Aluminium Alloy GDC & Problems
Aluminium Alloy GDC & Problems
Aluminium Alloy GDC & Problems
Abstract
This paper deals with elimination of defects in aluminium alloy castings produced by gravity die casting process. The main
intention of work is to investigate the defects and improve quality of a gravity die cast component using Computer Aided Casting
Simulation Software. In this study an industrial gravity casting die is used which was producing defective components. The die
and components produced by the die are studied to eliminate the defects using virtual simulations. The defects in the components
are identified to be solidification shrinkage, cracks, unfilled riser and incomplete mould cavity. The reasons for the defects are
analyzed as either improper selection of process parameters, or improper design of gating and risering system. SOLIDCast
simulation software is used for simulating the solidification process of casting and visualizing outputs showing possible
problematic areas or defects which may occur in the cast product. The work is carried out in two stages. In first stage, few test
castings are produced by modifying the process parameters (pouring temperature, pouring time, pre heat and alloy type) and
results are compared with simulation results produced using same parameters. The pouring and simulation results are observed
to be in good accordance with each other. In second stage, number of virtual iterations of casting is performed by changing riser
dimensions. It was found from the simulation results that riser with 35mm diameter is required to produce casting with zero
defects. The die is modified accordingly with the simulation results and metal is poured. The castings produced are observed to be
sound and contain no defects; and also it is verified that solidification simulation helps in locating the defects, eliminating them
and ultimately improving the quality of castings without any shop-floor trails.
Keywords: Aluminum-Alloys, Casting Defects, Gravity Die Casting, Material Density and SOLIDCast Simulation
--------------------------------------------------------------------***-----------------------------------------------------------------1. INTRODUCTION
Casting is one of the most economical processes in
manufacturing industry to produce metallic components.
The process of producing a new casting in a foundry begins
with receiving design from a customer, which includes
dimensions, tolerances, type of material, surface finish,
strength, etc. The foundry engineer designs the gating and
risering system for the casting. The time spend in designing
and re-designing the gating and risering system might take
few days or up to several weeks, depending upon the
complexity of the casting, before sound castings are made.
In the past, the foundry man has strived for ways to improve
the casting process and eliminate the defects that occurred in
the castings by trial-and-error, and his past experiences.
Scientists throughout the years have studied the science of
casting and metallurgy and developed theories and
mathematical models to explain the properties of metals
while going through the solidification process. Casting
simulation programs are developed from these methods
which are useful in predicting how the casting will
come out. Defects and problems can be discovered before
the actual product is cast avoiding costly trails to prevent the
defects [3].
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Years after the development of casting simulation programs,
virtual simulations of castings have now stepped into the
maturity. Many new techniques have emerged and lot of
work is going on to test the results of simulation
experimentally. Some of the related works are
acknowledged here. T. R. Vijayaram. et. al. [4], in their
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3. CASTING SIMULATION
Casting simulation software can predict where and what
defects might occur in a casting so the time and material
used in the trial stage may be reduced. The casting process
simulation is temperature and time dependent program.
Freezing of castings is a non-linear transient phenomenon
and involves modification of phase with liberation of latent
heat from an affecting liquid-solid boundary. The casting
process simulation programs consider the thermo physical
data of the alloys and suitable boundary conditions data as
K-Contour Method.
3) Computer Wave Front Analysis.
Pour-out Method.
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4. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
The following steps were performed during gravity casting
process:
Melting of aluminium
Degassing
Coating of die
Clamping of die
Pouring of metal
%Si
12.72
6.29
%Mg
0.08
0.34
%Fe
0.72
0.70
%Mn
0.20
0.33
%Cr
0.02
0.01
%Cu
0.29
0.05
%Pb
0.03
0.02
%Zn
0.21
0.05
%Ni
0.03
0.01
%Al
85.6
92.1
5. METHODOLOGY
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5.1 Stage-1
In first stage, few test castings are produced by changing the
process parameters to check whether the defects are
eliminated or getting minimized by change in process
parameters. The Gravity die casting process parameters
include: casting material, mould material, pouring
temperature, pouring-time, preheat and die coating.
Aluminium alloys LM6 and LM25 were used as casting
materials; the material for the mould was Low Carbon Steel.
The literature suggests that the optimum pouring
temperature for gravity die casting is 720oC, hence all the
castings were poured at 720oC (et. al. Zaid). Pouring time
was approx. 3 seconds based upon shape and size of the
casting. The mould was preheated at 200oC and 250oC.
Sodium silicate + chalk powder is used as die coat as it was
commonly used in industries. The practical experiments
were conducted by varying parameters as given in the
Table-2.
LM6
200
Defective
LM6
250
Defective
LM25
200
Defective
LM25
250
Defective
HTC
Between
LM 6
(W/m2-k)
LM 25
(W/m2-k)
Casting - Riser
56784
41832
Casting - Ambient
8.5
6.4
Casting - Mould
1135.5
1777
Riser - Ambient
8.5
6.4
Riser - Mould
709.8
588
Ambient - Mould
45.4
45.4
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5.2. Stage-2
Process parameters were varied in the first stage in
order to minimize the defects but it was not successful as all
the components produced are defective. Therefore, in the
second stage gating / risering system is to be varied and
simulated for elimination of defects. From stage-1
simulations it is apparent that the metal is flowing smoothly
in the gating channels and the defects are happening near the
riser. Hence the design for risering system with LM25 alloy
is only considered for further study.
The preliminary design of die was having rectangular
riser. The rectangular risering system is leading to a quick
solidification pattern and insufficient central flow, which
prematurely closing the edges and was leaving the last filled
areas fall into the inner portion of the casting. This resulted
in a high probability of air entrapment in the casting and the
risering system design was considered not proper for the
part. Hence the existing riser shape was considered to
change from rectangular to cylindrical. The cylindrical riser
is modeled in SolidWorks and imported in SOLIDCast to
run the simulation and observe the results. Likewise the
numbers of virtual trials are performed by varying riser
dimensions in SolidWorks and importing and simulating the
results in SOLIDcast. The simulation results are plotted for
varying riser dimensions and are shown in Figures 12-17.
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6. CONCLUSIONS
It can be concluded that the casting simulation has
become a powerful tool to predict the location of defects and
eliminate them by visualizing mould filling, solidification
and cooling. It can be used to trouble shoot the existing
castings or to develop a new castings without shop-floor
trails by using fewer resources which reduces cost and time
to market.
Modification in risering system design by changing
riser dimensions eliminates the defects from the cast part.
Simulation showed that the new design provides a
homogeneous mold filling pattern and the last filled area
was transferred from part to the riser. The results of
simulation are in good accordance with that of
experimentation. The defects like solidification shrinkage,
cracks, unfilled riser and incomplete mould cavity are
completely eliminated from the casting. So, zero defect
casting has become a reality owing to computer aided design
of casting, by using which it is possible produce casting
right first time and every time.
REFERENCES
[1]. B. Ravi, Metal Casting: Computer-aided Design and
Analysis, Prentice-Hall India, ISBN-81-203-2726-8,
4th print, 2007.
[2]. B.Ravi, Casting Simulation and Optimization:
Benefits, Bottlenecks, and Best Practices, Technical
Paper for Indian Foundry Journal, January - 2008,
Special Issue.
[3]. M. Piyapong, Solidification Modeling of Iron Casting
Using SOLIDCast, Master diss., West Virginia
University, Morgantown, West Virginia, 2007.
[4]. T. R. Vijayaram, S. Sulaiman, Numerical Simulation
of Casting Solidification in Permanent Metallic
Molds, Journal of Materials Processing Technology
178, (2006) 29-33.
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BIOGRAPHIES
Mr. Syed Ferhathullah Hussainy received
his B.E. in Mech. Engg. (1992), and M.E.
in Prodn. Engg. (1997) from O.U., India.
He has total of 21 years of Teaching
experience and presently working as Prof.
and Dean in M.J.C.E.T., India.
Mr. M. Viquar Mohiuddin received his
B.E. in Mech.-Prodn. Engg., from O.U.,
India (1999), and M.S. in Adv. Mfg.
Engg., from SHU, U.K. (2002). He has
total 12 years of Industrial and Teaching
experience.
Dr. P. Laxminarayana received his B.E.
in Mech. Engg. (1989), M.E. in Prodn.
Engg. (1995), and Ph.D. in Mech. Engg.
(2003) from O.U., India. He has total 23
years of Teaching experience. Presently
working as Prof. in M.E.D., O.U., India.
Dr. A Krishnaiah, received his B.E. in
Mech. Engg. (1994), M.E. in Prodn.
Engg. (1998) from O.U., India. He did his
Ph.D. from IIT Madras (2006), Post
Doctoral Research from South Korea
(2008). He has total 17 years of Teaching
experience, 37 publications, & Presently
working as Prof. in M.E.D., O.U., India.
Dr. S. Sundarrajan, done his graduation in
Mech. Engg. from TCE, India, P.G. and
Ph.D. in Industrial Metallurgy from
IITM. He edited 2 Engg. Hand books,
published over 80 Tech. papers and
guided 7 PhDs. Prior to joining NIT-T,
he was with missile programme of
DRDO for over 30 years and received
mentoring by Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.
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