A STUDY OF DIE DEFORMATIONS IN DIE CASTING A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree Master of Science in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University by Ganesh Padiyar, B.Tech eee ‘The Ohio State University 1994 Master's Examination Committee: Approved by Richard Allen Miller Q 7 | q l Jerald Ralph Brevick l e Adviser Department of Mechanical Engineering‘To My Parents and TeachersACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Texpress my sincere gratitude to Dr. R.A. Miller for his guidance, sincere comments, suggestions and critique during the course of my research. Many thanks are also due to Dr. C, Mobley of the Department of Material Science and Engineering for his comments and suggestions during my long meetings with him. The help of Horacio Ahuett-Garza, Yeou-Li Chu, Mark Osborne and others of the Die Casting Thrust area is also appreciated. Special thanks are due to Horacio for not only proof reading my thesis but also for offering critique of this research work. The help of the Engineering Research Center and the Ohio Supercomputer Center is acknowledged in providing a non-billable grant for the CRAY YMP-8/864 Supercomputer use. Lastly but for the emotional support provided by my brother and my parents, the writing of this thesis would have been impossible.VITA June 11, 1970 .. 1991 . Born - Mangalore, India . B.Tech (Bachelor of Technology), Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India 1991-1992 . Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1993-Present . Graduate Research Associate, Engineering Research Center for Net Shape Manufacturing, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field : Mechanical Engineering Studies in Manufacturing Engineering ivDEDICATION .. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... VITA .. LIST OF TABLES... LIST OF FIGURES CHAPTER L Mm. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 The Die Casting Process - Characteristics and Description. 1.3 Motivation and Objectives for Current Research . THERMAL ASPECTS OF THE DIE CASTING PROCESS. 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Fluid Flow, Heat Transfer an ation Issues in 2°3 Nature of Fieat Transfer at the Die Surface. 2.4 Temperature and Gradients Effects on the Dic 2.5 Mathematical Modeling of the Die Casting Process. 2.5.1 Introduction .. 2.5.2 Literature Review on Mathematical Modeling of the Thermal Field and Fluid Flow in Die Casting and Other Casting Processes... BEASSwe anon S PROCESS MODELING OF THE DIE CASTING PROCESS FOR DIE DEFLECTIONS. 3.1 Mathematical Modeling of the Problem . 3.2 Basics of Finite Element Modeling 3.3 Current Software for Casting Simulation and Techniques for a Thermo-Elastic Analysis. 3.4 Analytical Solution Procedures. 3.5 Heat Transfer Modeling Methods of the in this Researcl 3.5.1 The Semi-Infinite Solid.. 3.5.2 Carslaw-Jéeger Model of One Dimensional Heat Conduction 3.5.3 One Dimensional Solidification Model - Binormal 3.5.4 Two Dimensional Finite Element Model of Solidification .5.5 Three Dimensional Finite Element Model Using Heat Approximation BR RBBB & sayee3.6 Thermal Stress and Deflection Modeling Methods used in Current Research... IV. A REVIEW OF THERMAL AND FLUID PRESSURE EFFECTS ON PART TOLERANCES AND DIE DEFLECTIONS .. 47 4.1 Introduction. 4.2 Linear Dimens 433 Shrinkage Allowance .. 4.4 Die Construction Tolerance 4.5 Die Shift Allowance. 4.6 Parting Line Variation. 4.6.1 Effects of Pressure Peaks 4.6.2 Effects of Flash Build-Up on the Parting Plan 4.7 Mechanical Construction of Dies - Core Locking Devices 4.8 Literature Review on Modeling for Die Deflections, Stre: Part Tolerancing in Manufacturing Processes V. FINITE ELEMENT MODELING OF THE UNCOUPLED QUASI- STATIC THERMO-ELASTIC PROBLEM OF DIE DEFORMATION USING CAEDS AND ABAQUS 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Thermal Siress Simulation Over ing ABAQUS 5.3 Finite Element Model Preparation using Caeds 5.3.1 Three Dimensional Meshing of Die Geometry using 5:3.2 Boundary Condition Entry using CAEDS 5.4 Finite Element Modeling of the Die Casting Process by ABAQUS. 5.4.1 Interface and Gap Elements : Definition and Use. 5.4.2 Development of a C program to Create Interface Elements 5.4.3 Heat Transfer Simulation 5.4.4 Thermal Stress Analysis. 5.5 Interpolation of Results to Specific VL. CASE STUDIES AND SIMULATION RESULTS 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 Test Cases for Heat Transfer and Thermal Stress Analysis 6.2.1 Thin Plate of thickness 0.08" 6.2.1.1 One Dimensional Heat Transfer Model Results 6.2.1.2 Two Dimensional FEM Model Results 6.2.1.2.1 Heat Transfer Model Results 6.2.1.2.2 Stress Analysis Results... 6.2.1.3 Three Dimensional FEM Model Results 6.2.1.3.1 Heat Transfer Model Results 6.2.1.3.2 Stress Analysis Results 6.2.2 Doehler-Jarvis Bowl Die Casting Die 6.2.2.1 Three Dimensional Temperature Results by Heat Flux Approximation. VII. CONCLUSIONS OF CURRENT RESEARCH AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE WORKAPPENDICES A. Cc LIST OF REFERENCES PROCEDURE FOR SOLVING THERMAL STRESS PROBLEMS IN ABAQUS 128 ‘A.1 Data File Preparation Using Interface Program “interf.c” A.1.1 Program Structure and Input Requirements. ‘A.1.2 Explanation of Data Card Options in ABAQU: GUIDE TO USING PROGRAM "INTERP.C” FOR INTERPOLATION OF RESULTS B.1 Program Inp. B.2 Program Structure and Capabilities. DIMENSIONLESS PARAMETERS OF INTEREST IN DIE CASTING ..... 141TABLE 3.1 6.1 6.2 63 64 cl LIST OF TABLES ‘Characteristics of FDM, FEM and BEM... Process Parameters assumed for thin plate die simulation Heat Transfer Coefficients assumed at various interfaces Heat Transfer Coefficients assumed at various interfaces used in the bow! casting die simulatio Process Parameters assumed for bowl casting die simulation .. 119 Dimensionless numbers and their significance 142 viiiFIGURE Ll 1.2 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 31 3.2 3.3 34 3.5 3.6 37 3.8 LIST OF FIGURES PAGE Schematic of a modem cold chamber die casting machine Schematic of a modern hot chamber die casting machine for casting zine Figure illustrating the Inter-Dependency of Heat Transfer, Fluid Flow and Solidification in Die Casting... Schematic Graph showing the three regimes of flow (Onesorge's Chart) Effect of Biot Number on transient one dimensional heat conduction...... Schematic graph of die surface temperature history showing eutectic arrest and beginning of solidification.. Graph showing casting and die surface temperatures during solidification. ‘Temperature-time curves for die surface and sub surface ‘Temperature history of one shot at various distances from the surface showing the effect of lubricant spray . Schematic showing various approaches to gain insight into a process.....22 Schematic of a typical Die Casting Die Schematic Diagram of the clamping unit and mold. Breaking a mold into characteristic elements Semi-Infinite Solid subjected to a constant heat flux qo Parallel planes model of the one-dimensional Carslaw and Jtieger ‘Model of Heat Conduction Heat flux variation with time for a bowl casting Heat flux variation with time assumed for thermal analysis..al 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 4.10 41 412 5.1 52 53 54 5.5 5.6 57 58 59 6.1 Dimensional constraints on a cast part. Exaggerated view of die cavity dimensions due to die wear Plunger travel vs. Time curve .. Plunger pressure vs, Time Figure illustrating rack and pinion arrangement mechanism for core Figure illustrating pin actuated core mechanism Figure illustrating hydraulic core pull mechanism Figure illustrating cam actuated core mechanism. Figure illustrating the use of ring lock and internal lock Exaggerated effect of uncambered rolls on part dimensions Cambered rolls provide compensation for roll deflection due to forming pressure Graphs for estimating core deflection in Injection Molding. Effect of smooth application of boundary conditions ‘Schematic illustrating the replacement of the cooling line surface by aconvective line cooling elements for finite element meshing ease ... Scheinatic illustration of various interfaces in a die casting di Figure illustrating different elements associated with the parting plane and interface .. Figure shows creation of duplicate nodes and interface elements... Figure illustrating the function of the interface program “interf.c Density vs. Temperature for H13 Hot Work Tool Steel Variation of Thermal Conductivity with Temperature for H13 Hot Work Too! Steel. Specific Heat Variation with Temperature for H13 Hot Work Tool Stee] Cover die insert drawing of thin plate casting ..62 63 6.4 65 6.6 67 68 69 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 6.18 6.19 6.20 Ejector die insert drawing of thin plate casting. Variation of Average Coefficient of Thermal Expansion with ‘Temperature for H13 Hot Work Tool Stee! .. Variation of Modulus of Elasticity with Temperature for H13 Hot Work Tool Steel .. fae ‘Strength variation with Temperature for H13 Hot Work Tool steel... Mechanical Property Variation for H11 Hot Work Tool Steel Density Variation of AL380 with Temperature Specific Heat Variation with Temperature of AL380 ‘Thermal Conductivity variation with Temperature of AL380.. ‘Temperature history at various depths of semi-infinite plate subject to constant heat flux... . ‘Temperature history at various depths of parallel plane of Carslaw- Fieger model of heat conduction, Case 1 . ‘Temperature history at various depths of parallel plane of Carslaw- Jaeger model of heat conduction, Case I. 101 Quasi-steady state temperature history at various depths from 1D solidification program "binormal" .. Temperature history at various depths from first cycle run of "binormal" 102 ‘Temperature history at various depths for 2D solidification model with h=42,000 W/m2-K ‘Temperature history at various depths for 2D solidification model with h=84,000 W/m?-K se Temperature history at various depths for 2D solidification model with h=8,000 W/m2-K .. ‘Temperature contours 1 sec after metal injection, = 42,000 W/m2- kK . ‘Temperature contours at ejection of casting, h = 42,000 W/m?-K . Temperature contours at the end of cycle, h = 42,000 W/m?-K xi6.21 6.22 6.23 6.24 6.25 6.26 627 6.28 6.29 6.30 6.31 Al A2 A3 Ad Bl Deflection of die insert at 1.0 secs after metal injection with plane strain conditions .. 110 Displaced mesh plot of Die Inserts at 1.0 secs after metal injection with plane strain conditions . Temperature history at various depths for 3D heat flux approximation 112 Maximum Deflection in Ejector Die Insert due to the individual effects of Clamping Pressure, Thermal Load and Cavity Pressure.. Effect of Structural Boundary Conditions of the Ejector Die Insert on the Maximum Deflection observed in the Ejector Die Insert ALS 15 Mlustration of effect of thermal expansion and cavity pressure on die cavity deflection .. 116 Von Mises Stress Contours 0.6 sec after metal injection for the case of combined thermal and cavity pressure load, fixed cover die insert and clamping pressure on the ejector die insert 17 Ejector die of bowl casting die Cover die half of bowl casting die . 121 ‘Temperature history at various depths from die cavity surface of the inner core of the bowl casting dies with 3D heat flux approximation .... 124 Temperature history at various depths from die cavity surface of the outer core of the bowl casting dies with 3D heat flux approximation .... 124 Graph illustrates pressure-clearance behavior of surface contact model in ABAQUS . 133 Normal direction definition for interface elements in ABAQUS 135 135 Normal direction definition for gap elements in ABAQUS .. . 136 Flow chart for program "interf.c" Flow chart of program “interp.c" for interpolating nodal values to a point inside an element .CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction It has been said that the well-being of an economy is fairly well indicated by the proportion of contribution of its manufacturing sector to its Gross National Product. The percent contribution of the manufacturing sector of an economy has far reaching implications on the economy, from the standard of living of the people to the future of the society. Industries are more competitive than ever and monopoly has ceased to exist in many sectors, Industries are competing in a global market and economy where the standards for acceptance of products are set very high and where many players play the game. Quality, reliability and cost are the tough measures against which all products are weighed. In order to survive and remain profitable companies are constantly striving for manufacturing goods for less cost while enhancing product life and reliability. Reducing the time interval between product conceptualization and putting it on the market is one critical area where much can be accomplished. This will help in beating the competition and bringing products earlier to the customers. But apart from delivery schedules, in order to have a steady market for the products, a customer base is to be built by offering products with the qualities mentioned previously.1.2 The Die Casting Process - Characteristics and Description Die casting is a near net shape manufacturing process. Near net shape manufacturing processes are defined as manufacturing processes that produce parts by molds and dies and that require very few secondary operations to achieve final geometry and tolerances. Examples are processes such as forging, extrusion, injection molding, sheet metal stamping and various casting process. Casting processes have always been used to produce rough part geometries which are not economically produced by machining material of the size of the bounding box of the part. These parts are typically sand cast and hence cannot be made to fine tolerances required for various quality parts, As a result, they required some amount of machining before they can be used in assembly. However the advent of new casting methods such as investment casting and die casting, this perception of parts requiring major secondary operations has changed. Die casting is a process that is capable of producing parts with small wall thickness having fine tolerances which are impossible to achieve by other near-net shape manufacturing processes. ‘The dies typically used are made from hot work tool steels and thus have far higher thermal conductivity as compared to the molds used in sand casting. Thus very small cycle times are possible which means high production rates. As dies are made from steels, materials typically cast must have far lower melting temperatures than the die melting temperatures. Also the melting temperature of the casting alloy must be below the tempering temperatures of steel so that dies retains their strength, don't soften and the casting material doesn't significantly dissolve or react with die material on the surface. As a result aluminum, zinc and magnesium alloys are themost popular materials to be die cast, with aluminum alloys leading the way by tonnage of castings produced with the cold-chamber die casting machine. ‘The cold-chamber die casting machine, as seen in Fig. 1.1, primarily differs from the hot chamber machine, seen in Fig. 1.2, in that the injection system is outside the furnace, The advantage of this variation is that the life of the plunger and other injection system components are much higher and maintenance requirements lower than their counterparts in the hot-chamber machines since there is no long term thermal exposure. The trade off is primarily in the quality of the casting because of air entrapment in the shot sleeve, into which the liquid has to be poured from the furnace before the plunger injects it into the die cavity, which results in porosity. Entrapped air porosity is much lower in hot-chamber machines, The fine pores which result could contain air from the shot sleeve and die cavity or evolved hydrogen during the solidification because of decreased solubility of hydrogen in the solid phase or shrinkage porosity or a combination of the above. Sufficient venting of the die cavity as opposed to inherent venting at the parting plane, controlled plunger movement, evacuating the air in the die cavity or purging the cavity with pure oxygen are some of the solutions to reduce or totally eliminate porosity to produce low porosity die casting and have been used with success. One of the advantages of die casting is the “skin” of the die cast parts, which is typically a fraction of a millimeter and has a high yield strength because of the extremely high thermal gradients that exist at the part surface and thus results in a fine grain structure, Thus thin walled parts implies parts with lesser defects and with this "skin" forming a major portion of part. Although part strength may be lowered because of porosity in die cast parts, intelligent part design through the use of ribs to improve[1s6r ‘atq2oq] ourqoets Sunses op soqureyo poo wWopout ¥ Jo sHeUIEYDS [°j “BLy “ease “rau a0 “eas 2 oars OBESE Tus Onr es siamo omnes “SG ING "SWS aie ‘Sone ono[1g61 ‘satqeoq}ourz Sunseo 305 auryoeu Sunseo ofp soqumeys yoy wopour x Jo onEMIOYDS ["] “Bt saa ‘ao, woaninio as. el ae ort yowsoo 3uz0N aIvWinous save Suro anWowons Sh vation eno NEONstiffness and a high strength "skin" could compensate for this loss of strength. 1.3 Motivation and Objectives for Current Research The dies in a die casting process play a big part in the overall economics of the process. Thus if the cost of the die amortized over the parts is to be low, the die must last for a large number of parts. This requires that careful attention be paid during die design with die life in consideration. Die material, die cavity surface design, process parameters and metallurgical considerations dictate die wear which leads to breaks in production while the die is taken off the production line for repair. Catastrophic failure of the die where the die literally cracks into two or more pieces during the first few shots is the worst nightmare of the die design engineer. This requires that quality of steel blocks used for die manufacture, heat treatment process, location of coolant lines etc. be taken into consideration by the die design engineer. Die deflections, which includes the deflection of various sliders, cores and die cavity surface due to thermal expansion of various components of the die and the various forces that the die components are subject to, such as internal cavity pressure, clamping pressure, has profound effects not only on the dimensions of a part but also the performance of the die. Estimating the deflections that the components experience is the first step in a design which takes die performance into account. Some of the variables in die casting and their effect on die casting die deflection will also be explored in this research. Thus development of analysis procedures using the finite element method, which is a powerful technique for solution of problems described by differential equations, is one of the aims of this research. Necessary tools to “automate” the analysis procedure will also be developed.Chapter 2 discusses the thermal aspects of the die casting process as casting processes are primarily temperature driven. Chapter 3 discusses various existing process modeling procedures and simple analytical approaches to die deflection modeling. Chapter 4 discusses the effects of thermal and fluid pressure on part tolerances and dimension. The cause and effects of die deflection with respect to the overall die performance will also be discussed. Various sliders/core locking mechanisms and other die constructions which affect the die rigidity are also described in some detail. The finite element modeling procedure which has been adopted in this research will be discussed in Chapter 5 and in greater detail in Appendix A and Appendix B. Two case studies and results are discussed in Chapter 6. Appendix C gives a list of dimensionless numbers relevant to die casting and lastly conclusions of this research together with suggestions for future research are presented in Chapter 7.CHAPTER II THERMAL ASPECTS OF THE DIE CASTING PROCESS 2.1 Introduction Die casting is primarily a temperature driven phenomenon like any other casting process. The heat transfer aspects in die casting are intertwined with the metallurgy of the molten metal, fluid flow behavior of the molten metal in the shot sleeve and the runner, gate and cavity systems. Thus a discussion of any one of these subjects is not complete without discussing the others because of the coupling through complex mechanisms. The fluid flow patterns and heat transfer issues involved are very complex and many of such issues have not yet been addressed by fluid mechanics and heat transfer experts, primarily due to the poor understanding of turbulence, unstable jets, droplet formation, convective heat transfer characteristics of molten metal flow, solidification of metal under high pressure, etc. Ignoring the significant thermal effects that exist during the process can result in defects from cold shuts in castings to heat checking in dies. The use of dies which retain heat during injection and filling but then rapidly conduct it away during solidification so as to not cause any heat buildup near the surface would solve almost all the problems in die casting. This is an area where the use of coatings which have high thermalconductivity and superior wear resistance can be profitably explored as this means higher productivity due to longer die lives and shorter product cycles. Thermal management of heat in dies and cooling mechanisms which extract heat so as to equalize the bulk temperatures of die halves, which cause differential expansions and could cause wear and product tolerance problems are to be explored. The effects of heat transfer on the various aspects of die casting are illustrated in Fig.2.1. Effects of Heat Transfer Convective Heat Transfer coefficient Fluid Flow + Viscosity + Flow Pattem Solidification + Solidification rate + Molten Metal composition Cee ee nized) + Solid Casting morphology Filing’ Fig.2.1 Figure illustrating the Inter-Dependency of Heat Transfer, Fluid Flow and Solidification in Die Casting10 2.2 Fluid Flow, Heat Transfer and Solidification Issues in Die Casting The sequence of operations in a horizontal cold chamber die casting process are briefly described below to provide a better insight into the fluid flow, which has a profound effect on the heat transfer of liquid metal in the injection system and die cavity during the die casting process. Hot liquid metal melted from a furnace is poured into the shot sleeve through a pour hole, The liquid metal temperature and mass of liquid metal poured must be controlled so that heat content in the shot is constant from shot to shot. Also the precipitation of silicon and other higher melting point component's such as iron, chromium and manganese, is reduced by stirring or other means. The precipitate is also known as "sludge" and can result in inclusions and cause die wear, soldering and hard spots making subsequent machining operations a problem. Sludging causes serious problems by reducing the furnace capacity and increasing the viscosity of the melt. Also as the liquid metal loses heat during transfer from furnace to the shot sleeve and in the shot sleeve, its thermophysical properties vary dramatically especially when the liquidus temperature is approached. The high injection velocities involved takes the fluid flow into the turbulent jet flow regime and, at high Reynolds number and certain Weber number combinations, also cause atomized flow as shown in Fig.2.2, where there are liquid metal droplets bouncing off the die cavity walls and simultaneously solidifying on the die cavity surface where the conditions are conducive (Maier, Kolakowski et al, 1959]. The Weber number enters the picture because of significant surface tension effects when a fluid stream is broken into droplets when it encounters an obstacle such as the die wall or at the gate, where the ‘geometry and gate velocity combination result in atomized flow. However a combination of a continuous jetting and atomized flow is usually the case under which most die castu parts are produced. The fluid flow is intimately related to the heat flow to the die and each affects the other. For example, fluid velocities affect the heat transfer coefficients which in turn affects the fluid flow through thermophysical property variation with changing temperature because of heat transfer. Some of the other factors affecting gate flow pattern include the gate dimensions, geometry and gate velocities, shot velocity profile and dwell time after pouring the liquid metal into the shot sleeve, pre-existing turbulence and air entrapment in the shot sleeve before injection. Minimizing turbulence in the injected fluid which leads to increased air entrapment is one of the aims of the die casting process engineer. This is achieved by controlling the hydrodynamics of the liquid ‘metal in the shot sleeve so that "splashing, sloshing” of liquid metal in the shot sleeve is avoided and all the air in the shot sleeve is pushed into the die cavity before metal injection into the die cavity occurs. As a result one would like to have low velocities and larger gate sizes which lead to lower fill velocities and minimum friction filling. But then, it is impossible to fill thin and complicated sections because of increased heat transfer due to larger fill time which leads to premature solidification and "cold shuts", Also thicker gates could cause problems in trimming of the gate. The fluid flow pattern during the die casting process has been investigated by many researchers who looked at different aspects by directly observing the fluid flow pattern through windows on the dies or through water analog experiments [Kim[1], 1988; Bennett, 1987; Lindsay, Wallace, 1968; Sheptak, 1963; Smith, Wallace, 1963]. While the water analog experiments do give some qualitative idea of the fluid flow during the process, they don't help very much in predicting the actual fluid flow/heat transfer in the die by using similarity principles because of the vast differences in the thermophysical properties of water or other modeling fluids used. Major differences in properties mainly12 are Prandtl numbers which are much less than unity for liquid metals. An explanation of various dimensionless numbers of relevance to die casting is given in Appendix A. Under certain circumstances the heat transfer through the walls of the gate and runners may be neglected due to the shearing action of the liquid metal which causes a temperature rise in the liquid metal [Granchi, Vettori et al,1983]. 10 BIE E 22 ag = a Atomized Flow u g @ E - Zz mntinuous Jet N 3 10 ‘ 1 10 10° = 10 Reynolds Number Fig.2.2 Schematic Graph showing the three regimes of flow (Onesorge's Chart) [Maier, Kolakowski et al,1959] 2.3 Nature of Heat Transfer at the Die Surface The fluid phenomenon described in the previous section translates into very high heat transfer coefficients at the die surface, especially when the superheat in the liquid metal is given[Nelson, 1970]. Thus the superheat is entirely lost to the die by the end of the fill period, which translates into a sudden increase in the die surface temperature. The inertia of the material causes a more gradual change for interior layers of the die. The13 Biot number, which is indicative of whether the bottleneck to heat transfer from the fluid to solid is the fluid to solid thermal resistance or the internal thermal resistance of the solid, is approximately unity. In this case, neither effect dominates. Therefore, the classical approximations to heat transfer are not possible because the Biot number is not an extremum (Bi << 1 or Bi >>1) where these approximations can be applied to arrive at reasonable solutions to the heat transfer. Figure 2.3 illustrates the effects of Biot number on the transient temperature distribution in a 1-D case. Fig.2.3 Effect of Biot Number on transient one dimensional heat conduction [Incropera & Dewitt, 1991]14 g 5 3 i 5 8 5 é Solidification t=0 Injection Time from injection —p> Fig.2.4 Schematic graph of die surface temperature history showing eutectic arrest and beginning of solidification [Nelson, 1970] As seen in Fig.2.4 the almost vertical trace of temperature rise is attributed to the extremely high convective heat transfer coefficients of the order several thousands in SI units during the fill periods where most of the injected metal is still liquid. ‘Thus for relatively thin walled castings (wall thickness < 0.25") the metal at the end of fill is at the liquidus temperature. The eutectic arrest in Fig.2.4 shows the end of solidification and is exhibited by all alloys undergoing eutectic solidification. ‘The first flat section as described by Stuhrke[Stuhrke, Wallace, 1965] is explained by Green [Green,1958] that 80- 90 percent of solidification in case of Mg-Al-Zn alloys occurred during the first 50 °F drop from liquidus temperature. At this point there is a break in the temperature-time curve due to a decrease in the rate of solidification as shown in Fig.2.5.15 Casting Temperature 4 i Die Surface Temperature 5 a a 85% of matrix Solidification solidified Time from injection Fig.2.5 Graph showing casting and die surface temperatures during solidification [Nelson, 1970] 2.4 Temperature and Gradients Effects on the Die As seen from the previous section extremely high gradients in temperature are produced at the die surface. This is mainly due to the mismatch in the thermal conductivities and diffusivities of the liquid metal and the die material. Also the higher density of commonly used die steels leads to a tendency to store the heat in thin layers close to the die surface rather than conduct it away to other portions of the die, Figure 2.6 shows the temperature history of the die close to the surface and on the surface. It is evident that the thermal gradients are different at different distances from the die surface and that a lag exists between the times when a peak on the temperature curve appears.16 Surface Sub-Surface Temperature Start of _ End of solidification Shot Time Fig2.6 Temperaune-Sime curves for dio surfae and sob surface (Stuhrke & Wallace, In fact at a distance of about 2" from the die cavity surface of fairly large surface curvature, the temperature effects from the solidification in the die cavity are barely felt and temperature rise is small. This is an important point to keep in mind while designing cooling lines in the dies. The implications of different thermal gradients in the die which occur cyclically result in what is termed as a classical case of low-cycle thermal fatigue. They manifest themselves in the form of tiny cracks on the die surface which is also known as heat checking. The repeated tensile and compressive stresses induced in the die surface from sudden contact of the liquid metal during injection and lubricant spray frequently, as shown in Fig.2.7, exceed the fatigue strength of the die surface which has been reduced from the increased operating temperatures.17 Pures at 660 °C Ne ybscant See Fig.2.7 Temperature history of one shot at various distances from the surface showing the effect of lubricant spray [Papai & Mobley, 1991] Although many researchers have conducted studies on fluid flow and heat transfer aspects of die casting and proposed theories for heat transfer based on experimental investigations, only a few investigators have actually tried to quantify its effects on die stresses and deflections to estimate thermal fatigue life of the die material. Dip tests, which involve dipping a sample die material bar into a molten metal bath, have been done by many investigators [Glenny, Taylor, 1959; Benedyk, Moracz et al,1970] to understand thermal fatigue life. ‘The conditions that the sample is exposed to, are more severe than that a die casting die will experience during production as the molten bath approaches an infinite heat source. However a die casting die is truly a three dimensional object, in the sense that effects of fluid flow, heat or stress can very seldom be ignored in any dimension because of the complex three dimensional surface of the die cavity necessary to produce the parts.18 2.5 Mathematical Modeling of the Die Casting Process 2.5.1 Introduction Apart from experimental investigations which have been heavily used, one other tool to gain insights into a process is Mathematical Modeling. The Finite Element Method (FEM), the Finite Difference Method (FDM) and the Boundary Element Method (BEM) has been used by many investigators to model the die casting process including fluid flow and solidification and thermal stress. However, because of the complex fluid and heat transfer phenomenon, still not understood, the approaches utilized rely heavily on empirical knowledge and assumptions for various boundary conditions. This makes anyone doubt the reliability and “repeatability” of the approaches utilized in predicting fluid flow, heat transfer and solidification. The sensitivity of the results, such as temperature, to input parameters such as the heat transfer coefficient at the casting-die imerface, is of great importance. If this sensitivity is not insignificant the very basis for modeling with the assumed set of parameters is questionable. More research may be required in the areas of developing boundary conditions and constitutive relationships. Heavy emphasis has been placed on developing FEM tools for casting solidification. As a result many codes have been available at universities and from commercial vendors. The mathematical modeling of casting and molding processes have benefited from advances in computational fluid mechanics (CFD) which involves the mathematical modeling of interactions of fluid flow and heat transfer. CFD has been traditionally programmed by finite differences which has the advantage of easy implementation and availability of fast solvers for the solution of the characteristic "tri- diagonal" or "penta-diagonal" stiffness matrix. However when an accurate and19 comprehensive analysis is required, several other phenomena such as mold filling, convection, solidification must be taken into account. The plastics industry has gone far ahead of the casting industry as far as the applications of scientific principles and mathematical modeling techniques to designing the plastic injection molding process. This has been for various reasons, one of which is the technical support and backing of the raw material suppliers in commercializing plastics and the other being the various simplifications that can be made to the analysis procedures while still obtaining useful and meaningful results. 2.5.2 Literature Review on Mathematical Modeling of the Thermal Field and Fluid Flow in Die Casting and Other Casting Processes Lewis, Usmani et alfLewis, Usmani et al,1990] used laminar mold filling and suggested adaptive remeshing in phase change regions, where fine mesh is required because of the large thermal gradients and existence of liquid and solid, for two dimensional models. ‘This also helps in reducing the computational effort by reducing the number of elements. A residual/thermal stress analysis was also performed using an elasto-viscoplastic stress model. Hou, Pehike et alfHou, Pehike et al 1990] used a combination of finite element for the casting and boundary elements for the mold in attempt to efficiently do the numerical simulation of the casting solidification. A technique of using small time steps for solidification of the casting and large time steps for the mold was explored. Stefanescu [Stefanescu, Upadhya et al, 1990] proposed that a combination of both macroscopic and microscopic models is necessary in order to accurately describe the solidification of castings. While macroscopic models include models that describe heat20 transfer from metal to mold, fluid flow of liquid metal during mold filling, and stress field in the casting, at the microscopic level, the models should include more intricate issues such as solidification kinetics and fluid flow in the mushy zone. A latent heat method of solving the heat source term in the heat conduction equation was introduced. ‘Anzai and Uchida[Anzai & Uchida, 1990] compared experimental results of mold fillings patterns to the predicted results of a quasi-three dimensional model to take into account the three dimensional nature of the cavity and found good correlation. Kallien and Sturm [Kallien & Sturm, 1991] used MAGMA, a numerical simulation tool for casting, for optimizing die design in die casting application, The influence of die preheating and influence of heat losses by spraying lubricant were investigated. By observing the temperatures contours in the die through out the cycle the heating channels were optimized to decrease the cycle times. Overfelt [Overfelt, 1993] studied the sensitivities of steel plate solidification to in thermal uncertainties in thermophysical properties. He concluded that the uncertainti conductivity and specific heat of steel didn't influence the solidification time as much as an uncertainty in latent heat did. The model was most sensitive to uncertainties in value of density of steel. Density and specific heat of sand mold has a small influence as compared to the effect of the thermal conductivity of the mold material. Lin, Lee et al [Lin et al, 1991] developed boundary integral formuiations for heat transfer through mold halves in resin transfer molding and structural reaction injection molding. Barone et al [Barone & Caulk, 1993] developed a new approach for solving the initial value, steady periodic heat conduction problem in steady-state die casting.21 Regions in the die are approximated as a transient layer close to the surface and an interior where steady temperatures exist during quasi-steady state operation, The transient solution near the cavity surface is followed by a solution of the steady three dimensional solution in the die interior by the boundary element method and thus the temperature field in the quasi-steady state is directly obtained rather than temperatures during the start-up transient, ‘Thus as seen from the literature survey accurate fluid flow modeling of the filling is still not very realistic, however it may not be necessary to “improve” the die casting process. Good approximations to the heat flow in the casting and the die are available from a better understanding of the physics of heat flow. There has been a lot of emphasis on research in the modeling of the process from the casting quality perspective and the activity in the die has not got sufficient attention. Most available methods for heat flow obtain transient thermal solutions rather than quasi-steady state solutions to the dic casting process, which is also of interest. Solidification kinetics, mechanical structural analysis of dies and sensitivity of solution results to input parameters are gaining attention in the modeling world.CHAPTER II PROCESS MODELING OF THE DIE CASTING PROCESS FOR DIE DEFLECTIONS 3.1 Mathematical Modeling of the Problem Physical Modeling Understanding of the Proces> or Phenomenon Analog Modeling Fig.3.1 Schematic showing various approaches to gain insight into a process 2223 The approaches to understanding a phenomenon by modeling are illustrated in Fig.3.1. While physical modeling is not well-suited while designing a die and process because of time and expense involved and the process, analog modeling suffers drawback from the fact that similarity laws are impossible to be strictly obeyed for the results to be of real use because of the vast differences in thermophysical properties. As these problems are complex, they don't have a closed form solution and must be numerically solved. The Finite Difference (FDM), Finite Element (FEM) and Boundary Element (BEM) methods have been the most popular numerical solution techniques. In fact FDM has been most popular in solving potential flow problems. FEM has been more popular for structural, vibration and dynamics problems. BEM is relatively unexplored and has found interesting application in potential flow, electromagnetism and acoustics problems. Each of the above mentioned numerical methods have their own characteristics and advantages and disadvantages. Some of the these are summarized in table 3.1. With the availability of powerful and cheap computing in the last decade due to the electronics revolution, the finite element method has found wide application in a variety of fields from heat transfer and fluid flow to structures and acoustics. The availability of many general purpose FEM tools by commercial vendors and the advantages described in Table 3.1 for a thermal stress analysis made FEM a natural choice.Fundamental 24 Table3.1 Characteristics of FDM, FEM and BEM Finite Difference Method Directly solve differential Finite Element Method or principle of Variational principle Boundary Element Method Reduce the dimensions of the equations governing | Virtual Work, | problem by one and Principle the system on finite | Minimize energy of | __ solve on the control volumes. | the discretized | boundary by using system Gaussian Divergence Principle Same as FEM except that only Mostly cuboid or boundary of the rectangles. Better geometry domain of the Geometry approximation as_| problem needs to be approximation is not| different types of | "discretized. Thin Discretization | very good unless a | “elements” are | long geometries large number of available. cause numerical elements is used. problems as the number of “elements” not much different from FEM. Linear, Quadratic or Cubic ‘interpolation of describing variable is available. Interpolation of | None (Independent Better ‘Same as FEM dependent variable | variable assumed to | approximation be constant within | compared to FDM control volume) and lesser “elements” for similar accuracy. Handling of Non- | Easily incorporated | Same as FDM Difficult to do Linearities25 Table 3.1 (contd.) Finite Difference Finite Element | Boundary Element Method ‘Method. ‘Method. Formulation is very complex and Relatively easy as | Formulation is | stiffness matrix is formulation is | complex but the | full(unbanded) and Problem simple andthe | “stiffness matrix” is | __ many times ill- Formulation and | "stiffness matrix" is banded. conditioned. But solution banded. problem size reduced by one dimension(less "elements") Difficult to do as temperatures are not| Very straight | ‘Formulations exist Thermal stress easily carried over forward in literature analysis to stress analysis, solver 3.2 Basics of Finite Element Modeling, A good modeling user must have a thorough understanding of the theory behind the modeling technique in order to take full advantage of its power and understand its limitations and assumptions in modeling a given phenomenon. This is especially true ina case such as in this research, where a general purpose Finite Element tool is utilized along with simplifying assumptions about heat transfer at the mold casting interface for the solution of the thermo-elastic problem. The finite element method is a popular modeling technique which is based in the theory of variational calculus. The governing differential equations are rewritten in the energy form, and energy is minimized with respect to the various degrees of freedom. Many finite element codes are displacement based ie. the solution is basically the dependent variable of the governing differential equation and the26 other quantities such as heat flux, strains or stresses are tater derived from the displacement variables. The model space is broken into discrete regions over which the governing equations are solved. Typically a polynomial distribution of the displacement variable is assumed over the element. As the energy functions involve integrals of expressions which frequently are impossible to solve analytically, the quantities are numerically computed by gaussian quadrature. Thus the derivatives of the displacements are calculated at the gauss integration points which gives the most accurate solutions for other derived quantities such as stress and strain as compared to the nodes themselves. The results are then extrapolated and averaged at the nodes from the adjacent elements. ‘This may not give accurate results where discontinuities exist in a particular type of a problem such as latent heat evolution during solidification. In these cases one must use elements which don't have continuous distribution of the derivatives of the displacements, such as linear elements. 3.3 Current Software for Casting Simut tion and Techniques for a Thermo-Elastic Analysis The research problem at hand is the classical thermo-elastic problem. Materials change dimensions with temperature according to their coefficient of expansion. If this material is constrained in some fashion so as to restrict this free expansion, the change in ‘dimension manifests itself as thermal stress in the body. The concem in die casting is the highly non-uniform temperature distribution in the dies by the relatively low thermal conductivity of the die material. ‘The stress and deflection occurring in the die because of the thermal cycling are of interest for various reasons as discussed in previous chapters. ‘The primary factors which affect die deflection are the hydraulic pressure, thermal gradients caused by molten metal contact, cooling effects of waterlines and lubricant27 spray, which includes water volume flow rate, distance from the die cavity and lubricant spray density, spray time, die closed time, cycle times and initial die temperatures. A die casting die and machine are complex pieces of equipment with cores, slides, mechanisms for their motion and fixturing, coolant lines etc. as seen in Fig 3.2, The small clearances at the various interfaces of cores, sliders and other components of the die has an effect on the heat transfer and the stiffness of the die, Thus, while a rigorous analysis should take these material non-homegeneties and contact resistances into account, one is often confronted with the lack of data on these conditions. There exists a whole host of factors which indirectly affect the die deflection such as the deflection of the base plate and support columns, support conditions of the dies, nature of the dies i.e. whether they are made from a single block or made up of die inserts. Also a distinction must be made between deflection of cores, slides and the die insert or the die block. Since the 1980's computing power has improved tremendously, become cheaper and more commonly available, Various computational techniques utilizing control volume/finite volume (CV/FV) CED on structured meshes and finite element algorithms on unstructured meshes have been successfully implemented and have been used in commercial software such as MAGMA, ProCAST, FLOW3D, RAPID/CAST etc. Non- linear FEM algorithms for fully coupled thermo-mechanical analysis have been implemented in ABAQUS. It has been suggested that a fully coupled simulation of cavity filling, solidification, heat transfer and stress/deformation analysis is required for a complete and accurate representation of the various phenomenon in casting processes. ‘The reasons given are that the heat transfer and solidification are affected by the fluid flow which dictates the heat transfer coefficient. The heat transfer in turn affects the die deformation28 é hy | j Cah A- Movable core slides, B - Round center core, C - small cores, E - Round Cores, F - Hole, G & H - Brackets Fig. 3.2 Schematic of a typical Die Casting Die [Doehler, 1951]29 and the solidifying casting shrinkage which changes the contact conditions at the interface, which in turn affects the interface convective heat transfer. In an approach such as this, where the problem involves free surface flow, die filling by far requires the largest computation time. Typically filling simulation is 10-100 times more computationally demanding that a solidification simulation [Cross, 1993]. Most problems of this nature have been solved by an explicit formulation for the time stepping scheme. As this formulation has an upper bound on the time step for stability of the process as dictated by the Courant criterion, a large number of time steps may be required for long analysis periods. New emerging architectures such as massively parallel computers, transputers have generated considerable interest as possible hardware platforms for computationally intensive problems such as fluid flow and efforts are being made to take advantage of these. A "true" representation of the various phenomenon involved in the die casting process cannot afford to neglect the thermal effects since apart from the thermal expansion which results in thermal stress, the increased temperature results in lower strengths in the layers of the die materials close to the surface. Thus the effects of fluid pressure, both hydrostatic and dynamic, are more pronounced. The magnitude of these effects is, however, a different question, which is ultimately sought and to which this research is devoted. ‘As discussed previously, the most popular numerical method used in the past for stress analysis has been the finite element method. In an elastic analysis of this nature one could uncouple the fill, solidification and thermal analysis from the stress analysis as the heat generation in elastic deformation is negligible as opposed to highly plastic30 deformation processes such as the metal forming processes. The objective here in determining the deflection of the die cavity surface is to superimpose the thermal field during a cycle, which should be obtained relatively easily and with as little computational effort as possible while being accurate enough for the stress/deflection analysis. If a solidification analysis has already been done, then the temperature data must be extracted for the nodal location in the deflection analysis. The first problem one encounters in doing so, is the lack of tools to access the database containing the temperature data. This is especially acute for the software packages currently available, which are “closed” as far as their database are concerned. The problem becomes even worse if the thermal analysis, was done by a Finite Differeace Scheme since the interpolation of variables within the elements are different and the number of FDM elements typically is much larger than required for an equally accurate FEM analysis. Thus if one requires temperature field data to be extracted from a FDM analysis one would have to save all the data at all the time increments. ‘Then the data size would be enormous due to the large number of elements used in FDM. An efficient way would be to extract the data for the FEM analysis as and when the FDM analysis computes the temperature field data, ic. data interpolation necessary for the FEM analysis is done immediately after temperatures for each time step are determined by the FDM analysis. An accurate representation of thermal phenomenon in the die would be to use the temperature field data obtained from a solidification and cooling analysis by FEM ignoring the filling stage which is typically in tens of milliseconds. The error so incurred is over the time of filling and the cavity surface as the resistance to heat flow in the die prevents the thermal effects of solidification from penetrating the die material and thus can be safely neglected. In the absence of the thermal field information, one could obtain the thermal field data by FEM analysis. But solidification is a highly non-linear problem and in conjunction with a non-31 linear three dimensional stress analysis could prove to be huge computational problem. To top it all, using a general purpose FEM analysis tool which has not been optimized for casting or molding processes to solve the solidification problem probably would not be worth the effort. While FEM has been successfully applied to two dimensional problems of heat flow, fluid flow and stress analysis for the cases of plane strain, plane stress and axisymmetric problems, various complications arise in three dimensional applications using solid elements. The most important are meshing, which is a very cumbersome and tedious procedure in moderately complex three dimensional objects and the enormous computational effort typical of increased dimensionality of the problem. While the evolution of better solution algorithms, cheaper costs of computing and advent of Massively Paralle] Processed Computers to an extent solve some of these problems, the facts still remains that FEM analysis using solid elements for three dimensional problems is not very attractive and is not recommended for routine use in most computing environments. Meshing is quite important as the accuracy of results are greatly affected by the quality of the mesh used, The quality of the mesh refers to the shape of the elements when compared to their ideal shapes as indicated by their “aspect ratio”, “distortion index” or "stretch factor index” computed by various FEM software packages. ‘This really leaves only the BEM which reduces the problem dimension by one order. ‘The BEM or the Boundary Integral Method has been used in one of the modules of C-MOLD, a process simulation software for injection molding, namely C-COOL, with great success. C-COOL uses an hybrid scheme of three dimensional BEM to solve the thermal field within the die coupled with a FDM analysis to solve the transient, local, one dimensional static solidification for the polymer melt. The coupling matches the32 temperature/heat flux at the mold/melt interface. Cooling channels are treated to be one- dimensional to avoid meshing the surface area. The problem of BEM in handling die cavity surfaces, which could have thin features from ribs and shell like shapes of pans typically molded, is solved by using their mid-surfaces. [Himasekhar et al, 1992], [Himasekhar et al, 1989]. Advantage is also taken of fact that the BEM mesh need not be any finer than that required to match the geometry. Interfaces to commercially available FEM software such as ANSYS and ABAQUS are provided for transferring the thermal fields and conducting a residual stress analysis of the part. Sladek and Sladek [Sladek et al, 1992] describe a technique for conducting advanced thermoelastic analysis of stationary problems in media with temperature dependent young's modulus and thermal expansion. Also advanced time marching schemes for the solution of boundary integral equation for heat conduction and quasi- static problems of uncoupled thermoelasticity are presented. The last, but not the least, is the confidence one has in the solution obtained from these numerical tools. ‘This is the most difficult question to answer as the "true" solution is never known other than for simple cases where analytical solutions are available. But FEM and FDM guarantee convergence to the exact solution as the size of the elements are progressively reduced to zero. One of the techniques used to verify FEM results is to obtain the solution to the problem with a different mesh size and thus different number of elements. From the interpolation of the elements convergence rates may be computed and if convergence is monotonic, an almost exact solution to the problem may be predicted |Zienkiewicz, 1977].33 3.4 Analytical Solution Procedures Menges [Menges and Mohren, 1986] considered the mold and the machine to be made of simple springs and suggested the procedure of superposition of various deformations as simple a procedure to compute cavity deformation. As the mold faces are under compression during injection due to the clamping force, they are relieved by the internal cavity pressure, while tie bars elongate under the tensile forces. Thus cavity deformation does not only depend on the rigidity of the mold but also on that of the clamping unit. Higher mold rigidity results in smaller deflection in the clamping direction, which has considerable effect on part quality and lower stresses in the clamping unit. By dividing a mold into simple characteristic elements whose elastic behavior may be easily computed the total deformation may be estimated as illustrated in Fig 3.4.34 Cavity Pressure Toggle Pins Tie Bars ‘Mold Face Fig.3.3 Schematic Digram of the clamping unit and mold [Menges & Mohren, 1986] Fig.3.4 Breaking a mold into characteristic elements [Menges & Mohren, 1986]35 3.5 Heat Transfer Modeling Methods of the Die Casting Process used in this Research Apart from the 3D heat flux approximation for the solution of temperatures, four other solution methods were utilized to test the validity of the above simulation results. The simplest were the 1D constant heat flux semi-infinite solid, 1D constant heat flux Carslaw and Jéieger model of parallel slab, a 1D solidification program “binormal” developed by Papai and Mobley, Department of Material Science and Engineering at the Ohio State University and a 2D finite element solution which included solidification of the casting, The formulations for the first two were programmed using MATLAB functions, but could easily be done using a higher level language such as C or FORTRAN. The formulations for the first two 1D models will be discussed below. 3.5.1 The Semi-Infinite Solid Analytical solutions to simple geometries as a semi-infinite solid can be easily determined. The solid extends to infinity in all but one direction. Sudden condition changes imposed at the surface, result in a transient, one-dimensional heat transfer within the solid [Incropera and Dewitt, 1990]. This is a useful idealization in die castings where the geometry results in a one-dimensional heat transfer and as the cooling effects of the waterline does not affect the temperature distribution due to the heat input at the casting surface during solidification because of the short solidification times involved. The constant heat flux may be taken as the heat released uniformly before the part is ejected over the die closed time. This model thus may predict lower values of sub-surface temperatures on concave die cavity surface as in a real case there is three dimensional heat transfer and the heat flux is decreasing as solidification progresses and is very small36 after the part has completely solidified because of the formation of air gaps from solidification shrinkage etc. Also this model assumes constant thermophysical properties. The heat equation for transient conduction in a semi-infinite solid of Fig.3.5 is given in Eq. 3.1. Extends to infinity Ww q > Extends to infinity “| Extends to infinity Fig. 3.5 Semi-Infinite Solid subjected to a constant heat flux qg37 where T(x,t) - Temperature in the solid at distance x from the surface and time t Tj - Uniform initial temperature of the entire solid Uniform heat flux applied at time t = 0 on the surface x = 0 Thermal diffusivity Thermal conductivity a & erfe - Complementary Error function 3.5.2 Carslaw-Jaeger Model of One Dimensional Heat Conduction This classical heat conduction theory has been used frequently by researchers when they have modeled the die casting thermal problem. The die casting die as a one- dimensional approximation can be modeled as two parallel planes which separate the regions which are affected by the cycling of the temperatures and the rest of the bulk of the die which is not so much affected by the events that occur at the die cavity surface. ‘One approximation is listed below. ‘Case I : Zero initial temperature and constant heat flux into the solid at x=1 and insulated at x=0. Temperature distribution is given below.[Carslaw and Jéeger, 1959] G2) «(N+ YI-x , . (2n+I+x jeri 4 ier ; ne Oe ote} where v - Temperature at distance x F,- Constant heat flux at x =1 1 - Thickness of slab38 K - Thermal conductivity x - Thermal diffusivity ierfc - The first integral of the complementary error function Case II : Zero initial temperature. Constant flux Fo into the slab at x=I. x=0 kept at zero temperature. The formula for the temperature distribution is given below.[Carslaw and Hieger, 1959] _2Fy SEF + (3.3), Qn+Il-x (2n+11 +: {ite ete SO The various symbols are the same as explained in Case I It is assumed that the heat flux from solidification is uniform over the die closed time, Itis also assumed that temperature at 3.0" from the cavity surface is the same as the initial temperature through out the cycle.39 Extends to Infinity Boundary Condition Constant Constant Temperature Heat me or Zero Heat Flux Flux F * WM MMs | Extends to Infinity Fig. 3.6 Parallel planes model of the one-dimensional Carslaw and Jaeger Model of Heat Conduction3.5.3 One Dimensional Solidification Model - Binormal Binormal is one-dimensional heat conduction software developed at the Engineering Research Center, Ohio State University by Papai and Mobley, which models the casting problem including solidification, spray cooling, coolant flow through coolant lines and air convections. Other features of this program include in-built thermophysical Property definitions for commonly used casting alloys and die material and capability to define new materials and simulate multiple casting cycles. A linear temperature dependent heat transfer coefficient is used to model the spray cooling process. While this program is restricted in its application as fairly accurate modeling is possible only if local heat transfer is one dimensional, the thin plate test case which will be described in more detail in chapter 6 fits this requirement quite nicely. 3.5.4 Two Dimensional Finite Element Model of Solidification The two dimensional finite element model although simple in the sense that there are fewer elements than a three dimensional case and is easier to mesh, includes solidification effects of the casting in the die cavity. It is assumed that the molten metal instantaneously fills the die cavity and thus heat transfer during fill is neglected, which is a reasonable assumption as the fill time in typical die castings is of the order of few ten to hundreds of milliseconds. The two dimensional approximation is pretty good except at the ends where there is three dimensional heat transfer. 3.5.5 Three Dimensional Finite Element Model Using Heat Flux Approximation Since strong non-linear effects due to temperature variations, which result in thermophysical and mechanical property variation, are expected, the individual effects of41 temperature and cavity pressure cannot be superimposed to obtain deflections of the cavity surface and stress in the dic, Thus three simulations are conducted to study the effects of the cavity pressure and temperature fields, As discussed in the previous chapter, modeling the boundary conditions that best approximate the various interfaces and the process is the most difficult task. Moreover it is expected that there will be significant variations in the analysis results by just changing certain boundary conditions. The determination of the boundary conditions is most fuzzy in the stress analysis simulation where the mechanical constraints are required. The boundary conditions of temperature, gap conductance and convective heat transfer coefficients are more or less fixed in the heat transfer simulations. Step] This research replaces the procedure of obtaining the thermal field via solidification by a much simpler assumption of a uniform time varying heat flux over the cavity surface, due to the problems discussed in the previous section, The variation of heat flux with time is assumed to be exponential with the magnitude decaying to a 1/100 or 1/1000 at the time of ejection as shown in Fig. 3.8. The assumption of exponential decay of heat flux is supported by Papai [Papai et al, 1992] also shown in Fig.3.7, who measured temperatures and computed heat fluxes for a die cast part, The decay factor assumption of 1/100 or 1/1000 at the die opening time is necessary as the heat flux expression of Eq.3.2 has two unknowns A and m and only one other equation, which relates to the total heat loss as in Eq.3.5.Heat Fux as Functon of Time, © Outsice Core gh Pressure 100 ms lnside Core High Pressure Susie Cove Low Pressure ie Core Low Pressure Tima (300) Fig. 3.7 Heat flux variation with time for a bowl casting [Papai & Mobley, 1991] > v z= 8 Heat flux in fog, p> or foo 0 Time in secs > ‘ejection Fig. 3.8 Heat flux variation with time assumed for thermal analysis 4243 q'(t)=A*10™ (34) where, A,m - constants to be determined t= time q" = heat flux (energy per unit time per unit area) . 3.5) Aae [Q"@8t = Ques where Quest = seat + Qu + QrsrseTapan METRY) Queden ~ Superheat loss i.e heat loss as liquid metal cools from Tecan © Tiguss Quinn > Latent heat loss QresauTepasn ~ Heat loss as the part cools £0M Tyne 1 Tsaion Tyiuy ~ Solidus Temperature T, - Bulk Ejection Temperature of casting ion Thiyiaw ~ Liquidus Temperature of cast material Tsjeion ~ Bulk Injection Temperature of cast material tue ~The die closed time in secs Ag, ~ Area of die cavity surface in contact with the casting (3.6) where ajar ~ time at metal injection teen ~ time at casting ejection Ye = bein” Fit44 Equations 3.5 and 3.6 are used to solve for the constants A and m which defines the time varying heat flux. If the bulk temperature of the casting just after ejection is not known before hand, it could be estimated from simple heat balance equations similar to Eq.3.4. A sample calculation is given below. Quuperhent = Measting X Cp X ( Tinjection~ Tiquidus) Quatent = Measting x L Qressn-*Tejeain = Measting X Cp.sX ( Tsotidus ~ Tejetion) ae where measing ~ mass of casting Cp _~ Specific heat of liquid metal ps _~ Specific heat of solid metal L___- Latent heat of solidification . a TE q"(tejecr) = 7999 4 Ctinjecd from Eq, 3.4 101 = 79495 oF mtge = -3 oF From Eq. 3.5 we have wx Qa asi dt = Se or Av lOT Qua mela) Ag, or Quaai*m*In(10) Agtl0™* 8) ‘As m is known from Eq. 3.7 we can compute A in Eq. 3.8 and the heat flux q"(t) is completely defined.45 Step2 The finite element mesh is generated from CAEDS, a commercially available computer aided mechanical engineering software from Structural Dynamics and Research Corporation. The boundary conditions at the cooling channels, die cavity surface during the holding time, die open time and lubricant spray and die exterior are applied. A forced convection heat transfer coefficient obtained from the Dittus-Boetler correlation as in Eq.3.7. (3.9) h=0.023 5 Re? py where h- heat transfer coefficient k-- thermal conductivity of the coolant D - diameter of the water pipes Re - Reynolds number of flow = Y2 v Pr- Prandtl number =~ a v- velocity of coolant flow v - kinematic viscosity o.- thermal diffusivity of the coolant If the cooling lines are modeled as lines then a heat transfer coefficient over length rather than area as given in Eq,3.8 is required, which is obtained by multiplying the value from Eq.3.7 by the circumference of the coolant pipe. hy =ha* (nD) .. (3.10) where hy - heat transfer coefficient per unit length h, - heat transfer coefficient per unit areaStep 3 Prepare the ABAQUS input file using the ABAQUS translator in CAEDS. Insert the material properties, history definition and procedure options. Repeat Steps 2 & 3 for the stress analysis following the thermal analysis. This step is described in more detail in the chapter 5 and Appendix A. 3.6 Thermal Stress and Deflection Modeling Methods used in Current Research While the heat transfer models introduced in the previous sections were specific to die casting, the thermal stress and deflection techniques developed in the current research are generic and could used for any thermal stress problem. While simple procedures for estimating thermal stress exist, these are primarily one dimensional [Kim & Ruhlandt, 1985]. Thus they were not used, as the stress fields in a die are three dimensional as the boundary conditions on the dies are not symmetrical, A three dimensional numerical solution is appropriate for the stress analysis of a three dimensional object like the dies and in this research the finite element method is being used in conjunction with the three dimensional finite element temperature simulation discussed previously.CHAPTER IV A REVIEW OF THERMAL AND FLUID PRESSURE EFFECTS ON PART TOLERANCES AND DIE DEFLECTIONS 4.1 Introduction ‘Dimensional constraints in die casting processes are important as they affect casting dimensions, the functioning and life of dies. The various factors which contribute to uncertainties in dimensions must be recognized and adequate compensation must be provided. Some of the most important issues to be considered by a die designer must include shrinkage of part, expansion/contraction of the die and its components due to the thermal cycling, shift between die halves, parting line separation , die warpage, moving core registration and draft. (Herman, 1987]. The ultimate aim of die designer is to estimate or calculate the dimensional effects of the above factors and incorporate compensation in the die design. Tolerances that can not be achieved by "standard operating practice" might require special provisions made to the die and/or the process. The above analysis also tells the die designer whether certain part tolerances are achievable by die casting, the additional cost of die/part due to special operating conditions, modifications to dies. After the development of more powerful computing resources since the 1980's the research community in casting has focused its research more on the die filling, heat transfer and more recently the distortion and residual solidification stresses in die cast parts and 4748 dies. However the die has been ignored and has received little attention. While the major changes certainly do occur in the part (solidification, shrinkage, large property changes etc,), the die is affected to a great extent due to its proximity to the part and vice-versa. 4.2 Linear Dimensional Variation Linear dimensional variation is caused by the cycling of the die temperature, casting ejection temperatures and accuracy of die construction. All the above factors other than die construction accuracy can be tightly controlled by providing a closed loop control of the die temperature through the use of thermocouples in the die at critical areas. Precise control of the spraying process and die cooling via cooling channels may also be required. The dimensional variation so calculated may be applied to features that are formed entirely in one die half. 4.3 Shrinkage Allowance As the casting solidifies various dimensions shrink which is characteristic of solid- liquid transformations, So although precise figures for "free shrinkage" may be calculated in most castings there are always dimensions some of which are fixed, because of a core or some other die feature on to which the part shrinks on to, some of which are free and some dimensions which are somewhere in between. Figure 4.1 shows a typical part where all the above conditions exist. Dimension d2 is fixed as it is shrinks on the die which protrudes into the cavity. Dimension d3 is free to shrink as it is in the die opening direction and has no cores or slides to shrink on to. Dimension dl is the fuzzy dimension as the there is a constraint from the fixed dimension d2 although there are no die features which restrain its motion.49 Thus although ideally one would like to identify all these different dimensions and separately apply different shrinkage allowances to them, it is a very tedious and cumbersome process. As most dimensions fall into the fuzzy range, an average value is frequently applied to nominal die dimensions. Fig. 4.1 Dimensional constraints on a cast part 44 Die Construction Tolerance Die construction tolerance refers to tolerances that can be achieved from machining or any other process used to manufacture the die. The value of this tolerance indicates if any other secondary grinding or polishing operations are required for the levels of roughness and accuracy specified. Die wear should also be taken into account over the period of the die and dimensions on the die should be made so that parts initially produced have dimensions on the lower end of the dimension band (Minimum Material Condition). Figure 4.2 illustrates the effects of die wear on cavity dimensions and hence on the part dimensions.50 N HY Y H Y Y H Y H U — Original cavity outline —— Cavity outline after die wear .2 Exaggerated view of die cavity dimensions due to die wear 4.5 Die Shift Allowance The two die halves may very well operate at different bulk temperatures at different points in the die casting cycle, Thus the dimensions of the two die halves may be different. Also due to inherent process variability the two die halves cannot be expected to be closed with the exact same registration each time. After identifying dimensions of the casting that will be affected by die shift, the amount of die shift that can be tolerated must be determined, Alignment systems to control the so determined shift must be designed, One might also need to design the thermal system of the die halves so that the bulk temperatures match and the growth of the die is the same at operating conditions. The die shift allowance also helps to determine the maximum die size by restricting the maximum distance between the leader pins and cavities, The shift allowance also prescribes the clearance between the leader pins and the bushing. Guide blocks may be used to reduce die shift at critical areas if conventional die alignment systems and temperature control fail.51 4.6 Parting Line Variation 4.6.1 Effects of Pressure Peaks Casting features which have dimensions parallel to the die opening direction and are formed by both the die halves are subject to parting line variations caused by dynamic pressure during filling, intensification, build up of dirt, flash at the parting plane etc. Hydraulic shock during filling and intensification may be reduced by proper design of the injection system so as to reduce the forces and velocities at the end of the injection cycle. ‘The plunger of the injection system moves under a pre-defined velocity profile and injects the molten metal typically in tens to hundreds of milliseconds. A typical plunger position-time and pressure-time curve is shown in Fig.4.3 and Fig.4.4 respectively. Figure 4.4 shows the pressure peaks at the end of fill and beginning of intensification when not only the moving components of the injection system but the hydraulic oil in the shot cylinder and the accumulator piston come to rest [Everwin, 1987]. According to Everwin, two pressure peaks arise during rapid filling of the die, one from the sudden stoppage of the moving masses(the injection rod, piston) and the second delayed pressure peak is caused by a delayed hydraulic pressure peak from the moving hydraulic oil. Two damping systems to reduce the first kinetic pressure to a value below the locking force of the machine were studied, namely a displacement controlled speed reduction and a hydraulic damping insert to separate the moving masses at the end of filling. Everett [Everett, 1972] tested a surge arrestor on a die casting machine to reduce the "Water hammer"(surge) developed in the fluid by the sudden starting or stopping of flow. Kawaguchi and Tanaka{ Kawaguchi and Tanaka, 1977] describe a system to reduce52 the peak impact pressure, which consisted of a redesigned injection cylinder, which provided a reduced deceleration towards the end of the injection cycle. Travel of plunger ——> Elasped Time ——> Fig. 4.3 Plunger travel vs Time curve [Sully, 1988]53 Intensification Pressure on plunger. ———> Fig. 4.4 Plunger pressure vs. Time [Sully, 1988] Other factors which cause the die surface to crown into the cavity is thermal distortion, Thermal warpage aggravates the die separation due to internal metal pressure, Die separation due to metal pressure occurs when the calculated tie bar loads are exceeded by the forces on the cavity surface. Improperly placed die cavity can also result in uneven load distribution in the tie bars causing the two halves to in exactly register with each other. The distortions are highly geometry and process specific and can be calculated with some degree of accuracy by mathematical modeling techniques and thus must be specifically calculated for each casting. 4.6.2 Effects of Flash Build-Up on the Parting Plane The die separation, caused as a result for the various reasons highlighted in the previous section, can result in flash build-up on the parting surface. The obvious efifect is54 secondary operations to trim the part. But more important effects of excessive flash build up is that it can clog the clearances between moving cores and form wedges between the alignment system, Small bits of flash left on the die faces after a casting cycle if not removed and if the dies are harder than 375 BH will be squeezed to a flake when the die is closed and results in high local stresses. If the dies are softer than 375 BH then flash bits “brinnel” into steel which is known as pening. Excessive peening of a die results in poor closing and ultimately the die faces have to be finished again. Flash material adjacent to the edge of the cavity may cause a cave-in toward the impression during the casting cycle and cause ejection problems [Doehler, 1951]. 4.7 Mechanical Construction of Dies - Core Locking Devices It should be remembered that dies are complex objects due to the nature of intricate parts that are typically die cast. Thus the various cores, slider, mechanisms for the moving/locking components have a significant effect in the deflection that is observed. ‘Thus if the locking and holding mechanisms do not function to satisfaction and are pushed out of position either by pressure of molten injected metal or expand differentially due to different heat transfer loads these components may not register properly and cause flashing and other related problems or result in the rejection of the part. Excessive flashing due to unequal thermal expansion may also result in thinner casting walls. Some of the commonly used locking mechanisms and their characteristics will be discussed in the following sections, Doehler [Doehler, 1951] discusses commonly used locking devices in die casting for cores and slides. Locking devices are discussed here along with the core and slider55 moving mechanisms since in some cases they perform both the functions and cannot be distinguished. + Rack and Pinion Core Pull ‘This mechanism is shown in Fig. 4.5. The core in this case is moved by arack and pinion mechanism operated by a hydraulic actuating cylinder. Cores are kept in perfect alignment by the use of core bearing blocks G. The locking block H attached to the cover die I, comes in the contact with the tapered surface J on the core backing block when the dies close and hold the already advanced cores in the locked position. in Core Pull ‘This is much simpler as seen in Fig.4.6 and is used in smaller dies. The dowel pin A engages with hole D as the dies close and serves to move the core into the casting Position and lock them. Here again the tapered surfaces M slide against each other and hold tight preventing any core movement when the shot is made. + Hydraulic Core Pull ‘As seen in Fig 4.7 an external hydraulic cylinder moves cores in and out of the die cavity. The external lock H attached to the cover half I of the die moves over the sliding core block, tapered surfaces J on both sides of the locking block wedge between the sliding block D and a stop K. + Cam actuated Cores In this case the cores are actuated by cams as in Fig.4.8. The cam slots C are designed to slide the cores in place and lock them, The right hand cam is rotated by a lover attached at D, which is actuated by a toggle arrangement mounted on the side of the die.56 ‘A- Pinion, B - Core Backup block, C- Stationary Racks, D - Ejector Die, E - Core Plate, F - Cores, G - Core bearing blocks, H - Locking block, I Cover Die, J - Tapered Surface Fig. 4.5 Figure illustrating rack and pinion arrangement mechanism for core [Doehler, 1951]57 + Taper Slides Sliding side cores encountered are made with a slight taper rather than straight. ‘This must be sufficient to produce a breaking or freeing action as soon as the slide is pulled and promotes efficient operation of the die by avoiding galling and other wear problems if they were made straight. Thus fitting the taper on the slide to the die becomes a issue and ‘great care must be taken in its manufacture, + Internal Locks Intemal wedge locks are inserted close to the casting surface of a large slide or core n the parting line, and the core cut out to match, As illustrated in Fig.4.9 the slide on the top of die contains a tapered hole in which the internal lock K fits, locking the slide in position for casting. The slide is moved into casting position by a hydraulic cylinder mounted on the hydraulic pull frame G. When the die is closed the internal lock keeps the slide from moving back while the shot is made. + Ring Locks Yet another method of locking a side slide is illustrated in Fig.4.9 although the slides shown are not used to core the casting. Each of the two slides contain a segment of a raised circular section with tapered sides called a ring lock I. When the slides are closed the segments form a complete circle with the exception of the square slide at the top of the die which forms one end of the casting. A similar tapered circular section, which is depressed appears in the cover die J and when the slides are in casting position, the cover die closes over them and holds them in place.58 A- Dowel pin, B - locking block, C cover half, D - hole, E - Core backup block, F - Guide pins, G - Ejector die block, H - Plate, I Spring, J - Sliding cores, K - Core Plate, L - Core ‘Bearing Block, M - Tapered Surface Fig. 4.6 Figure illustrating pin actuated core mechanism [Doehler, 1951]59 A- Ejector Die, B - Hydraulic Cylinder, C- Core-pull bracket, D - Sliding core block, E - Piston Rod of hydraulic cylinder, F - Cores, G - Core bearing block, H -External Lock, I - Cover half, J - Tapered Surfaces, K -Stop Fig. 4.7 Figure illustrating hydraulic core pull mechanism [Doehler, 1951]A-Cores, B- Cam plates, C - Cam slots, D - Lever, E- Impression Blocks, F - Flanged Base Plate, G - Holding die Fig. 4.8 Figure illustrating cam actuated core mechanism [Doehler, 1951]61 T1s61 391420) 490] jeuso1u1 pue 3490] Buz Jo osn oy Suonens! aandte 6h Biel yd soepmns - yy ‘sBuyysng - z ‘sjomop - x taseq aip - x ‘uoruid- A id soyoafa - J ‘saurf sayem - g ‘dors wed - ¥ ‘ sdoys 21¢1d 10999 - sayejd r0}0019 - 1) ! MT iW i ir D souuns aed - gh :8njd anuds - y : dip ip JO sued “91C] 40T00Lz pu AOAOD JO MOIA WOTTIAS PUE DIC] IOAOZ) JO MOKA CEI ei SESS62 4.8 Literature Review on Modeling for Die Deflections, Stresses and Part Tolerancing in Manufacturing Processes Compensation for thermal and mechanical deformation is routinely done in manufacturing processes. An excellent example is the cambering of rolls in rolling processes, as shown in Fig. 4.10 and Fig. 4.11, where roll bending occurs because of mechanical and thermal loads. Sometimes backup rolls are used to reduce the deflection in the centrally loaded beam. However little modeling has been done on die deflection for die casting dies, although some literature does exist in areas of forging, extrusion and injection molding. While it might seem that die deflection modeling in injection molding would be closest to die casting conditions, information found in forging and other manufacturing areas may also be useful in designing dies to compensate for die deflections. The biggest difference in metal solidification as opposed to plastic solidification is the thermal conductivity of the respective solidifying material compared to that of the metal molds. In case of plastics the thermal conductivity of plastics is much smaller than that of the mold and this simplifies a heat transfer analysis as the thermal resistance posed by the mold may be neglected in comparison to the plastic and mold may be assumed to be at a constant temperature essentially. Unfortunately this is not quite true in die casting as the exact opposite is the case i.e. the thermal resistance of the casting may be neglected in comparison to that of the mold especially in the case of aluminum castings and thin walled castings. There are major differences in the forces from the liquid state of the materials because of the nature of fluid flow although the fluid pressure in both cases are comparable, The essential difference in the nature of die deflections in die casting and other forming related operations is the source of deflections. Mechanical contact pressure in forming processes are large as opposed toXC Uncambered Rolls 63 7 ‘Cambered Rolls in production Fig.4.10 Exaggerated effect of uncambered rolls on part dimensions Se Pressure from deforming part Cambered rolls in action Fig. 4.11 Cambered rolls provide compensation for roll deflection due to forming pressure64 die casting where thermal expansion may be significant compared to deflections of the die due to fluid and clamping pressure. Hirt and Altan [Hirt & Altan, 1989] studied the effect of elastic die deflections upon tolerances of cold coining formed parts and estimated die stresses and deflections in hot closed-die forging of a flange-shaft type part. Commercially available FEM codes ALPID and ABAQUS using the assumptions of rigid and elastic dies respectively were used to simulate the forging process and concluded that the thermal expansions represents the major portion of elastic deflections. The maximum stresses were a little less than those obtained by pure thermal loading because the contact pressure and thermal loading tended to cancel each other. Hristov, Tomov et al [Hristov, Tomov et al, 1990] used the Finite Element Method to predict deflections of dies for closed die forging of cylindrical spur gears and concluded that the deformation of the contour of the tooth, which was about 50m (0.002"), was insignificant to the precision of the forging, But die deflections due to thermal expansion and fluid pressure may well be significant in die casting if tighter tolerances die cast parts are to be manufactured, Dexter, Chan et al [Dexter Chan et al, 1991] used an elastic- viscoplastic finite element analysis in a hot-die forging operation to establish local stress and strain, displacements of the die surface and critical loads for potential failure of the forging die. Knérr, Kriiger et al [Knérr et al, 1992] developed techniques to transfer loads and temperatures from a two dimensional viscoelastic metal forming software, DEFORM, and conducted thermal stress analysis using ABAQUS to predict stress intensity at critical locations and thus avoid failure in forging dies.65 ‘Menges [Menges and Mohren, 1986] describes a procedure of computing cavity deformation as a superposition of the deformation of the mold, slides, cams ete. The various deformations according to their effect on the molding process are differentiated, The various deformations were distinguished as follows : - deformation in the direction of clamping or ejection - deformation transverse to the direction of ejection - deformation of machine platen - relative deformation of platen ~ lowering of platen - deformation of ejector pins Menges also states that besides the interaction of deformation of mold components, there also exists interaction between mold deformation and deformations in the molding machine. Fig.4.12 shows some graphs for estimated deflections of cores subject to the shown pressure profile and values. Unfortunately a assumption of the pressure profile over cores in die casting is very difficult to obtain unless a fluid flow simulation is done. There are a large number of unknown factors such as pressure transmission through a mushy liquid metal, the stage of solidification at which the shape of the casting is determined etc. for these simple rules to be applied. ‘Some of the analytical techniques discussed by Menges along with a discussion of the effects of distortion in die casting on dimensional integrity of parts have been illustrated by an example by Ahuett-Garza [Ahuett-Garza, 1993] in a report. Spittle and Brown [Spittle & Brown, 1991] developed a 3-D finite element model for simulating the difference in shape brought about shrinkage, between a die casting and the equivalent die cavity compared at room temperature. The model predicted the full 3-D “shrinkage allowance” to be applied when dimensioning the die cavity. They concluded‘Stuting and Deflection with rigid bose mount ps -138 alam Bison Pezerar! core lection 126°C Ty # 80°C Fan 30 Total 0 core oanens tt Ps vasosp? se 20m e090 Foe Ig 296 0 yO Fig. 4.12 Graphs for Estimating Core Deflection in Injection Molding [Menges & Mohren, 1986]67 that the shrinkage varied greatly within a casting and had values different from the traditionally quoted 6% for zine die casting. Kim [Kim & Rublandt, 1985] examined forced convective heat transfer of liquid aluminum flowing through a die casting runner system using a 2-D finite element method and analyzed the thermal stresses due to the temperature fields in the runner systems. The effect of preheat and lubricant were also studied and it was concluded that die life can be extended by using proper preheat, maintaining the lubrication layer and avoiding certain geometric designs. Samuels [Samuels and Draper, 1975] illustrated the effect of stresses from thermal cycling which eventually leads to high temperature, low-cycle fatigue of die by the development of an uncoupled quasi-static, thermoelastic model which transformed the thermal output of a 1-D finite difference heat transfer model into the stress distribution within the die casting die. They concluded that some areas of the die especially the casting -die interface had a high probability of undergoing plastic deformation. Hattel and Hansen[Hattel and Hansen, 1990] simulated distortion and residual stresses in castings using FDM techniques. Kim, Sakuta et allKim, Sakuta et al,1990] studied deformation of aluminum castings using a commercially available general purpose FEM code. ‘Thus existing literature suggests that modeling of die deflections/stresses from a structural analysis point of view hasn’t been attempted in die casting. Thermal and mechanical loads have to be considered while conducting an analysis to obtain a more complete picture of the process. Procedures must be developed and documented for each specific manufacturing process to conduct such an analysis so that they may be routinely done. Simple back-of-the-envelope type calculations could give some useful insight to the amount of deflection expected for various moving components such as cores and sliders. More complex numerical analysis methods, such as FEM, give better approximations,68 depending on the accuracy of modeling of the problem, at the expense of much longer computational times. The problem in die casting is compounded by the fact that a three dimensional analysis is required and there are interactions among the various die and machine components.CHAPTER V FINITE ELEMENT MODELING OF THE UNCOUPLED QUASI-STATIC THERMO-ELASTIC PROBLEM OF DIE DEFORMATION USING CAEDS AND ABAQUS 5.1 Introduction ‘The problem of die deformation considered in this research is termed the classical quasi-static uncoupled thermoelastic problem. The thermoelastic problem primarily is described by two equations, the heat conduction, Eq.5.1 and the stress equilibrium, Eq.5.2 [Boley & Weiner, 1960]. The heat conduction equation also has a mechanical coupling term in addition to the capacitance term. ‘The mechanical coupling term may be ignored in cases where the variations of strains in the body have a negligible effect on the variations of temperatures. This is the case in die casting where in spite of sharp variations (during die filling) in temperature-time histories sharp variations in strain don't occur in the die. Thus strains produced by temperature variations don't affect the temperature distribution itself. This term couldn't be ignored in a metal forming problem such as forging or extrusion, as the variations in strains are large and give rise to large variations in temperatures from heat generation. This phenomenon is also known as thermoelastic dissipation . The uncoupled term in the title refers to the uncoupling of the inertia term from the heat conduction and thus reduces the problem to the independent solution of the heat conduction followed by the70 stress problem. Temperature distribution however can be affected by solidification shrinkage which changes the gap interface heat transfer coefficient as explained in Chapter 3. 6.1) KT ag = PCy T+ MT, Exe 4 4 Capacitance Mechanical Coupling term term 6, = pu (6.2) where k - thermal conductivity cp ~ thermal capacity p ~ density of the material T - temperature at a location inside the material 7 - rate of temperature change T, - Initial stress free temperature €x - Strain rate 6,,;~ partial derivative of the stress tensor with respect to a spatial coordinate u; - i* component of the acceleration vector m- constant As described in chapters 3 & 4 the unavailability of a numerical software which combines heat transfer, solidification and a deformation or stress analysis is the basic motivation for this research. The research is aimed at a mechanical analysis of the die and1 procedures are developed with this aim in mind. Also procedures are established for the use of a commercially available finite element software, ABAQUS, which was used for this research but could be applied to set-up problems in any other comparable software. An estimation of the order of magnitude of these die deformations under an assumed set of conditions and their sensitivity to imposed boundary conditions are also studied. Stresses which are a consequence of this analysis may be used to determine die fatigue due to the heat checking phenomenon. 5.2 Thermal Stress Simulation Overview using ABAQUS ABAQUS is a commercially available finite element modeling software from Hibbitt, Karlsson and Sorensen, Inc., Providence, RI. The dynamic analysis module of ABAQUS uses a backward difference scheme for the time integration and wavefront solver as opposed to the familiar gaussian elimination or other band solvers to solve the equations obtained during finite element modeling. Although the solver uses finite element interpolations and variational approach for space variables, a finite difference interpolation in time is used for the problem solution, The backward scheme which is classified as an implicit scheme for the time integration has the advantage of unconditional stability i.e. the time step has no limitation as far as stability of the solution is concerned, (although this doesn't necessarily mean unconditional accuracy) but suffers from the disadvantage that the iterations required for equilibrium while solving non-linear problems (temperature dependent material properties for example) are more computationally demanding, as matrix inversions are required as opposed to simpler matrix operations in an explicit formulation such as the forward difference method.nr In spite of the previously stated advantages of implicit time stepping scheme in ABAQUS for transient problems, inaccuracies in the solution may be avoided by a smooth application of boundary conditions as can be seen from Fig 5.1. Thus discontinuities must be smoothed out [Zienkiewicz, 1977). The approach of heat flux application on the cavity surface as described in chapter 3, which substitutes for the solidification of the molten ‘metal in the die cavity is inherently in this form. As the variation of heat flux with time is exponential but for the first time step, where from the state of an initial uniform temperature, the dies are suddenly subject to time varying heat flux, "spurious oscillations” may be avoided. Standard B ar Fig. 5.1 Effect of smooth application of boundary conditions [Zienkiewicz, 1977]B 5.3 Finite Element Model Preparation using CAEDS 5.3.1 Three Dimensional Meshing of Die Geometry using CAEDS Three dimensional meshing of the die geometry is done by the computer aided engineering package CAEDS from SDRC, Milford, OH which has a translator for ABAQUS and eases the task of input data file preparation by writing out the nodes and element and their connectivities, boundary conditions in the format required by ABAQUS. ‘Also CAEDS has a "Dataloader" which can read and interpret the output results files of ABAQUS for post-processing of results, The geometry for both the die halves are created as a single joint solid entity using the solid modeling module of CAEDS. The coolant lines which are omitted during the construction are replaced by straight lines, as explained in earlier chapters and illustrated in Fig. 5.2, to ease the task of mesh generation which is currently a very time consuming problem in 3D. "Mesh areas" and "Mesh Volumes” (CAEDS terminology) are created as needed to have better control over mesh densities and separate various regions of the single solid entity explained above. Tetrahedral elements are typically used for meshing in 3-D because of their flexibility in meshing complex solid objects as compared to the more traditional brick elements with the disadvantage of an increase in total number of nodes and elements. Ten noded tetrahedral elements with quadratic interpolation have been shown to have similar solution accuracy as linearly interpolated brick elements. Mesh quality improvement is typically done on a 10-noded tetrahedral mesh as they could have negative distortion indices [Zienkiwiecz, 1977] which cause problems in finite element solutions and result in error messages from ABAQUS. ‘The above step is repeated as necessary until the desired distortion indices are achieved, In extreme cases where automatic mesh improvement is not possible manual fixing of nodes