Study of ultrasonic melt treatment on the quality of horizontal continuously cast Al–1%Si alloy

The fluctuation of the melt temperature in a tundish was measured during casting and experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of ultrasonic melt treatment on the surface quality and solidification structures of Al–1%Si ingots. The results show that the uniformity of melt temperature was enhanced with the application of ultrasonic melt treatment. When the ultrasonic power is 1000 W, the surface quality was evidently improved and grains of cast ingots were refined. Moreover, EPMA analysis was adopted to study the relationship between the ultrasonic power and boundary segregation of Si element. The result shows that boundary segregation is suppressed with the increase of ultrasonic power and the phenomenon was theoretically interpreted.