Foundry produces casting products with desired properties suitable for engineering applications. The grain refiners came in handy to improve the melt casting process to achieve these desired properties. Aluminum alloy casting mostly uses Al-Ti-B grain refiners that are commercially available. The study examined the efficiency of Al-Ti-B grain refiners that were sourced from six different commercial suppliers across the globe. This work serves as quality control of sourced commercial grain refiners. It was found that type GR-4 (3:1) refined cast structures more efficiently than all other five tested Al-Ti-B grain refiners on commercial pure aluminum (CPAl). A holding time of 2 to 10 min proved to be the optimum melt holding time.

Incorporating TiAl alloys in engine applications offers benefits including reduced fuel consumption and improved efficiency. However, understanding the wear behaviour of these materials is an important consideration due to their use in harsh environments involving movable parts. This study investigated the wear behaviour and mechanisms of Ti–48Al–2Nb–0.3Si-1Sn (TiAl–S1) together with Ti–48Al–2Nb–0.3Si (TiAl–S0) as a reference alloy against an alumina ball. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis showed that the addition of Sn refined the lamellar structure from 216 $\mu \mathrm{m}$ to 130 $\mu \mathrm{m}$ and promoted more uniform deformation. SEM observations also indicated that abrasive wear is the dominant mechanism in the TiAl alloys. The TiAl–S1 exhibited lower hardness, resulting in deformation of wear debris and promoting third body acting as a lubricant. SEM-EDS revealed that the tribo-layer and wear debris originated from the TiAl materials rather than the counterpart alumina material. Both alloys demonstrated noble wear resistance, with a wear rate of 7.542 × 10⁻⁶ mm³/Nm for TiAl–S1 and 6.729 × 10⁻⁶ mm³/Nm for TiAl–S0. Even though both TiAl alloys experienced abrasive wear mechanisms, the addition of Sn emerges as a promising alloying strategy, for enhancing ductility without significantly increasing material loss.

The South African aluminium industry faces technical challenges related to cladded ingots used in automotive heat exchangers, creating a need for offline processing methods that can replicate rolling processes like roll bonding, as large-scale industrial trials are costly and difficult to control. To address this, Mintek established a comprehensive offline manufacturing facility for process and product development of rolled metal products, focusing on the thermomechanical processing of aluminium alloys. In this study, stacked AA4045/AA3003mod coupons were processed under controlled conditions by varying thickness reduction, temperature, and reheating, aiming to investigate the effect of isothermal soaking time on microstructure and mechanical properties. Tensile tests were performed on clad sheets before and after brazing heat treatment, and fracture surfaces were examined via scanning electron microscopy. Samples heated at 505 °C for ≥38 h, followed by cold rolling and annealing, fell at the lower end of the 9031-H24 specification for yield strength, which is important for this application (i.e., the minimum tensile yield strength of 145 MPa and the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) range of 190 to 230 MPa). Fracture surface analysis revealed a dimple-dominated structure in cold-rolled and annealed samples, indicating ductile fracture. The study concludes that the offline roll-bonding method successfully replicates industrial cladding processes, and that isothermal soaking duration significantly influences mechanical performance, though careful control of thermal exposure is necessary to meet the specified mechanical properties.