Abstract
Semisolid metal (SSM) processing is a hybrid technology combining features of both casting and forging that enables the production of near net-shape components of superior properties and surface finish. It was developed, from a discovery made at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1970s, by Spencer et al. [1] that stirring of alloys during solidification led to a change in the solidifying microstructure resulting not only in a dramatic lowering of the apparent viscosity of the semisolid slurry, but also facilitating two-phase homogeneous flow at quite high fractions solid. More detail of this discovery and the effects of shear rate cooling rate and fraction solid can be found in Part II. The process of stirring alloys during solidification to produce non-dendritic solid within a slurry, and then injecting this slurry directly into a die as in liquid metal die casting, was called “rheocasting” by the MIT researchers and that name has largely stuck. Rheocasting started out as the preferred process route for industrial production and a new company formed byMIT and a group of industrial partners “Rheocast Corp.” designed and built several large-scale rheocasters for production of both aluminium and copper-base alloys. The first major customer of the technology and for the large-scale rheocasters produced by Rheocast Corp. was International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT) Corp.
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© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Kirkwood, D.H., Suéry, M., Kapranos, P., Atkinson, H.V., Young, K.P. (2009). Introduction to Industrial Applications of Semisolid Processing. In: Semi-solid Processing of Alloys. Springer Series in Materials Science, vol 124. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00706-4_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00706-4_9
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