Effect of strontium additions on microstructure and mechanical properties of aluminium grade A356 in permanent and sand mold for canning industries applications

Wrought aluminum is commonly used in the beverage can industry, especially grades 5182 and A356. At the same time, cast aluminum is popular for automotive parts due to its high strength-to-weight. If the aluminum casting technique can be used in the can industry, it will reduce the cost of raw materials.

This research study is about aluminum casting that uses 10% lid cans recycling casting with aluminum A356 and adding with 0.04 wt.% strontium. After melting, aluminum melt was poured into sand and permanent mold with different cooling rate. The results showed that the addition of 0.04% strontium resulted in 42.86% and 6.98% increases in tensile strength and hardness in sand mold, respectively. In permanent mold, tensile strength and hardness increased by 18.66 percent and by 4.7 percent, respectively. When addition 10% of can lid and adding with 0.04 wt.% strontium of the sand mold, the tensile strength and hardness increased 56.59% and 29.27% respectively. In the permanent mold, the tensile strength and stiffness increased by 23.25 percent and 23.42 percent respectively. In the permanent casting, it was found that the increasing cooling rate and the strontium content affected the microstructure and increased the mechanical properties of aluminum. Keywords: Aluminum A356, Strontium, canning industry, Microstructure mechanical properties.