Effects of melt temperature and mold preheating temperature on the fluidity of Ca containing AZ31 alloys

The effects of melt temperature and mold preheating temperature on the fluidity of Ca containing AZ31 alloys were evaluated under various casting conditions. The flow lengths of AZ31-xCa alloy melt increased with increasing the melt temperature due to lower viscosity and longer time to fill the mold cavity. The increment of the flow lengths of AZ31-xCa alloy melt with increasing the mold preheating temperature was not large due to large diameter of circular cross section of mold cavity. The fluidity of AZ31-xCa alloy melts was affected more forcefully by melt temperature than by mold preheating temperature under casting conditions used in this study. Also, the flow lengths of AZ31-xCa alloy melt were affected by grain size of primary solid particles solidified during filling mold cavity and surface oxide film due to addition of Ca. C 2006 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.