In order to investigate the effect of natural convection in columnar to equiaxed transition (CET), Al-3.0wt.%Cu and Al-3.0wt.%Cu-5.5wt.%Si alloys ingots were obtained during the transient horizontal directional solidification (THDS). Aiming to analyze the effect of superheat in the formation of the macrostructure in ternary Al-Cu-Si alloy, the experiments were conducted with three superheat temperatures above the liquidus temperature of the ternary alloy. A water-cooled solidification experimental device was used. Continuous temperature measurements were made during solidification at different positions in the casting and the data were automatically acquired. Thermal analysis has been applied to determine the thermal parameters such as growth rate (VL), cooling rate (TR) and temperature gradient (GL), whose values have been interrelated with the CET. The observation of the macrostructures has indicated that the resulting thermosolutal convection combined with superheat seem to favor the transition, which did not occur in a single plane, for all ingots obtained, i.e., it has been seen in a range of positions in ingots. The addition of Si element in binary Al-Cu alloy anticipates the CET. A comparison with experimental results for CET occurrence in different growth directions has been carried out.

As ligas Al-Sn são amplamente utilizados em aplicações tribológicas. Nesse estudo, análises térmica, microestrutural e dureza (HV) foram realizadas ao longo de um lingote da liga Al-5,5%Sn, obtido por solidificação direcional horizontal transitória. Os principais parâmetros analisados incluem a velocidade de deslocamento da isoterma liquidus (V L) e a taxa de resfriamento (T R). Esses parâmetros térmicos desempenham um papel fundamental na formação da microestrutura. A microestrutura dendrítica foi caracterizada através dos espaçamentos dentríticos primários (λ1), os quais foram determinados, experimentalmente, e correlacionados com V L, e T R. O comportamento apresentado pela liga Al- 5,5% Sn, durante a solidificação,é semelhante ao de outras ligas de alumínio, isto é, observa-se rede dendrítica mais grosseira com a diminuição da taxa de resfriamento, indicando que a imiscibilidade entre o alumínio e estanho não tem um efeito significativo sobre o relação entre o espaçamento dendrítico primário e taxa de resfriamento. A dependência da microdureza em V L, T R e no λ1 foi também analisada. Verificaram-se menores valores de HV para maiores T R. Por outro lado, os valores HV aumentam com valores crescentes de λ1.

Al-Sn alloys are widely used in tribological applications. In this study, thermal, microstructural and microhardness (HV) analysis were carried out with an Al-5.5wt.%Sn alloy ingot produced by horizontal directional transient solidification. The main parameters analyzed include the growth rate (V L) and cooling rate (T R).These thermal parameters play a key role in the microstructural formation. The dendritic microstructure has been characterized by primary dendritic arm spacing (λ1) which was experimentally determined and correlated with V L, and T R. The behavior presented by the Al-5.5wt.%Sn alloy during solidification was similar to that of other aluminum alloys, i.e., the dendritic network became coarser with decreasing cooling rates, indicating that the immiscibility between aluminum and tin does not have a significant effect on the relationship between primary dendritic arm spacing and the cooling rate. The dependence of the microhardness on V L, T R and λ1 was also analyzed. It was found that for increasing values of T R, the values of HV decrease. On the other hand, the values of HV increase with increasing values of λ1.