Numerical Simulation Of The Aluminum Irregular Castings In HPDC

Die-casting is widely used in household appliances, instrumentation, automotive, aerospace and other industries because of its high precision, high surface quality, and high production efficiency. During the HPDC process, the filling behavior of liquid metal is very complex, which would cause flow marks, gas porosity, and lack of filling defects. Correspondingly the mold would get thermal fatigue cracks and erosion. Traditional die-casting mold design was often based on experience, which can restrict die casting production efficiency and economic benefit.In this paper, the models of two aluminum irregular castings, include an aluminum shell part and an aluminum bicycle fork, were established by Pro/E software. The runner and venting systems of those castings were designed based on its properties. The FDM models of the castings were established and simulated by casting analysis software called ADSTEFAN. Filling trace, temperature distribution, gas distribution and metal pressure were investigated to predict the defects of the components such as cold shut, flow marks; Oxide inclusion and its distribution was calculated by tracer particles method. Solidification distribution, casting soundness, temperature distribution were investigated to predict shrinkage defects of the castingsOptimized design of the bicycle fork casting was established according to the simulation results. Based on simulation of filling and solidification process, it can be concluded that inner gate of the U type irregular casting could be set in the middle of the mold,which would bring benefits such as simplified mold structure, mold thermal balance. With symmetric comb inner gate type, the location and density of inner gates would influence the component's mass and energy distribution during filling and solidification process. Finally the optimized mold of the bicycle fork component was made and used to process a batch of casting. The casting possessed good quality and in good agreement with simulation results.By the numerical simulation of those castings, it can be seen that based on CAE analysis, die-casting process can be optimized, the large consumption of the actual production test can be avoided. Die casting mold design could be more efficient and rational, which will shorten the trial period die and save the cost of trial.