HIGH PRESSURE MOULD DESIGN AND

STRENGTH CALCULATION

by
Grkem ZELK

June, 2004
ZMR

ENJEKSIYON KALIP TASARIMI VE MUKAVAMET

HESAPLARI

Grkem ZELK

Haziran, 2004
ZMR

ZET
Bu almada, yksek basnl enjeksiyon tezgahlarnda alminyum alam
kullanlarak dkm yapan bir kalp tasarlanmtr. ncelikle sektr hakknda genel
bilgi verilmitir. Tasarma etki eden faktrler ayrntl olarak incelenmitir. Tasarm
hzlandracak ve kolaylatracak baz pratik bilgiler verilmi ve bu bilgilerin
doruluu kontrol edilmitir. Yksek basnl tezgahlarda dkm yapan kalplardan
salam ve kaliteli para elde etmek iin en nemli etkenlerden biri olan yolluk
tasarm ayrntl olarak incelenmitir.
Anahtar kelimeler: Kalp, Yolluk, Kovan, Kalp gz, Yksek basnl dkm

ABSTRACT
In this study, a mould which casts with aluminium alloy in high pressure die
casting machine is designed. Firstly, a general information about the aluminum
moulding is given. Factors that affect design are examined in details. Information to
make the designing period quick and simple is given and is validated. Design of
runner system which is the most important factor to make effective and quality parts
from the moulds that cast in high pressure die casting machines is examined in
details.
Key words: Mould, Runner, Shot-sleeve, Cavity, High pressure die casting

1. Introduction
The transformation of metals in manufacturing articles by means of melting and
casting is an ancient art; the relative technology has through time seen a number of
different methodologies: sand casting, gravity shell casting, pressure die casting.
Die- casting is a relatively young technique but it has had a very rapid evolution.
The evolution of die casting has been determined by the model of development of
our society , revolving around the production of consumable goods in long and
extremely long production runs and has found applications in all fields of
manufactured products.
The machinery necessary for the production of die cast pieces is specific to the
process .
2. Aluminium History
Aluminium was discovered in the laboratory at the beginning of the 19th century
and was technology extracted for the first time in the second half of the 19th century.
Since the electrolytic refining process, which is still in use today, was introduced
about 100 years ago.
1808 Sir Humphry Davy (Britain) established the existence of aluminium and
named it.
1821 P. Berthier (France) discovers a hard, reddish, clay-like material containing
52 per cent aluminium oxide near the village of Les Baux in southern France. He
called it bauxite, the most common ore of aluminium.
1825 Hans Christian Oersted (Denmark) produces minute quantities of aluminium
metal by using dilute potassium amalgam to react with anhydrous aluminium
chloride, and distilling the resulting mercury away to leave a residue of slightly
impure aluminium.
1827 Friedrich Whler (Germany) describes a process for producing aluminium
as a powder by reacting potassium with anhydrous aluminium chloride.

1845 Whler establishes the specific gravity (density) of aluminium, and one of
its unique properties - lightness.
1854 Henri Sainte-Claire Deville (France) improves Whler's method to create the
first commercial process. The metal's price, initially higher than that of gold and
platinum, drops by 90% over the following 10 years. The price is still high enough to
inhibit its widespread adoption by industry.
1855 A bar of aluminium, the new precious metal, is exhibited at the Paris
Exhibition.
1885 Hamilton Y. Cassner (USA) improves on Deville's process. Annual output
15 tonnes
1886 Two unknown young scientists, Paul Louis Toussaint Hroult (France) and
Charles Martin Hall (USA), working separately and unaware of each other's work,
simultaneously invent a new electrolytic process, the Hall-Hroult process, which is
the basis for all aluminium production today. They discovered that if they dissolved
aluminium oxide (alumina) in a bath of molten cryolite and passed a powerful
electric current through it, then molten aluminium would be deposited at the bottom
of the bath.
1888 The first aluminium companies founded in France, Switzerland and the USA
1889 Karl Josef Bayer (Austria), son of the founder of the Bayer chemical
company, invented the Bayer Process for the large scale production of alumina from
bauxite.
1900 Annual output 8 thousand tonnes.
1913 Annual output 65 thousand tonnes.
1920 Annual output 128 thousand tonnes.
1938 Annual output 537 thousand tonnes.
1946 Annual output 681 thousand tonnes.
1999 Annual output 24 million tonnes.
Aluminium is the most common metal in the crust of the earth. The basic material
for the production of aluminium is bauxite, an anhydrous mineral, which consists

mainly of alumina (Al2O3), sand (SiO2), iron oxide (Fe2O3) and titanium oxide
(TiO2). The alumina has to be separated from this mineral. This can be accomplished
by the Bayer-Process

Figure1 Bayer Process

3. Alloy For Die Casting
The metals currently used to die casting , in order of importance with respect to
the volumes of manufactured articles produced, are as follows:
-Aluminium and its alloys (AlSi, AlSiCu)
-Zinc and its alloys (Zn+Al+Mg alloy)
-Copper And its alloys (brass and bronze)
-Magnesium and its alloys
Aluminium alloy, depending on the type and quality of their constituents, impart
to the piece particular physical, mechanical, technological characteristic. The
aluminium alloys most commonly employed in manufacturing of casting are those
shown in table 1

Table 1 Aluminium alloys for die casting parts

Name of Alloy

Cu Zn

Si

GAlloy226 AlSi9Cu3

28,03,5 1,2 11,0

Fe Ti

Ni

Mn

0,11,2 0,15 0,3 0,5

G10,50,1Alloy231 AlSi12(Cu) 1,2 0,5, 13,5 1,2 0,15 0,2 0,5

Mg

0,10,5 0,2 0,1

0,4

G10,5Alloy230 AlSi12(Cu) 0,1 0,1 13,5 1

0,15

0,0010,05
0,4

GAlloy239 AlSi10Mg

0,15

0,001- 0,20,4
0,5

9,00,1 0,1 11,0

Pb Sn

226 Universal alloy with a very good casting properties. Characterized by a lower
tendency for sink marks and shrinkage cavities. Very good machinability. It is used
for thick part
231 Eutectic alloy with a good die filling properties, high hot tearing resistance
and excellent casting properties. It is used for thin part.
230 Eutectic alloy with a good die filling properties, high hot tearing resistance
and excellent casting properties with high chemical resistance. It is used for thin part.
239 Near-eutectic alloy with a good casting

properties, good hot tearing

resistance, good machinability and high chemical resistance.

4. High Pressure Die Casting Machine
The term die casting is the abbreviation of casting under pressure, It defines the
process according to which the molten alloy is cast in a metallic mould and is
subjected to pressure, this provokes the following effects;
-

Very rapid filling of the die cavity,

Compensatory feeding of solidification shrinkage

Perfect and total filling of the die cavity

Conferment to the piece of a fine crystalline structure.

High pressure die casting machine has two different type. One of these is cold
chamber machine and other is hot chamber machine.
4.1 Hot Chamber Technology
Hot chamber type are suitable for the die casting of low melting point alloys as a
zinc or tin and for magnesium.

Figure 2- Hot Chamber Die Casting Machine

4.2 Cold Chamber Technology
Cold chamber machines can be further subdivided into; vertical type and
horizontal type. These different types of presses are shown in figure 3

Vertical cold chamber

Horizontal cold chamber

Figure 3- Comparison of injection system between vertical and horizontal cold
chamber machine
The horizontal cold chamber machine are by far the most widely used and for this
reason, except for different specifications, the text will always be referring them.
The press group is made up of two plates joined by four columns that also
constitute the guides on which the moving plate slides. This is the device that permits
the opening and closing of the die, it comprises a fixed plate and a moving plate.
The injection device does not act directly on the metal filling the die, but through
the shot-sleeve and the piston. The filling of the cavity generally occurs in three
separate phases. On the modern die casting machines, an injection system has
prevailed, in which on a first, slow approach phase the metal is brought up to the gate
and in a second phase , it is pushed into the die cavity in a short filling time with high
injection speeds. In the third phase, the casting is consolidated under high pressure,
which is created with the aid of an intensifier control system.
With a recorder oscillograph, the injection procedure on a die casting machine can
be drawn up so that it becomes clearly understandable. The plunger stroke length and
the pressure curve are registered in a relation time. The ignificant casting parameters
as filling time, shot speed, pressure are clearly seen from the measuring diagram
(Figure 4)

Stroke
2.Phase
3.Phase
1.Phase

Filling time

Filling pressure
Presure

Figure 4- Measuring diagram of three phase injection

5. Gating Design For Die Casting Mould
Succesfull application of gating technique in die casting requires far reaching
experience and essentially covers the design of runner and gate. In order to make
sure of the best design of a die, the preliminary work and planning of such must be
done meticulously. Runner design is shown on sample part.In the planning stage
following steps are of importance:

Figure 5- Bracket part, weight = 1750 gr

-Deciding upon the alloy best suited for the part,

226 Universal alloy with a very good casting properties and very good
machinability. It is used for thick part. So material AlSi9Cu3 can be used to produce
for this part.
-Definition of the specific casting pressure necessary to produce the casting
Table 2- Recommended pressure for die casting part
Requirements relating to quality of
Recommended
casting
die casting
pressure for aluminium alloy
Parts subjected to little or no
mechanical stresses

300- 400 bar

Parts
stresses

400- 800 bar

subjected

to

Pressure density or
parts with a large area

mechanical
thin-walled

800- 1200 bar

Bracket parts, which have thin walled must be resistance for very high
mechanical stresses. Pressure can be 800-100 bar
-Calculation of the projected area for single impression dies and the entire area for
multiple impression dies cm2,in order to decide upon the size of the die casting
machined to be used. The multiplications of the total projected area with the specific
casting pressure necessary to produce the parts determined before. The result is die
opening force FLI. Specific pressure is 800 bar that is 9000 N/cm2. Projected area for
cavity is 390 cm2 and number of cavities are 2.
FLI= 8 (KN/cm2) x 390 cm2 x 2 = 6240 KN

Figure 6- Projected area for bracket part

The total casting area is calculated from the projected area of all the impressions on
the parting line with the addition of %40 for the runner and overflow system. For
casting which have mechanically or hydraulically moving cores that from part of the
cavity , to be safe the partial force Fm must be substracted from the locking force
FLN of the machine.

Figure 7- Steel core projected area is 85 cm2

Fm= 8 KN x 85 cm2 x2 x tan 21= 522 KN
So; FLI+Fm = 6240 + 522= 6762 KN

Total opening force = 6762 x 1.4 x 1.2 ( safe factor) =11360 KN

Figure 8- Locked force

Table 3- Locked force for differences type of machines
Machine Type
AYHAN 500
IDRA 220
IDRA 320
FRECH 500
FRECH 580
FRECH 720

Locked Force
Machine Type
(KN)
1470
2450
3450
5800
6670
8280

ITALPRESS 750
FRECH800
IDRA 950
ITALPRESS 1350
BUHLER 1400
ITALPRESS 1850

Locked Force
(KN)
7500
9300
9500
13500
14000
18500

Locked force 13500 KN > Opening Force 11360 KN. High pressure die casting
machine type is Itallpress 1350 for bracket part.
-The gating system of a die casting mould consists of a series of passages through
which molten metal can flow into the die and then through the interior of the die to
fill the cavity. Gate area Sa

Sa =

mA
VA
=
Vma * Tf
p * Vma * Tf

mA = Part weight + Overflow (15% part weight)

mA =1750+ 1750*0.15 = 2010 gr
p= Gensity = 2.5 gr/ cm3
Vma= Gate velocity
Tf= Filling time

Figure 9- Gate velocity

If there is big wall thickness after gate area, gate velocity = 20- 40 m/s otherwise,
gate velocity = 40- 60 m/s.
Tf= The cavity filling time is the time required to push the liquid metal into the
die cavity. The cavity filling time must be equal to short time in which the metal
solidifies in the cavity and is mainly dependant upon the wall thickness of the
casting, respectively on the solidification module. The filling time is computed from
the gating equations. The gating equation gives the relationship between all the major
process variables. The designer is allowed to select value for all the variables.

Table 4- Filling time according to wall thickness

S (mm)

Tf (ms)

1.5

1030

1.8

2040

2.

2060

2.3

3070

2.5

4090

3.

50100

3.8

50120

60200

Brackets wall thickness is about 3 mm. So;

Table 5- Calculate table for filling time
Filling time

Wall thickness
No
s=3 mm

Fast (50ms)

Min. wall thickness is far away gate

area

Slow(100ms)

1
Min. wall thickness near from the in
gate
Material230

X
X

2
Material226
Part has protrusion and holes

X
X

3
Part is more flat
Die temperature is low

X
X

4
Die temperature is high

Runner system is long and gate are

more than 1
Runner is short and there is a gate

X
X
X

Tf =

Sa =

65 + 90 + 60 + 70 + 50 335
=
= 67 ms
5
5

mA
VA
=
= 2 x(1750 + 260)
= 6.85cm 2 = 685mm 2
2
.
5
35
67
0
.
1
x
x
x
Vma * Tf
p * Vma * Tf * 0.1

Gate area is found as 685 mm2 and runner system can be designed according to
this results

Figure 10- Gate areas for bracket part

Conclusion
In this study, Parameters which affect design of high pressure aluminium injection
moulds are investigated. Effects of die casting gate design like dimension, the needed
specifications of the part, selection of the appropriate machine are researched. During
these calculations methods and parameters are examined.

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