Abstract: A two-step reheating process was proposed and applied to perform reheating experiments on the semi-solid 2024 alloy billet. In this process, the semi-solid billet was firstly heated over liquidus temperature and then isothermally held at solid-liquid zone temperature. Microstructure evolution of the semi-solid billet during two-step reheating was studied by optical microscope and compared with that during isothermal reheating. The results show that the remelting rate of the semi-solid billet during two-step reheating is faster than that during isothermal reheating. Under the same reheating time, the grains of the semi-solid billet reheated by two-step reheating process are finer and rounder than those by isothermal reheating process. The present experimental results indicate that accelerating the formation of liquid phase during the two-step reheating process can restrain the coalescence of grains to a certain extent, and thus refine the grain size and promote the grain spheroidization.

Key words: semi-solid metal; thixoforming; reheating; microstructure evolution; 2024 alloy