Cooling slope casting and thixoforming of hypereutectic A390 alloy

A390 alloy offers outstanding wear resistance, high strength, low thermal expansion, excellent castability and low density and is thus the material of choice for heavy wear applications. Thixoforming of this alloy has received some attention recently since the conventional die casting route poses serious problems. In the present work, A390 alloy feedstock produced with cooling slope casting was thixoformed successfully at a temperature of 844 K, which is much lower than the typical die casting temperatures employed for this alloy. The thixoformed part was metallurgically sound, free from porosity and attained a hardness level as high as 144 HB in T6 temper.