead to rapid increase in the flow field, as a result, strongly turbulent flow might occur. The reasonable process parameters for preparation of A356 alloy semi-solid slurry by EMS were obtained. The simulation results are significantly approved with corresponding experimental ones, that verifying the reliability of the calculation models and the software algorithm. © 2013-IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.