The room temperature mechanical properties of a thermo-mechanically processed Thixocast A356 aluminum alloy

In the present study, the variation of final mechanical properties (ultimate tensile strength, total elongation and formability index) of a Thixocast A356 aluminum alloy with thermo-mechanical parameters (strain rate and temperature) has been investigated. This was carried out using a shear punch testing method at room temperature. The shear punch technique holds the advantages of producing full tensile data (yield strength (YS), ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and total elongation (El)), where the availability of material is limited. Thermo-mechanical processing (TMP) cycles were programmed through hot compression tests at different temperatures and strain rates (i.e., 450 °C, 500 °C and 540 °C and strain rates of 0.0001 s−1, 0.0005 s−1, 0.001 s−1 and 0.01 s−1). As a result of applied TMP cycles the eutectic Si fibers are fragmented, dispersed and spheroidized in the matrix. This microstructural evolution resulted in higher tensile properties (higher strength without sacrificing the ductility).