[en] Abstract Using synchrotron X-ray high speed radiography, the fragmentation and refinement of pre-existing primary Al₂Cu intermetallic dendrites induced by ultrasonic melt processing in a hypereutectic Al-35% Cu alloy were studied in-situ and in real time. The alloy was melted, contained and processed in a quartz tube crucible with a middle section of approximately 300 μm-thick channel where the observations were made. Direct observation of intermetallic fragmentation and detachment unambiguously confirms that the acoustic cavitation and streaming flow play a crucial role in fragmentation of the intermetallic dendrites. Furthermore, the remelting effect due to transport of hot liquid via acoustic streaming flow and the stress against the intermetallic dendrites caused by acoustic streaming flow are found to be the dominant fragmentation mechanism in the present experiments. It is also suggested that cavitation bubbles or bubble clouds contribute to fragmentation not only by mechanically fracturing the dendrites but also by facilitating the effect of acoustic streaming flow on dendrites. At last, clear observation of equiaxed intermetallic dendrites growing from small fragments after ultrasonic melt processing provides the first conclusive evidence of the refinement mechanism, i.e. the acoustic cavitation and acoustic streaming flow progressively break the intermetallic dendrites into small fragments. Most of these small fragments are able to survive and then act as nuclei for the subsequent solidification of intermetallic phases, consequently leading to intermetallic refinement in the solidified microstructure.

[en] High speed synchrotron X-ray imaging and ultrafast tomography were used to study in situ and in real time the fragmentation and growth dynamics of dendritic microstructures of an Al-15%Cu alloy in solidification under ultrasound. An ultrasound of 30 kHz with vibration amplitude of 29 µm was applied into the alloy melt and produced a strong swirling acoustic flow of ~0.3 m/s. Efficient dendrite fragmentation occurred due to the acoustic flow and the dominant mechanism is the thermal perturbation remelting plus mechanical fracture and separation effect. Acoustic flow fatigue impact and phase collision effects were found to play a minor role in causing dendrite fragmentation. Just 10 s of ultrasound application at the early stage of solidification produced ~100% more dendrite fragments compared to the case without ultrasound, resulting in 20~25% reduction in the average grain size in the solidified samples. Furthermore, the dendrite morphology and tip growth velocity were mainly affected by the initial dendrite fragment number density and their distribution. The systematic and real-time datasets obtained in near operando conditions provided valuable 4D information for validation of numerical models and assistance in developing optimisation strategy for ultrasound melt processing in industry.