A new fast heat treatment process for cast A356 alloy motorcycle wheel hubs

• Published in: China foundry Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 11 - 16
• Main Authors: Lu, Shi-ping, Du, Rui, Liu, Jian-ping, Chen, Lin-can, Wu, Shu-sen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Singapore 2018; Foundry Journal Agency; Zhejiang Wanfeng Motorcycle Wheel Co. Ltd, Xinchang 312500, Zhejiang, China%State Key Lab of Materials Processing and Die &Mould Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
• Subjects: A356 alloy; Alloys; Analysis; Engineering; Innovations; Machines; Manufacturing; Manufacturing costs; Materials Engineering; Mechanical properties; Metallic Materials; Metals (Materials); microstructure evaluation; Motorcycle industry; Motorcycles; Processes; Production management; Research & Development; short-time heat treatment; Silicon; Specialty metals industry; short-time heat treatment; microstructure evaluation; A356 alloy; TG146.21; mechanical properties
• ISSN: 1672-6421; 2365-9459; 1672-6421
• DOI: 10.1007/s41230-018-7058-x

The normal T6 heat treatment process for cast A356 alloy generally requires about 15 h. This longperiod procedure increases greatly the manufacturing cost and decreases the productivity in practical production. In this study, a new short-time heat treatment process with only 30 min solution time at 540℃ was developed for the production of motorcycle wheel hubs in order to reduce heat treatment time. Comparisons on microstructure evaluation and mechanical properties, such as tensile strength and ductility, were made between this new fast process and the conventional T6 heat treatment. The results revealed that this new heat treatment process enabled the spheroidization of the eutectic silicon thoroughly, while minimizing the growth of eutectic silicon. The A356 alloy after this new short-time heat treatment shows nearly equal mechanical properties compared with the same alloy heat treated in a normal T6 heat treatment. This investigation makes it possible to significantly improve the efficiency of heat treatment on A356 alloy and, at the same time, improve the mechanical properties of the alloy.