Semi-Solid Processing of Alloys and Composites • Shahrooz Nafisi and Reza Ghomashchi Semi-Solid Processing of Alloys and Composites Edited by Shahrooz Nafisi and Reza Ghomashchi Printed Edition of the Special Issue Published in Metals ww.mdpi.com/journal/metals Semi-Solid Processing of Alloys and Composites Semi-Solid Processing of Alloys and Composites Special Issue Editors Shahrooz Nafisi Reza Ghomashchi MDPI • Basel • Beijing • Wuhan • Barcelona • Belgrade • Manchester • Tokyo • Cluj • Tianjin Special Issue Editors Shahrooz Nafisi Reza Ghomashchi University of Alberta The University of Adelaide Canada Australia Editorial Office MDPI St. Alban-Anlage 66 4052 Basel, Switzerland This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal Metals (ISSN 2075-4701) (available at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/metals/special issues/semi solid processing). For citation purposes, cite each article independently as indicated on the article page online and as indicated below: LastName, A.A.; LastName, B.B.; LastName, C.C. Article Title. Journal Name Year, Article Number, Page Range. ISBN 978-3-03928-975-2 (Hbk) ISBN 978-3-03928-976-9 (PDF) Cover image courtesy of Shahrooz Nafisi. c 2020 by the authors. Articles in this book are Open Access and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. The book as a whole is distributed by MDPI under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. Contents About the Special Issue Editors ..................................... vii Shahrooz Nafisi and Reza Ghomashchi Semi-Solid Processing of Alloys and Composites Reprinted from: Metals 2019, 9, 526, doi:10.3390/met9050526 ..................... 1 Michael Modigell, Annalisa Pola and Marialaura Tocci Rheological Characterization of Semi-Solid Metals: A Review Reprinted from: Metals 2018, 8, 245, doi:10.3390/met8040245 ..................... 3 Annalisa Pola, Marialaura Tocci and Plato Kapranos Microstructure and Properties of Semi-Solid Aluminum Alloys: A Literature Review Reprinted from: Metals 2018, 8, 181, doi:10.3390/met8030181 ..................... 27 Shahrooz Nafisi, Anthony Roccisano, Reza Ghomashchi and George Vander Voort A Comparison between Anodizing and EBSD Techniques for Primary Particle Size Measurement Reprinted from: Metals 2019, 9, 488, doi:10.3390/met9050488 ..................... 45 Jufu Jiang, Guanfei Xiao, Changjie Che and Ying Wang Microstructure, Mechanical Properties and Wear Behavior of the Rheoformed 2024 Aluminum Matrix Composite Component Reinforced by Al2O3 Nanoparticles Reprinted from: Metals 2018, 8, 460, doi:10.3390/met8060460 ..................... 59 Gabriela Lujan Brollo, Cec´ılia Tereza Weishaupt Proni and Eugˆenio Jos´e Zoqui Thixoforming of an Fe-Rich Al-Si-Cu Alloy—Thermodynamic Characterization, Microstructural Evolution, and Rheological Behavior Reprinted from: Metals 2018, 8, 332, doi:10.3390/met8050332 ..................... 83 M. N. Mohammed, M. Z. Omar, Salah Al-Zubaidi, K. S. Alhawari and M. A. Abdelgnei Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Thixowelded AISI D2 Tool Steel Reprinted from: Metals 2018, 8, 316, doi:10.3390/met8050316 .....................107 Yongkun Li, Rongfeng Zhou, Lu Li, Han Xiao and Yehua Jiang Microstructure and Properties of Semi-solid ZCuSn10P1 Alloy Processed with an Enclosed Cooling Slope Channel Reprinted from: Metals 2018, 8, 275, doi:10.3390/met8040275 .....................123 Chul Kyu Jin Microstructure of Semi-Solid Billets Produced by Electromagnetic Stirring and Behavior of Primary Particles during the Indirect Forming Process Reprinted from: Metals 2018, 8, 271, doi:10.3390/met8040271 .....................135 Marta Sl´ ezak© Study of Semi-Solid Magnesium Alloys (With RE Elements) as a Non-Newtonian Fluid Described by Rheological Models Reprinted from: Metals 2018, 8, 222, doi:10.3390/met8040222 .....................151 Maryam Eslami, Mostafa Payandeh, Flavio Deflorian, Anders E. W. Jarfors and Caterina Zanella Effect of Segregation and Surface Condition on Corrosion of Rheo-HPDC Al–Si Alloys Reprinted from: Metals 2018, 8, 209, doi:10.3390/met8040209 .....................165 v Jufu Jiang, Guanfei Xiao, Ying Wang and Yingze Liu Tribological Behavior of Nano-Sized SiCp/7075 Composite Parts Formed by Semisolid Processing Reprinted from: Metals 2018, 8, 148, doi:10.3390/met8030148 .....................183 Ava Azadi Chegeni and Platon Kapranos An Experimental Evaluation of Electron Beam Welded Thixoformed 7075 Aluminum Alloy Plate Material Reprinted from: Metals 2017, 7, 569, doi:10.3390/met7120569 .....................205 vi About the Special Issue Editors Shahrooz Nafisi, Dr., is an adjunct Professor at the University of Alberta, Canada. He received his B.S. and M.S. in Metallurgical Engineering from the Iran University of Science and Technology and his Ph.D. from the University of Quebec.´ He has co-authored two books, “A New Approach to Gating Systems” (1st edition, 1997, 2nd edition, 2001) and “Semi-Solid Processing of Aluminum Alloys”, ISBN 978-3-319-40333-5, Springer, Sep 2016 (republished in China, Jan 2020, ISBN: 978-7-122-34281-2), and more than 70 journal articles and conference papers. He was the 2017 profile in achievement from Professional Engineers of Canada (APEGS); the Vanadium award recipient in 2014 (Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining “IOM3”); the 2013 best paper award of the International Metallographic Society and Metallography, Microstructures, and Analysis; and the recipient of the 2012 Association of Iron and Steel Technology (AIST) Hunt-Kelly Outstanding Paper Award. Reza Ghomashchi, Prof., graduated from the Iran University of Science and Technology (B.Eng. Metallurgical Engineering,1978), and Cambridge (M.Phil. Materials Technology, 1979) and Sheffield (Ph.D. Metallurgy, 1983) Universities in the U.K. After a few years working at universities in the U.K., he migrated to Australia to work for BHP Steel in 1988. In early 1990, he joined the University of South Australia and worked as a Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer until 2001 when he was offered a Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Industrial Research Chair-Tier I (in collaboration with ALCAN, now Rio-Tinto ALCAN) and Professor Position at the University of Quebec´ in Canada. He has also been a visiting Professor at MIT, 1994; IUST, 1999; and an adjunct Professor at the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Adelaide, 2007. In early 2008, he returned to Australia to take up the position of Manager, Materials Research and Development, at Sunday Solar Technologies, a start-up R&D company in Sydney and, in August 2010, he accepted his current position at the school of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Adelaide, Australia. vii metals Editorial Semi-Solid Processing of Alloys and Composites Shahrooz Nafisi 1,* and Reza Ghomashchi 2,* 1 Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2M7, Canada 2 The School of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia * Correspondence: shahrooznafi[email protected] (S.N.); [email protected] (R.G.); Tel.: +1-503-568-0992 (S.N.); +61-8-83133360 (R.G.) Received: 29 April 2019; Accepted: 7 May 2019; Published: 8 May 2019 A quick look through the past two centuries tells us that we may be in our third industrial revolution. The first industrial revolution (19th century) was mainly due to the introduction of steam energy, while the second (20th century) was mainly due to inexpensive oil and gas—which, by the way, brought us some unwelcome consequences; the so-called greenhouse effect and subsequent global warming and unpredictable weather patterns. We are now embracing a third industrial revolution, which could be termed the green energy and communication era. As a result, our manufacturing technologies should also follow a similar pattern: “Green manufacturing” with less energy consumption. Semi-solid metal (SSM) processing may be branded as a step forward towards green manufacturing, as it consumes less energy than its conventional counterparts. However, in spite of the many advantages of SSM processing and its viable manufacturing route, including a reduction in energy consumption, its implementation in the metal industry has been very sluggish. As strong advocates within the SSM processing community, we believe such a delay in recognizing the benefits of SSM casting of light alloys is predominantly due to the lack of proper communication between research and development (R&D) investigators and industry leaders. The Editors have tried to close the communication gap through publication of a new book [1] and the introduction of the current special issue of the Metals Journal on SSMs as an extra effort to the biannual S2P conference. We hoped an invitation of key players to highlight the latest advancements in the field would contribute towards better usage of SSM processes in industrial applications. This special issue is focused on the recent research and findings in the field, with the aim of filling the gap between industry and academia, and to shed light on some of the fundamentals of science and technology of semi-solid processing. This special issue provides new researches on the two main routes of semi-solid metal processing; Rheo and Thixo - casting.