ALUMINUM DIE-CASTING ALLOYS - ALLOY COMPOSITION, MICROSTRUCTURE, AND PROPERTIES-PERFORMANCE RELATIONSHIPS

Since commercial production of aluminium by the Hall-Heroult process, the use of aluminium and its alloys has been widespread, and commercia l applications continue to increase. The casting process has always be en a major manufacturing method for aluminium based products, and part s have been produced using all the traditional casting processes. Howe ver, recent advances in die casting technology, coupled with improveme nts in die materials, have made the die casting process the most commo nly used method for producing aluminium alloy castings. Despite recent innovations and advances in die casting technology that have signific antly expanded the commercial applications of die cast aluminium produ cts, the development of complementary new alloys, the optimisation of existing alloys, and the documentation of reliable properties data for these alloys, have all categorically lagged behind. Realising the pot ential of research and development in enhancing the technological comp etitiveness of the USA, the North American Die Casting Association and the US Department of Energy cooperatively sponsored a research progra m at Worcester Polytechnic Institute aimed at systematically investiga ting alloy-microstructure-property interactions in aluminium die casti ng alloys. This literature review was conducted during the early stage s of the project. (C) 1995 The Institute of Materials and ASM Internat ional.