ProCAST General Presentation

Shortening the product part development time
Overall process improvement
Reducing product cost
Casting design optimisation

Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.


Outline
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Introduction
Typical Casting Defects Prediction
Case Study 1 – Al HPDC
– Complete HPDC Process Simulation (cycling, shot piston, filling, solidification,
stress, APM, Value Chain) - NADCA case

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Case Study 2 – Al HPDC
– Improper mould filling in a multi-cavity steel die
– Gas porosity problem

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Case Study 3 – Al HPDC
– Improper mould filling in a multi-cavity steel die

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Case Study 4 – Steel Investment Casting
– Gas and shrinkage porosity were observed in the initial design of the cast freight
trailer component.

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Case Study 5 – Steel Sand Casting
– Primary & secondary shrink porosity in critical areas

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Case Study 6 – Steel Sand Casting
– Improving yield by reducing pouring weight
– Reducing machining cost

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Conclusion
Copyright â ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.


Statement
ProCAST is the leading FEM foundry simulation software, which
provides coupled thermal-flow-stress analysis, along with
unique metallurgical capabilities, for all casting
processes and castable alloys.
• Proven Success of ProCAST 2005 Helps ESI Group Pick Up
2006 Frost & Sullivan European Technology Leadership of
the Year Award

Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.


Modular Program
Courtesy of ACTECH GmBH, Germany
Al Sand Casting

Courtesy of FOMET SpA, Italy
Al Tilt Gravity Die Casting
Courtesy of Kovolis Hedvikov Czech Republic
Al High Pressure Die Casting

Ni NGV Investment Casting

Courtesy of MAN, Germany
Cast Iron Sand Casting

Courtesy of CMS, Turkey
Al Low Pressure Die Casting

Al Direct Chill Casting

Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.


ProCAST In Action

Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.

Geometry & Meshing
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Utilises the Finite Element Method (FEM)
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Most accurate geometry description and analytic procedure

Easy to import geometry from all CAD systems
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Accepts: - One of the following CAD file format:
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Acis
Cadds
Catia
Pro-Engineer

SolidEdge
SolidWorks
Unigraphics
VDA

Or one of the standard exchanges CAD file format:
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Native (.sat) file
Native (.pd) file
Native V4 (.model, .dlv, .exp)
or V5 (.catpart) file
Native (.prt) file
Native (.par) file
Native (.sldprt) file
Native (.prt) file
Native (.vda) file

Parasolids (.x_t, .xmt_txt) file
Neutral IGES (.igs) file with trimmed surfaces
Neutral STEP (.step) file

Direct FEM mesh import and export:

I-DEAS, PATRAN, ANSYS, ARIES, ANVIL
Coincident or non-coincident meshes
Automatic 3-D mesh generation
Export to other CAE packages

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User Friendly menu driven interface

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Platform flexibility
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Windows, Linux – 32 and 64 bits

Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.


Material Properties
AlSi5% / AlSi12.6
Al-Si 12.6%
solid

Al-Si 5%
liquid

solid

Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.

liquid


Material Properties
Complex phase diagrams

?
A thermodynamic
database is necessary !

Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.


Material Properties
Database
• Standard Materials Included with Procast
– 116 Metals and Alloys
– 20 Other Materials (Sand, Refractory, Foam, Air,
Water)

• Thermodynamic Material Databases Available
– Alloy families: Al, Fe, Mg, Ni, Cu and Ti
– Thermo Physical properties predicted for the actual
chemistry of your specific or proprietary alloy.

Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.


Material Properties

Thermodynamic Material Databases

Thermo-physical data
automatically set up from
the chemical composition
(Al, Cu, Fe, Ni, Ti, Mg
based)

Calculationthermodynamic solver
Set up the chemical composition
Run the of the solidification path

Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.


Advanced Features
Coupled Thermal-Stress
Deformation
(Temperature)

Displacement magnitude : *10

Deformation

Distortion - Elastic springback
after dividing part & gating

Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.

Advanced Features

Automatic Shell Generation

Shell Mold can be automatically created/calculated from the part definition

Casting
Shell

Mesh
Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.


Advanced Features
Grain Prediction – Directional
Solidification (DS)
DS

Directionally solidified
columnar grains

(Courtesy of SNECMA, France)
Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.


Rolls Royce presentation at the
EUROPAM 2006

Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.

• Density of
metals vs.
temperature is
not constant:

Density, Kg/m3

Predicting Solidification Defect in
Al HPDC– Shrinkage Porosity

Temperature, °C

Feeding problems
during solidification:

Courtesy of Kovolit, CZ
Al HPDC

Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.


Predicting Solidification Defect in
Cast Iron Sand Gravity– Cold Shot

Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.


Predicting Filling Defect in

Zn HPDC–Die Erosion

Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.


Predicting Filling in
Zn HPDC–Interrupted shot

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Predicting Filling in
Al Sand Casting-Coldshut prediction
Vacuum forming
Aluminium
Silica Dry
t = 2 mm
h = 400 mm
d = 100 mm

Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.


Filling Validation

Incomplete filling

Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.

Filling Validation
Thixocasting validation

Sophia Antipolis, Collot

Magnesium alloy (AZ91):
Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.


« Standard » Casting Simulation
GEOMETRY

PROCESS

MATERIAL

THERMAL & FLUID
ANALYSIS

THERMODYNAMIC
DATABASES
THERMO PHYSICAL
PROPERTIES

DEFECTS

•FILLING DEFECTS
•SOLIDIFICATION DEFECTS

However, Shrinkage Porosity and Improper Fills are

Important Defects predicted with Thermal And Fluid
Analysis, but They Aren’t the Only Defects in
Casting Processes…
Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.


“Cylinder” Model – NADCA
Benchmark
HPDC process / A383 Alloy

Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.


Guideline: Casting Modelling Phases
• Phase 1 : Thermal cycling
• Phase 2 : Filling (with extraction of thermal map at the end of cycling)
• Phase 3 : Solidification (coupled with filling)
• Phase 4 : Shrinkage and gas porosity
• Phase 5 : Stress (coupled with filling and solidification)
• Phase 6 : Microstructure and Mechanical Prop.

Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.


Heat Up Cycles
• 15 Cycles Performed to
Ensure Die Soak (Cavity
Region Soaked in About
9, When Starting at 200
F)

• Regions Which Stay
Warm are Indicated.

Copyright © ESI Group, 2007. All rights reserved.