Materials Science Forum, Vol.449-4, 149-152, 2004
Development of light-weight Al scroll compressor for car air conditioner
The scroll compressor with high cooling efficiency and lower oscillating noise can be a candidate material for a part of car air conditioner, household air conditioner and so on. When Al alloy with high strength is used for scroll compressor instead of cast iron, rotation speed can be increased by weight reduction. To design Al alloy which has enough mechanical properties to replace cast iron, the effect of alloying elements, such as Si(13-15%), Cu(4-5%), and Mg(0.5-1%) and cooling rates on the mechanical properties of squeeze cast Al alloy was studied. The influence of Sr and P modification treatment on Si morphology was also studied. Aluminum alloy over 400MPa of tensile strength and 2% elongation was developed. Al scroll samples was fabricated by squeeze casting machine(UBE 800ton) with using 2 cavity mold. Flow-3D which is a three dimensional melt flow analysis program was used to find most proper mold design and optimum process conditions for squeeze casting before making samples. Relationship between secondary dendrite arm spacing and cooling rate was simulated by Flow-3D and compared with experimental results.