J. Mater. Sci. Technol. ›› 2017, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (6): 558-566.DOI: 10.1016/j.jmst.2017.01.013

• Orginal Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of processing parameters and addition of flame-retardant into moulding sand on the microstructure and fluidity of sand-cast magnesium alloy Mg-10Gd-3Y-0.5Zr

Li Yanleia(), Wu Guohuaa, Chen Antaoa, Liu Wencaia, Wang Yingxinab(), Zhang Lianga   

  1. a National Engineering Research Center of Light Alloy Net Forming and State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
    bShanghai Light Alloy Net Forming National Engineering Research Center Co., Ltd., Shanghai 201615, China
  • Received:2016-11-07 Revised:2016-12-10 Accepted:2016-12-16 Online:2017-06-20 Published:2017-08-22
  • About author:

    These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract:

In this study, the effects of processing parameters (such as pouring temperature and mould pre-heating temperature) and flame-retardant content on the microstructure and fluidity of sand-cast magnesium (Mg) alloy Mg-10Gd-3Y-0.5Zr (GW103K) were systematically investigated. It was found that the increase of pouring temperature leads to coarsened microstructure and decreased fluidity of sand-cast GW103K alloy. Increase of mould pre-heating temperature incurs coarsening of as-cast microstructure and increase of fluidity. The addition of flame-retardant into moulding sand has a negligible influence on the microstructure of sand-cast GW103K alloy. With the increase in flame-retardant content, fluidity of the alloy initially increases and then decreases. The optimized process parameters and flame-retardant addition were obtained to be pouring temperature of 750 °C, mould temperature of 110 °C, and flame-retardant addition of 1%. The fire retardant mechanism of moulding sand was determined.

Key words: Magnesium alloy, Fluidity, Microstructure, Flame retardant, Fire retardant mechanism