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Steering knuckles are vital functional and structural components in automotive suspension systems, requiring high strength, high ductility, and complex shapes. In this study, an aluminum alloy knuckle with the semi-solid die casting process was developed to replace the conventional steel components. This research aims to optimize product design based on both structural simulation and casting process simulation to avoid defects and to meet mechanical requirements. Furthermore, the optimal design solutions need to be verified through the filling experiments and defect analysis. The results show that the removal of support rib located in the thick area of the shock absorber mounting arm is helpful to avoid the rewelding defects in the filling frontier of the SSM melt. Besides, the position of the steering rod is of medium thickness, and two ribs from different directions come together to support that area. Rewelding defects were detected when two ribs come together. To avoid rewelding defects in local areas of steering rod position, the ribs were reduced to uniform wall thickness. Thus, the local flow state was modified and the SSM melt was reinforced shear action. Ultimately, by controlling all the processes of the SSM die casting process, the high performance of aluminum knuckle was successfully developed.

The flow behavior of semi-solid slurry determines the quality of the castings produced by the semi-solid forming process. Many studies have done to investigate the flow behavior of slurry under different conditions, and results show that the rheological behavior of slurry with dendritic structure is inappropriate for semi-solid forming. In this study, slurries with varying morphologies of grain for the same alloy with the same fraction solid have tested using a partial filling method. The SEED process was employed, and the pouring temperature adjusted to prepare semi-solid slurries with different grain morphologies. The flow pattern, entrapped air during the filling process, and also microstructure of the samples were examined to characterize the macro and micro flow behavior. The results show that a turbulent macro-flow, leading to entrapped air, and severe segregation appeared in the sample using slurry of Tpour ≥ 660 °C . For the slurry of Tpour < 660 °C, none of the three phenomena found in the sample. This investigation further showed that the detriment of dendrite on the semi-solid forming process, and implied that large size dendrite in semi-solid slurry must avoided.

The Rheo-diecast process has been rapidly developed and increasingly used in China in the recent 5 years. The high solid fraction (solid content close to 50%) rheo-diecast components were commercially used in the transportation markets mainly because of lightweight. The mechanical properties of the high solid fraction rheo-diecast components are obviously superior than that of the conventional liquid diecast parts. The defects such as oxide, gas entrapment, shrinkage porosities are well prevented in the high solid fraction rheo-diecast parts. The high solid fraction rheo-diecast parts can be fully T6 heat treated. A comparison between high solid fraction rheo-diecast part and conventional liquid diecast part will be described in detail. The low solid fraction (solid content 5-20%) rheo-diecast components were widely used in the 5G communication markets. The future perspectives of Rheo-diecast process will be described at last. 1. Cost reduction. 2. Production consistency. 3. New Rheo-diecast alloys development. 4. Numerical simulation of Rheological filling.

The mould temperature distribution has a great influence on the semi-solid diecasting. In the present study the temperature distribution of a plane-shaped mould was investigated by using the method of numerical simulation and experiment. The results showed that the preheating mould temperature field was affected by three important simulation parameters, the heat transfer coefficient hoil between the heat transfer oil and the mould, the heat transfer coefficient hair between the mould and the air, and the heat transfer coefficient hcontact between the mould core and the mould frame. The simulation results showed that (1) with the increase of hoil, the overall mould temperature imcreased; (2) with the increase of hair, the overall mould temperature decreased, while the surface temperature gradient of mould frame grad T-f and the temperature difference between the mould core and the mould frame ∆T increased; (3) With the increase of hcontact, ∆T decreased and the temperature of mould frame increased. When the heat oil temperature Toil=290°C, the heat transfer coefficients were optimized as hoil=500Wm-2K-1, hair=7Wm-2K-1, and hcontact=1000Wm-2K-1 according to the experimental results. The average temperature difference between the simulation result and the experimental result was 3.45°C, and the average relative error was 1.73%.

The SEED (Swirled Enthalpy Equilibrium Device) process was used to produce semi-solid slurries. One of the factors that controls whether or not a slug can be used to produce high quality castings is the solid fraction distribution within the slug, and the solid fraction distribution is strongly dependent upon the temperature distribution. In this study, a model has been developed using ProCAST to investigate the relationship between process parameters and the temperature distribution within slugs. The parameters examined included the heat transfer coefficient between the crucible and slug, the heat transfer coefficient between the crucible and air, the slug diameter, and the initial melt temperature (pouring temperature). It was found that the most important parameters controlling the temperature distribution within slugs were the crucible size and the heat transfer coefficient between crucible and air. Adjustment of other parameters had little influence on the temperature distribution. Processing parameters will be discussed in order to allow the SEED process to be used for the production of large diameter slugs (>100 mm), and for narrow freezing range (0.3

The solidification process and microstructure of Al-7Si-0.3Mg alloy with different rare earth (RE) additions have been studied by using thermal analysis, optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The results showed that the addition of RE enhanced the liquidus temperature and decreased the growth temperature of eutectic Si, which lead to obvious increase in solidification interval of the studied alloy. In addition, the grain size of primary α-Al had no obvious change, and the mean area of eutectic Si particles decreased with increasing RE content to 1.6 wt.%. The RE-rich compounds with different compositions were obtained with increasing RE concentration in Al-7Si-0.3Mg alloys. The method of phase diagram calculation helps to clarify the formation and growth mechamism of different RE-rich phases during solidification.

The shrinkage porosity that was caused by the insufficient feeding during solidification, was a common defect in the semi-solid die casting process. This defect decreased significantly the mechanical properties of the casting. In order to avoid the shrinkage porosity in casting, the die design, slug preparation and die casting process were carefully considered. In this study, a designed mold was used to make the sequential solidification of the slug. The process parameters, including intensification pressure, die temperature and biscuit thickness of the casting, were studied to show their influence on shrinkage porosity defects. The experimental results show that the high intensification pressure, high die temperature and long biscuit can be beneficial to obtain castings with no shrinkage porosity.

Controlling the morphology of the microstructure of the slurry is important during semi-solid die casting. For this project, semi-solid slugs were produced using the SEED (Swirled Enthalpy Equilibrium Device) process, where a fully liquid metal is poured into a steel crucible and cooled into the semi-solid temperature range, and the crucible and slurry are then swirled and cooled to the appropriate temperature (and solid fraction) for semi-solid casting. The pouring temperature of the melt into the crucible during SEED processing has been shown to influence the morphology and size of the aluminum solid particles within the slurry, which can influence the distribution and segregation of the solid particles during die casting. In this study, a specially-designed die with a serpentine-shaped flow channel has been used to study the distribution of the solid particles during semi-solid die casting. The experimental results show that a dendritic structure is formed when the liquid is poured from a high temperature, while a globular semi-solid morphology is more easily formed when poured from a low superheat. The current results also show that a dendritic structure leads to severe segregation during die casting.

There are two new processes to development automobile structural components which have certain thickness. In the present paper, taking a main bearing cap product as an example, analyses die design by comparing the experimental and computational numerical simulation results. For the main bearing cap, product structure and mold design were designed to be suitable for characters of SSM die casting and squeeze process. Semi-solid slurry has significantly higher viscosity than liquid metal. This character of fluidity and solid fraction phase make the flow condition more laminar than liquid squeeze casting with the partial fill experiment. And compared with squeeze casting process, the globular shape grain size is smaller than dendritic structure. And mechanical property result shows that the elongation of SSM die casting can achieve more than twice than squeeze casting.

Recent developments and applications of rheo-diecast components for transportation markets are described. The components have been produced using the SEED (Swirled Enthalpy Equilibrium Device) semi-solid process. The development process typically involves several steps, including (1) an evaluation (and modification) of the component design to ensure it is suitable for semi-solid die casting, (2) the use of flow and solidification simulation to optimize the layout of the gating system, and to ensure that the modified component design can be produced without filling turbulence and shrinkage porosity, (3) stress modeling to ensure that the redesigned component will meet performance targets, and (4) in-plant development of the optimum process parameters. This development process will be described in detail for several commercial components, including two brackets for trucking applications, and connectors used in the frame of an electric bus.

Semi-solid aluminum slurries have globular grains, different from traditional dendritic solidification microstructures. The mechanism responsible for the formation of these globular grains is still in dispute. Some researchers suggest that the globular grains are formed by fractured dendrites, while others report it is due to copious nucleation. This study will model the growth of the α-Al phase during the production of semi-solid slurries using the swirled equilibrium enthalpy device (SEED) process, where liquid alloy with a low superheat is poured into a steel crucible and swirled within the semi-solid region. Experimental observations have shown that the final microstructure of the slurry produced by the SEED process is relatively non-uniform, with large dendrites at surface and fine spherical particles at the center. Open source code for the phase field method has been adopted to simulate the different microstructural evolution for semi-solid alloy 357.0. The effect of localized temperatures under isothermal condition on the morphology of the α-Al particles has been investigated according to the special conditions of the SEED process. In addition, suggestions for modifying the slurry production to achieve more uniform microstructure are discussed.

A201 alloy is the strongest cast aluminum alloy, but it is considered one of the most difficult aluminum alloys to cast due to its susceptibility to hot tearing during solidification. Semi-solid casting, which characterizes fine near-globular or non-dendritic grains and relatively narrow solidification range, is potential to reduce hot cracking tendency of alloys. In this present work, semi-solid slurries of A201 alloy were prepared using Swirled Enthalpy Equilibrium Device (SEED) technique and then injected into a self-designed high pressure hot tearing mold. The microstructures of A201 semi-solid slurries with different pouring temperatures were examined. Effects of different casting pressures on the hot tearing sensitivity of A201 have been investigated. This study finds that SEED is capable of producing satisfying A201 semi-solid slurries. Lower pouring temperatures produce A201 semi-solid slurries with finer and rounder grains as well as more uniform microstructure distribution. Increasing the intensification pressure significantly decreases the hot treating tendency of A201 alloy. When the pressure reaches to 90 MPa and the mold temperature of about 250 °C, the hot tearing susceptibility (HTS) index value is nearly zero, which means almost no surface cracks are found in the semi-solid A201 die casting parts.

Microstructures with fine globular grains and refined eutectic structures are important to enhance the mechanical properties of A356 alloys processed by semi-solid and gravity die casting. Rare earth (RE) additions have been shown to be capable of refining both the α-Al particles as well as modify the eutectic phase of alloys. In semi-solid die casting, Al7Si0.3Mg alloys with RE concentrations (0, 0.1 and 0.4 wt.%) were used to prepare semi-solid slurries using the SEED (Swirling Enthalpy Equilibrium Device) method, and subsequently semi-solid die cast. The same compositions of alloys were also applied to gravity die casting. The microstructure and mechanical properties of castings in two processes have been characterized. Compared to the grains produced in gravity die casting, globular grains with small size (260 μm) in the semi-solid die casting significantly enhance the UTS and elongation of alloys. Although the size of grains had no change with increasing RE concentrations in alloys. The Al-Si eutectics were changed to refined morphology with the 0.1 wt.% RE addition, which enhanced the ductility of alloys in two processes. When increasing the RE addition to 0.4 wt.%, the RE-rich phases precipitated at grain boundaries, which decreased the UTS and elongation of alloys.

The commercial application of wrought aluminum alloys to semi-solid casting would be extremely beneficial, as wrought alloys often exhibit better strength-ductility combinations than cast aluminum alloys. Semi-solid casting typically reduces the hot tearing tendency, as it requires a globular microstructure and produces grain refinement, but hot tearing often still occurs during the semi-solid die casting of complex-shaped components produced from wrought alloys. This study examined the impact of intensification pressure and grain refinement on the hot tearing tendency of an Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy. Semi-solid slurries were produced using the SEED (Swirled Equilibrium Enthalpy Device) process. A specially designed constrained rod mold was used to evaluate hot tearing. Results showed the tendency for hot tearing decreased with increasing of intensification pressure. Grain refinement (with 0.06Ti) was also found to be beneficial to the elimination of hot tearing.

Turbocharger compressor wheels are often made of 3XX cast aluminum alloys and forged 2618 alloy. These age hardening aluminum alloys have high strength-to-weight ratio at ambient temperature. However, the strength of the aluminum alloys decreases rapidly when applied at high temperatures, such as for turbochargers where application temperature can be above 200 °C. The major reason is that the fine precipitated phases coarsen rapidly tending to their equilibrium states. The thermal stability of the 319s-T61, A201-T71 and 2618-T6 alloys were compared in this paper. The three alloys were exposed at 200 °C for 100 h during heat treatment. Hardness, tensile tests and TEM were carried out to investigate the mechanical properties and microstructure variation of these three alloys. The results indicated that the A201 alloy exhibited the best thermal stability among the three alloys and 319s alloy is the weakest one. TEM observation showed that with the increase of the exposure time, the strengthening precipitates phase θ′ in A201/319s alloys and S′ in 2618 alloy coarsened and then transformed to stable θ phase and S phase, respectively, while the primary strengthening phase Ω in A201 remained stable, which may be contributed the higher thermal stability of A201 than 319s and 2618.

Semi-solid die casting technology has great advantages at defects control and has been successfully used to produce high quality aluminum alloy components for several years. In this process, semi-solid metal with high apparent viscosity and low plunger velocity are used to avoid surface turbulence which is the main source of entrapped gas in conventional die casting processes. But, entrapped gas still has other sources, such as melting, pouring, surface flooding and confluence weld. Solution heat treatment is always used to strengthen semi-solid die castings. The entrapped gas leads to blister defects, which directly decreases the acceptance rate of semi-solid die castings. So, the entrapped gas is still a serious issue in semi-solid die casting process. We studied the floating behavior of entrapped gas bubble in semi-solid metal. Two floating models were established for gas bubbles with different sizes. These models were used to analyze the possibility of entrapped gas escaping from semi-solid metal in casting practice. The results showed that entrapped gas from feed billet could not escape from the semi-solid metal in the casting process of impeller, which was proved by experiment results. These results emphasized the importance of clean melt and semi-solid metal. Some advices were given at last for avoiding or removing the entrapped gas in semi-solid die casting process.

This study aimed to investigate the roles of miRNA in the development of ovarian follicles in sows with high ovulation rate. The miRNA expression profiles in middle-size ovarian follicles between Meishan and Duroc sows were characterized by Affymetrix miRNA GeneChip. Seven differentially expressed miRNA were identified. KEGG pathways analyzed the predicted target genes of differentially expressed miRNA by using the DAVID website. The MAPK signaling pathway may affect the process of ovarian follicle development. Our study suggested that miR-21, miR-199a, miR-708, and miR-4334 might play a vital role in the development of ovarian follicles of sow.

The semi-solid casting process has a lot of advantages in controlling casting defects. High quality impellers have been produced successfully by the semi-solid process for several years. The semi-solid processed impellers have uniform microstructure and premier mechanical properties, and therefore excellent durability. Further improvement of performance of the impellers is demanded and achieved by increasing curvature and length of blades of impellers. These changes create potential trend of casting defects in blades of impellers, such as non-filling holes. In our recently work, castings were made in different conditions, including two-step plunger velocity and one-step plunger velocity. The experimental results show that the change of plunger velocity played a decisive role in the forming of non-filling holes. Entrapped gas is the direct reason of the non-filling holes. With the increasing of plunger velocity, the area of non-filling holes increased. The non-filling holes in blades could be avoided by eliminating the plunger velocity’s changing during filling blades.

A crucial problem concerned with the semi-solid forming process is the liquid segregation phenomena during shape formation, especially for rheo-casting process. Liquid segregation occurs due to the separation phenomena of the solid grain and the liquid phase. In this work, using commercial finite element software, the liquid segregation during rheo-casting process was numerically investigated by Eulerian-granular multiphase model based on the comparable results of single phase model, Eulerian-granular two-phase and three-phase model, along with Eulerian-granular DDPM three-phase model. In the study, solid grains and liquid phases were regarded as rigid material and non-Newtonian fluid at microscale, separately. This validation was experimentally proved and also compared to the proposed relationship of power law, Herschel-Bulkley model with yield stress at macroscale.

Semi-solid slurry has significantly higher viscosity than liquid metal. This character of fluidity makes product design and die design, such as gating system, overflow and venting system, be different between these two die casting processes. In the present paper, taking a clamp product as an example, analyses the product optimization and die design by comparing the experimental and computational numerical simulation results. For the clamp, product structure is designed to be suitable for characters of SSM die casting process. The gating system is designed to be uniform variation of thickness, making the cross-sectional area uniformly reduce from the biscuit to the gate. This design ensures semi-solid metal slurry to fill die cavity from thick wall to thin wall. Gate position is designed at the thickest location, the gate shape of semi-solid die casting is set to be much bigger than traditional liquid casting. A good filling behaviour can be achieved by aforementioned all these design principles and it will be helpful to the intensification of pressure feeding after filling.

Surface blistering during T6 heat treating is an artifact that is essentially unique to high pressure casting processes such as semi-solid casting and die casting. It is believed that the blistering originates from subsurface defects present in the castings. When the castings are exposed to elevated temperatures during solution heat treatment, the strength of the aluminum is reduced, and the defects expand to deform the surfaces of the castings. There are three potential sources for the subsurface defects - entrapped air, die lubricant or shot sleeve lubricant.This paper will report on a study to determine the origin of the defects present in the castings that produce the blisters. Along with attempting to separate the influence of air and the two types of lubricants on blister formation, the study will also examine the impact of a number of process parameters on blistering.

T6 heat treatment is an effective method to improve the comprehensive properties of Al-Si-Cu-Mg series aluminium alloys. Solution treatment temperature and time, quench process and media, as well as artificial ageing temperature and time are the key factors to determine mechanical properties. Besides these factors, natural ageing, i.e. the holding time between quenching and the starting of artificial treatment at ambient temperature was observed to be significant affect mechanical properties of the aluminium alloys. This effect on semi solid processed aluminium alloys was lack of investigations as the semi solid process produces T6 treatable and weldable components. The present paper focuses on the change regularity of hardness and precipitate behaviour of semi-solid 319S aluminium alloy under different natural ageing (NA) treatment additional to standard T6. Density and morphology of hardening precipitates are analysed using TEM, and the influence mechanism of NA during T6 heat treatment will be discussed. The results show that NA has a positive influence on mechanical properties of the rheo-cast 319S alloy.

The enthalpy equilibration method is a novel technique to produce globular grain structure in semi-solid slurry preparation. In this process, the liquid is firstly poured into a metallic crucible, which possesses low thermal conductivity and high thermal capacity. Homogeneous distribution of temperature within the metallic crucible is achieved by rotating the crucible and cold down to a temperature between liquidus and solidus, determined by the requirement of solid fraction. The semi-solid slurry is then transferred to a high pressure die caster. In order to achieve a spherical microstructure morphologies in the entire slurry, effects of grain refiners, in addition to the enthalpy equilibration method, on the microstructure of the slurries of A357 alloy were investigated. Quantitative metallographic measurements were applied to evaluate microstructural evolution and processing parameters were optimized.

Compared with traditional liquid and solid processing methods, semi-solid die casting process can apparently overcome shrinkage cavity and porosity defects in castings and high deformation resistance and high residual stress shortcomings in forging parts. Semi-solid die casting process with advantages such as high efficiency and low cost, will become the optimal process for high quality automobile parts. In this study, using the clamp as an example, the author introduced product structure optimization and die design for semi-solid die-casting process of aluminum alloy in a new product development.The Computer Aided Engineering technology was applied to the product structure optimization according to the stress analysis. The optimal mold structure, including cavity layout, gating system, overflow and vent systems, were confirmed based on the die design criteria for traditional die casting, combining with the characteristics of semi-solid forming and the simulation results. The semi-solid aluminum alloy clamp parts with excellent performances were finally developed successfully by means of product structure optimization, die design, parameters optimization of die casting process, and the mechanical properties test of products.The existing parts were optimized to make them more suitable for semi-solid die casting processing. In addition, a reasonable die design specially for semi solid processing was an important guarantee for a successful semi solid product applied in industry. Computer numerical simulation was applied in product structure design for semi-solid die casting, die design, die-casting process optimization and other aspects, to shorten the development cycle of new product, reduce cost and improve efficiency.

In the present investigation a batch of impellers made of 319S aluminum alloy with about 300 pieces and produced by semi-solid thixocasting process were subjected the ultrasonic testing (UT). The experimental results revealed that the equivalent size of the defects in the impellers was not more than φ0.4mm FBH+12dB. And there were two main types of defects in 12 mm depth area from the machined surface, where defect was apt to form. One type was single defect and the other was intensive defect. Moreover, other nondestructive testing (NDT) was used to test some impellers containing typical defect, and the result suggests that UT was more sensitive than x-ray testing. The defects existed in the impellers were investigated by Optical Microscope (OM) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) equipped with Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (EDS). The observation showed that the both types of defects existed in eutectic zone. The single defect derived from billet and the intensive defect came from die casting process.

In semi-solid rheocast and thixocast industry, T6 heat treatment was one key factor to improve the mechanical properties of the castings. The microstructure evolution was closely influenced by heat treatment temperature and time. In this paper, the morphology change of eutectic silicon in semi-solid alloy during different heat treatment time was firstly observed. The changes of both roundness and aspect show that the silicon particles underwent fragmentation, coarsening and growing up processes during solution treatment. Then, the mechanical properties after stand T6 and T6 with higher temperature were compared. It may be concluded that the higher temperature doesn’t have obvious effect to increase the mechanical strength, but severe negative effect on the elongation. Finally, the incipient melting defect appeared in higher temperature T6 was proved and its relationship with elongation was analysed.

In this paper the physical and chemical grain refining of the Mg-10Sm alloy was investigated. Physical grain refinement was achieved by strongly shearing the melt above the liquidus temperature using a twin-screw string device and then cast at the near liquidus temperature. Chemical grain refiner was added into Zr master alloy in the melt. Casting the Mg-10Sm alloy at 730°C produced an extremely coarse microstructure consisting of huge dendritic grains. The physical grain refinement greatly refined the dendritic grains to smaller rosette grains, being reduced from several millimeters to about 200μm. Chemical grain refinement produced fine and equiaxed grain structure with size of approximated 111μm. Combination of the physical and chemical grain refinement creates more significant refining effect than either of the two methods.

The spheroidal grains in billets used for semi-solid casting are generally manufactured by electromagnetic stirring (EMS) during the casting process. This method however, is not economically applicable for small quantities of the thixo billets. Swirled Enthalpy Equilibration Device (SEED) has been developed as a rheocasting process, and the SEED process is of interest for developing new thixo alloys, as well as for optimizing the thixocasting processes for high quality components. The objective of this paper is to compare the microstructure and mechanical properties of aluminum alloy 319s billets and castings produced using EMS and SEED feed materials. The experimental results show that for as-cast billets made from SEED process, a well-developed spheroidal grain structure is distributed throughout the cross-section of the billet, while for as-cast EMS billets, the grain structure is inhomogeneous, i.e., a dendritic structure was present adjacent to the surface of the billet, while a uniform, spheroidal structure was present at the centre. After the thixocasting process, however, the both SEED and EMS billets have well-developed, spheroidal grain structures. Mechanical properties of thixocast and T61 heat treated components are comparable for the both SEED and EMS billets.

A general rule in conventional liquid metal casting processes is that smaller size would produce better metallurgical quality and mechanical properties. The conclusion that semi-solid thixocasting process doesnt follow this rule has been made recently. The microstructure and mechanical properties of semi-solid thixocastings are much less dependent on casting size and cooling rate than the liquid castings. The step casting in the previous study is specially designed and simplified. The practical castings, e.g. turbocharger impellers, are more complex than the step castings. In this work, the turbocharger impeller is used to study the impact of section size representing the casting size on the microstructure and mechanical properties of semi-solid thixocastings, compared with the step casting. Section thickness decreases from 50 mm to 3.5 mm. In addition, the impact of casting thickness on the eutectic phase is also presented. The results reveal that the size of primary α-Al particles is insensitive to the casting thickness in semi-solid thixocasting. The cooling rate has a notable impact on the size and geometric characteristics of the eutectic silicon particles, but the impact is reduced by the following T61 heat treatment. The association between the casting thickness and casting defects is discussed, in order to further understand the impact of casting size on durability and reliability of real casting components.

Turbocharger impellers undergo extreme cyclic speed conditions and thus fatigue fracture in service. Any kind of defects, even defects with sizes of tens of micrometres, can make significant impact on service life of the impellers. The alloy used for thixocast impellers is the aluminum alloy 319s. T61 heat treatment is used to improve mechanical properties. However, the solution treatment in the standard T61 heat treatment of the 319s alloy can induce incipient melting defects. This paper carried out systematic study of formation of defects caused by the incipient melting during solution treatment in the thixocast and heat treated impellers, using optical and scanning electron microscope. Based on the study, the critical temperature of incipient melting is detected. An optimized two-stage solution treatment is therefore proposed.

The thixocasting technology is chosen to produce the turbocharger impellers as it is capable of producing castings with high precision dimension, free of oxide and shrinkage porosity defects and therefore long service life. The thixocasting turbocharger impellers have the similar mechanical property to those produced by forging and machine processes, but much less costs. In the thixocasting process, the semisolid slurry with certain solid fraction is injected into mould at a high speed. Since high viscosity and thixotropic characteristics, the semisolid slurry reveals unique flow condition and characteristics in the filling process. So, its very desirable for the die design, process optimization, and defect control to visualize the high-speed filling process of semisolid slurry by numerical simulation. In this paper, several commonly used viscosity models for semisolid slurry are analysed. The Power law cut-off model (PLCO) model is selected to simulate the filling process in the thixocasting process of the impellers of 319s alloy, compared with actual results by partial filling testing. The causes of the casting defects are also analysed, indicating that the simulation results can accurately reproduce the filling process of semisolid slurry, and PLCO model is a successful choice for simulating the filling process of semisolid slurry with high solid fraction.

The evolution of microstructure and mechanical properties during solution and ageing heat treatment process was studied in terms of a thixo-diecast impeller of 319s aluminium alloy. The cast alloy exhibited a microstructure consisting of primary uniformly distributed in α-Al globules and the eutectics. A series of heat treatment studies were performed to determine optimum heat treatment parameters, in order to achieve fine grain structure, fine silicon particles and optimal precipitate size and distribution. Optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were employed to study the evolution of microstructure and mechanical properties. The results demonstrate that, the full T6 heat treatments are successfully applied to thixo-diecast 319s impellers. A two-step solution heat treatment is employed to prevent porosity due to overheating. The tensile properties of thixo-diecast 319s impellers were substantially enhanced after T6 heat treatment. The plate-shaped θ′ precipitates and lath-shaped Q′ precipitates are the most effective for precipitation strengthening.

Trace elements Sc was added to the Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Zr alloys, the differences of the microstructure and properties using gravity casting and squeeze casting are compared. The result shows that through the addition of trace elements Sc, the Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Zr alloys casting microstructure was refined effectively, dendrite segregation was alleviated and the mechanical property of alloy was enhanced. Using squeeze casting forming could improve the compactness of the alloys, decrease the probability of occurrence of shrinkage cavities, porosity and segregation, in addition, the grain could be refined by the pressure forced on the alloy melt. Combined the element Sc microalloying and squeeze casting used in Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Zr alloy forming, we could get the casting with uniform, compact, little defect microstructures. This combination could provide a new way to the Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Zr alloy forming.

To investigate the expression pattern and preliminary function of OPN gene in mammary gland of dairy goat during different lactation stages, using b-actin gene as the internal control, the SYBR Green quantitative real-time PCR (QPCR) analysis was conducted to determine the mRNA expression of OPN gene in mammary gland at the 28th, 60th, 100th, 190th, 270th and 330th day after kidding. Recombinant plasmid of pcDNA3.1-OPN was constructed by inserting the fragment of OPN gene into eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA3.1 and used to transfect the MCF-7 cell line following the restrictive endonuclease cleavage and sequence identification of the target gene segment, the effect of OPN gene on MCF-7 cell proliferation was assessed by MTT analysis. The results indicated that OPN gene exhibited the higher expression level in early (28 d) and late (190 d) lactation stages and the lowest level at dry stage (330 d), which demonstrated a high-low-high-low pattern. There was a significant difference (P < 0. 05) in the proliferation between OPN gene transfected and non-transfected MCF-7 cells, which suggested that the expression of OPN gene could stimulate the proliferation of MCF-7 cells.

Using artificial insemination, 100 female quails were crossed with 10 male chickens. The eggs were collected and hatched in the same incubator. The sex of live hybrid embryos from 66 to 120 hatch hours was determined using multiply PCR of Wpkci. Total 300 male and female embryos at various hatch times were sampled and the relative mRNA abundance of ER, bcl-2, and p53 in the embryos was detected by RT-PCR using beta-actin as the internal standard. The effects of ER, bcl-2, and p53 on the early embryonic development for hybrids between chicken and quail were analyzed. The results showed ER mRNA expression of female hybrids were higher than male hybrids from 66 to 84 hatch hours with a highly significant difference (P

In this study, a protocol was developed to identify the sex of earlier embryos of chicken (♂)-quail (♀) hybrids and successfully tested the sex proportion of each period (66–120 h). We acquired cross bred eggs by artificial insemination, hatched them in the same batch according to the standard hatching condition of chicken, and collected earlier living embryos at 66, 72, 78, 84, 90, 96, 102, 108, 114, and 120 h randomly. We adopted RT-PCR protocol and multiple PCR, made the known sex quail as the external control, employed β - actin as the internal control, and used primers that were designed according to conservative area of gene Wpkci of quail to identify the sex of earlier hybrid embryos. The results indicated that the primer of Wpkci can be used to identify the sex of hybrid embryos accurately; there were more male than female in earlier embryos, the sex proportion of earlier embryos compared with academic numerical value was significantly different ( P P >0.05). In the present study, we concluded that a simple, fast, credible and stable protocol to identify the sex of earlier hybrids embryos had been established by using primer of Wpkci ; in earlier embryos, the death rate of female was higher than that of male and there was no fluctuant peak.

Under the premise what we have known bacterial artificial chromosome(BAC)clone sequence information and gene annotation predicted in the Chinese Merino sheep major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region, the digested fragments from 6 BAC clones that were located in the MHC region of the Chinese Merino sheep genome BAC library, which were used to screen the cDNA library using plaque in situ hybridization as probes. The full length of positive cDNA clones (sequences) isolated were completely sequenced, and the sequences obtained were aligned with the corresponding known sequence information and the BAC clones with gene annotation. Meanwhile, the sequence similarity was searched in NCBI Blastn database. This work aimed at verification of accuracy of the gene annotation results and initial analysis of gene (sequence) function. At last, 27 positive cDNA clones (sequences) in total were screened through two runs of hybridization. It was also found that these sequences could be positioned in the corresponding BAC clones, and 25 sequences were located in exon area of the annotated gene. It was verified that 23 sequences had the highest sequence similarity with those in the Bos taurus by searching against the NCBI Blastn database; moreover, the function of these sequences were closely relate to immunology.

Polymorphisms for seven microsatellite loci in three red deer subspecies (9 populations) found in XinJiang were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), 12% nondenaturation polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and the Sanguinetti silver staining method. Numbers of alleles, average effective numbers of alleles (E) and the average rate of homozygosity, allelic frequencies of seven microsatellite loci, polymorphism information content (PIC), mean heterozygosity (H) and genetic distances among the populations were calculated for each population. Dendrograms were constructed based on genetic distances by the neighbor-joining method (NJ), utilizing molecular evolutionary genetics analysis software PHYLIP (3.6). The phylogenetic tree was constructed based on allelic frequencies using maximum likelihood (ML); the bootstrap value was estimated by bootstrap test in the tree. Lastly, phylogenesis was analyzed. The results showed that four of the seven microsatellite loci were highly polymorphic, but BMS2508 and Celjp0023 showed no polymorphism and BM5004 was a neutral polymorphism. It is our conclusion that the four microsatellite loci are effective DNA markers for the analysis of genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships among the three red deer subspecies. The mean PIC, H and E-values across the microsatellite loci were 0.5393, 0.5736 and 2.64, which showed that these microsatellite loci are effective DNA markers for the genetic analysis of red deer. C.e. songaricus populations from Regiment 104, 151 and Hami are clustered together. C.e. yarkandensis populations from Regiment 35, Xaya and Alaer are clustered together. These two clusters also cluster together. Lastly, C.e. sibiricus populations from Burqin, Regiment 188 and the first two clusters were clustered together. The phylogenetic relationship among different red deer populations is consistent with the known origin, history of breeding and geographic distributions of populations.

International audience; The solution-treated Mg-4Y-4Sm-0.5Zr alloy was extruded at temperatures from 325 degrees C to 500 degrees C. Dynamic recrystallization (DRX) completely occurs when the alloy is extruded at 350 degrees C and above. The grains of the extruded alloy are obviously refined by the occurrence of DRX. The average grain size of the extruded alloy increases with increasing the extrusion temperature, leading to a slight decrease of the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and the yield strength (YS). On the contrary, the UTS and YS of the extruded and aged alloy increase with increasing the extrusion temperature. Values of UTS of 400 MPa, YS larger than 300 MPa and elongation (EL) of 7% are achieved after extrusion at 400 degrees C and ageing at 200 degrees C for 16 h. Both grain refinement and precipitation are efficient strengthening mechanisms for the Mg-4Y-4Sm-0.5Zr alloy.

To investigate the expression pattern and preliminary function of OPN gene in mammary gland of dairy goat during different lactation stages, using b-actin gene as the internal control, the SYBR Green quantitative real-time PCR (QPCR) analysis was conducted to determine the mRNA expression of OPN gene in mammary gland at the 28th, 60th, 100th, 190th, 270th and 330th day after kidding. Recombinant plasmid of pcDNA3.1-OPN was constructed by inserting the fragment of OPN gene into eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA3.1 and used to transfect the MCF-7 cell line following the restrictive endonuclease cleavage and sequence identification of the target gene segment, the effect of OPN gene on MCF-7 cell proliferation was assessed by MTT analysis. The results indicated that OPN gene exhibited the higher expression level in early (28 d) and late (190 d) lactation stages and the lowest level at dry stage (330 d), which demonstrated a high-low-high-low pattern. There was a significant difference (P0. 05) in the proliferation between OPN gene transfected and non-transfected MCF-7 cells, which suggested that the expression of OPN gene could stimulate the proliferation of MCF-7 cells.

The polymorphism distributions of nine microsatellite loci, BM6506, BM1824, BM6438, ILSTS004 and OarDB6 on Chinese merino sheep chromosome 1 and BM4621, OarHH55, BM143 and OarJMP8 in sheep chromosome 6 were determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and multiplex gel electrophoresis followed by silver staining. Gene frequency (Pi), power of discrimination (DP), heterozygosity (H), polymorphism information content (PIC) and probability of paternity exclusion (PE) were calculated. All loci obeyed Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. BM4621 displayed the highest DP, H, PIC and PE values among the nine microsatellite loci. Cumulative DP of the nine microsatellite loci is 0.99999 and cumulative PE is 0.99915. These results showed that the nine microsatellite loci could be used in linkage analysis, individual identification and paternity test in Chinese merino sheep.

Microstructure and tensile properties of AZ31 rolled at different temperatures were characterized. Rolling of extruded AZ31 plates was carried out at room temperature, 573K, 623K and 673K. Cold rolling of extruded AZ31 plates was difficult due to the poor formability at room temperature. And deformation twinning plays an important role in rolling of AZ31 alloy at room temperature. The microstructural analysis showed that the nucleation of dynamic recrystallization (DRX) occurred at 573K, DRX was almost completed at 623K and grain growth was determined at 673K. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS) as large as 377MPa was achieved after rolled at 573K. And the anisotropy in strength was obviously examined due to the rolling texture. The anisotropy reduced as rolling temperature increasing from 573K to 673K and this may be attributed to the completion of DRX.