Solving the World’s Toughest CFD Problems

Tilt Pour Casting Workspace

Workspace Overview

The Tilt Pour Casting Workspace is an intuitive modeling environment designed to help engineers successfully model tilt pour casting applications with FLOW-3D CAST. The workspace includes process-specific die and material types, where rotational motions are easily defined in order to match exact machine capabilities. Venting and backpressure are included in the fill analysis for a complete analysis of air entrapment defects, while thermal die cycling and state-of-the-art solidification models are seamlessly connected to the fill through the workspace’s sub-process architecture. The Tilt Pour Casting Workspace provides a complete and accurate solution for all aspects of the simulation in a simple yet versatile modeling environment.

Workspace Highlights

Advanced die motion control
State-of-the-art die thermal management, dynamic cooling channels, spray cooling, thermal cycling
Advanced flow solutions deliver accurate gas entrapment porosity

Tilt Pour Casting Playlist

6 Videos

Piston Tilt Pour Casting CFD Simulation

0:19

Tilt Pour Casting

0:51

Tilt Pour Casting

0:24

Tilt Pour Simulation

0:18

8-Cavity Tilt Pour

0:21

Tilt pour with Non-Inertial Reference Frame Motion

0:16

Description

Description

This is a three-part simulation setup in FLOW-3D CAST for a tilt pour aluminum casting of a piston. This simulation uses insulated risers and cooling channels. The first simulation is a thermal die cycling to find the steady state level of heat saturation in the mold. Once the thermal data is accessed, a filling simulation is done to access filling behavior and defects. Lastly, a solidification simulation is run to assess shrinkage porosity and microstructure. The NIRF model is implemented for fast and easy setup of the tilt pour process. Surface tension is modeled to be temperature-dependent. The rotation of the furnace is described as a moving object. The full chemistry solidification model provides accurate results of microstructure and mechanical properties.

Processes modeled

Tilt pour

Reverse tilt pour

Flexible Meshing

FAVOR™ simple mesh generation tool

Multi-block meshing

Conforming meshing

Die thermal managment

Thermal die cycling

Heat saturation

Full heat transfer modeling

Advanced solidification

Porosity prediction

Shrinkage

Hot spots identification

Thermal modulus

Mechanical property prediction

Sand Cores

Core gas evolution

Material definitions for core properties

Dynamic simulation control

Event probe-based triggers for motion control

Ladle Motion

6 degrees of freedom motion definition

Mold Motion Control

Six axes of motion

Tabular input for rotational velocities

Vacuum and Venting

Interactive probe placement

Area and loss coefficient calculator

Macro and Micro Porosity

Gas porosity

Early solidification

Oxide formation

Surface defect analysis

Filling Accuracy

Gas and bubble entrapment

Surface oxide calculation

RNG and LES turbulence models

Backpressure

Defect prediction

Macro and micro porosity

Gas porosity

Early solidification

Oxide formation

Surface defect analysis

Complete analysis package

Animations with multi-viewports - 3D, 2D, history plots, volume rendering

Porosity analysis tool

Side-by-side simulation results comparison

Sensors for measuring melt temperature, solid fraction

Particle tracers

Batch post-processing

Report generation

Explore Process Workspaces

We recently went from a drawing on a napkin to the geometry created and simulation running within 8 hours. I don’t know exactly what it was like before we started using FLOW-3D CAST, but it takes 6 to 7 weeks minimum for tooling design changes to be made by our pattern maker. Take multiples of that, plus more depending on the part and how many design iterations it would take to get a good pattern. With FLOW-3D CAST, we usually get it right on the first try now. It’s huge for our business.

FLOW-3D CAST has been a tremendous asset to our quality program. After having evaluated six different casting simulation software Howell Foundry made the decision to purchase FLOW-3D CAST. Some of the factors in this decision include its setup versatility, cost, and most importantly its accuracy of the simulation to reality. FLOW-3D CAST’s powerful simulation ability coupled with its updated results viewer has been especially helpful on our most complex jobs to make sure we have a quality casting on the first pour.

At 4C-Technologies we have been pioneers in using various software flow simulation solutions for nearly 35 years. We optimize part designs and tool/runner designs on casted HPDC parts in various metal alloys. Since 2008 we have solely been using FLOW-3D CAST as it turned out to give by far the best accuracy. Furthermore, the support from the FLOW-3D CAST team is outstanding.

I have personally modeled the filling, solidification, and cooling of countless castings, with the goal being to maximize metal cleanliness and soundness, and to control grain structure, segregation and stress related defects. We have had a great deal of success using FLOW-3D CAST to predict casting performance, to optimize quality, and to reduce cost by reducing rework, scrap, and lead-time.

We are using FLOW-3D CAST not only as a die cast process simulation tool but also as a general CFD software tool. If during die cast process development, any part design changes need to be recommended to a customer, FLOW-3D CAST allows us quickly and reliably evaluate part design changes, and present to a customer not only the proposed changes but also the effects those changes will have on the part performance.