The Effect of Air Gap between Casting and Water-Cooled Mold on Interface Heat Transfer Coefficient

Water-cooled casting is a new casting process. It allows even large castings to solidify rapidly, thereby reducing segregation and grain refinement. It has drawn the attention of both domestic and foreign businesses. Heat transfer at the casting/water-cooled mold interface controls the cooling rate of the casting. During the solidification process, because of the contraction that takes place during casting, an air gap can form between the casting and the water-cooled mold. This air gap hinders heat transfer between the casting and the mold, leading to a rapid drop in the interface heat transfer coefficient (IHTC). The purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of the width of the air gap and the duration of gap formation on IHTC. During the experiment, the casting temperature curve was determined in the presence of the interface air gap, and then inverse calculation was performed using PROCAST software to determine the IHTC of casting/water-cooled mold. Results showed that, after the formation of the air gap, IHTC first exhibited a rapid decrease, followed by an increase and then another decrease; IHTC was found to decrease as gap width increased and as the duration of gap formation increased.

Numerical Simulation and Process Optimization of Investment Casting of the Blades for High Nb Containing TiAl Alloy

Low pressure turbine blades (LPT) made by investment casting from intermetallic titanium aluminide alloys for aero-engine applications have about 50% weight saving compared with that from nickel-based counterparts. Investment casting process of the low pressure turbine blades for high Nb containing TiAl alloy was simulated by Procast. The height of the blade is about 125mm and the thinnest part of it is about 6mm. Compositions of the cast and mould are Ti-45.5Al-8Nb (at %) and Zircon sand, respectively. The simulation result showed that there were porosities appearing in the centre of blades, which may be due to the formation of isolated liquid. In this work, the simulation, analysis and comparison of different casting ways were carried out. The result showed that compared with top and bottom casting, blades made by side casting have less porosity defects. And then the casting temperature, casting velocity, mould preheating temperature and interface heat transfer coefficient were optimized based on orthogonal design. The result also indicated that the influence of process parameters to porosity defects of blades can be ranked from strong to weak as follow: casting temperature>shell mould preheating temperature>casting velocity>interface heat transfer coefficient. When the casting temperature was 1700, the mould preheating temperature was 500, the casting velocity was 0.5 m·s-1, and the interface heat transfer coefficient was 500 W·m-2·K-1, the volume of porosity defects was the smallest.