EFFECT OF PULSE MAGNETO-OSCILLATION (PMO) TREATMENT PARAMETERS ON THE STRUCTURE OF SOLIDIFIED ALUMINUM

Itzhak Edry ^1,2 Tomer Mordechai ¹ Nachum Frage ¹ Shmuel Hayun ¹

¹Department of Materials Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva
²Department of Materials Engineering, Nuclear Research Center of the Negev, Beer-Sheva

Pulse magneto-oscillation (PMO) is an innovative method for grain refinement during solidification. In PMO approach pulses of electric current flow through molten metal during its solidification. The pulsed currents are induced by oscillate magnetic field. In the present study the effect of PMO treatment parameters (cooling rates and different treatment durations along the solidification) on the structure of solidified aluminum was investigated. To determine the effect of PMO above the melting point, a set of specific experiments were done. The experimental results suggested that "cavities activation" model may explain grain size changes above the melting point, while the dendrite fragmentation model explains changes in grain size during solidification. Moreover, the results showed that the effect of PMO is similar to that of an inoculation treatment.