Mold structure design and casting simulation of the high-pressure die casting for aluminum automotive clutch housing manufacturing

摘要

This study aims at a mold design based on the casting simulation and mold structural simulation in order to manufacture automotive clutch housing aluminum parts in a high-pressure die casting process. For melt to flow into the mold and fill to the product section evenly, a gating system with five gates was designed. MAGMAsoft, a casting simulation program, was used to predict or prevent the possibility of casting defects that may occur in the filling process and solidification process. The way to select proper casting devices for the clutch housing product is also presented. A structural simulation of the mold base was conducted by means of ANSYS Workbench to predict possible damage to the vulnerable part of the mold right from the step of mold design. In the actual shot test, five clutch housing products in total were manufactured. All of them were fully filled and involved no defect on the surface. The spot of shrinkage porosity predicted in the casting simulation and the spot of actual occurrence were not exactly the same but quite close. The degree of hardness of these products was about 84HV regardless of location.