SIMULATION OF THE ALUMINUM ALLOY A356 SOLIDIFICATION CAST IN CYLINDRICAL PERMANENT MOLDS

Abstract

A mathematical model based on the control volume method with fixed mesh was selected in order to simulate the solidification of cylindrical castings poured in permanent steel mold. The latent heat was incorporated using the effective specific heat. The application of the model allowed us to obtain the solidification front and the temperature fields at any time from the pouring. The mold was made of the SAE 1010 steel. Two mold temperatures were evaluated: 25°C and 300°C. The mathematical model showed sensitivity to changes in mold temperatures. For the casting poured with an initial mold temperature of 300°C, the solidification time was greater than that of the casting poured in the mold at 25°C. When the perfect contact condition between the mold and the metal was considered, the theoretical solidification times were shorter than the experimental results. When the imperfect contact supposition was assumed, this resulted in longer times of solidification very close to the experimental data. A reasonable fitting was reached when the heat transfer coefficient between mold and casting surfaces in the range of 100 to 500 W/m2 °K was used for the experiments with the mold at 25°C.