Investigation of Ca in the Microstructural Evolution and Porosity Analysis of ZK60 Alloy in As-Cast and Extruded Conditions

This research work has been carried out to study the effect of different Ca contents (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 3.0) on the microstructure and porosity content of ZK60 alloys. The samples were examined by using optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to evaluate the modification efficiency of the alloy with different Ca concentrations. The cast specimens were modified, homogenized and extruded at 350 °C at an extrusion ratio of 12:1. The experimental results showed that the addition of Ca brings about the precipitation of a new phase and refines the as-cast grains. It was also found that the presence of Ca at higher concentrations (>2 wt. %) results in the formation of hard Ca-rich intermetallics segregated in cell boundaries. Hot-extrusion was found to be powerful in breaking the eutectic network and changing the size and morphology of Ca-rich intermetallic phase. By applying the extrusion process and increasing Ca concentration (up to 2.0 wt. %), the porosity percentage decreased from 13.62% to 6.34% and 7.11% to 3.89% for ZK60 and ZK60+3%Ca alloys, respectively.