Abstract: To investigate the possibility of substituting the mechanical stirring system with electromagnetic stirring (EMS) system for aluminum rheo die-casting, the EMS under the different stirring cooling conditions was carried out. It was found that in the early period of solidification, the dendrite breakages led to a fine primary phase. When dendrites grew coarsely, the effect of ripening on grain size overwhelmed that of dendrite breakage. It was also found that the high cooling rate favored large nucleation rate, and led to a fine primary phase. But high cooling rate also made the growth rate of the dendrite arm, which prevented the dendrite arm from being sheared off. Therefore there were a suitable stirring time and suitable cooling rate to obtain the best rheo die-casting structure. Qualified semisolid A356 aluminum alloy was successfully manufactured with short time EMS.

Key words: Semisolid metal process, Electromagnetic stirring, Rheo die-casting, Grain size control