Studies on the influence of grain refining and modification on microstructure and mechanical properties of forged A356 alloy

Microstructure and mechanical properties of the forged A356 alloy have been investigated in this paper. Results reveals that at micro level forged structure was more refined than as in the as cast conditions. This is due to the work hardening effect, where the original structure is destroyed during the forging and recrystallization helped in creating large number of nucleating sites leading to fine grain structure. From the investigations on the mechanical properties, we deduce that the PS, UTS and hardness of forged materials are obviously higher than those of the ones treated with as cast condition without and with the addition of grain refiners and modifier.

► For grain refinement and modification studies Ti, B and Sr were used. The Master alloys used are Al-3Ti, Al-3B and Al-10Sr. ► For the preparation of forged tensile specimen, pneumatic power hammer was used. ► Test includes microstructural and mechanical properties study like, 0.2%PS, UTS, %E, %R, Young's modulus and VHN of forged A356 alloy. ► The experimental results reveal the effect of forging on the mechanical properties study of forged A356 alloy. ► Results show SEM photomicrographs of forged A356 alloy.