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Numerical simulation and experimental investigation of a thin-wall

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DOI: 10.1080/13640461.2017.1365477

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 International Journal of Cast Metals Research

ISSN: 1364-0461 (Print) 1743-1336 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ycmr20

Numerical simulation and experimental

investigation of a thin-wall magnesium alloy
casting based on a rapid prototyping core making
method

Yu Fu, Han Wang, Chen Zhang & Hai Hao

To cite this article: Yu Fu, Han Wang, Chen Zhang & Hai Hao (2017): Numerical simulation
and experimental investigation of a thin-wall magnesium alloy casting based on a rapid
prototyping core making method, International Journal of Cast Metals Research, DOI:
10.1080/13640461.2017.1365477

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 International Journal of Cast Metals Research, 2017
https://doi.org/10.1080/13640461.2017.1365477

Numerical simulation and experimental investigation of a thin-wall

magnesium alloy casting based on a rapid prototyping core making method
Yu Fu, Han Wang, Chen Zhang and Hai Hao
Key Laboratory of Solidification Control and Digital Preparation Technology (Liaoning Province), Department of Materials Science and
Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian City, China

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

The preparation process of complex thin-wall magnesium alloy castings based on numerical Received 3 May 2017
simulation and rapid prototyping core making method is presented in this paper. The filling Accepted 4 August 2017
and solidification processes were simulated using ProCAST to optimise the gating system. The KEYWORDS
simulation results showed that compared with bottom gating system, vertical slitting gating Numerical simulation;
system equipped with a slot ingate and slag tank contributed to provide a stable filling pattern thin-wall magnesium alloy
and eliminate casting porosity. Additionally, Profile Failure-based Rapid Prototyping (PFRP) casting; gating system;
technology was adopted to obtain sand cores due to its complexity. Mg-4.2Zn-1.7Ce-0.8Zr- profile failure-based
Downloaded by [University of Exeter] at 19:45 01 October 2017

0.2Ca-0.2Sr (wt.%) alloy was selected as the alloy material because of the excellent fluidity and rapid prototyping (PFRP)
flame retardancy. JMatPro was utilized to calculate thermo-physical properties of the alloy to technology; gravity casting;
ensure the simulation validity. Casting experiments were conducted, indicating that numerical Mg-Zn-Ce-Zr-Ca-Sr alloy
predictions agreed well with experimental results. Sound thin-wall accessory gearbox casting
was obtained based on the optimised gating system and PFRP-fabricated sand cores.

1. Introduction Casting defects, such as porosity, entrapment of gas or

The current adaptation of energy and fuel conserva-
tion is leading to a compelling demand for magne-
sium alloys due to their high strength to weight ratio,
excellent castability and recyclability [1]. The ability to
obtain high quality magnesium alloy castings has a
fundamental influence on the further development of
the transportation and aerospace industries [2]. Among
manufacturing methods for high-performance aero-
space components, gravity casting provides the most
direct production route to get near net shape from liquid
metal and offers manufacturing flexibility in terms of size
and shape complexity [3]. The gravity castings make use
of the gravitational force in feeding molten metals into
a mould cavity through the gating and running system.
oxide film, cold shut and misrun, which are caused by
improper mould filling, are closely related to surface tur-
bulence [4]. Recently, there was an increasing demand
to produce thin-wall and curved-shape casting products
such as transmission housings and accessory gearboxes.
Because of the pronounced oxidation tendency and the
low density of molten magnesium alloy, the gating sys-
tem need to be designed to minimize the entrance of
oxides on the surface of the molten metal into the cast-
ing, prevent turbulence in the mould filling and ensure
sequential solidification of magnesium alloy castings
[5]. Therefore, a well-designed gating system is crucial
to secure the casting quality. The conventional trial and
error approach to designing casting process based on

CONTACT Hai Hao haohai@dlut.edu.cn

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
 2  Y. FU ET AL.

Figure 1. An experimental procedure detailing the methodological approach used in this work.

experimental investigations is costly and time consum-
ing [6]. Numerical simulation technology has become
a powerful tool for predicting and controlling the cast-
ing process, thereby reducing the extend of required
experimental studies. A series of studies has reported
on the simulation of mould filling and solidification
stages, based on which defect regions can be further
predicted [7–9]. Numerical optimisation of mould filling
patterns through improvement of gating system param-
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validated via temperature measurements. Although the
example is given in an accessory gearbox casting, the
fundamental methodology is applicable to the manu-
facture of magnesium alloy casting products.
2. Model description
2.1. Mathematical models
The FEM simulation software ProCAST™ is applied to

eters becomes significant for producing thin-wall mag-

simulate the mould filling and solidification behaviours
nesium alloy castings [10,11], and the volume of fluid
of the accessory gearbox casting and identify the opti-
(VOF) method are commonly utilized to analyse free sur-
mal gating system before conducting experiments. The
face problems in the modelling of mould filling [12,13].
governing equations describing fluid dynamics, heat
Furthermore, casting solidification simulation provides
and mass transfer phenomena in gravity casting include
various physical phenomena such as time-temperature
mass, momentum and energy conservation equations
contours and evolution of latent heat, which contributes
[19]. The molten metal is assumed to be incompressible
to identify shrinkage porosity effectively [14,15].
and Newtonian. The continuity equation, the Naiver-
In recent years, there has been an increasing inter-
Stokes equation and the energy conservation equation
est in the Rapid Prototyping (RP) Technology as it pro-
are written as [20]:
vides an opportunity to fabricate complex-shaped
and customized parts [16]. RP-fabricated parts can be ∇V = 0 (1)
obtained using alloying powders in a timely manner [17].
Nevertheless, the application of RP-fabricated parts is still F g ∇P
𝜕V
very limited, mainly due to their low surface roughness, = − + 𝜈∇2 V (2)
𝜕t 𝜌 𝜌
the anisotropic microstructure and porosity defects [18].
Recently, Profile Failure-based Rapid Prototyping (PFRP)
method for precoated sand was widely used in quick 𝜕T 𝜕T 𝜕T 𝜕T
𝜌c + 𝜌cu + 𝜌cv + 𝜌cw
casting owing to its unique ability to create complicated 𝜕t 𝜕x 𝜕y 𝜕z
( ) (3)
sand cores. However, studies on using PFRP method to 𝜕 𝜕T 𝜕 𝜕T 𝜕 𝜕T
( ) ( )
= 𝜆 + 𝜆 + 𝜆 +Q
achieve quick casting of thin-wall magnesium alloy cast- 𝜕x 𝜕x 𝜕y 𝜕y 𝜕z 𝜕z
ings are quite limited.
The present study is carried out to demonstrate how The volume of fluid (VOF) method, which was developed
the combined application of numerical optimisation by Hirt and Nichols, is commonly used to track free sur-
techniques and rapid prototyping core making method faces [21]. In this technique, a function F is defined to
can be used to prepare the magnesium alloy castings represent the fractional volume of the cells occupied by
with complex-shaped thin-wall structures. Figure 1 fluid. The fractional volume of fluid in each cell can be
describes an experimental procedure detailing the meth- determined by solving the following equation:
odological approach used in this work for accessory gear- 𝜕F
box castings manufacture. It begins with the design of + ∇(VF) = 0 (4)
𝜕t
the model of accessory gearbox. Then, mould filling and
solidification processes of the accessory gearbox casting Since the melt liquid and gas are immiscible, F corre-
are simulated with the ProCAST, which attempts to opti- sponds to values of 1 in liquid and 0 in gas. When the
mise the gating and runner systems to eliminate the cast- two fields are separated by the interface, F has a value
ing defects. On the basis of the optimised gating system, between 0 and 1 (0 < F < 1).
casting experiments combined with the PFRP-fabricated Based on the ProCast User Manual, the ‘POROS = 1’
core pattern method are carried out to prepare the thin- model can couple micro- and macro-porosity and pile
wall magnesium casting. Finally, the numerical model is shrinkage, which is applied to gravity casting and die

Figure 2. (a) The solid model of the casting with bottom gating system (units: mm) and (b) the finite element mesh of the casting.
casting. Shrinkage porosity field is employed to ana-
lyse the shrinkage porosity in a casting. When POROS is
activated, it can visualize the contour called ‘Shrinkage
Downloaded by [University of Exeter] at 19:45 01 October 2017
porosity’. Values corresponding to a level below 0.01 are
considered as micro-porosity and those above 0.01 are
considered as macro-porosity [19].
2.2. Geometric and finite element models
The entity model of the accessory gearbox component
is designed by means of UG software. Figure 2(a) depicts
the three-dimensional (3D) model of the casting with the
contour size of 350 mm × 190 mm × 100 mm and varying
wall thickness of 2~20 mm. In this experiment, bottom
filling of the mould is employed on the accessory gear-
box casting. The preliminary design with bottom gating
system is shown in Figure 2(a). The detailed parts of the
gating and runner systems are labelled and the top riser
is essential to ensure to vent gas. The complex geometry
of the casting requires special attention for mesh gener-
ation. Three-dimensional 4-node linear tetrahedral ele-
ments (C3D4) are adopted in the finite element model.
The enmeshed solid model of the preliminary design is
presented in Figure 2(b), consisting of 104080 nodes and
446027 tetrahedral elements. The geometry is meshed
by using UG automatically and convert the .unv file into
the .ideas. Then, the preprocessor module of ProCAST
read the .ideas file as the finite element model.
2.3. Thermo-physical properties of materials
An alloy with tailored properties plays an important role
in producing defect free and sound thin-wall castings.
Based on the authors’ previous study, Mg-4.2Zn-1.7Ce-
0.8Zr-0.2Ca-0.2Sr magnesium alloy (all the alloy compo-
sitions in wt.% except otherwise stated) is used in this
study for the preparation of accessory gearbox casting
due to its excellent fluidity and flame retardancy. In addi-
tion, to ensure the validity of numerical simulation, the
thermophysical parameters of the alloy are calculated by
the multi-platform software program JMatPro [22], and
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CAST METALS RESEARCH  3
then imported into the material database of ProCAST. The
mould material is assigned to Resin Bonded Sand accord-
ing to the material database of ProCAST software. Table
1 presents the thermophysical parameters of the casting
alloy and the mould materials used in the simulation.
2.4. Initial and boundary conditions
The initial and boundary conditions used in the pres-
ent simulation are listed in Table 2, which were defined
according to the actual experiment condition.
3. Numerical simulation results and analysis
3.1. The preliminary design
Figure 3 presents the representative results during
the mould filling and solidification processes for the
preliminary design. The highest temperature in the
temperature scale is set as 730 °C which is the pouring
temperature. Figure 3(a) indicates that in the early stage
of mould filling, the molten metal flows into the mould
cavity through its runner under the action of gravity,
accompanied by the turbulence and splash behaviour
as marked in circles. As the filling process advances, as
shown in Figure 3(b), it is observed that the occurrences
of the fluctuation and recirculation will result in porosi-
ties and the entrapment of gas and oxides. Furthermore,
the liquid level rises gradually and reaches up to the top
riser until the end of filling (Figure 3(c) and (d)). The sim-
ulated filling time is about 1.60 s. The temperature dis-
tribution during the solidification process is presented
in Figure 3(e) and (f ). The melt solidification begins from
the thin wall portions at the bottom of the casting and
exhibits gradual solidification. The final solidification
region is located in the top riser and the runner.
3.2. The modified design
In consideration of the above results, besides, mag-
nesium alloy is susceptible to react with oxygen and
 Downloaded by [University of Exeter] at 19:45 01 October 2017

Table 1. Thermo-physical properties of the casting alloy and the mould material.
 Y. FU ET AL.

Variable (unit) Casting alloy Mould material

Liquidus temperature (°C) 635 –
Solidus temperature (°C) 535 –
Density (g cm−3) 1.59

Thermal conductivity (W m−1 K−1)


nitrogen existing the atmosphere [23]. To alleviate the
problem of liquid splash and reduce the entrapment
of gas and oxides, the gating system is modified to
the vertical slitting gate system. Figure 4 describes the
detailed geometry of the slot gate system. Simulation on
the improved design is performed under the identical
numerical setup conditions of the preliminary design.
Figure 5 shows the mould filling and solidification
processes of the casting with the slot gate system. During
the initial stage of the mould filling, the molten metal
flows into the cavity along the slot ingate and fills the
mould cavity smoothly, accompanied by a mild fluctu-
ation, as shown in Figure 5(a) and (b). As the filling pro-
cess proceeds, the phenomena of the recirculation and
fluctuation slowly fade away with rising the liquid level,
as depicted in Figure 5(c). Figure 5(d) indicates that the
filling process is completed, and the total filling time is
approximately 2.01 s which is longer than that of the
preliminary design. It can be seen from Figure 5(e) and
Downloaded by [University of Exeter] at 19:45 01 October 2017
(f ) that the casting exhibits the sequential solidification
Table 2. Initial and boundary conditions used in the simulation.
Parameter (unit) Value
Initial temperature (°C) Casting
Mould
Boundary definitions (heat transfer coeffi- Casting-mould
cient) (W m−2 K−1) Mould-air
Ambient temperature (°C)
Casting velocity (m s−1)
Figure 3. Simulated filling and solidification processes in the bottom gating system at different time: (a) t = 0.29 s; (b) t = 0.51 s;
(c) t = 0.97 s; (d) t = 1.60 s; (e) t = 56.8 s; (f) t = 81.8 s.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CAST METALS RESEARCH  5
and the final solidification regions occur in the riser, the
runner and the slag tank. As discussed above, it can be
demonstrated that the optimised gating system makes
the mould filling more stable than that in the bottom
gating system. Consequently, employing the slot ingate
is an effective method to eliminate the turbulent flow,
reducing gas and oxides entrapment. Additionally, the
vertical slitting gate system equipped with a slag tank
is conducive to enhance the inclusions’ floating and
decrease the inclusions mixed in the casting.
3.3. Shrinkage porosity analysis
Figure 6(a) gives the simulated result for the prediction
of shrinkage porosity in the casting with bottom gating
730
200
500
10
20
0.5
Figure 4. The solid model of the casting with the slot gate
system (units: mm).
 6  Y. FU ET AL.
Downloaded by [University of Exeter] at 19:45 01 October 2017

Figure 5. Simulated filling and solidification processes in the vertical slitting gate system at different time: (a) t = 0.65 s; (b) t = 0.95 s;
(c) t = 1.25 s; (d) t = 2.01 s; (e) t = 84.5 s; (f) t = 182 s.

Figure 6. Comparison of the shrinkage porosity simulations in different gating systems: (a) the bottom gating system; (b) the slot
gate system.

Figure 7. Schematic illustration of the PFRP manufactured the complex-shaped core of the gearbox casting.

system. The intensity of porosity is graded in colour.
It can be seen that shrinkage porosity accumulates in
the top riser and runner, besides it can be found of the
casting porosity defect near the ingate, as arrowed in
Figure 6(a). The reason can be attributed to the fact that,
as the solidification proceeds, the dendrites close to the
mould wall will bridge by the cooling effect from the
mould and then the feeding channels of the liquid metal
flowing into the portion will be blocked. In addition,
because of the obvious occurrences of the turbulence
and gas entrapment induced by the bottom gating sys-
tem, the solubility of gas is reduced significantly close to
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CAST METALS RESEARCH  7

the mould wall, forming the casting porosity. Figure 6(b)
shows the simulated result for the prediction of shrink-
age porosity in the casting with the slot gate system. It
indicates that shrinkage porosity aggregates in the top
riser, the runner and slag tank. Thus, the slitting gate sys-
tem successfully avoids the existence of the shrinkage
porosity in the casting.
4. Experimental
4.1. Complicated core fabrication
Taking the complexity of the core configuration, Profile
Failure-based Rapid Prototyping (PFRP) is utilized to fab-
ricate the sand core. In this study, PFRP machine (Zhu
Jie CAD/CAM RP Tester) is used for fabrication of the
complex structure cores. Figure 7 illustrates the process
schematic of the PFRP fabricating the complex-shaped
core of the gearbox casting. The coated sand begins in
powder form with the particle size of approximately
Downloaded by [University of Exeter] at 19:45 01 October 2017
The complex-shaped core is obtained by stripping waste
materials (see Figure 7(d)). The effective laser power and
scanning velocity are key factors which greatly influence
the final core quality. Moreover, the layer thickness can
be adapted depending upon the desired geometry to
achieve both high fabrication quality and short build
time. The process parameters are listed in Table 3. It is
worth noting that the alcohol-based flame retardant
coating is used to prevent the casting-mould/core reac-
tions and oxidative combustion of the magnesium alloy
melt. Figure 8 presents the desired complicated core and
sand moulds of the accessory gearbox casting. Figure
8(c) and (d) present the sand moulds of vertical slitting
gate system and bottom gating system, respectively.
Take the production efficiency and large-size moulds
into account, numerical control engraving technology
is adopted to manufacture the sand moulds.
4.2. Casting experiments

250 μm. PFRP uses a mobile laser head to form the 2D

It is a common way to validate the simulation results by
cross section of the desired 3D geometry. The laser beam
experiments. The alloy used in this study has a nominal
is capable of emitting photons to a focal point located
composition of Mg-4.2Zn-1.7Ce-0.8Zr-0.2Ca-0.2Sr (wt.%).
on a substrate and the collision of these photons with
Casting parameters used in the experiments are the same
the surface produce enough heat to form a failure profile
as those in the simulation. The alloys were melted in an
in each layer. The parting surfaces are built up in this
electrical resistance furnace using a mild steel crucible
layer-by-layer process (see Figure 7(b)). Then the coated
and protected by 2 wt.% RJ-2 flux additions. The mould
sand solidified under heating conditions (see Figure 7(c)).
cavity was made of resin bonded sand and preheated
to 200 °C. The pouring temperature was designed to be
Table 3. Process parameters used in the PFRP machine. 730 °C. In order to measure the temperature history, a
Effective laser power Scanning velocity Layer thickness K-type thermocouple was placed in the sprue base where
(W) (mm s−1) (mm)
the coordinate of the temperature measuring point was
100 300 0.30
(–202, 90, –105), and the temperature-time curve was

Figure 8. The desired complicated core and sand moulds of the gearbox casting: (a) the overall size of the complex-shaped core;
(b) the core coated by the alcohol-based flame retardant coating; (c) the mould of vertical slitting gate system without painting the
alcohol-based coating; (d) the mould of bottom gating system with painting the alcohol-based coating.

Figure 9. Photographs of the casting with vertical slitting gate system.

 8  Y. FU ET AL.
Figure 10. Photographs of the casting porosity defect of the casting with bottom gating system.
Downloaded by [University of Exeter] at 19:45 01 October 2017
Figure 11. (a) The schematic diagram of the temperature measuring point and (b) the comparison of the predicted and measured
cooling curves.
acquired by using a paperless recorder. Figure 9 presents
the photographs of the accessory gearbox casting with
the optimised gating system. It indicates that the cast-
ing with vertical slitting gate system is structural inte-
grated and no porosity defect is observed in the casting.
However, for the casting with bottom gating system, the
porosity defect regions are found in the casting, as circled
in Figure 10. It is found that the casting defect of porosity
lies on the edge of the casting, which corresponds to
the simulation results of shrinkage porosity. The casting
porosities are formed due to the escape of dissolved and
wrapped gases during the mould filling, following the
significant drop of solubility in the solidification process
of casting procedure. It is concluded that the porosity
defects are eliminated effectively by the optimised gat-
ing system under the same casting conditions.
Figure 11 shows the comparison of temperature-time
curves between the experimental measurement and the
simulation result. From Figure 11, it can be concluded
that the numerical prediction agrees well with the exper-
iment. The temperature keeps approximately 618 °C at
the early stage of solidification as a result of the libera-
tion of latent heat of freezing during the phase trans-
formation. As the solidification proceeds, the reduction
in liberated latent heat results in the rapid decrease of
temperature. However, it can be found that the meas-
ured result is smaller than that calculated from ProCAST
simulation. It may be caused by the assumption and
boundary conditions in this work.
5. Conclusions
(1) ProCAST was used to optimise the gating sys-
tem of a thin-wall magnesium alloy casting.
Bottom gating system and vertical slitting gate
system were modelled and simulated numeri-
cally. Mg-4.2Zn-1.7Ce-0.8Zr-0.2Ca-0.2Sr (wt.%)
alloy was selected as the cast alloy. Thermo-
physical properties of the magnesium alloy
were calculated by JMatPro.
(2) Compared with the bottom gating system,
the optimised gating system made the filling
process more stable, which was beneficial to
eliminate the entrapment of gas and oxides.
The simulations of shrinkage porosity indi-
cated that the vertical slitting gate system con-
tributed to reduce shrinkage porosity in the

casting effectively and was considered as the
optimised design.
(3) Complicate sand cores were fabricated by PFRP
method and sand moulds were produced by
the numerical control engraving technology.
The time-temperature characteristic of the
casting experiment illustrated that the simula-
tion results matched the experimental results
very well. Sound accessory gearbox casting
was obtained based on the optimised gating
system.
Highlights
(1) The complex-shaped sand core is fabricated
by the Profile Failure-based Rapid Prototyping
(PFRP) technology in this paper.
(2) The vertical slitting gating system of the acces-
sory gearbox casting is proposed based on the
Downloaded by [University of Exeter] at 19:45 01 October 2017
mould filling and solidification simulation.
(3) Integrated thin-wall accessory gearbox casting
is obtained based on the optimised gating sys-
tem and the PFRP-manufactured core.
(4) Mg-4.2Zn-1.7Ce-0.8Zr-0.2Ca-0.2Sr (wt.%) alloy
is selected for the casting alloy due to its excel-
lent fluidity and flame retardancy.
Nomenclature
V  velocity vector
Fg  gravity force vector
P  pressure
c  specific heat
Q  an internal power source
T  temperature
t  time
u, v, w velocity components
∇  divergence
∇2  laplace operator
Greek symbols
λ thermal conductivity
ν kinematic viscosity
ρ density
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Key Research and
Development Program of China [grant number 2016YFB0701204];
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CAST METALS RESEARCH  9
the National High-tech Research and Development Program of
China [grant number 2015AA042502].
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