Materials and Design 20 Ž1999.

303]309

Die erosion and its effect on soldering formation in high

pressure die casting of aluminium alloys

Z.W. ChenU , M.Z. Jahedi 1

CSIRO Manufacturing Science and Technology 1, Locked Bag No. 9, Preston, Victoria, Australia 3072

Received 22 March 1999; accepted 22 April 1999

Abstract

Erosion of the die material during die filling has long been regarded as a possible damage mechanism of dies in high pressure
die casting ŽHPDC. of aluminium alloys. Melt impingement and erosion have also been proposed to be an important step leading
to die soldering. However, there is little information in the literature on the direct measurement of any kind of die erosion in
HPDC. The present analysis, based on existing erosion theories, has shown that liquid impingement and solid particle erosion is
not likely to occur in HPDC in the short-term while soldering does. There is a paucity of data indicating how cavitation erosion
may occur in HPDC in the short-term. Pins were examined that were used as soldering targets in specially designed dies during
soldering trails using a semi-industrial HPDC machine. Although these pins were subjected to severe melt impingement during
the trails, very little erosion occurred before the formation of soldered layers. Q 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Casting; Mechanical; Wear Žerosion.

1. Introduction They have proposed that erosion is primarily caused by

High pressure die casting differs most distinctively
from all the other casting processes in that the metal is
filled through the gate at a comparatively high velocity,
typically 40]60 mrs for aluminium alloys. This high
velocity filling has long been regarded to cause erosion
of die materials. The subject was recently reviewed by
Venkatesan and Shivpuri w1x, and it is clear that the
published work Ž1960]1980s. w2]5x did not present
sufficient evidence to illustrate the nature of die ero-
sion in HPDC. In recent years, HPDC experiments to
investigate erosion on die materials were conducted by
Venkatesan, Shivpuri and their co-workers w1,6]11x.
U
Corresponding author. Tel.: q61-3-9662-7850; fax: q61-3-9662-
7851.
E-mail address: zhan.chen@mlb.dmt.csiro.au ŽZ.W. Chen.
1
Cooperative Research Centre for Alloy and Solidification Tech-
nology.
the impact of solidified particles present in the melt
during filling. They appear to have based their conclu-
sion on the measured weight loss of soldered samples,
hence, it was not possible to separate the weight change
due to each separate mechanism: soldering and ero-
sion.
Impingement of metal on the die cavity during filling
has often been regarded as one of the important fac-
tors causing soldering w7,12,13x. An increasingly ac-
cepted view was that erosion of the die steel forms the
first step in diercasting soldering w13]15x. Both erosion
and soldering have been regarded as the primary causes
for HPDC production down-time. Hence, considerable
research is now being conducted to assess the possibil-
ity of surface coatings to reduce erosion and soldering
w14]17x. However, these research efforts have been
made apparently without a clear emphasis as to whether
to reduce erosion or to reduce soldering failure. This is
due to the fact that locations in die cavities subjected

0261-3069r99r$ - see front matter Q 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 2 6 1 - 3 0 6 9 Ž 9 9 . 0 0 0 3 5 - 7
304 Z.W. Chen, M.Z. Jahedi r Materials and Design 20 (1999) 303]309
to melt impingement are traditionally considered prone
to both erosion and soldering, and yet, the nature of
erosion in HPDC has not been understood.
While erosion by itself is purely the result of me-
chanical impact, soldering is metallurgical in nature.
Hence, preventive measures for reducing erosion may
be different from those for reducing soldering. The
aims of our on-going research are to understand the
mechanisms of soldering in order to find effective ways
of reducing or eliminating it. It is thus necessary to
understand erosion on die materials and the influence
of erosion on the formation of the soldering layer. In
this paper the existing data and theories on erosion are
analysed. As will be shown, the existing literature does
not directly describe erosion in HPDC. In the absence
of reliable erosion data, experimental evidence from
our research on soldering are presented in the later
part of this paper with an attempt to relate erosion and
soldering in HPDC.
2. Existing data and theories
2.1. Liquid impingement erosion
There appears to be a strong belief that the rela-
tively high velocity of the molten metal during filling
causes erosion of the die material w1,4,18x. An extensive
search on literature by the authors has failed to find
HPDC experiments that validate this belief. However,
there has been research conducted by Venkatesan,
Shivpuri and their co-workers w1,6]11x evaluating the
effect of erosion together with soldering, which will be
discussed in the next section.
Research on liquid impingement erosion has been
quite extensive, primarily relating to steam turbine
blade erosion and rain erosion of aircraftrmissiles,
where the impact reached transonic and higher speeds.
In a recent review on liquid impact erosion research,
Lesse w19x pointed out that the subject deals with
Fig. 1. Schematic of a liquid drop impacting a solid surface: Ža. initial contact, Žb. compressible stage with attached shock front, Žc. detached
shock and jetting stage w21x. P is pressure, r liquid density, C acoustic velocity of the liquid, Vi impact velocity and Vl j velocity of the lateral jet.
impact speeds ) 50 mrs. In a number of reviews on
the subject w20]22x, it can be seen that most research
has been conducted using liquid impact velocities many
times higher than the upper end of the filling velocities
usually used in HPDC of aluminium alloys. Hence, in
the context of liquid impingement erosion, die filling
during HPDC of aluminium alloys may be seen to be at
relatively low velocities.
The most important theory for understanding the
basic mechanics of liquid impact erosion is the theory
of guided acoustic shock ŽGAS. w19]22x. This theory
describes the impact of a high-velocity liquid drop
against a solid plane surface and the resulting two
effects: the impact pressure and the subsequent lateral
jetting flow along the surface. This is illustrated in Fig.
1. For ductile materials, as a result of both impact
pressure and high-velocity lateral jets, erosion takes
place through depression, plastic deformation and tear-
ing action. These damage mechanisms create pits on
the eroded sample surfaces.
The average impact pressure of a liquid drop against
a solid plane is the so-called water hammer pressure:
Pavg s r CVi Ž1.
where Pavg is the average pressure, r is the liquid
density, C is the acoustic velocity of the liquid, Vi is the
impact velocity. Referring to Fig. 1b, the highest impact
pressure Ž Pmax . is found at the growing contact perime-
ter. However, the value of PmaxrPavg seems to be
uncertain. Two experimentally determined values of
PmaxrPavg from two studies were 1.5 and 1.8, and two
values predicted by finite difference computations from
different authors were approximately 1.1 and 2.8 w20x.
These data suggest that PmaxrPavg f 2 may be reason-
able, which is slightly higher than the experimental
values and is the average of the two computed values.
The acoustic velocities of most alloy melts seem not
to have been determined. The available data for mol-
ten metals suggest that C liq.Metals may range from ap-
 Z.W. Chen, M.Z. Jahedi r Materials and Design 20 (1999) 303]309
proximately 1000]2800 mrs w23x. For a typical filling
velocity during HPDC of aluminium alloys and if we
take C as 2500 mrs:
Pavg s r CVi s 2700 kgr m3 = 2500 mr s = 50 mr s
s 338 MPa
Pmax s 2 Pavg s 676 MPa
The response of die materials to the impact pressure
depends on the strength of the die materials. Data of
short-time yield stress of H13 are plotted in Fig. 2. It
has been shown that the temperature of the metal
entering into the die cavity during HPDC of Al-11.5Si-
3Cu-1Fe alloy is approximately 5708C w25x. Die temper-
ature is normally lower than 3008C just before die
filling and is likely to remain considerably lower than
5708C within a fraction of 1 s Ž0.1]0.2 s. during filling.
Hence, from Fig. 2, the yield stress of H13 is expected
to be significantly higher than 800 MPa during melt
filling and likely to be higher than the possible Pmax
due to liquid impingement.
It has been shown w25x that, severe soldering oc-
curred in a matter of 130 cycles in the locations of the
die cavity where they were exposed to 5708C for ap-
proximately 1 s every cycle. This means an exposure
time of 130 s to that temperature. Within this short
period of time the decrease in mechanical properties is
unlikely. Therefore, it appears that severe soldering
would develop before liquid impingement erosion oc-
curs.
It should be pointed out that the analysis based on
impact of discrete droplets may represent the upper
bound condition for erosion. Erosion rate due to a
continuous jet can be from one to five orders of magni-
tude lower than that due to the same quantity of liquid
impinging at the same velocity but in the form of
droplets, as it only produces stagnation pressure on the
Fig. 2. Short-time yield stress plotted as a function of testing temper-
ature w24x.
305
target w21x. In summary of the above analysis, it may be
reasonable to suggest that, for the normal filling condi-
tions, the severe form of liquid impingement erosion
through depression, plastic deformation and tearing is
not likely to occur before soldering which occurs in a
short period of time. Repeated impacts may result in
erosion in a long-term through fatigue-like processes
but this may require a lengthy incubation stage w21x.
2.2. Solid particle erosion
Venkatesan, Shivpuri et al. w1,6]11x have published
widely in the last few years on their HPDC experiments
to evaluate erosion. The primarily conclusion they
reached was that erosion was caused by the impact of
solidified particles during die filling. Their erosion rate
measurements were based on the weight loss of core
pins, measured after a pre-set number of casting shots
and subsequent cleaning the pins with KOH solution
apparently to remove soldering on the pins w9x. It thus
appears uncertain whether the observed loss of die
materials was the result of mechanical impact, hence
erosion, or soldering reaction. Most of the work from
Venkatesan, Shivpuri et al. was based on A390 Ž17%
Si. alloy. They argued that the silicon particles that
solidified in the shot sleeve before die filling were hard
and hence erosive w6]10x. They suggested that a lower
superheat of the melt would result in a higher fraction
of solidified particles in the shot sleeve, and hence in a
higher erosion rate.
In considering the impact of solidified particles, it is
useful to examine the hardness of H13 and silicon
particles at temperatures relevant to die filling. Fig. 3
and Fig. 4 give the available hot hardness values for
H13 and silicon respectively. Fig. 4 shows that at 6508C,
which is close to the liquidus temperature of A390 alloy
and the highest possible temperature during die filling,
silicon particles should have a hardness value of ap-
proximately 200 HV or 95 HRb ŽŽ20 HRc.. The realis-
tic filling temperature should be between the liquidus
Ž6508C. and eutectic temperature Ž; 5708C. depending
on superheat of the melt and cooling conditions in shot
sleeve. Therefore the hardness of silicon particles will
range between - 20 HRc at 6508C to 30 HRc at 5708C.
From Fig. 3, the hardness of H13 will be from 22 HRc
at 6508C to approximately 35 HRc at 5708C. Hence, the
solidified silicon particles are softer than H13 during
filling.
Recently, Chu et al. extended their assumption on
solid particle erosion to HPDC of hypoeutectic A380
alloy w11x, the most common HPDC alloy which con-
tains silicon ranged from 7.5 to 9.5. For this alloy, a-Al
solidifies before the eutectic reaction. Chu et al. rea-
soned that the pre-solidified a-Al would cause plastic
deformation of the die material and hence the forma-
tion of craters and platelets leading to material re-
306 Z.W. Chen, M.Z. Jahedi r Materials and Design 20 (1999) 303]309
Fig. 3. Ža. Hot hardness of H13, and Žb. room temperature hardness
of H13 after 100 h holding at elevated temperatures w26x.
moval. However, at the temperature ranges of
570]6008C, the hardness of aluminium is considerably
- 20 HV. On the other hand, the hardness of H13 is
likely to be considerably ) 300 HV Ž30 HRc. during
die filling, even after the die has been in service for a
long time. One would therefore expect solid particles
of a-Al to be no more erosive than liquid aluminium.
Most of the research on solid particle erosion has
been conducted using particles with hardness values
higher than those of the target materials w28x. It is well
established that erosion of metals by hard solid parti-
cles is through the repeated processes of formation of
plastic impact craters and removal of the lips attached
at the end of the craters w28,29x. The available litera-
ture on soft particle erosion suggests that the erosion
rate drops dramatically when the particle hardness
decreases below that of the material being eroded
w28,30x. Soft particles could not effectively cause the
formation of impact craters, and would in stead result
in low or no material removal. Hence, in the short-term,
the suggestion of erosion of die materials by solidified
silicon particles may not necessarily be reasonable and
it seems to be doubtful to suggest that the a-Al parti-
cles are erosive during die filling. However, how soft
particles could cause erosion in a long period of time in
HPDC remains unknown.
2.3. Ca¨ itation erosion
Cavitation is the result of the formation and collapse
of bubbles Žcavities. in a fluid due to local pressure
fluctuations. Preece w31x and Hansson w32x described
that if the pressure in flowing liquid fell below its
vapour pressure in places such as sharp changes in
geometry of the flow, cavities were nucleated. When
these cavities, as cavity clusters, are transported down-
stream to regions of higher pressure they collapse
violently but in a concerted manner, and may cause
erosion of any nearby solid. The parameter which char-
acterise the occurrence of cavitation in liquid flow is
the cavitation number which related to local pressure
and velocity of the fluid w22,31x.
When the cavitation number decreases to a critical
number, the cavitation inception number, the degree of
cavitation increases. However, as pointed out recently
by Poulson w22x, it may not be useful to use the cavita-
tion inception number to predict cavitation as it de-
pends on the size of the component and it is not always
possible to simply obtain the local pressure and veloc-
ity.
Due to the relatively high filling velocities and the
normally irregular shapes of runner and die cavity,
cavitation erosion is believed to occur in HPDC w1,3,5x.
However, direct experiments to observe this are non-
existent. Davis and Murray w5x through observing the
surface features of castings, indirectly described the
damage of dies during HPDC of zinc alloys and as-
sumed it as a result of cavitation erosion. Davis and
Murray’s work pointed to the potential danger of die
failure by cavitation erosion.
3. Experimental observations
Two soldered samples from HPDC experiments are
described below. These experiments were part of the
on-going research to understand the mechanisms of
soldering in HPDC. Through an examination of these
examples, the occurrence of erosion and soldering and
their interrelation are assessed.
3.1. Experimental procedures
The soldering targets were H13 steel pins inserted
 Z.W. Chen, M.Z. Jahedi r Materials and Design 20 (1999) 303]309 307

Fig. 4. Hot hardness of silicon at different temperature w27x.

metal was fed from shot sleeve through the runner, and
part of the molten metal impacted directly onto these
targets. These experiments represent the common melt
impingement conditions which are believed to promote
erosion and soldering. As shown in Fig. 5, Die 2 differs
considerably from Die 1 in the thickness of the section
around the core pin. A thicker section in Die 2 resulted
in a longer solidification time of the cast metal sur-
rounding the pin.
Casting was conducted using a Toshiba 250 ton
HPDC machine housed in the CSIRO Melbourne
foundry. The aluminium alloy was ADC12 and the
composition range used is given in Table 1. Melt tem-
perature in the holding furnace was maintained at
6808C. For Die 1, the plunger velocity was set at 1.2
mrs Ž40 mrs gate velocity. and a casting cycle took
approximately 41 s. For Die 2, the plunger velocity was
set at 2 mrs, giving approximately 50 mrs gate velocity
and the cycle time was approximately 72 s. More details
of the experimental procedures have been given else-
where w25x.

3.2. Results and discussion

Fig. 5. Dies used in HPDC soldering experiments, Ža. Die 1 and Žb.
Die 2.
into die cavities, as shown in Fig. 5 Ža. and Žb.. They
were located close to and were positioned directly in
front of the gates. During die cavity filling, molten
Fig. 6 presents two SEM fractographs of the selected
core pins after 94 and 50 HPDC shots using Dies 1 and
2, respectively. The locations where the fractographs
were taken from the pins are shown on the pins by
arrows in Fig. 5, where impingement of the melt during

Table 1
Chemical composition Žweight %. of the cast alloy used in the present study

Al Si Cu Fe Mn Mg Zn Pb Ni Others

Bal 10.5]11.5 2]3 1.0 0.2]0.3 0.1]0.2 0.5]1.0 - 0.1 - 0.1 - 0.03
308 Z.W. Chen, M.Z. Jahedi r Materials and Design 20 (1999) 303]309
Fig. 6. SEM fractographs taken from tested pins Ža. after 94 castings
using Die 1 as in Fig. 5a and Žb. after 50 castings using Die 2 as in
Fig. 5b.
die filling was expected to be most severe. The frac-
tographs in Fig. 6 show that soldering has developed on
the pins. From previous experience, completed cover-
age of pins by a soldered layer would be expect to
occur between 100]200 shots. The formation and
growth of soldered layers have been described else-
where w25,33x.
If erosion occurred in the short-term, the first step
would be plastic depressionrdeformation. This would
result in a relatively even distribution of small craters,
crater lips, pits on the whole impinged area, which
should be easily observed w21,22,28]30x. A significant
feature of the fractographs in Fig. 6 is that there are no
traces of plastic depressionrdeformation in the vicinity
of the soldered areas. The roughness of the original
pins surface were measured before testing and were
R a f 0.1 m m. The grinding marks with an average
depth of approximately 0.1 m m can be clearly identified
under both stereomicroscope and SEM, in the un-
soldered areas of the soldered pins after being tested in
HPDC experiments. These grinding marks are visible
in Fig. 6. If erosion had occurred, deformation craters
and erosion pits rather than those grinding marks
should be apparent instead. This strongly suggests that
the pin surfaces have not been deformed and erosion
has not occurred, at least not to a noticeable degree, as
a result of the impact from the melt during the casting
experiments.
The above examples demonstrated that locations of
severe melt impingement are prone to soldering, but
not to the severe forms of erosion. If a mild form of
erosion, material removal through fatigue-like processes
w28x, does exist it would require an incubation period
before the material loss starts. Fig. 6 shows that this is
not likely to occur within a hundred casting shots. As
also shown in Fig. 6, with more details given elsewhere
w25,33x, severe soldering has developed well within a
hundred casting cycles. The present examples have
demonstrated that, in locations of direct melt impinge-
ment which were also prone to soldering, soldering
would develop with little erosion of die material.
From the analysis given in this paper, there seems to
be an urgent need to provide experimental evidences
about erosion and its rate in HPDC. A further need
seems to be the laboratory experiments coupled with
systematic examination of industrial dies to further
ascertain what causes die material loss in a variety of
locations subjected to severe melt impingement. Is it
erosion, as widely believed, or is it as a result of
soldering? A clear understanding of the mechanisms of
material removal from dies should provide a better
basis from which to develop preventative measures.
4. Conclusions
Erosion of die material during die filling and its
influence on soldering in HPDC have been examined.
There has not been research presented in the open
literature on the direct measurement of erosion in
HPDC. Analysis based on existing theories on erosion
has suggested that severe forms of liquid impingement
and solid particle erosion is not likely to occur in
HPDC, before soldering develops Žshort-term.. How-
ever, the mechanisms of long-term erosion in HPDC
are not well understood. Examination of pin samples
subjected to severe melt impingement during HPDC
soldering experiments have shown that little erosion
has occurred before the formation of soldered layers.
The present paper points to an urgent need for re-
search on the understanding of erosion in HPDC.
 Z.W. Chen, M.Z. Jahedi r Materials and Design 20 (1999) 303]309
Acknowledgements
w14x
This work was funded by Trust Bank and supported
by Nissan Casting Australia Pty. Ltd. We would like to
thank Mr K. Bousfield and his team ŽMr A. Yob, Mr R.
Knight. for casting trials and Mr B. Bardsley, Ms J. w15x
Law and Dr M.T. Murray for their helpful discussions
w16x
and encouragement.
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