Effect of rapid heating on quality assessment of 356 and 319 aluminium cast alloys using fluidised bed

Abstract

This article evaluates the influence of heat treatment parameters on the performance of A356·2 and B319·2 alloys using the fluidised bed (FB) technique. The results obtained from the quality charts reveal that the A356·2 alloys displayed a significant response to the FB treatment compared to the B319·2 alloys after aging times of up to 8 h over all the solution treatment times. The results also show that the quality values of 319 alloys aged at 0·5 h using FB and for solution treatment times of up to 5 h are higher than those similarly aged in a conventional furnace. Modified B319·2 and A356·2 alloys display better quality results after only 2 h of heat treatment in FB compared to 10 h using a conventional furnace. The statistical analysis reveals the actual significance of the effects of interaction of heat treatment techniques, modification and solution treatment time.

Keywords:

• Fluidised bed
• Quality charts
• Solutionising time
• Aging time
• Al–Si cast alloys

Financial and in-kind supports received from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), General Motors Powertrain Group (USA) and Corporative Nemak (Mexico) are hereby gratefully acknowledged.