Mold Filling Study by Pouring Experiments and Computer Simulations for Thin Wall Castings

摘要

The mold filling process has a great influence on the casting quality obtained, especially for thin wall castings. In this paper, the mold filling process of some thin wall castings has been studied by pouring experiments and computer simulations. The pouring experiments with liquid metal have been done to get the filling patterns and temperature fields in the casting systems. The three-dimensional mold filling and solidification simulations have been carried out by using Flow-iD software. The mold filling processes are studied under varying casting conditions such as different ingate design, pouring temperature, inlet velocity and wall thickness. Thus the influence of casting conditions on the flow pattern and temperature fields has been gotten. Besides, special attention has been paid to the computer simulations and it is shown that mold filling simulation is a very powerful tool to study mold filling process and thus to optimize casting design.