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Copyright 2006 CSIRO Australia.

Heat Treatment of High Pressure Die-Castings


Light Metals Flagship, CSIRO Manufacturing and Infrastructure Technology, Private Bag 33, Clayton South MDC, Victoria 3169, Australia

Introduction
High pressure die-casting (HPDC) is widely used as a cost effective way to mass produce metal components that are required to have close dimensional tolerances and smooth surface finishes. Standard HPDC components cannot however be conventionally heat treated to improve mechanical properties because the castings are relatively porous. During conventional solution treatment (e.g. at 500C), the pores expand resulting in the unacceptable surface blisters, distortion and lower mechanical properties. Recent work within the CSIRO Light Metals Flagship has revealed a heat treatment for HPDC aluminium alloys which avoids these problems. As a result, large improvements in tensile properties have been achieved as compared with the as-cast condition. One heat treatment may double yield strengths and another significantly increases elongation. Aluminium alloys used for high pressure die-casting are mostly those based on the alloys AA360 (Al-9.5Si0.52Mg) and AA380 (Al-8.5Si-3.5Cu), and their close variants such as Australian Designation alloys CA605 and CA313 respectively (See Table 1). All respond to the heat treatment. This paper describes the results of novel treatments that have been developed whereby these alloys may now be fully age hardened and strengthened by heat treatment without incurring problems with blistering or dimensional instability. Alloy wt% (balance Al)
Si Fe Cu Mn Mg Cr Ni Zn Sn Pb Ti Other elements (each) Other elements (total)

360

CA605 (Australian Designation)


9-10 0.7-1.1 0.6 max 0.35 max 0.45-0.6 -------0.5 max 0.5 max 0.15 max ------------0.05 max

A380

B380

C380

D380

CA313 (Australian Designation)


7.5-9.5 1.3 max 3.0-4.0 0.5 max 0.3 max 0.1 max 0.5 max 3.0 max 0.25 max 0.35 max 0.2 max 0.05 max

9-10 2.0 max 0.6 max 0.35 max 0.4-0.6 -------0.5 max 0.5 max 0.15 max -------------------

7.5-9.5 1.3 max 3.0-4.0 0.5 max 0.1 max ------0.5 max 3.0 max 0.35 max -------------------

7.5-9.5 1.3 max 3.0-4.0 0.5 max 0.1 max ------0.5 max 1.0 max 0.35 max -------------------

7.5-9.5 1.3 max 3.0-4.0 0.5 max 0.1-0.3 ------0.5 max 3.0 max 0.35 max -------------------

7.5-9.5 1.3 max 3.0-4.0 0.5 max 0.1-0.3 ------0.5 max 1.0 max 0.35 max -------------------

0.25 max

0.25 max

0.5 max

0.5 max

0.5 max

0.5 max

0.25 max

Table 1. Composition limits of some common HPDC alloys Specimen Production


Alloy specimens for tensile testing were produced using a Toshiba horizontal cold chamber die casting machine with a 250 tonne locking force, a shot sleeve with an internal diameter of 50mm and a length of 400mm. The die used produced two cylindrical tensile specimens and one flat tensile specimen from each shot, and specimens conformed to specification AS1391. The cylindrical tensile test bars for which results are reported here had a total length of 100 mm with a central parallel gauge length 33 mm long and ~5.55 mm diameter.

This technology is proprietary to CSIRO and accordingly, a license is required for its use.

Copyright 2006 CSIRO Australia. Results


Compositional analysis of the 360 and 380 type alloys examined are shown in Table 2. The highlighted elements were added to alloy 2 to explore the heat treatment response due to composition variations within the alloy specification range.
Alloy wt% (balance Al) Si Fe Cu Mn Mg Ni Zn Other elements (total) Alloy 1 360 spec 9.0 0.7 0.3 0.1 0.6 ------0.2 <0.2 Alloy 2 380 spec 9.0 0.86 3.1 0.16 0.1 0.11 0.53 <0.2 Alloy 3 380 spec 9.2 0.9 3.11 0.16 0.09 0.11 2.9 <0.2 Alloy 4 380 spec 9.1 0.86 3.2 0.14 0.29 0.11 0.6 <0.2 Alloy 5 380 spec 8.6 0.93 3.6 0.18 0.1 0.11 0.53 <0.2 Alloy 6 380 spec 8.6 1 3.6 0.2 0.3 0.11 0.53 <0.2

Table 2. Alloys examined for evaluation of CSIROs novel heat treatment.

(a)

(b)

(c)
Figure 1 compares the surface and interior microstructures of an as-cast specimen of 360 alloy and specimens that were heat treated using either conventional or novel CSIRO heat treatments compared to the as-cast condition. Figure 1(a) shows the as-cast specimen and a comparison with Figure 1(b) highlights the severe surface blistering, discoloration, internal porosity and dimensional change resulting from a conventional solution treatment. Figure 1(c) shows the outcome of the CSIRO heat treatment showing that blistering, dimensional instability and pore expansion have been prevented.

Figure 1. (a) as-cast, (b) conventional heat treatment leading to blistering and dimensional instability, and (c), the novel CSIRO heat treatment for HPDCs.

Figure 2 demonstrates the effectiveness of the HT2 heat treatment by comparing hardness results for it with equivalent results for the common permanent mold cast alloy 357 and the wrought alloy 6061, both in the T6 condition. The heat treatment response varies with alloy composition within the specification ranges. Table 3 shows mechanical properties for the alloys in Table 2. For the alloy 360, the HT2 properties display yield strength levels around 80% higher than for as-cast alloy. Alternately, for the HT1 treatment, the strength is little changed but the elongation is substantially increased compared to the as-cast material.

Copyright 2006 CSIRO Australia.

Alloy
1 360 spec 2 380 spec 3 380 spec 4 380 spec 5 380 spec 6 380 spec

Treatment
As cast HT1 HT2 As cast HT1 HT2 As cast HT1 HT2 As cast HT1 HT2 As cast HT1 HT2 As cast HT1 HT2

0.2% Proof stress


178 MPa (26ksi) 180 MPa (26ksi) 320 MPa (46ksi) 172 MPa (25ksi) 217 MPa (31ksi) 356 MPa (52ksi) 165 MPa (24ksi) 224 MPa (32ksi) 370 MPa (54ksi) 189 MPa (27ksi) 246 MPa (36ksi) 374 MPa (54ksi) 176 MPa (26ksi) 234 MPa (34ksi) 379 MPa (55ksi) 200 MPa (29ksi) 256 MPa (37ksi) 419 MPa (61ksi)

Tensile strength
310 MPa (45ksi) 310 MPa (45ksi) 373 MPa (54ksi) 354 MPa (51ksi) 387 MPa (56ksi) 431 MPa (63ksi) 347 MPa (50ksi) 405 MPa (59ksi) 442 MPa (64ksi) 358 MPa (52ksi) 411 MPa (60ksi) 458 MPa (66ksi) 358 MPa (52ksi) 397 MPa (58ksi) 457 MPa (66ksi) 362 MPa (53ksi) 411 MPa (60ksi) 481 MPa (70ksi)

Elongation
3.5% 6% 2.5% 4% 6% 3% 4% 7% 3% 3% 5% 2% 4% 5% 3% 3% 4% 2%

Table 3. Mechanical properties of 360 and 380 type alloys in as-cast and heat treated conditions.

200 190 180 Hardness (VHN) 170 160 150 140 130 120 110 100

ca s

ht

al lo y

al lo y

al lo y

w ro ug

PM

al lo y

al lo y

36

38

38

38

35

61

38

60

PD

PD

PD

PD

Figure 2. Comparative hardness of HT2 treated 360 alloy and 380 alloy variants, and T6 heat treated permanent mold cast 357 alloy, and wrought 6061 alloy.
For the various compositions of alloy 380, the HT1 treatment substantially increased the elongations and the yield strengths were also around 30% higher than those for the as-cast alloy. For the HT2 treatment, the increases in yield strength usually exceeded 100%. For example, with alloy 380 type 6, the yield strength in

PD

PD

38

al lo y

Copyright 2006 CSIRO Australia.


the as-cast condition was 200 MPa (29ksi) whereas a value as high as 419 MPa (61ksi) was recorded following a HT2 treatment. In these cases, elongation values were only slightly reduced. Robustness of the treatment was examined using six batches each of either 75 or 100 production parts that weighed between 50g and 550g. Heat treatments were adapted to the part size and complexity, to provide hardness similar to the laboratory specimens. Components had differing levels of shape complexity and wall thicknesses varied from 1.5 to 16mm. The sample hardness was consistent and only 1% of these components showed blisters after heat treatment. In summary, the high properties from the new heat treatment for HPDCs provide major property improvements over the as-cast condition and compare very favorably with other age-hardenable cast and wrought light alloys. Additionally, the strength-to-density ratio of the heat treated 380 alloy is ~70% better than magnesium HPDCs. Because the new technology can substantially increase the strength of HPDC components, they may be redesigned with substantially less metal. Additionally, the ability to heat-treat HPDCs means that they can replace more costly gravity and low pressure castings and even some wrought products.

For more information please contact: Sam Tartaglia, Business Development Manager Private Bag 33, Clayton South MDC Victoria 3169, Australia Ph: +613 9545 2964 Fax: +613 9544 1128 e-mail: Sam.Tartaglia@csiro.au Roger Lumley, Project Leader: Light Metals Flagship Private Bag 33, Clayton South MDC Victoria 3169, Australia Ph: +613 9545 2894 Fax: +613 9544 1128 e-mail: Roger.Lumley@csiro.au

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