The role of ultrasonic cavitation in refining the microstructure of aluminum based nanocomposites during the solidification process

In the present study, A356 alloy and Al2O3 nanoparticles are used as the matrix alloy and the reinforcement, respectively. Nanoparticles were added into the molten A356 alloy and dispersed via ultrasonic cavitation processing. Ultrasonic cavitation was applied over various temperature ranges during molten alloy cooling and solidification to investigate the grain structure formation and the nanoparticle dispersion behavior. Optical Microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy were used to investigate in detail the differences in the microstructure characteristics and the nanoparticle distribution. Experimental results indicated that the ultrasonic cavitation processing and Al2O3 nanoparticles play an important role for microstructure refinement. In addition, it was shown in this study that the Al2O3 nanoparticles modified the eutectic phase.