The Mechanism Behind the Effect of Oxide Inclusion on Fluidity of EN AB-46000 Aluminum Alloy and Its Application to Melt Quality Evaluation

Abstract The effect of oxide impurities on the fluidity of 46000 aluminum alloys, equivalent to A380, was investigated using loop fluidity test. The results indicate that large oxide impurities play a dominant role in fluidity compared to smaller oxides. The large oxide impurities not only result in shorter fluidity length but also increase result variation. Besides, oxides play a negligible role in fluidity when the solid fraction is below a critical threshold. Once the critical solid fraction is reached, large oxides interact with partially solidified grains, blocking the feeding channels between the network of the grains partially or even entirely, depending on the number and size of the oxides. To assess melt quality effectively using fluidity testing, both fluidity length and deviation should be considered.