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

Abstract

The preparation process of complex thin-wall magnesium alloy castings based on numerical simulation and rapid prototyping core making method is presented in this paper. The filling and solidification processes were simulated using ProCAST to optimise the gating system. The simulation results showed that compared with bottom gating system, vertical slitting gating system equipped with a slot ingate and slag tank contributed to provide a stable filling pattern and eliminate casting porosity. Additionally, Profile Failure-based Rapid Prototyping (PFRP) technology was adopted to obtain sand cores due to its complexity. Mg-4.2Zn-1.7Ce-0.8Zr-0.2Ca-0.2Sr (wt.%) alloy was selected as the alloy material because of the excellent fluidity and flame retardancy. JMatPro was utilized to calculate thermo-physical properties of the alloy to ensure the simulation validity. Casting experiments were conducted, indicating that numerical 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.

Keywords:

• Numerical simulation
• thin-wall magnesium alloy casting
• gating system
• profile failure-based rapid prototyping (PFRP) technology
• gravity casting
• Mg-Zn-Ce-Zr-Ca-Sr alloy