Liquid metal

About: Liquid metal is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 6947 publications have been published within this topic receiving 77785 citations. The topic is also known as: liquid alloy & liquid metal alloy.

Structure and properties of aluminium–magnesium casting alloys after heat treatment

Abstract: Since the forming of the microstructure depends on the specific of the casting method, which directly affects further mechanical and physical properties of the material, it is important to understand how to control the microstructure of the cast to understand changes that taking place during the crystallisation process. For estimating the metallurgical quality of the liquid metal before casting, the thermal-derivative analysis (TDA) is utilised. The TDA has been used for a long time, in both ferrous and non-ferrous industries casting. The Universal Metallurgical Simulator and Analyser (UMSA) platform is a rapid, sensitive and economical method of determining a full range of solidification features. The work focuses on the thermal analysis and heat treatment of aluminium alloys. The liquidus and solidus temperatures and dendrite coherency point (DCP) are then characterised. The research shows that the UMSA platform allows precise determination and calculation of thermal parameters. The influence of the heat treatment on structure and properties of aluminium castings has been determined as well. Heat treatment was carried out to increase the mechanical properties of aluminium alloys. Based on the findings above, the influence of microstructure on properties of the alloys is discussed.

Controlled process for the production of a spray of atomized metal droplets

Abstract: A process and apparatus for producing a spray of atomized metal droplets includes providing an apparatus that forms a spray of molten metal droplets, the apparatus including a metal source and a metal stream atomizer, producing a stream of liquid metal from the metal source, and atomizing the stream of liquid metal with the metal stream atomizer to form the spray of molten metal droplets. A controlled spray of atomized metal droplets is achieved by selectively varying the temperature of the droplets in the spray of molten metal droplets, the step of selectively varying including the step of varying the flow rate of metal produced by the metal source, responsive to a command signal, and sensing the operation of the apparatus and generating the command signal indicative of the operation of the apparatus. The step of atomizing may be accomplished by directing a flow of an atomizing gas at the stream of liquid metal, and then selectively controlling the flow rate of the atomizing gas.

Unconventional locomotion of liquid metal droplets driven by magnetic fields

Abstract: The locomotion of liquid metal droplets enables enormous potential for realizing various applications in microelectromechanical systems (MEMSs), biomimetics, and microfluidics. However, current techniques for actuating liquid metal droplets are either associated with intense electrochemical reactions or require modification of their physical properties by coating/mixing them with other materials. These methods either generate gas bubbles or compromise the stability and liquidity of the liquid metal. Here, we introduce an innovative method for controlling the locomotion of liquid metal droplets using Lorentz force induced by magnetic fields. Remarkably, utilizing a magnetic field to induce actuation avoids the generation of gas bubbles in comparison to the method of forming a surface tension gradient on the liquid metal using electrochemistry. In addition, the use of Lorentz force avoids the need of mixing liquid metals with ferromagnetic materials, which may compromise the liquidity of liquid metals. Most importantly, we discover that the existence of a slip layer for liquid metal droplets distinguishes their actuation behaviors from solid metallic spheres. We investigate the parameters affecting the actuation behavior of liquid metal droplets and explore the science behind its operation. We further conducted a series of proof-of-concept experiments to verify the controllability of our method for actuating liquid metal droplets. As such, we believe that the presented technique represents a significant advance in comparison to reported actuation methods for liquid metals, and possesses the potential to be readily adapted by other systems to advance the fields of MEMS actuation and soft robotics.