Possible segregation caused by centrifugal titanium casting.

The possibility of the segregation under solidification process using a centrifugal casting machine was investigated using an electron probe microanalyzer with elemental distribution map, line analysis and quantitative analysis. When a very small quantity of platinum was added to local molten titanium during the casting process, macroscopic segregation was observed under conditions of density difference of 0.1 g/cm3 at the most, confirming that the centrifugal force of the casting machine is extremely strong. When a Ti-6Al-4V alloy was cast, however, no macroscopic segregation was observed. The centrifugal force of the casting machine examined in the present study hardly results in the body-force segregation in this titanium alloy.