The grain structure of pure aluminum can be significantly refined by the Pulsed Magneto-Oscillation (PMO) treatment. When PMO was applied to the melt during the solidification, the thermal undercooling increased not only near the mould wall but also in the center of the melt and this greatly stimulated the nucleation of Al grains. PMO treatment promoted more vigorous convection of the melt, resulting in a significant decrease in the temperature gradient from the mould wall to the center of the casting compared to the case without PMO treatment. The resulted lower temperature gradient led to more uniform temperature field of the melt, which in turn favored the survival of the Al grains and allowed them to grow rather than remelt. Consideration of the thermal environment during solidification provides a more complete mechanism of grain refinement of pure metals when PMO is applied.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.