In this work, 25 wheels were cast with three different grain refiners: Al5Ti1B, Al3Nb1B and MTS 1582. Samples were machined from the wheels to check the mechanical properties. It was found that Nb grain refinement had the lowest grain size (260 mm) and highest tensile properties (yield strength of 119-124 MPa and ultimate tensile strength of 190-209 MPa). Al5Ti1B and MTS 1582 revealed quite similar results (110 MPa yield and 198 MPa ultimate tensile strength). The fading of the grain refining effect of Al5TiB1 master alloy was observed in both Nb and Ti added castings whereas during the investigated time interval, the fading was not observed when MTS 1582 was used.

The aim of the study was to select the optimal content of zirconium introduced as an alloying additive to obtain the best strength properties of Al-Si alloy. A technically important disadvantage is the tendency of silumins to form a coarse-grained structure that adversely affects the mechanical properties of castings. To improve the structure, modification processes and alloying additives are used, both of which can effectively refine the structure and thus increase the mechanical properties. According to the Hall-Petch relationship, the finer is the structure, the higher are the mechanical properties of the alloy. The proposed addition of zirconium as an alloying element has a beneficial effect on the structure and properties of silumins, inhibiting the grain growth. The starting material was an aluminium-silicon casting alloy designated as EN AC-AlSi9Mg (AK9). Zirconium (Zr) was added to the alloy in an amount of 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4% and 0.5% by weight. From the modified alloy, after verification of the chemical composition, samples were cast into sand moulds based on a phenolic resin.
The first step in the research was testing the casting properties of alloys with the addition of Zr (castability, density, porosity). In the next step, the effect of zirconium addition on the structure and mechanical properties of castings was determined.

Material suppliers typically recommend different additive amounts and applications for foundry practices. Therefore, even in the production of the same standard materials, different results may be obtained from various production processes on different foundry floors. In this study, the liquid metal prepared with the addition of different proportions of a FeSi-based inoculation, which is most commonly used in foundries in the production of a cast iron material with EN-GJL-250 lamellar graphite cast iron, was cast into sand molds prepared with a model designed to provide different solidification times. In this way, the optimization of the inoculation amounts on the casting structure for different solidification times was investigated. In addition, hardness values were determined depending on solidification time in varying amounts of inoculation additions. SolidCast casting simulation software was used to determine the casting model geometry and solidification time. In the scope of the study, sand casting, modeling, microstructure analysis, image analysis, microstructure analysis, and hardness tests techniques were used. When the results are examined, the required amount of inoculation for the optimal structure is optimized for the application procedure depending on the casting module and the solidification time.

In the manufacturing sector, the processing of magnesium alloys through the liquid casting route is one of the promising methods to manufacture automotive and aircraft components, for their excellent mechanical properties at the lower weight. Investment casting process has the great cabaility to produce near net shape complex castings for automotive and aircraft applications. The distinct and attractive engineering properties of magnesium alloys have shown to be promising in terms of its potential to replace materials such as cast iron, steel, and aluminum In this regard, the efforts to develop processing technology for these alloys for their wide range of applications in industries have been reported by the scientific and engineering community. For successful production of magnesium alloy castings, it requires specialized foundry techniques because of the particular chemical and physical properties of magnesium; especially the reactive and oxidative nature of these alloys. The industry is young enough, to tap the potential.