Effect of Intensive Cooling of Alloy AZ91 with a Chromium Addition on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of the Casting

The work presents the results of the investigations of the effect of intensive cooling of alloy AZ91 with an addition of chromium on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the obtained casts. The experimental castings were made in ceramic moulds preliminarily heated to 180°C, into which alloy AZ91 with the addition was poured. Within the implementation of the research, a comparison was made of the microstructure and mechanical properties of the castings obtained in ceramic moulds cooled at room temperature and the ones intensively cooled in a cooling liquid. The kinetics and dynamics as well as the thermal effects recorded by the TDA method were compared. Metallographic tests were performed with the use of an optical microscope and the strength properties of the obtained castings were examined: UTS (Rm), elongation (A%), and HB hardness.