On the Determination of Thermophysical Properties of Casting Aluminium Alloys

The optimization of the high-pressure die casting (HPDC) processes and the enhancement of the performance of aluminum alloys in the automotive and aerospace applications require the accurate determination of the thermal properties of these alloys under thermal extraction conditions experienced in the HPDC processes. The present study involves the development of an experimental setup to measure these properties under thermal conditions similar to those experienced during cooling and solidification. The setup features a cylindrical copper mold, a cooling system that employs a set of high speed water jets to control solidification under various cooling rates, and an induction heating system to facilitate situ alloy melting. Real-time temperature data is acquired using a set of K-type thermocouples. The thermophysical properties are determined using inverse heat transfer analyses. The developed experiments shall enable the investigation of the effect of a range of cooling rates on the thermophysical properties of the sample alloy. The setup has been validated using the AlSi10Mg0.3 (A365) casting alloy, and the evaluated transient thermal diffusivity, α is validated by published data.