Determining the Critical Fracture Stress of Al Dendrites near the Melting Point via Synchrotron X-ray Imaging

Dendrites are the most common microstructural features in the cast metals, significantly affecting the structure integrity and mechanical properties of the castings. In this study, the in situ synchrotron X-ray radiographic and tomographic imaging techniques were combined to evaluate the critical fracture stress of the growing dendrite tip during the solidification of an Al-15 wt% Cu alloy under an external electromagnetic force. Two dendritic 3D models have been proposed to simulate the dendrite 3D morphologic characteristics and thus revealed that the critical fracture stresses of the Al dendrites at temperatures close to its melting point were in the range of 0.5 kPa-0.05 MPa. The present results demonstrate the feasibility of measuring the high-temperature mechanical properties of the metallic dendrites.

Automated summary

In this study, in situ synchrotron X-ray radiographic and tomographic imaging techniques were combined to evaluate the critical fracture stress of growing dendrites during the solidification of an Al-15 wt% Cu alloy. Two dendritic 3D models were proposed to simulate the morphologic characteristics and revealed that the critical fracture stresses of the Al dendrites were in the range of 0.5 kPa-0.05 MPa. These results demonstrate the feasibility of measuring the high-temperature mechanical properties of metallic dendrites.