Effect of Multi-gating System on Solidification of Molten Metals in Spur Gear Casting: A Simulation Approach

Casting process is widely used in preparing spur gear blanks or in complete production of gears because of its less defect at the end of the process. The importance of the gating system in casting process lies in its ability to channel molten metal into the mould cavity within the allowable period at a controlled parameter. The study therefore investigated the effect of increasing the gating system on the solidification of molten metal during gear cast to determine the time of solidification and casting productivity. Both the top and bottom gating system were modelled in solidwork, while the simulation was done using Pro-Cast. The result revealed that for the case of two runner gating system, both the top and bottom gating system took 9.195 and 9.320 s respectively, to fill the mould cavity. However, the three-runner gating system took a shorter filling time with top gating system having 8.824 s filling time and the bottom gating system took about 9.655 s to fill the mould cavity. The outcome showed that the top gating system tends to discharge molten metal faster than the bottom gating system as seen from the filling time of both the two and the three-gating system

A computational framework towards energy efficient casting processes

Casting is one of the most widely used, challenging and energy intensive manufacturing processes. Due to the complex engineering problems associated with casting, foundry engineers are mainly concerned with the quality of the final casting component. Consequently, energy efficiency is often disregarded and huge amounts of energy are wasted in favor of high quality casting parts. In this paper, a novel computational framework for the constrained minimization of the pouring temperature is presented and applied on the Constrained Rapid Induction Melting Single Shot Up-Casting (CRIMSON) process. Minimizing the value of the pouring temperature can lead to significant energy savings during the melting and holding processes as well as to higher yield rate due to the resulting reduction of the solidification time. Moreover, a multi-objective optimization component has been integrated into our scheme to assist decision makers with estimating the trade-off between process parameters.</p

Energy-efficient casting processes

Metal casting is one of the most energy-intensive manufacturing processes that have developed along the evolution of mankind. Although nowadays its scientific and technological aspects are well established, in the context of future resource scarcity and environmental pollution pressures, new studies appear necessary to describe the “foundry of the future” where energy and material efficiency are of great importance to guarantee competitiveness alongside environmental protection. In this chapter, both managerial and technical good practices aimed at implementing energy-efficient casting processes are presented alongside a few examples. The “Small is Beautiful” philosophy is presented as a systematic approach towards energy resilient manufacturing and, potentially, sustainability in the long term. Thus, this chapter aims at providing an overview of the different aspects comprising the state of the art in the industry and examples of research themes in academia about energy-efficient casting processes

Numerical process modelling and simulation of campbell running systems designs

In the 1980s, John Campbell developed a new casting process from his research in the industry over a number of years. The Cosworth process was for delivering very high-quality aluminium components for the automotive industry. The process was very capital-intensive and not very flexible for smaller companies delivering lower volumes of product. However, the principles behind the process have been taken and used to develop a range of different so-called running systems to help improve the quality of castings. Some of these designs have been published in ‘Castings Handbook’ [1] authored by Campbell. This paper presents the results of an MSc project during which a number of the proposed designs from Campbell’s Mini Casting Handbook [2] for certain features in running systems have been modelled using a validated CFD software