Abstract:
The automotive industry traditionally reduces weight primarily by value engineering
and thickness optimization. However, both of these strategies have reached their limits. A 6%
reduction in automotive truck mass results in a 13% improvement in freight mass. Aluminum
alloys have lower weight, relatively high specific strength, and good corrosion resistance. Therefore,
the present manuscript involves manufacturing Al-based alloy by squeeze casting. The effect of
applied pressure during the squeeze cast and gravity cast of a novel Al-Si alloy on microstructural
evolution, and mechanical and wear behavior was investigated. The results demonstrated that
squeeze casting of the novel Al-Si alloy at high-pressure exhibits superior mechanical properties and
enhanced wear resistance in comparison to the gravity die-cast (GDC) counterpart. Squeeze casting
of this alloy, at high pressure, yields fine dendrites and reduced dendritic arm spacing, resulting in
grain refinement. The finer dendrites and reduced dendritic arm spacing in high-pressure squeeze
cast alloy than in the GDC alloy were due to enhanced cooling rates observed during the solidification
process, as well as the applied squeeze pressure breaks the initial dendrites that started growing
during the solidification process. Reduced casting defects in the high-pressure squeeze cast alloy led
to a reduced coefficient of friction, resulting in improved wear resistance even at higher loads and
higher operating temperatures. Our results demonstrated that squeeze casting of the novel Al-Si alloy
at high-pressure exhibits a 47% increase in tensile strength, 33% increase in hardness, 10% reduction
in coefficient of friction, and 15% reduction in wear loss compared to the GDC counterpart.
