Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Low Pressure Permanent Mold Casting of A356 Alloys

摘要

Low Pressure Permanent Mold Casting is a cost effective manufacturing process for the production of a variety of automotive parts, especially wheels. In this work, a detailed investigation of the interfacial heat transfer is conducted. A wheel-like shaped casting was produced in a typical LPPM caster with an applied air pressure of about 1 bar. Temperature measurements from as many as 23 thermocouples embedded in the die halves were used to obtain the cooling behavior at various regions of the metal-mold interface. The process was simulated using a commercial 3D-solidification package and heat transfer coefficients for each interfacial segment of the casting were evaluated.