A comprehensive investigation, encompassing microstructural analysis of the subsurface and bulk regions, along with tensile testing near the solidus temperature in the range of 520–580 °C and with two strain rates (10–4 and 10–3 s−1), was conducted on two AA5182 alloy ingots (A and B) cast at casting speeds of 60 and 75 mm \(\bullet\) min−1, respectively. Microstructural analysis revealed an equiaxed grain structure throughout Ingot A, whereas Ingot B transitioned from an equiaxed structure in the subsurface to a columnar grain structure in the bulk region. Regarding intermetallic phases, Ingot A showed predominant Al6(Fe,Mn), whereas Ingot B exhibited a high amount of needle-like Al3Fe. Consequently, Ingot A exhibited superior semisolid tensile properties compared to Ingot B at the given test temperatures. The difference between the two ingots became pronounced at the low strain rate of 10–4 s−1, with the brittle temperature range (BTR) values of Ingot B higher than those of Ingot A. An assessment of the hot-tearing susceptibility (HTS) using the BTR criterion revealed that the HTS of Ingot B was higher than that of Ingot A, confirmed by the occurrence of a large transverse macrocrack during the direct-chill casting of Ingot B.
