Porosity, hydrogen and bifilm content in Al alloy castings

In Al alloy castings, it is often not microstructure, but entrained defects in the form of bifilms that dominate mechanical properties. To assess their effect, this study targets a new quantification of metal quality, measuring the lengths and number of bifilm defects as determined from the microstructural section of a reduced pressure test (RPT) sample. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.