Effect of Mould Cavity Thickness on Cooling Rate of Aluminium with Temperature Dependent Properties

Abstract

Solidification study of aluminium with temperature dependent thermal properties has been conducted. Effect of the mould cavity wall thickness on the cooling rate has been the target in the present work. Casting is earliest metal shaping process and has been used in many industries and households. Solidification during casting is the most crucial event which has been studied by the many researchers because it affects the quality of the casting part made. Wide amount of literature study has also been conducted in the present paper. Molten metal thermophysical physical properties have been considered to be temperature dependent and temperature independent. Cooling rate and temperature distribution solidification have been studied by many researchers experimentally or numerically. Mechanical APDL has been used to simulate the present problem. 2-D casting of pure aluminium has been done with green sand as a mould cavity material. Heat conduction equation in 2-D form governs the problem in the casting part. At the mould cavity outer walls convective boundary conditions have been adopted.