ADC12 is an aluminum-silicon-copper alloy designed for die casting. It contains roughly 9.6-12% silicon for high fluidity and 1.5-3.5% copper for increased strength. This alloy typically achieves a tensile strength between 180-230 MPa. adc12 aluminum alloy density is approximately 2.7 g/cm³, making it lightweight. ADC12 offers good machinability but shows reduced mechanical properties above 250°C.
In this piece of content, learn in-depth details about:
✔ Why it has taken over die-casting—perfect fluidity, minimal shrinkage
✔ Applications—From automotive (car cylinders) to consumer goods (drone frames)
✔ Why metalworkers choose it – Strength + budget-friendly.
Chemical Composition of ADC12
ADC12 aluminum alloy contains specific qualities because of its stem. Its major element combination includes:
- 6 — 12.0% of silicon (Si): – Improve fluidity, making it smoother during casting.
- 5–3.5% of copper (Cu): – Enhance toughness but decrease rust resistance.
- ≤0.3% of magnesium (Mg): – Add better hardness.
- ≤1.3% of iron (Fe): – Gives strength but may compromise brittleness.
- ≤1.0% of zinc (Zn): – Resist rust or corrosion.
- ≤0.5% of manganese (Mn): – Compete against heat damage.
- Additional trace elements: ≤0.5% of nickel (Ni) stop the reaction of high heat, maintaining strength. ≤0.3% of tin (Sn) decreases the surface friction.
Others are the trace elements for enhancing structure or fine-tuning in Aluminiumdruckguss Teile.
Watch Aluminum Alloys Metals Explained in This Short Video
Role of Elements in Microstructure and Performance
Silizium:
Silicon, being flexible, makes very small, tough particles. These work for improving wear resistance. Its addition increases fluidity and fills the mold evenly. Helpful in getting highly detailed shapes like engine blocks.
Kupfer:
Copper is the toughest alloying element. Mixing it with aluminum strengthens bonds between alloy crystals. Tensile Strength reaches 180 MPa as a result. However, it reduces the ability of metal to resist corrosion. That is why you must apply protective coatings for this.
Magnesium:
Magnesium is beneficial in terms of refining ADC12 grain structure. It makes its content much harder without losing flexibility. It also increases the endurance of repeated stress.
Iron:
Iron content creates rigidity. However, you must add a lower amount, a maximum of 1.3%. This is because high amounts affect brittleness. That often causes cracks under heavy loads.
Zinc and Manganese:
Zinc works for adding protective shields. This sets barriers against rusting, usually in wet environments. Meanwhile, manganese increases the ability of this alloy to tackle temperatures up to 150°C.
Nickel and Tin:
Nickel gives the part that needed strength to tackle critical environments such as hot engines. The benefit of tin is to lessen friction in a situation of continuous movement, such as gear parts.
Comparison with ADC10 and ADC14
Fluidity vs. Strength:
According to cost, ADC10 is not much more expensive than ADC12. Conversely, it flows better as silicon has a silicon content of 7.5–9.5% silicon.
To make products with highly thinned walls, ADC14 is a better choice. This is because it contains 16–18% silicon. However, this higher amount of silicon reduces its strength compared to ADC12 (200 MPa vs. ADC12’s 180 MPa).
Heat Resistance:
ADC12 fixes heat stress problems. That is usually due to the addition of copper and nickel particles. But this content is not as preferable as ADC14. Because more copper element in ADC12 results in less responsiveness against tight heat tolerance.
Application-Based Selection:
In parts that need kind of traits like strength and moderate heat resistance, ADC12 metal works well. For instance, cylinder heads.
Meanwhile, you should go for ADC12 alloy, where the project must be under the budget-friendly option and have simple specifications.
As you know, the electronic parts have several tiny areas with highly detailed portions, so you can choose ADC14. It supports intricate needs.
Mechanical Properties of ADC12
Tensile Strength and Yield Strength:
ADC12 handles tearing and deformation. For this, it uses their combined attributes of tensile strength (180–230 MPa) and yield strength (120–150 MPa). You can check this ability of alloy. Pass its sample into the casting and machining phase to get precise measurements.
Also, most of the alloy’s strength improves through heat treatments. This treatment changes its microstructure at 150°C for 5 hours. So that the metal could pass the needed hardness level.
Elongation and Hardness:
ADC12 aluminum alloy has elongation up to 1–3% before fracture. Low ductility occurs because of it. This alloy also offers a good hardness range. That falls under 75–85 HB (Brinell) or 40–50 HRB (Rockwell B).
The other parameter that can increase hardness is also the cooling rate. The better consistency in temperature, e.g., 7.5 mm/s, is valuable in this case.
The provided image shows the relationship between tensile stress. There are 120 MPAs, becoming the reason for ADC12 failure, causing 78.2% porosity. Meanwhile, the thicker one can stand up against more stress.
Impact Resistance and Fatigue Strength
The ADC12 aluminum takes in 5 to 8 joules, which is the amount of absorbed energy of sudden shock during a Charpy impact test. The S-N curve image shows its fatigue resistance. That’s around 80 MPa at 10^6 cycles. It’s, however, lower than the usual one. Typically, it ranges between 100–150 MPa.
Extension in fatigue happens if the loading is slow, e.g., 0.1 mm/s. It further shows 0.02 mm propagation of fatigue cracks because of stress. The fracture strength is around 15 MPa√m.
Applications of ADC12 Aluminum Alloy
Automotive Industry Applications:
The ADC12 alloy is castable for manufacturing engine blocks and cylinder heads. Where you find its strength and lightweight traits. It consumes low energy in vehicles because of lower weight, up to 15 to 20%.
Also, lightweight components improve fuel efficiency by as much as 5 to 8 percent. Their ability to tackle temperatures up to 200°C suits them to fabricate engine parts. It also has lower melting points, which convert molten liquid into deeply detailed cast parts.
Aerospace Industry Applications
The structural parts, like the engine housing of aerospace industries, rely on ADC12. The metal gives them a strength-to-weight ratio. That’s later helpful in minimizing fuel usage.
Apparently, the ADC12 ingot is not as common as the other alloys are. It has lower fatigue resistance by up to ten thousand cycles.
Industrial and Commercial Applications
The various types of pump housings, gearboxes, and power tools are usually made with ADC12 metal. It corrodes less and can resist wear.
Speaking about its consumer electronics components, it casts laptop frames and camera bodies, adding a smooth touch to their finishing.
Advantages and Disadvantages of ADC12
Vorteile:
- Strength-to-Weight Ratio: with 2.7 g/cm³, this aluminum alloy has less weight, up to 30%, than steel. It, however, gives 180 MPa tensile strength.
- Corrosion Resistance: The parts made with this metal corrode less, even in humid environments. They can last for more than 5 years without having a protective coating.
- Castability & Machinability: ADC12 melts at 580°C. It flows smoothly, filling complex die shapes evenly. The metal is a kind of fragile and does not need as much energy for machining as harder alloys.
Disadvantages:
- There are more copper particles in ADC12. This makes it slightly more expensive than ADC10.
- The alloy cannot handle welding and causes cracks during the operation. But you can use laser welding operating at 500–600°C to assemble multiple components.
- When during casting, air or gases get mixed in, causing porosity. Manufacturers fix this issue using vacuum casting methods. That cut it off to <2%.
- Each metal has a certain limit, and so does ADC12. It loses strength when exposed to above 250°C. That is why it is not compatible with high-heat areas.
ADC12 Aluminum Die Casting Process
Overview of Die Casting Process
Metalworkers use high pressure to shape ADC12 metal into complex parts. They melt them at 580–620°C to feed into a steel mold. They maintain mold temperatures up to 50–150 MPa. The process lasts 5 to 30 seconds, completing one object. The accuracy of the size and result depends on size and shape.
ADC12 Die Casting Process Parameters
- Preheat the mold, applying a temperature up to 200–250°C. This will help in reducing cracks.
- Moderate pressure between 70 and 100 MPa is important to fill the internal species of the die.
- Cooling Rate that ranges from 10–20°C/s can affect strength. Grain size can be better or as minimal as needed by applying faster cooling.
Common Defects and Challenges
- Adding molten alloy into the cavity at a slower speed causes cold shuts. Fix it by raising the pressure up to 120 MPa.
- Porosity can occur when air traps. Vacuum casting prevents it at 0.1 atm.
- Applying improper cooling temperatures can affect the grains. It causes voids. Control it with 5 to 7 °C/s cooling rates.
- Using the X-ray scanning technique, you locate the defect areas in parts like cracks as small as 0.2 mm.
Material Properties of ADC12
1. Physical Properties:
- Density: 2.68 g/cm³
- Melting Point: 580°C
- Thermal Conductivity: 96 W/m·K
- Temperature Effects: Remains stable below 150°C.
2. Thermal Properties:
- Specific Heat: 963 J/kg·K
- Thermal Expansion: 21.8 µm/m·°C
The die-casting relevance of its alloy is its lower thermal expansion. It minimizes cracking during cooling at 10°C/s.
3. Electrical & Magnetic Properties
- Electrical Conductivity: 30% IACS
- Magnetic Permeability: 1.02
There are balanced attributes in ADC12. That is why it is known as a versatile option for heat-sensitive and non-magnetic parts.
Comparison Overview with Other Materials
- The ADC12 ingot has less weight (65%) than steel materials.
- In comparison to the corrosion resistance properties, this alloy is better than steel. Meanwhile, copper is more capable of resisting corrosion compared to ADC12.
- This metal is much cheaper (20%) than magnesium alloys.
Selection Criteria:
You can choose ADC12 aluminum alloy to fabricate automotive components like engine blocks or transmission cases. Especially the projects where strength-to-weight ratios are concerned.
In addition to this, it suits massive production needs because of its good fluidity. There are fewer defects in generated output as a result.
You can also use it to make affordable products, as it costs less than magnesium. This metal contains good EMI shielding and non-magnetic properties suitable for electronic housings.
Avoid ADC12 for:
It is recommended to not use ADC12 alloy for casting extreme temperature applications (>250°C). Instead, steel material can be substituted.
For the fabrication of marine industry parts, prefer copper alloys. Also, magnesium is a better choice to make a high-impact component than this.
The part that profiles include specific details and complex areas to get precision results; an alloy of ADC14 is better in comparison to ADC12.
Schlussfolgerung:
The easy castability and the balanced strength of aluminum alloy ADC12 make it the best choice for car parts and machinery. The silicon particle and the mixture of other alloying content improve fluidity and performance better than ADC14. You can choose ADC12 for its lightweight design and affordability for even mass-produced equipment.