Founding Research Journal

Founding Research Journal

Numerical Analysis of the Effects of Squeeze Casting Variables on the Interfacial Microstructure of Aluminum/Copper Bimetal with a Regular 3D Lattice Structure

Document Type : Original Research Article

Authors
Seyed Abbas Hassasi 1
Majid Abbasi 2
Seyed Jamal Hosseinipour 3
1 PhD Student, Faculty of Materials and Industrial Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Mazandaran, Iran
2 Associate Professor, Faculty of Materials and Industrial Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Mazandaran, Iran
3 Professor, Faculty of Materials and Industrial Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Mazandaran, Iran
10.22034/frj.2025.547148.1210
Abstract
In this paper, the microstructural characteristics of the bimetallic interface of aluminum with copper precursor with a regular three-dimensional lattice structure produced by the squeeze casting method have been numerically analyzed. For this purpose, the effects of three process variables: copper lattice cell wall thickness (precursor thickness) between 0.75 and 1.25 mm, molten aluminum pouring temperature between 720 and 760 °C, and squeeze pressure between 50 and 100 MPa on three microstructural characteristics: interface thickness, eutectic cell thickness, and ϴ phase thickness have been investigated. The L15 matrix was used to design the experiment, with all three independent variables located at three levels with the same variation interval. Numerical analyses of regression and variance, and main and interaction effects functions using surface diagrams were used. The microstructure of the interface was examined by optical and electron microscopes equipped with image processors and EDS. Microscopic observations showed that the microstructure of the bimetallic interfacial layer consists of four layers of pure copper, ϴ phase, α+ϴ eutectic and alpha aluminum phase, whose thickness is affected by the three variables under study. Also, the morphology of the ϴ phase in the 0.75 mm thick preform is columnar, in the 1 mm thick preform is a combination of columnar and equiaxed, and in the 1.25 mm thick preform, it is completely equiaxed. The main effects diagram showed that the changes in all three microstructural characters were completely increasing with increasing pouring temperature, and on the contrary, they were decreasing with increasing squeeze pressure and preform thickness. Also, variance evaluations revealed that the thickness of the preform is the most effective factor on the size of the microstructural characteristics of the interfacial layer, with a contribution of more than 75 percent, followed by pouring temperature and pressing pressure. The thicknesses of the interface, eutectic cell, and ϴ phase increased by 24.47%, 20.62%, and 50.54%, respectively, with increasing pouring temperature, and decreased by 18.32%, 20.48%, and 4.31%, respectively, with increasing squeeze pressure, and decreased by 47.26%, 45.21%, and 58.38%, respectively, with increasing precursor thickness.
Keywords
Al/Cu bimetal
Squeeze casting
Preform thickness
Numerical discussion
Interface microstructure
Subjects
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Founding Research Journal
Volume 9, Issue 2 - Serial Number 27
Autumn and Winter
Autumn 2025
Pages 105-120

  • Receive Date 15 September 2025
  • Revise Date 29 November 2025
  • Accept Date 29 November 2025