Novel Study for Energy Recovery from the Cooling–Solidification Stage of Synthetic Slag Manufacturing: Estimation of the Potential Energy Recovery

Herein, a novel method for energy recovery from molten synthetic slags is analyzed. In this work, the potential energy that could be recovered from the production of synthetic slag is estimated by means of an integrated experimental–theoretical study. The energy to be recovered comes from the cooling–solidification stage of the synthetic slag manufacturing. Traditionally, the solidification stage has been carried out through quick cooling with water, which does not allow the energy recovery. In this paper, a novel cooling method based on metal spheres is presented, which allows the energy recovery from the molten slags. Two points present novelty in this work: (1) the method for measuring the metal spheres temperature (2) and the estimation of the energy that could be recovered from these systems in slag manufacturing. The results forecasted that the temperature achieved by the metal spheres was in the range of 295–410 °C in the center and 302–482 °C on the surface. Furthermore, we estimated that 325–550 kJ/kg of molten material could be recovered, of which 15% of the energy consumption is in the synthetic slag manufacturing process. Overall, the results obtained confirmed the potential of our proposal for energy recovery from the cooling–solidification stage of synthetic slag manufacturing.

Liquation Cracking Tendency of Novel Al-Mg-Zn Alloys with a Zn/Mg Ratio below 1.0 during Fusion Welding

The main obstacle for the application of high strength 7××× series aluminum alloys is that these alloys are susceptible to hot cracking during fusion welding. This study presents the liquation cracking susceptibility of the novel T-Mg32(AlZn)49 phase strengthened Al-Mg-Zn alloy with a Zn/Mg ratio below 1.0 by a circular-patch welding test, and compared the liquation cracking tendency with η-MgZn2 phase strengthened 7××× series alloys whose Zn/Mg ratios are above 1.0. It was found that all these novel Al-Mg-Zn alloys still have as low a liquation cracking susceptibility as traditional 5××× series alloys, surpassing that of traditional 7××× series alloys substantially. It was noticed that the increase of the Zn/Mg ratio will result in a larger difference between the fraction solids of the fusion zone and the partially melted zone during the terminal solidification stage, which can lead to a wider crack healing disparity between these two areas and thus result in different liquation cracking susceptibilities in different alloys.

The Study of the Tensile Strength of AlSi21CuNiMg Silumin in the Final Stage of Solidification and the Initial Stage of Cooling

The paper presents the results of tensile strength tests of AlSi21CuNiMg silumin made on a test stand. Silumin was under examination in an unmodified state and after modification with AlCu19P1.4 master alloy in quantity of 0.2% in relation to the mass of the alloy. Using a scanning microscope, the surface fractures obtained from tensile tests were tested. The structure and profiles of fractures were examined using an optical microscope. Modification of the tested silumin resulted in a favorable fragmentation and regular distribution of the crystals of the primary silicon in the alloy structure, which led to an almost twofold increase in the strength of the silumin samples at the final solidification stage from 3.5 to 6.6 MPa. As a result of these changes, the resistance of silumin to hot cracks should increase, which is of great importance when casting hypereutectic silumin in a metal mould that strongly inhibits the shrinkage of the castings.

Effect of vibration on the formation of second phase particles in cast-rolling strips

Taking 20CrMn steel as the experimental object, the vibration and non-vibration cast-rolling comparison experiments were carried out on the self-developed twin-roll strip vibration cast-rolling mill. And a series of tests such as tensile test, fracture morphology observation and energy spectrum analysis were carried out on the obtained cast-rolling strips. This paper focuses on the analysis of the test results from the perspective of the second phase particles, in order to explore the effect of vibration on the precipitation of the second phase particles in cast-rolling. The analysis results show that the vibration can promote the uniform distribution of alloying elements, thereby inhibiting the formation of large size second phase particles which are mainly concentrated in the central region of the strip in the late solidification stage, and promoting the precipitation of the dispersed small-sized particles in the high-temperature plastic deformation stage, and finally improving the mechanical properties of the cast-rolling strip. At the end of the paper, the influence of vibration parameters such as vibration amplitude and vibration frequency on the formation of second phase particles is further analyzed.

Macrosegregation behavior of solute Cu in the solidifying Al-Cu alloys in super-gravity field

In this research, super gravity field was introduced to investigate the macrosegregation behavior of solute Cu in Al-Cu alloys in super gravity field systematically. And the macrosegregation mechanism was also explored by well-designed experiments. When Al-Cu alloys were solidified in super gravity field, the macrosegregation of solute Cu was generated and the solute Cu increases along the direction of super gravity field. The macrosegregation becomes severer with the increasing gravity coefficient and the solute content. When the Al-4.5wt%Cu alloy was solidified in super gravity field of G = 800, the copper content at the bottom position increases up to 8.48 wt% and that at the up position decreases to only 2.58 wt%, resulting in the positive segregation at the bottom and the negative segregation at the top of the sample. The segregation mechanisms are that solute-rich regions, which have a larger density than the main liquid, sediment toward the bottom of the sample under the effect of super gravity, and at the final solidification stage, super gravity can drive the residual solute-rich liquid to flow toward the bottom of the sample along the dendrite space (channel), which formed the super gravity channel segregation.

Microstructural Study of as-cast Fe-Si Alloys. Effect of Percentage of Silicon

ABSTRACTSilicon steels are materials used in construction of electric motors and transformers. Silicon is an effective element to improve the electrical and magnetic properties. During the solidification stage is defined the distribution of solute on the solid as segregation or coring. This paper researched the effect of the percentage of silicon on the microstructure and segregation profiles of the Fe-0.5wt%Si, Fe-1.5wt%Si and Fe-3wt%Si cast alloys. The samples were metallographically prepared by conventional techniques. The concentration of silicon in grain boundary regions was carried out by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with EDS-WDS microanalysis, the morphological changes of the grain as a function of silicon was evaluated by optical microscopy. Experimental microsegregation patterns showed significant difference from the Scheil model and greater agreement with this model when considering convective-diffusive conditions. The microstructural study revealed discrepancies with the solidification pattern governed by the solidification interval.

Laddered-UBM Structure: Bump Reliability Improvement through Distribution of Load Concentration Points

Flip-chip mounting schemes have been used for decades to mount semiconductor chips to substrates. In flip-chip process, a solder bump is metallurgically bonded to the under-bump-metallurgy, also known as UBM, on a given pad of the semiconductor chip and a pre-solder is metallurgically bonded to a corresponding pad of the substrate. Thereafter the solder bump and the pre-solder are brought into proximity and metallurgically bonded using reflow. Flip-chip solder joints are subjected to mechanical stresses from a variety of sources, such as coefficient of thermal expansion mismatches, ductility differences and circuit board warping. Such stresses can subject the conventional UBM structure to bending moments specially during the flip-chip reflow solder solidification stage where the bump is still unprotected by the underfill. The effect is somewhat directional in that the stresses tend to be greatest nearer the die edges and corners and fall off with increasing proximity to the die center. The bending moments associated with this so-called edge effect can impose stresses on the dielectric film beneath the UBM structure that, if large enough, can produce fracture. This paper will discuss the load distribution on a conventional UBM structure due to the bending moments and how the Laddered-UBM structure attempts to overcome or reduce the effects of these bending moments. Contrary to conventional methods where stress concentration points are eliminated, the Laddered-UBM is designed to strategically increase the number of load concentration points along the UBM structure. With the increased number of load concentration points, the stress along the UBM is distributed more evenly which effectively reduces the stress at any given point thus preventing a single large enough stress to cause dielectric fracture. Theoretical analysis and experimental data including reliability results on both the conventional UBM structure and the Laddered-UBM structure will be presented and discussed in this paper.

The Influence of Alkyl Group on Needle Coke Formation

Co-carbonization properties of toluene soluble (TS) of coal tar pitch and waste polystyrene (WPS) were studied in a tube bomb to correlate the content of alkyl groups in the mesophase pitches with coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and anisotropic orientation. The alkyl contents, which were increased from 12.0% to 33.3% by adding WPS into TS, improved the properties of resultant needle coke in terms of optical texture and CTE value. The anisotropic indices of average length of vectors parallel to the CTE axis and average length of anisotropic unit vectors increased from 20.8 μm to 28.4 μm and 23.4 μm to 28.8 μm, respectively, and CTE value decreased from 0.8×10-6 /°C to 0.1×10-6 /°C. Due to the increasing alkyl groups, the lower viscosity of the carbonization system favored the development of flow texture and uniaxial orientation. And the sufficient gas evolution of good timing in co-carbonization forced the uniaxial arrangement of bulk mesophase molecules at the solidification stage.