CFD ANALYSIS OF CENTRIFUGAL CASTING PROCESS TO INVESTIGATE RELATION BETWEEN SOLIDIFICATION RATE AND CASTING WEAR

Centrifugal casting process is an example of complex and transient heat transfer process. In Centrifugal casting process the flow of heat occurs in the form of conductance and convection. The quality of parts produced with process depends upon the effectiveness of solidification process and magnitude of shear stresses induced in die. Centrifugal casting process operates through process parameters such as preheating temperature of die, pouring temperature of molten metal, pouring rate, coolant temperature, convective heat transfer & rotational speed of die. The flow of coolant over the die during solidification process evaluates the rate of solidification. Insufficient flow of coolant over the die results in forming unstable cooling rates for solidification of casting. Installation of variable cooling rates during solidification process generates thermal stresses in the casting. The stress induced during solidification shows its influence on the casting in form of wear. Therefore, it is important to control and keep uniformity in the flow of coolant during the solidification process to minimize thermal stresses induced centrifugal casting. Hence, it is necessary to carry out the CFD analysis of centrifugal casting process by using the tool of finite element analysis (FEA). This article explains fluid flow analysis of centrifugal casting process carried out with ANSYS CFX Workbench software. Centrifugal casting process parameters are used as key source to investigate the influence of coolant flow on the casting wear.