Numerical Simulation Of Filling And Solidification Process Of Honeycomb ZTAp / High Chromium Cast Iron Matrix Composites Prepared By Casting

High chromium cast iron matrix composites reinforced by ZTA ceramic particles prepared by infiltration casting is a kind of wear resistant material with good wear-resistant performance, which has been widely used n various wear-resistant occasions. The numerical simulation of their casting process can effectively predict various defects during the preparation process, and optimize the process parameters.As to numerical simulation of the casting process, most of the previous studies either calculated the filling and solidification process separately, or simulated the solidification stage directly without considering filling process. They assumed that "the liquid metal filled the cavity instantly and the initial temperature equaled to the pouring temperature ", which lead to large distance between the simulated results and actual engineering problems.In this paper, the flow fields and temperature fields of high chromium cast iron matrix composites reinforced by ZTA ceramic particles were coupled calculated for the first time by using the FLUENT module in the large-scale universal software ANSYS. The free surface distributions of liquid metal and the change of temperature field were observed during the filling process. Some defects were also predicted successfully. Furthermore, the pouring velocities were optimized. The simulated results indicated that:to fill the liquid metal into the proposed pouring system with the pouring temperature 1570 ℃ and the pouring velocity 0.2 m/s, a composited casting have been infiltrated completely without any defects, such as not full filling, porosity or shrinkage.Through the conversion between the interfaces of different software packages, the simulated results of temperature fields at the end of filling stage turned to be the initial temperature loads at the solidification stage. Then, the initial temperature loads were loaded into the ANSYS Mechanical module. The thermal stress was coupled calculated, of which the distributions were achieved during the solidification stage. The hot crack defect was predicted successfully and the structures of the preforms were optimized finally. The simulated results indicated that:the structure of the alveolate hole in the preforms have little effect on the temperature field during the filling stage and solidification stage, but have great influence on the thermal stress field during the solidification stage. The thermal stress decreases with the side number of the alveolate hole increasing, and the minimize thermal stress occur when the alveolate hole structure is circle. Furthermore, the shakeout process is optimized and the results show that the casting will not crack due to the plummeting of thermal stress when the shakeout process is done at 7200 s after mold filling stage.The simulated results show good agreement with the experimental results in this paper. Thus can be a useful method to the preparation of other metal matrix composites reinforced by particles using infiltration casting. The method used in this paper has certain guiding significance for the actual production.