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CASTING INNOVATIONS
CASE STUDY - BURNER CASTING - ELECTROLUX HOME PRODUCTS
A new Burner Distributor Base Casting
had been in design at Electrolux Home
Products. A-SQUARED were approached
to assist in assessing the casting design
and its suitability for manufacture utilizing
the High Pressure Die Casting process.
INTIAL CASTING METHOD
The available CAD data of the casting
was provided. The casting was of volume
1 0 2 cm ³ o f r o u gh d i m e n s i o n s
164X156X40mm (see Fig1). The material
specification being an aluminium alloy
‘PyralN2’. A generic casting method and
basic die/tool incorporating some cooling
parameters was designed based on a cast-
ing rate of 90 shots/hour. Gate dimen-
sions suited a ∅50mm plunger at a high
speed of 1.8m/s (see Fig2). The casting
practice, die maintenance and fitment
were taken as commensurate with best
practice. It was recognized that the speci-
fied alloy would require that the casting
be ejected shortly after solidification to
prevent cracking and require a high num-
ber of ejection points. The casting design
would be hard on die life with heat check
cracks expected to develop on the castel-
lation design around one side of the cast-
ing.
The geometry was then imported into
the MAGMASOFT® simulation program.
“The solidification pattern revealed
isolation of heavy boss sections ulti-
mately resulting in porosity which
would form surface sinks“
FILLING SIMULATION
Filling simulation was conducted without
overflows being incorporated to view the
natural flow through the part. This re-
vealed the flow traveling around the out-
side of the part filling the centre arms last
(see Fig3). It was envisaged that this
would prove difficult to vent or apply
overflows to. A recommendation was
made to incorporate an additional runner
Fig9
Fig8
A-SQUARED
in the centre of the part to provide for
the flow to travel directly from the in-
gate through to the end of the arms
balanced so that the two metal fronts
would meet around the sides of the cast-
ing (see Fig4).
Fig1
SOLIDIFICATION SIMULATION
The solidification simulation revealed
isolation of heavy boss sections ulti-
mately resulting in porosity which would
most likely form surface sinks beside the
locating nipple on the underside of the
casting (see Fig5). It was recommended
that these areas of the casting were con-
sidered for redesign to remove mass
from these areas where possible prior to
considering what measures may be
adopted from a die design and applica-
tion perspective (see Fig6) .
THE SECOND ITERATION
Filling simulations incorporating the rec-
Fig2
ommended centre runner revealed im-
proved filling characteristics (see Fig7).
Final considerations were required by
Electrolux with respect trimming and
cleaning on a decorative edge potentially
visible on the casting in service.
Despite the incorporation of significant
recesses in the heavy sections of the
casting some porosity was again evident, Fig3
albeit greatly reduced (see Fig8). Consid-
eration of a core insert made from a
high thermal conductivity metal such a
maraging steel, QRO90 or beryllium
copper was finally recommended as a
means of further controlling any porosity
formation through ‘chilling’ (see Fig9).
This would ensure that any porosity
formation would remain sub surface. Fig4
PROJECT HOURS TAKEN
CAD Hours: 8
Simulation Hours: 40
Special thanks to Morris Murray
(MMurray & Associates) for his contri-
Fig5
bution throughout this project.
Fig7
Fig6