[Relationship between mechanical properties and amounts of casting porosities in tensile-test fracture surface of Au-Pd-Ag-Cu alloy (author's transl)].

One hundred and thirty-nine tensile-test specimens of Au-Pd-Ag-Cu alloy were cast in various casting conditions. The specimens were subjected age-hardening heat-treatment. The casting porosities and the nonmetallic inclusions in the surface of a tensile-test fracture of cast specimens were observed and analyzed by use of Electron Probe X-ray Microanalyzer (EPMA). The polosity ratio that is the area ratio of the porosities to the fracture surface was determined. Studies were quantitatively made on the effect of the porosity ratio on the tensile strength and the elongation. Furthermore, the effect of the casting conditions on the tensile strength was investigated. The main results were summarized as follows; The tensile strength decreased only slightly within about 15% of the porosity ratio and remarkably with an increase in its ratio in the range from about 15% to 50%. The elongation, however, decreased considerably in the presence of the porosities of only a few per cent. Aspects of the decrease curves on the tensile strength and the elongation were represented in the shape of an inverse S-type and hyperbolic curve with an increase in the porosity ratio, respectively. With an increase in the porosity ratio, the shapes of the tensile-test specimens at the fracture part and load-elongation curves in the tensile-tests were shown as a brittle fracture. However, the result observed by a scanning electron microscope revealed that the fracture surfaces without the porosities showed mostly "dimple pattern" suggesting a characteristic figure of a ductile fracture. The nonmetallic inclusions in the fracture surfaces were identified as SiO2 (quartz) which was derived from an ingredient of an investment by comparing the inclusion with the reference standards on the characteristic X-ray O Kalpha spectra by EPMA. The microstructures observed by a light microscope showed a coarse structure with the high temperature casting conditions. However, the results of a scanning electronmicroscopy revealed that the microstructres observed in high magnifications of about 1000 to 3000 composed of two structures; micro-lamella and Widmanstätten structure, and no difference was shown in the various casting conditions. Therefore, it is concluded in the present alloy that a coarseness of the microstructures observed by a light microscope become no reason for a decrease of the tensile strength.