Modeling and Optimization of Die Casting Process

for ZAMAK Alloy
Satpal Sharma
Mechanical Engineering School of Engineering, Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

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The objective of the following study was to evaluate the effect of injection pressure of the molten DOI:
metal, hydraulic pressure, temperature of the molten metal and the cooling time on the dimensional 10.4103/0976-8580.141176
stability of the lock assembly of two wheelers. The material of the lock assembly was ZAMAK 3 (zinc, Quick Response Code:
aluminum, magnesium, and copper) alloy. The lock assembly was produced by die casting process.
In order to study the effect the process parameters such as injection pressure of the molten metal,
hydraulic pressure, temperature of the molten metal and the cooling time, RSM (response surface
methodology) with face center design was used. The experiments were carried out randomly according
to design matrix. Three responses (shutter width, shutter thickness and shutter hinge length) were used
for study. The RSM model was developed for each response. Analysis of variance for each response
was also carried out to find out the significant factors and their interactions. Finally, optimization was
carried out and the optimized input parameters were validated by conducting experiments at the
optimum input parameters. The modeled and experimental results were compared and an error of
2-8% was observed.

Key words: Die casting, response surface methodology, zinc alloy

1. INTRODUCTION simulation software. According to the characteristic of the

Die casting is a manufacturing process for producing metal
parts by forcing molten metal under high pressure into a
die cavity. To ascertain consistent good quality of the end
product in die casting, a proper monitoring of the raw
materials and process parameters used in die casting is
essential. From literature review, it has been found that most
of the researchers over the years, have dealt with various
process parameters such as metal temperature, piston
velocity, filling time, hydraulic pressure etc., for optimization
of the objectives such as maximum casting density, minimum
porosity, minimum flashes, sufficient spread of molten
material etc. Kumar et al.[1] analyze different parameters
of pressure die casting to minimize the casting defects
such as porosity. It was reported that good surface finish
with required tolerances and dimensional accuracy can be
achieved by optimization of controllable process parameters
such as solidification time, molten temperature, filling
time, injection pressure and plunger velocity. Moreover, by
selection of optimum process parameters the die casting
defects such as porosity, insufficient spread of molten
material, flash etc., were also minimized. Zhang et al. [2]
present a hybrid strategy in a soft computing paradigm for
the optimization of the low-pressure die casting process.
Casting process parameters, such as temperatures of die,
pouring temperature were considered. The hybrid strategy
combines numerical simulation software, a genetic algorithm
and a multilayer neural network to optimize the process
parameters. An approximate analysis model was developed
using a back propagation neural network in order to avoid
the expensive computation resulting from the numerical
optimization problem, a real-code genetic algorithm was
applied to solve the optimization model.
Chiang et al. [3] proposed an algorithm, by combining
the grey relational analysis with the fuzzy logic, obtains
a grey-fuzzy reasoning grade to evaluate the multiple
performance characteristics according to the grey relational
coefficient of each performance characteristic. One of the
real case studies performed in the die casting process,
thin-walled cover components of liquid crystal display
panel, verifies that the proposed optimum procedure was
feasible and effective. Zheng et al. [4] in this work, an
evaluation system for the surface defect of casting has
been established to quantify surface defects and artificial
neural network was introduced to generalize the correlation
between surface defects and die-casting parameters, such
as mold temperature, pouring temperature and injection
velocity. It was found that the trained network has great
forecast ability.
Zhu et al. [5] developed a numerical model for predicting
micro porosity formation in aluminum casting, the
redistribution of hydrogen between solid and liquid
phases, the transport of hydrogen in liquid by diffusion
and Darcy flow in the mushy zone. One of the key features
of the model was that a two-stage approach for porosity
prediction was used. In the first stage, the volume fraction
of porosity was calculated based on the reduced pressure,
whereas the second stage, at fractions solid greater than
the liquid encapsulation point. Kumar et al. [6] proposed
a model to identify the influencing factors, causing casting

Journal of Engineering and Technology | Jul-Dec 2014 | Vol 4 | Issue 2 87