4032 aluminum alloy billet fabricated by continuous casting process with heat insulating and rapid cooling mold

In order to improve on the quality of Al–Si alloy billets, which are used as the feed stock for precision forging, a new vertical semi-continuous casting process has been adopted using a heat insulating and rapid cooling mold (HI-RCM) casting process. In our study, 4032 aluminum alloy billets with smooth surfaces have been obtained by controlling casting rates of HI-RCM process. Distributions of primary silicon, eutectic structure and secondary dendrite arm spacing (DAS) in the conventional DC casting billets were compared with the smooth surface billets fabricated by HI-RCM casting process under optimum conditions, and the latter one had finer and more homogeneous microstructures than those in the former billets.