Professional Documents
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Innovative Processing
1
Shigeki Yoshie, 2Genjiro Motoyasu, 2Atsumi Ohno, 3Hiroshi Soda and 3Alexander McLean
1
Introduction
Throughout a long and distinguished career, the research activities
conducted by Professor Guthrie at the McGill Metals Processing
Centre have been characterized by a tri-partite concept involving
the Generation, Validation and Application of new knowledge. In
efforts to characterize and improve the performance of an existing
process, or in the quest to generate fundamental information as a
basis for the development of new manufacturing routes, this
knowledge triumvirate so elegantly demonstrated by Professor
Guthrie provides a strong foundation for progress within the
exciting field of innovative processing. In this paper the
development and implementation of new knowledge is illustrated
with reference to the Ohno Continuous Casting process, a heated
mold system that permits the generation of single crystal materials
or cast products with a unidirectionally solidified structure. In this
process, the mold is heated above the solidification temperature of
the alloy being cast and cooling occurs outside the mold.
Solidification thus takes place at the mold exit, significantly
reducing or eliminating friction between the cast product and the
mold wall. This casting configuration permits the generation of
net-shape or near-net-shape cast products with a high quality
surface and controlled solidification structure which in turn can
result in materials with significantly enhanced properties.
the glass mold wall and pushed their way to the hotter end of the
ampoule, while it was observed that crystals formed on the glass
wall grew in globular shapes and then separated away from the
wall to the hotter end due to the convection occurring within the
melt.
Generation of Knowledge
A New Clue for Cast Structure Control
One of the important factors that influence the quality of cast
products is the way heat is removed from liquid metals. Casting
processes involve heat removal in various ways: slow cooling,
rapid cooling, or directional cooling in which the liquid solidifies
into shapes with certain properties. During cooling, the formation
of grains of different size and length occur, influencing the
mechanical properties of the cast products. In the 1960s and 70s,
the solidification structure of cast products was extensively
studied and it was concluded that the equiaxed grains, observed in
the center region of the cast ingot, formed on the mold surface at
the initial stage of solidification and were carried by convection to
the center of the ingot rather than nucleated within the melt at a
late stage of solidification(1).These studies were further confirmed
by the direct in-situ observation of solidifying alloys in a glass
ampoule(2). Fig. 1 shows the Sn-5%Bi alloy solidified by cooling
one end of the ampoule. The casting consists of a columnar zone
at the cooled end and an equiaxed zone in the rest of the ingot. In
order to clarify how and when these crystals formed, the
solidification phenomena occurring at the cooling end were
directly observed using the microscope as shown in Fig. 2. As can
be seen in Fig. 2, many granular shaped crystals floated up along
Validation of Knowledge
Laboratory and Pilot Plant Studies
These fundamental studies on solidification structure described
above led to the inception of new casting systems. If the formation
of seed crystals is promoted using a cooling device during pouring
before the melt enters the mold, cast products of grain refined
structure will be the result. This led to a seed pouring or semisolid casting process as indicated in Fig. 4(3). The formation of
crystals can be halted by heating areas where the crystals would
generate. In this way cast products with fewer crystals will be the
result. This concept formed the basis of a heated mold continuous
casting technique known as Ohno Continuous Casting (OCC)(4).
Application of Knowledge
Development of Alloy Wires
Cast bismuth wires
Small diameter, bismuth alloy wires are required for applications
such as thermal fuses and solders. However, since bismuth is
brittle, friable, and expands upon solidification(15), it is difficult to
produce bismuth and high-bismuth bearing alloy wires 1-3 mm in
diameter by traditional continuous casting or even by extrusion.
With the OCC process, external heat is applied to the mold,
crystal nucleation on the mold surface is prevented, and as shown
in Fig. 5, the wire solidifies at the mold exit. For the casting of
fine wires, the solidification front is actually located outside the
mold (9,16,17). As a result, problems associated with friction
between the mold and wire surface, and the expansion of bismuth
during freezing, are all eliminated. This permits the casting of
small bismuth wires. In fact, single crystal bismuth wires 0.5-2
mm in diameter have been cast and, depending on the crystal
(a)
(b)
Summary
Based on the findings from studies carried out on the
solidification structures and the origin of equi-axed crystals in cast
products, a novel processing system, known as Ohno Continuous
Casting (OCC), has been developed with the aid of collaborative
projects between academia and industry. Using a heated mold
concept, fundamental and practical studies have been undertaken
within the laboratory, validated in pilot plant trials and
implemented in production operations. These collaborative efforts
have led to new processing routes for the generation of net or
near-net shape products such as, small diameter rods, tubes, wires
and cored materials suitable for niche markets that include micro
solder and thermal fuse wire applications.
Figure 15. Final Sn-57%Bi solder wire products 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7
mm in diameter drawn from cast wires 2 mm in diameter.
Acknowledgement
The financial support provided by the Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council of Canada is gratefully
acknowledged.
References
Closing Comment
Throughout his long and distinguished career at McGill
University, the activities of Professor Rod Guthrie have provided
firm foundations for progress within the field of metallurgical
processing. His pronounced influence for good on the careers of
young scientists and engineers, many of whom now occupy
leading positions within academia and industry, has been
outstanding. In the final analysis, the pre-eminent aim of
collaborative activities between our educational institutions and
industrial organizations, must be to ensure the availability of men
and women with a sound understanding of the fundamental