THE USE OF CHILLS AS A MEANS OF ITVFLCEXCING SOLIDIFICATIOS IN LOST FOAM CAST .4LUMINU!M ALLOY .

4356

bu
Ronald James Simpson

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Faculty of Engineering Science

Submitted in partial fulfilrnenr of the requirements for the drgree of Master of Engineering Science

Faculp of Graduate Studies The University of Western Ontario London. Ontario Marc h. 1997

Cf Ronald James Simpson 1997

1+1

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Abstract
Cylindrical lost foam castings were poured using aluminurn alIo>.-4356. Chills of threc thicknesses and threr materials werr anached to the bottoms of the patterns to enhancc solidification. Chills reducrd the local solidification time ivithin al1 castings. This effkct \vas most pronounced nrar the chill. As chi11 volurnstric hrat capacity increased. local solidification time decreassd. >lodified mold saturation ratio takss into account thermal properties of the chill material. the mold medium. and the molten metal. thus snahling a more sophisticatrd description of mold heat rstraction capacity. There Las a good rrlationship bctween modified rnold saturation ratio and local solidification time for the 25 mm diameter castings. Increases in modified mold saturation ratio led to corresponding decrrnses in local solidification time for al1 diameters. The graphite chills appcartrd to change thtir heat extraction abilities wirh repeated pours. which contributcd to variations in results. Initial cooling rates increased u-itli the application of chilis. This efkct \vas confinrd to locations adjacent to rhr chill. Directional solidification occurred in al l castings. even if a chill \vas not usrd. The use of a chi11 enhanced directionai solidification.

Srcondary dendriir arm spacing varird with local solidification according to:

DAS = 10.81ti"J. This relationship is in close agreement with thosr deyelopcd by

other researchers. Thcre \vas a linear relationship between chi11 volumetric heat capacir? and dendrite a m spacing for the 38 mm and 51 mm diameter castings. Therc \vas an initial linsar relationship and thrn the dendrite arm spacing reachsd a constant minimum value of approsirnately 30 microns for the 1 5 mm diarneter castings. Increases in modifisd mold saturation ratio led to dscrrases in dendrite arm spacing. Despite the assumption of one-diniensional heat transfrr. the modified mold saturation ratio provided a good indication of the effecr of the chi11 and mold on secondan dendrite a m spacing. L'se of chills reducrd the silicon particle size. The size \vas significantly rrduced as local solidification timc decreassd. The morphology rrmainsd acicular throughout the range of solidification times studied.

Keywords: lost foam casting. chills. aluminurn. A 3 6 . dendrite arm spacing. silicon.
mold saturation ratio. voiumetric heat capacity

Acknowledgments
Professor C. Ravindran has been an inspiration to me. He has given me the ability to sre joy in the face of hardships. The joy of studying aluminum casting has becn irnpmed to me through him. 1 would like to thank him for this gift. Professor J. D. Brown of the Unkersity of Western Ontario \vas instrumental in facilitating man!- things for me. Wirhout his help. I would not have been able to cornpletc a degree at the Universin. of Western Ontario \\.hile residing in Toronto.

M y wife. Jennifer. and m> son. Jacob. deserve the most thanks. The? have persevercd
through my long absences. I love them dreply and could not have dons this u-ithout
thrir help.
M y family have al1 been supportive. Thank you for rncouraging me to c a m on to

completion. Finally. 1 u.ould likc to thank mj- Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ. 1 could not have complsted this nithout His help. To Him be glory. both now and forewr.

Table of Contents
Page

Certificate of E x mination ..................................................................................... Abstract ................................................................................................................

11

..

111

...

Achowledgments .................................................................................................. v
Table of Contents ..................................................................................................
vi

List of Tables .................................... . . . .................................................................. i s List of Fi,oures ...................................................................................................... Komenclature ........................................................................................................ Chapter 1 - Introduction ......................................................................................... Chaptsr 2 - Literature Revis\\ ................................................................................ 2.1 Lost Foam Casting .....................................................................................
x .. 1

si1

3
3

2.2 Solidification in Metais and Alloys ........................................................... 4

2.2.1 Solidification of Pure Metals ..........................................................
4

2.2.1 .1 Frerzing Trniperature of a Pure Meta1.................................. 5 2.2.1.2 Hon~ogeneous Nucleation ................................................... 6

2.2.1 -3 Hetzrogeneous Nucleation ..................................................

........................................ 10 2.2.1 .1Interface Stabilit) in Purs Me<als

2 - 2 1.4. 1 Hear Extraction Through tlie Solid ........................... 1 1

2.1.1.1.2 Hrat Estraction Through the L-iquid ......................... I I 2.1.1 Alloy Solidification ....................................................................... 14 2.2.3 Secondary Dendrite A m Spacing ................................................. 16
2.2.4 Eutectic Solidification ................................................................... 16

2.3 Solidification in Castings ........................................................................ 18

2.3.1 Chill Zone......................................................................................

18

2.3.2 Columnar Zone .............................................................................. 21

3 . .J~Equiaxed Zone .............................................................................. 21
7

2.3.4 Local Solidification Time ......................................................... 21

3.3.5 Total Solidification Time ................................................................

-73

2.3.6 Chvorinov's Rule .......................... . . ......................................... 23 2.3 .7 Solidification Shrinkage .............................................................. 23

2.4 Chills .......................................................................................................

24

2.4.1 Estemal Chills.............................................................................. 24 2 - 4 2 Heat Diffusivity and Volumrtric Heat Capacity ........................... 24

'< 2.1.3 Chill Material and Size ................................................................. -2.4.4 Dendrite A m Spacing and Chills ..................................... . . . .
. 22

2.5 Mold Saturation Ratio ............................................................................. 26

2.5.1 Stages of Solidification and Their Hcat Transfer Modes .............. 28

2.6 Ahminu m-Silicon Alloys ....................................................................... 28

2.6.1 A356 ....................... . . . . .......... . . ................................... 28

2.6.2 Silicon hilorphology ........................................................................ 29

2.7 Thermal Anaiysis ......................... . . . . ........................................................ 30

3.8 Sand Control ............................................................................................

Chapter 3 . Esprrimental Procrdurr ....................................................................

31
1q

23
32
7 q

3.1 Apparatus and Material .......................................................................... 3 . l . 1 Patterns ...................................... .. .................................................

.................... 3.1 2 Pattern Coating and Drying ...................................... .

22
T T

-72

................ 2s 3.1.3 Chills ....................................................................... . .

..

--

3.2 Sand Control ...................... . . .................................................................. 33 3.2. l Loss on Ignition ............................................................................. 35

J.J
1 1

Meliing Procedure ...................................................................................

36

3 .4 Temperature Measurement ...................................................................... 37

3.5 Thermal .4nalysis .....................................................................................

37

3.5.1 Digital Filtering ............................................................................. 38

3.5.1 . 1 Savitzky-Golay Filtering ................................................... 39

3.5.1.2 First Derkative CalcuIations .............................................. 39

3.5.2 Total Solidification Time .............................................................. 40

vii

3.5.3 Local Solidification Time ............................................................. 42

3.5.4 Mold Saturation Ratio ................................................................... 42

3.6 Metallocraphy ..........................................................................................47
L

3.6.1 Secondary Dendrite A m Spacing Measurement .......................... 47 Chapter 4 - Results and Discussion .................................................................... 4.1 Thermal Analysis ..................................................................................... 4.1.1 Basics ..................................

50
50
50

.....................................................

4.1.2 Local Solidification Tirne ............................................................. 5 4 4.1.3. Volumctric Heat Capacity .......................... . . . .......................... 58 4.1.4 Modified MoId Saturation Ratio ................................................... 61
. . . ............................................. 65 4.1 .5 Cooling Rates ............................... .
4.1.6 Directional Solidification ..............................................................

67

4.2 Microstructurs .......................... . . ........................................................ 74 4.2.1 Secondary Dendrite .A r m Spacing ................................................. 71

4.2.2 Chill Volumetric Heat Capacity ............. ,..,...,

........................... 80

4.2.3 Modified blold Saturation Ratio ................................................... 84

....................................................................... 85 4.2.4 Silicon Morpholog>4.3 blold Saturation Ratio .............................................................................. 89 Chaptrr 5 - Conclusions .....................................................................................
96

Chaptsr 6 - Suggestions for Funhrr U'ork ........................................................... 99 References .......................................................................................................... 101

Appendis I : Chill Volumetric Heat Capacity and blold Saturation Ratio .......... 105 Appendis 2: Local Solidification Tims ............................................................... 108 Vita ....................................................................................................................111

List of Tables
Page.

Batch ChrmicaI Analysis of A356 Alloy ................................................. 37 -4ssumed Thermal Properties of Materials .................................................... 47 k1ndifie.d Mold Saturation Ratio Parameters ........................................... 47 Chill L'olumetnc Heai Capacity and blold Saturation Ratio: .................... 105 25 mm Diameter Casting ............................ . . . . Chill Volumetric Heat Capacity and blold Saturation Ratio: 38 mm Diameter Casting . 106 Chill Volumetric Heat Capacity and blold Saturation Ratio: 50 mm Diameter Casting ............................................................. 1 07 25 mm Diameter Casting ............................................................................ 108 3 3 mm Diameter Casting .............................................................................. 109 50 mm Diamrtrr Casting .............................................................................. 1 10

List of Figures
Page

Free Energy versus Temperature for a Pure bletal .......................................... 7 Free Energy Associated with Homogeneous Nucleation of a Sphere of Radius . r ..................................................................................... 9 Solid Liquid Interface with Heat Estraction Through the Solid ................... 13 Solid Liquid Interface with Heat Extraction Through the Liquid ................. 13 Schematic Diagrarn of Constitutional Undercooling .................................... 15 Schematic Equilibrium Al-Si Phase Diagram .......................... ..... . 17 Sketch of Ingot Structure ............................................................................... 19 Columnar Grain Growth .................. ......., ................................................ 20 Typical Temperature and First Derivative C u n c s ........................................ 3 1 ................................. 31 Casting Geometry: Chill Sizes ............................ . . . Typical Temperature and First Derivative Cunves ........................................ I l Schematic Diagram of a Lost Foarn Casting ............................................ 43 Schematic Diagram of a No-Chi11 Lost Foarn Casting ................................. 46 Schematic Representation of Dendrite A m Spacing Mrasurement ............. 49 First Derivative of Tsmperature with Respect to Time ................................. 51 C3 Typical Cooling Curie and Its First Derivative ............................................ Local Solidification Time versus Distance from ChiIl Surface . . 35 mm Diameter Casting .............................................................. 2 3 Local Solidification Time versus Distance from Chill Surface 5 1 mm Diameter Casting .............................................................. 56 Local Solidification Tirne versus Chill Volumetric Heat Capacity 25 mm Diameter Casting .............................................................. 59 Local Solidification Time versus Chi11 Volumetric Hrat Capacit). 5 1 mm Diameter Casting .................. ....... ........................ 60 Local Solidification Time versus blodified hlold Saturation Ratio 25 mm Diameter Casting .............................................................. 63 Local Solidification Time versus M o d i k d Mold Saturation Ratio 5 1 mm Diameter Casting .............................................................. 63 Initial Cooling Rate (650 to 6 3 C ) ................................................................ 66 Initial Cooling Rate versus Distance from Bottom of 25 mm Diameter Casting .......................................................... 68 Initiai Cooling Rate w n u s Distance from Bottom of 5 1 mm Diameter Casting ....................................................... 69 Start and End of Freezing in 25 mm Diameter Casting: Typical Data .......... 70 Movernent of Solidus U'avefronts: 25 mm Diarneter Castings: Typical Data ...................................... 71 Movement of Solidus Wa~efronts: 38 mm Diameter Castings: Typical Data ..................................... 72 Movement of Solidus Wavefronts:

30 . 3 1. 3
3 . 3 3 .
36 .

37 .

38.
j9 .
10.

41 . 42 . 43 .

14.

5 l mm Diameter Castings: Typical Data ...................................... 73 Typical Microstructure at 25 mm Above Chill Surface ................................ 75 Typical Microstructure at 100 mm Above Chill Surface .............................. 76 Secondary Dendrite Am Spacing versus Distance Above Chi11 Surface 25 mm Diameter Casting .............................................................. 77 Secondary Dendrite Arm Spacin versus Local Solidification Time ............ 78 Cornparison of S e c o n d e Dendrite A m Spacing Relationships ................. 81 Secondary Dendrite A m Spacing yersus Chill Volumetric Heat Capacity 38 mm Diameter Casting ........... . . .............................................. 82 Secondary Dendnte .4rm Spacing \.ersus Chill Volumetric Heat Capacity 5 1 mm Diameter Casting .............................................................. 83 Secondary Dendrite A m Spacing versus Chill Volumetric Heat Capacity 25 mm Diarneter Casting .............................................................. 85 Seconda- Dendrite .4r m Spacing versus Modified Mold Saturation Ratio 25 mm Diameter Casting .............................................................. 86 Secondary Dendrite . A m Spacing versus Modified Mold Saturation Ratio .................................. 87 38 rnm Diameter Casting .......................... . , Secondary Dendrite Arm Spacing wrsus hlodified Mold Saturation Ratio 5 1 mm Diametsr Casting .............................................................. 88 Typical Microstructure: Local Solidification Time = 38 s ............................ 90 Typical Microstructure: Local Solidification Tirne = 167 s .......................... 91 Typical blicrostructure: Local Solidification Time = 790 s .......................... 92 Variation of Silicon Particle Sizo with Local Solidification Time ................ 93

Nomenclature
- -

~onstait Cross-sectional area of cylindrical

-p

I
. -

1 casting
Cc- Cch- Cmold

1
g1

GL.Gs h, Hi.- Hs k

k ~ks .
kc. kch- knio~d L LOI m

S I
3.1 SR

n nu. n~

P
r r
D

si-.s s
SA SG t t.

Soiid-liquid interfacial surface area Specific heat of cast metal. chill. mold Alloy composition Secondary dendrite arm spacing Interna1 energ). of a phase Point in a series of equally spacsd 1 data Linear combination of data point and neighbouring points Gibbs free e n e r g of liquid. solid InrerfaciaI heat transfer coefficient Enthalpy of liquid. solid Constant Thermal conductivity of liquid. solid Thermal conducrivity of cast metal, chill. mold Latent heat. length of dendrite 1 Loss on Ignition 1 Constant Casting modulus factor .Mold saturation ratio Number of dendrite arms d o n g intercept lins Number of points considcred preceding and following the present data point Pressure Heat transfer rate in s direction Radius Critical radius Entropy of liquid. solid Surface area Savitzky-Golay filtering algorithm Local soiidifrcation tirne Temperature

sii

' T,

Teh

1 h e r a g e temperature of chi11
Temperature where s i e a d ~ siate heat transfer dominates Temperature at interface between chi11 and mold Liquidus remperature Equilibrium freezing temperature Preheat temperature o t*mold Superheat temperature of cast metal Ambient temperature Temperatures on either sids o f the coatinr! interface
-

T,
TL

Tm T, Ts To Ti. T2
-

iTc\/'ch-

VmvlJ

VHC V!SA XcXct,.

n m ,

Li)
1.

- .

pi- Pch-

Pni,)i~

1 1 1 Primary dendrite a m spacing 1 1 Density of casr mrtal. chill. mold ]

niold volume ofcast ATal. ihi~l. Volumetric heat capacit). Ratio of \.olun~e to surface area Length of casting. chill. mold Masimurn undrrcooling Specific interfacial frse energ\Relative rrror of mran linear
--

Chapter 1 - Introduction
Lost foam casting is a full mold process which uses polystyrene foam as the mold fillsr unlike conventional empty mold casting processrs. -4 typical lost foam casting pattern is prepared by injection molding expandablr polystyenc foam to the required shapr. The resulting pattern is dipped in a refractory s l u m and subsequently dried. The d p pattem is placed in a casting flask tvhich is thcn fillsd with unbonded dry silica sand. The flask is i-ibrated to compact the sand. Molten mrtal is then poured into the casting wherc it melts and displaces the poiystyrrne foam. The refractory coating has an insulatinf rffect and contributes to low thermal gradients and slo\\- solidification

[Il.

Furthemore. the insulating effect improves the fluidit~. of

the casting alIo). [2]. Houever. the polystyrene degradation is highly endothrrmic and produces strep thermal gradients due to the chilling effect [j]. Mechanical properties of a casting can be relatcd to the microstructure ivhich includcs grain size and secondap. dendrite a m spacing. Improvrd mechrinical properties can hs achie\.sd through conrrol of cooling rate. local solidification timc and temperature gradients within a casting. .4luminum alloy .A356 solidifies over a wide range of temperatures (615C to 5 5 5 C )

and therrfore solidification is of the mushy type. It is difficult to maintain sterp

thermal gradients during solidification due to the alloy's good thermal conducti\-itl.

and high latent heat per volume solidified. Therefore. porosity defects are frequently
encountered. Since A356 is difficult to feed. the key to achieving sound castings is to increase the rate of solidification and at the same time maintain steep temperaturc

gradients. This can be achie~ed through the application of chills at specific locations

within the casting. Metal inserts or chills can be placed within a casting to increase the freezing rate of the Liquid metal at sprcific points [4] Ruhlandt et al [ 5 ] patenred a bore chi11 for lost foam casting in 1987. while Sanders [fi] patented a vacuum bore chi11 for lost foam casting in 1990. Borh of these patents wsre for placing a chill body within a cylindrical bore of

a pattern. Ryntz et al [7] patented a chill-enhanccd lost foam casting process in 1985.
The thermal properties of the chi11 are critical in dcterminin its effectiveness.
Parameters such as votumetric hsat capacity [8] and mold saturation ratio [9] determine the total amount of heat which can be estractsd by a chill. The hsat diffusivity. kpc. describes the ability of the mold to absorb heat at a certain rate [ 1 O]. This research \vas undertaken with a view to gain an undsrstanding of the mutual relationships of parameters such as local solidification time. chi11 volumstric hsat capacity. mold saturation ratio. dendrite a m spacings and silicon morpholog), in lost foam casting frorn an application-orisnted perspsctiw.

Chapter 2 - Literature Review

2.1 Lost Foam Casting
Lost foam casting or expendable pattem casting begins with the molding of the foam pattern [ I l ] . Espandable polystyrene is delivered as unespanded beads. The beads are heated to approsimately 100C (212F) to espand from a drnsih of 600 g 1" (38 lb. fi") to the final density thar is typically 27.1 to 25.6 g 1-' ( 1 . 1 to 1.6 Ib. fi-') for alurninurn casting production

[ P l . Expansion

is stopped when the drsired demit)- is reachrd.

This initial espansion is c a k d prerspansion.

The preespanded beads are blown into the ernpty cavity of the tool in the molding
machine. Once filling is completed. steam is passed through the tool. The brads solien. espand and fuse together. The tool cavity is pressurized and strarn is blown into the tool cavity afier the beads have fused. This causes the estemal surface of the pattern to
fuse.

The foam pattern is coolcd rapidiy by sprayinp it with wvarsr. The pattern is t h r n
removed frorn the tool.

The foam espands initially afrsr removal. and graduaIl? s h r i n h . Most shrinkagct
occurs sithin 30 days. However. the pattern can be stabilized by anificially aping
ii

in

an oven at 60 to 70C ( 1 30 to 160F) for 2 to 18 hours.

The foam patterns are assembled using hot-melt glue. The glue must hold the pattern together. not cause casting defects. and seal the joint against prnetration of the refractory coating applied afier gluing. Gluing ma). be done manuall>-or automatically.

The assernbled pattem is coated with a refractory coating. which prevents the molten
metal from penetrating or eroding awaj. the sand. It allows the foam degradation products to escape into the sand. Coatings also provide dimensional stability during compaction. The coating ma? be applied by dipping. spraying or pouring. It is normally supplied as a slum. of a refractory in a water-based carrier. Afier applying the coating to the pattern. it is dried. This is usually donc by Ieaving the pattem in a circulating-air o w n

from 2 to 1 O hours at 40 to 60C ( 100 to I1OF ).

Afirr drying. the coated pattern is placed in a tlask and surroundrd by unbonded snnd.

The mold is subsequently compacted by using a table typicall>. vibrated usin, rnotors ~vitheccrntnc counter-rotating weights. This compaction enablrs sand to fil1 al1 intemal cavities and pro\-ides support during pouring. Afier compaction of the sand. moltcn mrtal is pourrd into the tlnsk. The moltcn mrtal rnelts and vaporizes the polystyrene pattern and replaces it. thus formin,ct a nex-netshape casting. The pouring rate must be as rapid as possible to avoid niold collapsc.

2.2 Solidification in Metals and Alloys

2.2.1 Solidification of Pure Metals

Pure liquid metals solidifi at one equilibrium temperature. Hou-ewr. esperimcntall?.. they are often obsened to undercool. whersby freezing occurs at a temperature belouequilibrium [ l j ] . If sufficient liquid metal is available. the temperature of the remaining liquid ail1 rise to the normal freezing temperature afier the onsrt of

solidification. This temperature rise. known as recalescence. is due to the reirase of latent heat.

2.2.1.1 Freezing Temperature of a Pure Metal

The intemal energy of iiquid mrtal is higher than that of soiid metal. and thus heat is released as the metal changes state to the solid phase. This releascd heat is called the latent heat of fusion. L. The frezing temperature is the temperature at which the free rnergirs of the iiquid and the soiid are rqual.

G L =GS

Equation 1

whcre 0,-is the Gibbs free energ- of the liquid and Gs is the Gibbs free energ? of the solid. The free energy is defined as: Equation 2
whrrr E is the interna1 energy of the phase. T is the absolutc temperature. P is the

pressure. V is the volume and S is the entropy. The rnthalpy of a phase. H. is drtinsd as: Equation 3

Equation 4 At the freezing temperature. Tm.the liquid free energy equais the solid phase frrr energy.

Substituting equation 1 into equation 1 yields. Equation 5

Equation 6

Equation 7

Equation 8

2.2.1.2 Homogeneous Nucleation Sucleation is the formation of a separate phase with a distinct boundap separatins it from its surroundings. If the energ)- required to form a stable nucleus is the sams at an!. point in the molten metal. thsn the nuclration is rermed homogenrous nuclcation
[14]. -41 the freezing temperature of a pure metal. the free energ' of the liyuid and

solid phases are rqual. Belon- the rneiting temprrature. the solid phase is stable since it

has the lowcst free enrrgy. At temprraturr T i in Figure 1. there is a frrc e n e r g decrease from Gi to G2 when a i-olume of liquid mrtal solidifies. -41T:. the frrs nsrgy decrease. from Gj to
G4.

is greater than at TI. Therefore. the larger the degres of

undercooling. the larger the drking force for solidification. If liquid metal is undercooled to a temperature Tl. then the free e n e r g will decrease

from G to G2given by [ 1 51:

Equation 9

Equation 10

The frrr energ). change. AG. from G I to Gz is therefore. Equation 1 i

Below Tm. AGv is positive. Therefore. there is a negativr contribution to the free energ? due to the creation of a solid. and a positive contribution due to the creation of an interface between the solid and liquid. For a spherr of radius r. the free enr-!. becomes:

Equation 12

The value of AGi, increases initiall!. for small \.alues of r. as shown in Figure 2. and
reachrs a masimum. This initial increase of energ). is dus to the influence of the solidliquid interface [Ml. The value of r at the maximum is denotrd b~ r*. the critical radi~is for nucleation. If r < r*. then the systrm can lower its free energ- by retuming to iiir liquid state [17]. Above the critical radius. r'. the free e n e r g decreases if the solid g r o w . Unstable clusters of solid particles with radii less than r' are knoun as embryos. while stable particles if-ith radii above r' are callrd nuclei.

2.2.1.3 Heterogeneous Nucteation

If sites esist within the moltrn metal where the energ- required to f o m a stable
nucleus is lower than the surroundhg region. then the nucleation is termed

1O

heterogeneous nuclration [ 141. When a metal solidities in contact with the mold wall or with an insoluble impurity. the liquid metal must a e t the substrate surface. The contact angle between the depositrd solid metal and the suhstrate is related to the frre energ? of the interface. For small contact angles. the substratr-metal interface has a low surface energ!. and nucleation wiil occur at a low value of undercooling. The arnount of nucleation controls the final structure of the solidified rnetal. Each
C

main or crystal grows tiom a single nucleus and the number of nuclei in the melt

determines the final grain s i x . The first grains to nucleate will continue to g r o u unril the?- impingr on othcr crystals. Not al1 nuclri becorne a c t i ~ xat the samr time. This mal be dur to temperatiirc variations in the liquid metal or the fact that not al1 nuclei operatc at the esact sams temperature. If the cooling rate is Ion-. thn the grains ma' becomr large becausr f m nuclei are ~ i w n the opportunit!. to opcratr. I f the cooling rate is high. then a large number of nucici are allowed to act as nucleation sites and the resulting grain sizr will

be smaller.

2.2.1.4 Interface Stability in Pure Metals

The temperature gradients at the solid-liquid interface determine whether hcat is estracted through the solid or through the liquid [18].

2.2.1.4.1 Heat Extraction Through the Solid Figure 3 shows a solid-liquid interface moving with a velocity. v. The heat flow into the solid is rqual to the heat flow from the liquid plus the latrni heat generated at the interface.

Equation 13

LI-hers k

thermal conductivity. dTslds = temperature gradient in the solid. d T L d s=

temperature gradient in the liquid. and L, = the latent heat of fusion releasrd prr unir volume. Let us assume that a disturbance occurs on the interface due to a local increase in the \-elocity. \.. If u.r ignore the increase in the free energ- due to cuneature. h o w n as capillarity or the Gibbs-Thomson effcct. thsn a - e can assume that the interface The temperature gradient in the liquid adjacent to trmpcraturs remains constant at Tm. the disturhance will increase. whilr the solid gradient will decreass. More heat will
flou- into the disturbance. whik less will flow away from it. This \vil1 cause the

disturbancr to remelt. Thrrrfore. a planar interface is stable \\.hm hsat t1ou.s frnm superhsatrd liquid into a solid. This form of growh is temied columnar g o u t h .

2.2.1.4.2 Heat Extraction Through the Liquid In the case of heat estraction through the liquid as shown in Figure 1 . a disturbancr
forming at the interface causes the negative temperature gradient in the liquid to become more negative. The increased rate of heat rstraction allows the disturboncr io go\\. funher. Therefore. a solid-liquid interface through which heat is estracted into supercooled liquid is unstable. This form of growth is termed equiased growth.

1 l

1 Heat -1

; .

Figure 3 : Solid Liquid Interface with Heat Extraction Throuyh the Solid [From Porter, D A . and Easterling, K .E. Phase Transformations in Metcl-nd Allpys-, Chapman Rc Hall, New York, New York, (IW?), p. 2031

1.1

Heat flow into liquid metal c m occur if solid nucleates on an impunty in the melt. The undercooling requircd for nuclration allows solid to grow in10 a supercooled liquid. The solid \vil1 initiaII>. form a sphere. However. instabilities on the interface will lsad to arms growinp from the surface. .As thrse arms pro\\.. the). \vil1 also become unstable.

and second-

~ will s f o m from the primary arms. Terti-

arms may e w n grow

out from the seconda? arms. This branchrd structure is h o w n as a dendrite. from the Greek for trec. -'dendros." Dendrite a m s are obsened to grow in certain crystallographic directions. In cubic crytals the growth axes are along the [O011 directions [19]. Dendrites only form in equiased growh of pure metals.

2.2.2 .411oy Sofidification Cnlike pure metais. dendrites f o m in both columnar gronth and equiased growh of
alloys [?O].

The drking force for dcndritic grouth in alloys is constitutional

undercooling. This occurs due to solute rejection at the dendrite tip.

Figure 5(a) s h o w a schcmatic portion of an equilibrium phase diagram. If solid foms

at temperature

T .then the liquid will bc rnriched

in solutc. If diffusion or rnising do

not occur rapidly. thsn the solutr concentration will be high ar the solid-Iiquici interface and decrrase esponentially to the liquid composition ana)- from the interface

[ 2 1] as shown in Figure 5(h).

The liquidus trmperature varies with composition as shown schematically in Figure
j(c). If the temperature gradient lies as shown by the line marked *'gradient." thcn a region of undercooling. indicatrd by crosshatching. esists. Existence of this region is

16

determined by solute rejection as well as thermal effecrs. This --constitutional" force for solidification in alloys [2]. undercooling is the dri~ing

2 . 2 . 3 Seconda- Dendrite 4rm Spacing

The final secondary dendrite arm spacing. which is defined as the spacing between adjacent dendrite branches in a full>.solidified casting. is coarsrr than the spacing that forrned initially. Some m s become unsrahle later in solidikation and remslt. whik others continue ro grow [3]. This process. called dendrite coarsening. occurs as dendrite arms form initially near the tip of the dendrite. Thesr arms have small spacing. The dendrite reduces its surface energy bu decreasing its surface area. This causes small arms to go into solution \\-hile large a m s grou. at thcir espense [?-Il. The final DAS is determinrd by the contact time between ihe secondary branches and
. is the local solidification tirne. t,; which is the timr rrquircd the liquid metal [ 3 ]This

for a fissd point in the casting to pass from the tip to the root of a yrowing dendrite.

2.2.4 Eutectic SoIidification hlany alloys solidif? in a eutecric mannrr. Figure 6 shows a portion of the aluminum-silicon phase diagrarn. a typical eutectic alloy sysrem [Xi]. Considcr an alloy with a composition of 7 percent silicon at point j on the phase diagrarn. Freezing starts when the temperature of the liquid metal crosses the liquidus lins at approsimatdy 613 C. The composition of the liquid changes with decreasing temperature by mo\*ingalong the liquidus line toward the eutectic iwariant point. The composition of the solid phase moves dong the solidus linr toward 1.65 percent silicon. When the liquid metal temperature reaches the eutectic temperature. the liquid

Weight % Silicon

Figure 6:Schematic Equilibrium AI-Si Phase Dlagram [From Metals 1 landbook, 8th edition, volume 8, Metallography, Structures and Phase Iliagrarns, Americnn Society For Metals, Metals Park, Ohio, p. 2631

18

rcaches the eutectic composition. The final structure will be a solid solution of primanaluminum with a composition of 1.63 weight percent aluminum and the eutectic solid consisting of 1.65 weight percent aluminum and 99.83 weight percent P.

2.3 Solidification in Castings

In pure metals. spherical cn-stals form and rapidly become unstable leading to
dendritic growth [27]. In a cutcctic alloy. a second phase nucleates on the initial phase. Eutectic grains continue to grow in a sphrrical form. In castings. both dendritic and eutsctic forrns ofren grow together. general. there are thres different zones found within a casting: a chi11 zone.
3

lumnar zone and an equiaxd zone. as shown in Figure 7

2 . 3 . 1 Chili Zone When liquid metal touches the mold wall. it is cooled belou- the liquidus temperature
[28]. Solid nuclei f o m on the mold wall and grow into the liquid mstnl as shown in Figure 8. As the mold hrats up. some of these soliditkd crystals nia! break otl' thr' mold u-all. If rhs pouring trmperature is low. thsn the crystals ma)- br ahle to continiir
L

erowing. This ~ v i l lproduce an entirel!. equiased structure. If the pouring temperature

is high. thrn the liquid rnrtal at the center of the casting \vil1 remain above the liquidus

temperature for a long time. Therefore. most of the crystals wil 1 mrlt aftrr brraking
l prou- to away from the mold wall. Crystals that remain close to the mo Id ~ a l will

form the chili zone.

2 . 3 . 2 Columnar Zone Crystals in the chi11 zone will start to grow dsndritically in certain crystailographic
directions. Thoss cnstals with a growth direction perpsndicular to the mold wall will grow rnost rapidly and will outgrow less favorably onented crystals. This leads to the formation of columnar grains as shoun in Figure 8. Each columnar grain contains

many p r i m e - dendrite arms. As the grain diameter increases. new prima?. dendrite
arms appear as tenia- arms outgrow their neighhors.

2.3.3 Equiased Zone The center of the casting contains randomly orisnted equiaxed grains. Detachsd
dendrite side arnls are thought to act as serds for thrsc grains. If the temperature increascs. the dendrite arms ma! melt at the root where the? are thinnesr. and detach. If

m completely mclts. it can act as a seed for a the temperature decreascs hefore the a
neu- dendrite. The detached dendrite branches grmv indrpsndently from the colurnnar dendrites [29]. .An equiased grain structure foms sincr heat is estracied radiall!. through the undcrcoolsd melt. In equiased crystal grouth. the crytals are the hourst part of the system. and therefore the me11 must be undrrcooled for equiased CF-stals to fom.

2.3.4 Local Solidification Time Local solidification time is defined as the timr required for a fised location to cool

from the liquidus trmperature to the solidus temperature [30]. The as-cast
microstructure of an alloy c m be directly correlatrd to its freezing rate by means of the secondar-y dendrite a m spacings. Howvarth and Mondolfo [3 1 1 deterrnined the general

relationship between second-.

dendrite arm spacing and cooling rate. Bardes and

Flemings [ E l revised this in terms of the local solidification time: D M = a tf where.

D.4S a and m
tf

=
=

secondary dendrite arm spacing constants for the alloy systern local solidification time

Barn berger. blinkoff. and Stupel 1331 published a relationship for dendrite arm spacing
in AX6:

Equation 14

a-here u is a constant dependent on solute concentration. and tf is the local solidification time in seconds. Raising the solutr content produces a finrr microstructure for equivalent solidification tims. Radhahishna. Seshan and Ssshadri [XI published a relationship with an alternative form for dendrite arm spacing in 356 aliiminum:

D.4S = 45.07 log t - 55.84 f

Equation 15

where D.\S is secondary dendrite arm spacing and tr is again local solidification timr in seconds.

2.3.5 Total Solidification Time G o ~[ T3 ~ ]defines total solidification time a s t h e time inten-al between the stan of
solidification and the end of solidification as determined from the first derivative of the cooling cunfe. He States that the total solidification time is not a typical themial

anaiysis parameter used for correlation of an) particular trearment of propen?. However. it is readily available from first derivative data.

2.3.6 Chvorinov's Rule Chvorinov [36] related solidification time to the ratio of a casting's volume to surface
area. also knoun as the casting modulus. For simple shapes. local solidification tirne is proportional to casting modulus squared.

Equation 16.

where 11. is local solidification time seconds. k is a constant. V is the casting volume in
cm'. and A is the surface area of the casting in cm2. Shivkumar [37] has stated that

lost foam casting depans from Chvorinov's rule for various sand rnold materials.

2.3.7 Solidification Shrinkage Most alloys contract upon solidification. U'hrn the solidifi-ing metal has a distinct
border between the solid and liquid phases. this contraction is compcnsatsd hy a decrease in the liquid metal surface Ievel. In long freezing range alloys. the contraction throughout the casting. areas are dispersed. as solidification procerds simultaneousl~Such allo).s are prone to widespread porosity. As long as the solid portions are suspended within the liquid metal. the level of the liquid c m fa11 to accommodate the volumetric contraction. This is the mass feeding stage. Eventually. the grains intersect and form a continuous structure. Movement of liquid metal is resrricted to intergranular or dendritic channels. 4 s solidification proceeds.

24
isolated portions o f liquid solidifi independently and cannot be fed estemally. This

may result in shnnkage defects in the form of scanered porosity.

2.4 Chills
Chills are usrd to extract heat from a casting to produce a fine microstructure. to impro\.e mrtal flow in a cornples pattern. or to enhance localizrd or directional solidification. Growth occurs in a direction parallel to and oppositr to the hrat flux direction [ X I .This impacts grain sizr and secondary dendrite arm spacing and hrnce. the mechanical properties of .41-Si alloy [39].

The ductility of A36-T6 is inverscly proportional

to

secondary dendrite a m spacing.

An increase in ultimate tensile strength with increasing solidification rare c m b s

attributed to a reduction in dendrite a m spacing as well as small s r and more finely distrihuted porosity. a decreasc in the number and size of intermetal lic constitucnts and a finrr cutrctic microstructure. Cltimatr tensile suength and fatigue propenies both increase with decreasing D . G in sand cast AI-79h Si-Mg [JO].

2.4.1 Esternal Chills

Estemal chills are insrrts placrd in the mold to increase the freczing rate of rhc metal. Their sizr is determined by the cooling requirements. Steep thermal gradients are established which promotr directional solidification. The incidence of rnacro and micro porosity is reduced.

2.42 Heat Diffusivity and Volumetric Heat Capacity

The ability of a material to absorb heat from molten metal has been described b). its
heat diffusivity. p . c

. k. where

p is the density. c is the specific heat and k is the

thermal conductivity of the rnatenal [8]. This is not to be confused with thermal diffusivity k - c-l . $. Instead. it is a parameter u-hich is obtained when one solves the case of unidirectional solidification of a rnetal against an infinite mold. The heat diffusivity descnbes the matenal when it is infinitelu thick. When cast iron or graphite is used. the full chi11ing potential of the material is not utilized. The cooling rate of a limited thickness chi11 is reducsd since it becomes saturated with heat. The mount of heat capable of being absorbed is described by the volumetric heat capacity of the material defincd as VHC = p - c . V. whrre V is the volume of the material. and p and c are as described previously [-I1 1. Rao and Panchanathan [ J I ] showed that a casting is insensitive to whether it is chilled by steel. graphite or coppsr. if the volumetric heat capacity is taken inro account.

2 . 4 . 3 Chill Material and Suc Huang. Lodhia and B s m . [G] studied the effectivencss of aluminurn. copprr and cast
iron chi11 materials during the solidification of pure aluminurn. Thcy obsen-sd that the chi11 s i x does not have a strong effect on solidification at the bsginniny of solidification. but does have a large effect aher a period of time. regardless of chill material. Cast iron ivas found to be more effective than aluminum or copper for a small chill. Hou-ever. the cast iron became lrss effective than the copper as chill sizr increased. .4t the largest chi11 size. the cast iron Kas the least effective chi11 matcrial.

The copper chill was ali~ays more effective than the aluminum chill.

2.4.4 Dendrite Arm Spacing and Chills

Radhakrishna and Seshan [14]studied the use of chills as a means of improving soundness in aluminum alloy castings. They investigated cylindrical aluminum

26

castings. Chill volumetric heat capacity. ViS.4 ratio (volume of the chill - surface arsa of the chill contributing to heat transfer) and Modulus Factor. M (V/'S.A,,,,nc V/S.A,h,ii)were related to second-

dendrite a m spacing for various chi11 thichesses

and casting diameters. Increasing the VHC reduced the dendrite a m spacing.

Similarly. chills with large VlSA values resulted in fine dendrite a m spacings.

2.5 Mold Saturation Ratio

h h l d saturation ratio (MSR) [45] is defincd as the ratio of the heat to bs absorbed tiy the chillhnold assembly subsequent to its saturation. to the hsat to be releascd by the molten metal. It can be ussd to esplain the effectiveness of various chi11 materials.

MSR \vas originall~developed to drscribs the chillinp effectivrness of thin-walled

invsstmrrnt molds. It is a dimensionless parameter that includes mosr of the thermal proprniss of the cast metal. chi11 and mold. One of the assumptions of MSR is stcdy state hrat transfer. The chi11 is no longer hraring up when sready state is achieved. At this point the chill matrrial has ahsorbed

ihr arnount of heat u-hich it is capable of holding. Whsn strady statc hsat transfsr
occurs. the chi11 is said to be saturatsd u-ith h m .

MSR =

V r n o ~ d molci m o l

k e 1
-Tp

Equation 17.

where. VmOId = volume of the mold [m3]. p,,,~, specific heat of the mold material. Te
=

density of the mold [kg m " ] . c,,,l~=

temperature where steady heat transfrr

= volume

dominates [Cl. T, = mold preheat temperature [Cl. V,

o f the casting [m3]. p,

density of the cast rnetal [kg m " ] . assumed equal in liquid and solid statcs. cc

specific heat of the cast metal [J kg-'

c"]. assumed equal in the liquid and solid statcs.

T,

superheat temperature of the liquid metal (Cl. and H = the latent heat of

solidification of the cast metal [J kg-']. The value of T, cannot be found in the literature. Consequently. Huang. Lodhia and

Bem. [16]replaced T, ivith T,. the eutectic temperature. in the denominator and with
in the numerator. average temperatures. TChand Tmold.

.4ssuming one-dimensionai heat transfer. the temperature at the interface betwesn the chili and the mold. T,. can be calculated using a specifird temperature boundnry condition. The average temperature within the chill. Tsh. is thcn taksn as the average of

T, and T,. u-hile TmOld is caicuiatcd as the average of T,, and T,.
Huang. Lodhia and B e m . also accounted for the effrct of thermal conducti\-ity of the chi11 material xith a modified mold saturation ratio.

Equation 19

2.5.1 Stages of Soiidifkation and Their Heat Transfer .Modes

There are two stages of solidification in a mold. which operate with rwo different heat transfer modes. The first stage occurs before the chi11 material adjacent to the cast metal becornes saturated. During this stage, different chill materials and sizes h a w similar effects if their MSRs are similar. The chi11 absorbs heat rapidly at this stage.

The heat transfer is deprndent on the chi11 size in the second stage. For small chills.
heat absorption continues until the chi11 is saturatrd. Chills become more effecrive as

MSR increases. Large chills c m remove heat rapidly if their thermal conductivity is
high. As the modifkd MSR. (Equation 19). increasrs. chi11 effectivrnrss increasrs.

2.6 Aluminum-Silicon Alloys

Aluminum-silicon alloys are widcly used in aerospace and automotive applications. A356 is an XI-Si-Mg alloy containing 7.0/8 Si. <0.204~1 Cu. 0.290 Fe. and
<O.lO.O

Zn.

A 3 6 is highly fluid in the molten state due to the presence of silicon. It is weldaL?k

and offrrs good resistance to hot cracking and good pressure tightness. 1t is ussd in aircrati structures. and engine controls and othttr applications. \\-hue high strrngtti castings are required [4 71.

2.6.1 A356 Aluminum alloy A356 solidifies over a widr range of temperatures (6 15C to 555C)
1481 and thrrefore solidification is of the rnushy type. It is difficult to maintain strcp

thermal gradients during solidification due to the alloy's good thermal conductivity and

high latent heat per volume solidified. ~ h e r i f o r e .porosity drfects are frequentl!.
sound casting encountered [49]. Since A356 is difficult to fesd. the key to a c h i e ~ i n g

29

is to increase the rate of solidification and at the sarne time maintain steep temperature
gradients. This c m be achieved by placing chills at specific locations within the casting. which also promotes directional solidification. helping to eliminate shnnkage porosity defects.

2.6.2 Silicon MorphologThe morphology of silicon particles is important in dtermining the mechanical
propertis of aluminum-silicon alloys. Large acicular and intrrconnected plates in the unmodified statr occur at low cooling ratrs. These plates acl as crack initiators 131. Secondary dendrite a m spacing controls the size and distribution of intermetallic particles within the casting. -4 reduced secondat). dendrite arm spacing reducss

The size and distribution of secondan. phase particles in the inrerdendritic region [50].
the silicon phase. the intermetallic phases. and inclusions contribute to determining the fracture toughness of 356 alloy [jl 1. .4 finrr silicon structure improves ductilit? and toughness [ 5 21. Small amounts of chernical modifiers such as strontium (Sr). antimon!. (Sb). sodium
(Na). or calcium (Ca) can bring about marlird changes in the morpholog!. of silicon.

The silicon morphology changes from large plates to a fine. apparcntly globular

1. morpholog) [ S
A fibrous silicon morphology can also be obtained at high cooling ratrs. The structure
appears to be identical to a chemically modified rnorphology [NI. Hou-e~er. it is just a
vec- fine form of unmodi fied eutectic caused by rapid solidification. This fibrous form

of silicon minimizes stress concentrations and improves ductility

[j].

2.7 Thermal Analysis

Thermal analysis consists of measunng the temperature of a metal as it solidifies

[SI.

This c m be accomplished through the use of a microcornputer. an analog to digital converter and suitable software. The resultant temperature cun-e will Vary drpending on the phases of the alIo). produced during solidification. As phases form. the cooling rate \vil1 change as latent heat is released. The derivatit.e. dT!dt. of the temperature versus time cun-e yields more useful

information about phase formations in the alloy. than the cun-r itself [ 5 6 ] . A point of infleciion appears as a peak on the derkative cun-e. representing the formation of a phase. The derivative seneesto magnifi slope changes in the temperature versus time c u n c This allows identification of subtle changes in solidification that rnight not be readily apparent from the Ianer.

The cooling rate within the casting would slowly decrease from the initial cooling raie
as the temperature drcreasrd if no crytallization occurred. This bassline coolin,(7 rate is govemed esclusi\*ei~by heat trans fer characteristics of the s y s m . The cool in- rare diverges from the baseline cooling rate when nucleation of aluminum grains occurs. The releasr of laient leads to a decrease in cooling rate. Further reactions lead to othrr changes in the cooling rate. Upon complet ion of solidification. the derivati~necun-e retums to the baseline value. At this point. the first derivative minimum. Tenekedjiev. Mulazimoglu. Closset and Gmzleski [57] state that several reactions ma>curie

passes a local

occur simultaneously at high cooling rates. thus obscuring inflrction points on the

31

cooling curves. Furthemore. it is possible for the aluminum-silicon eutectic to become merged with other posteutectic reactions in aluminum alloy A356. This will lengthen the overall eutectic reaction time. Tyical cooiing Cumes and their denvatives are available in published literature [%]. Figure 9 shows a typical cooiing cun-e and its first derkative.

2.8 Sand Controi

The ideal sand for lost foam casting should have a rounded grain structure. a narrou sieve distribution. a consistent AFS grain finrness nurnber. adrquate prrmeability for the particular metal which is being cast. a Ion- clay content. a low moisture content. ~ loss on ignition [ 5 9 ] . The loss on ignition (LOI) test is used by and a l o consistenr

man' foundries as a msans of drtermining the amount of hydrocarbons in the sand. An

LOI brtween 0.05 and O.lOO/o is an acceptable value.

Chapter 3 - Experimental Procedure

3.1 Apparatus and Material
3.1.1 Patterns Cylindrical patterns Ij8.75 mm (6.25 in.) high were constructed from espandable
poiystyene foam blocks as s h o m in Figure 10. A series of cylinders 3 1.75 mm ( 1.25

in.) thick werr cut from a foam block using a hot \vire cutter and a circular templatc.
Five such cylinders wers glusd together u-ith a hot melt adhesiw to form the tinal
pattern 158.75 mm (6.25 in) in height. One set of castings consistrd of cylindrrs 25.4

mm ( 1 .O in.) in diameter. anothsr \vas 38.1 mm ( 1.5 in.) in diameter. lvhile a third set
\vas 50.8 mm (2.0 in.) in diameter. Most castings were repeated thrce times.

3.1.2 Pattern Coating and Drying

The rrfractop coating usrd for thess csprrimcnts \vas Thiem Pink Styrokote 145.3

PM. This is a low pennrabilit!- rcfractory with high insulating quolitiss. The high
insulation characteristics reducr h m transfer from the liquid mctal to the eurrounding mold sand thus increasing fluidity. which is hrlpful in aluminum casting (601. The

slum. Las stored in a 600 litrr (160 gallon) plastic tank with a cornpressrd air
recirculation pump. The espanded polystyrnr foam pattems with attached chills wsre dipped in the refractory s l u m . and agitated for one minute. The pattern was placcd in a temperature controllrd drying oven that used two variable specd fans to circulate the air. The temprrature in the ovrn u-as maintained at 54 C (130 F). The pattern \vas initially suspended from a triple beam balance and the mass was recorded as the

u
09
O

35
refractory coating dried. thus establishing a standard practice for drying. Patterns u-ere left to d e for approsimately 8 hours.

3.1.3 Chills Chills were machined from cylindrical bar stock. They were tumed on a laths to
reduce them to 25. 38. and 51 mm diameters. Four chill thicknesses were used: no chill (0.0 mm). 12.7 m m (0.5 in.) thick. 25.4 mm ( 1 -0 in.) thick. and 50.8 mm ( 2.0 in. ) thick. while three chi11 maierials were used: copper. graphite and AIS1 1 137 steel. The face of the chi11 adjacent to the molten metal [vas ground on a bclt sander with 120 frit sandpaper to produce a common surface roughness on al1 chills. The chills were attached to the bottom of the polystyene pattern using a hot-meit adhesivs by placing the chi11 on an electric hot plate. A small amount of hot mclt adhesive u s applied to one chi11 surface and the pattern \vas pressed ont0 the chill. The assen~bly \vas then removed from the heating elsrnent and allowed to cool to room temperature.

3.2 Sand Control

3.2.1 Loss on ignition

The loss on ignition of the sand was calculated using the procedurs outlinrd in the
AFS Foundp Sand Handbook [61]. Threr samplss o f approsimately 600 grams of
sand were removed from the sand silo while fillin- the casting flasli. Samplss wrre

tahen from the bottom. middle and top of !he sand silo. These were reduced to
approsimately 3 15 gram using a sample splitter. The three samples were then mised together and split to obtain a sample of approsimately 5 grams. The sand was placed in

36

a porcclain crucible. heated to approsirnately 875C ( 161OF) for one hour. coolrd in a dessicator and then weighed. Loss in M'eight s 100 = 941 Loss on Ignition at 875C ( i 6 1OF) Weight of Samplr

Equation 20

3.3 Melting Procedure

Aluminum alloy -4356 with composition as sho\\ri in Table 1. \vas mrlted in an electric resistancc fumace set to 900C ( 1652F). -4 Chromel-.Alurne1 thermocouplr \vas placed insidr the crucible to monitor the metal temperature as it \vas heated. The thermocouplr \vas attached to a chan recorder which recorded the mctal temperature as a function of tirne. The metal \vas heated to 850C ( 1562F) and held for 10 minutes
at this temperature. Afisr removing the crucible from the fumace. the metai u-as

allowed to cool until it reached 800C. Slag and dross were skimmed from the surface of the molten mstal during this time. Degassing of the mrlt \vas not undenaken. mainl'. for tu-O reasons. The u n h o u - n effcct of degassing on nuclsation of solid grains
kvas a\-oidsd. Also. the use of hcsachlorosthanr degassing tablcts reduced tlie metal

temperature so rapidly that control of pouring temperature \vas not practical. The use of an electric resistance fumace eliminated the possibility of hydrogen pickup froni the flame of a pas-fired fumace. The molten mrtal \vas poured into the mold at 800C
( I472F)

and the casting \ a s allowed to cool to room temperature bforr rernoval from

the flask.

Table 1: Batch Chernical Analysis of A356 .4lloy

Bi

Cr
.Oj %

.O1
O/o

Cu Fe -11 -5
%
%

Mg .12
% %

Mn
.16
% .

Ni -03
O

Pb
.O1
O,,'

Si 1 Ti 7.04 .11 O10 Y 0

Zn
.l%

'4 l

Rest

3.4 Temperature Measurement

Type K (Chromel-Alumel) thermocouples were placd at specific locations within the pattern to record the metal temperature. Eighr thrnnocouples were calibrated simultaneousl~ first at lOOC in boiling a-ater and srcondly at JOOC against the trmpcrature insidr an aluminum block placed inside an electric resistance fumacr. Thrrmocouples which did not v a q by more than 1C from the mean temperature at
4OOC w r e c o ~ e c t e d to a data acquisition system interfaced with a personal computcr

which recorded temperatures within the solidi fying casting at a frequency of approsimately I O readings prr second.

3.5 Thermal Analysis

The first derivati\.e of the temperature versus tirne c u n x was calculated usin,'7 a central diffrrnce routine. Derivatiws can be calculatcd using a central diffrrencr. a fonvard di fference or a bac kward difference algorithm. A central di fference approach is the most accurate since it takes into account an?. changes which occur in the function before or afier the point under consideration. The resulting cunpeshowed large oscillations. This is because differentiation tends to ampli@ errors in a function [ 6 2 ] .The temperature data was acquired rapidly. However. the precision of the data acquisition system u a s *O. 1F. Thus. the temprnture c u n - r

38 eshibited step-like behavior. The subsrquent differrntiation amplified the steps and therefore. trends in the first derivative c u n e wers difficult to identifj-.

3.5.1 Digital Filtering

The undtrlying premise of digital smoothing is that one is measuring a variable that is
slowly changing and that is owrlaid with a random noisy signal. An arithmetic average

of neighboring points will reduce the noise levrl without signiticant biasing of the
result [63].
-4 digital tilter is applied ro a series of equrilly spaced data. f,

= f(t,).where t,

tu

il.

A is a constant sample spacing. and i = ....-2. -1. 0. 1. 2. ... The simplest filtrr replaces

each data point. f,. with a linear combination. g,. of itself and a fised n u m b r r of neighboring points.

Equation 2 1

n~ is the nurnbcr of points to the right of the point undrr considerrition. i.r. thosr
points which occur latrr in time. ivhile ni is the numbcr of points to the Ieli. i.r. those points which precede the currrnt point. Moving window averaging is the simplest averaging procedure. For a value of ni = n ~ .

each g, is calculated as the average of the data points from f,..~ to fi-,R. This
corresponds to Equation 21. with c, = l!(nL + n~ + 1). Moving windou. averaging tends to reduce the height of a feaiure and increase its width. It does however. presen-r

the area under a peak. and its position in time. These are its zeroth moment and first

39

moment respectively. The width of the feature is not presened. This is its second moment.

3.5.1.1 Savitziq-Golay Filtering The Savitzky-Golay filtering procedure attempts to presene higher moments. This is
done by replacing the underlying function by a polynomial. net by a constant as in moving windou- averaging. For each point. fi. a least-squares polynomial is fit to al1 ni

- n~ + 1 points. g, is set to the value of the poly~omialat that point. At the nest point.
f,-1-

a new lrast squares polynornial is calcularrd.

Calculation of the coefficients of the polynomial are necrssary for only one point. the point under consideration. .A set of intcgers can be derived which prolides a n-eigliting function. Using thsse numbers. the leasr squares polynomial can be rvaluatrd [6-l]. Similarly. the first derivative can be calculatrd using the samr approach. The resultiny first derkatiw is significantly smooiher than one \\.hich is unfiltrred. The order of the smoothing poly~ornialaffects the results. -4 higher ordrr pol>.nornial prrsen-es featurc hsights and widths but dors less srnoothinp on broad fratures. Typical values for polynomial order are second and fourth order [ 6 5 ] .The numbsr n f points included u-ithin the loop affects the grade of smoothiny. The mrthod removes al1 features below a selected size. but the shape of the cun-e is unaffected above this resolution [ 6 6 ] .

3.5.1.2 First Derivatil-eCalculations Conventional thermal analysis involves recording metal temperature as a function of
time. Such "cooling curves" indicate a phase transformation only if a large amount of

latent heat is associated with the phase transformation [ 6 7 ] . Diffrrentiated thermal analysis requires calculation of the first derivative of temperature with respect to time. This indicates phase transformations which have onl!. a small amount of latent heat associated with them.

The Sa\.itzky-Golay algorithm assumes that the spacing between successive data
points is unit?. Hence. to evaluate the derivatke at a point. f,. each term of dT \vas divided by an arithrnetic average of the differencr in time betwcsn successive temperature values.
.As the molten rnetal reachrs a thermocouplr. a sudden increasc in trmpsrature occurs.

This is reflected in a sudden change in the dT.'dt c u n e as shown in Figure 1 1 . The

filtering procedure attempts to rem0L.e such sudden changes and. in doing so. inrroducss oscillations. Therefore. calculation of the first derivative began ar the maximum temperature reached by the molten metal.

The filtsred first deriwti\.e cun-e was used to detenninr the point in rime at which the
alloy was complstel~solid. This uas dsterrnined as the local minimum on the derivative curie brfore it retumed to the baseline esponcntial cooling rate (sec Section 1.7). The temperature which occurred at this time was taken to be the temperature at which solidification \vas cornpiete.

3.5.2 Total Solidification Time

The total solidification time was calculated as the time difference between the onset of recalescence at the liquidus and the point in time when the final local minimum \vas reached on the first derivative.

3.5.3 Local Solidification Time In this research. the focus was placed on local solidification time which \vas defincd as
the timr differencc betwren the onset of recalescence at the liquidus and the equilibrium solidus temperature (557C). Local solidification time was chosen as the prima- parameter to smdy because of the wralth of data availahle for cornparison from other research. F e ~ v data esist for relationships using total solidification time.

3.5.4 Mold Saturation Ratio

Figure 12 shows a schematic of a lost foarn casting. The effect of the refractory coating \vas modelled b>. an interfacial hrar transfer coefficient. h,. Shivkumar [68] has estirnaied the value of this coefficient to be 120 U-rn-' K". His value \vas obtained through trial and error to obtain the best agreement betwern rsperimental and sirnulatcd results. This value of h, u s assumsd to remain constant. drspite the transicnt nature of the complex phenomena occurring in the coatinp during the casting procrss. \{.hich cause h, to \-an-nith time. The outside mold temperature. T,,. \vas assumed to be constant. Thus. the strady-statr onc-dimensions1 heat transfer equatinn
\vas nritten as:

- 's Xch

T, - T ch

*mold

mold "

Equation II

where Ts is the saturation temperature [KI (the eutectic temperature \vas assumed here). Tchis the chi11 average temperature [KI. Xsh is the length of the chill [ml.kih is the chill thermal conducti~ity [W rn-' KI. A is the cross sectional area of the castinpchill assembly [m']. To is the ambient temperature. Ti. and T2 are the temperatures on

either side of the coating interface. h, is the interfacial heat transfer coefficient [W m-'

KI.

kmold

is the sand mold thermal conducti\+ity[ W m-' KI. Xmufd is the length of the

sand mold [ml. and q, is the heat t r a d e r rate in the s direction. From this equation. Ti and T2 can be calculatrd as:

h . + T k Y h + T k 1; T, = T ~ k c h X r n o ~ Id O c h d ch i o ch m o ~ d X h.+k k +k X h
krnold ch
1

Equation 23

ch mold

ch mold i

Equation 24

The chill temperature. Tsh \vas calculatrd as the arithmetic average of T, and Ti. and
the sand mold trmperaturr as the arithmrtic awrage o f T2 and T,]. the ambicnt air temperature.

Equarion 25

T mold

Equation 26

The modified mold saturation ratio. h4SR. \vas calcuIated as:

Equation 27

whrre. k,. kch and

are the thermal conductivities of the casr metal. chi11 and the

mold respectkel>-[W m*' KI]. Similad>-.for a casting with no chill. as shown in Figure 13.

4,

= ( T - T , ) ~ . . A=
S 1

(5 - TO 1 'rnold A
mold

Equation 28

T h.Xmold +O ' mold T, = s 1 i h.Y mold 'rnold

- -7

Equation 29

.As in rquation 26 for the chill condition.

Equation 30

Thus. for a no-chi11 condition. 41SR \vas rsprrssed as:

XISR =

'

niold mold 'rnold

rnold

P-mold - T~
J

Equation 3 I

k V p

Tlir thrmial propcinics which w r r : assumed for the various mold and chi11 materials
arc shoir-n in Table 2. \\-hile Table 3 s h o w the parameters usrd to calculate the

modified mold saturation ratios of the various castings.

Table 2: Assurned Thermal Properties of Materials 1691, 1701, 171 1 Material Copper Graphite Steel
A356

Thermal Conduct kit).. k [!A' m-' K-' ] 40 1

147 63 -9 151 -0.925 1 .O05 s 1O-'

Silica Sand

Density. p [kg m-'1 8933 1760 7833 2685 1539

Sprcific Heat. c [J kg" K*'] 385 1515

4 3

Prno~d

963 782 + 0.57 1 0.1 88 T,,~~"

Table 3: Modified Mold Saturation Ratio Parameters (72)

T,
Tt,

H
Tp
1

Xniibtc~

Xc

Eutectic Temperature 'vlold Outside Temperature Latent Heat Superheat Length of Mold Length of Casting

850K (577C) 2 9 X (:OC) 389 1073K ( 8 0 0 0 0.20 O. 15875

kJ kg-' m m

3.6 Metallography
Castings w r e sectioned vertically close to the thennocouple ocations. Standard metallographic sample preparation iechniqus were ussd. The poli shed samplrs werr etched u-ith KsIlsr's rcagent to enhance the microstructurs.

3.6.1 Seconda. Dendrite Arm Spacing Measurement Secondary dendrite arm spacing (DAS) uns measured on an Ornnimst Advantagr image analysis systcm in conjunction with a Lritz Metallus 3 microscops. The image analysis systrm was calibratcd at 5OS. 100X and 200X using a calibratsd micromrtsr stage. \hrhi1e using the image analyzer. the appropriate magnification was selected to match the microscope objective. The linear intrrcept method was used to rneasurc the dendrite arm spacing of at least 5 different dendrites at locations adjacent to the

48

thennocouple tip. Crepeau. Gokhale and Meyers [733 descrihe the lincar intercept method. Figure 14 shows a schematic dendrite. A linr along the center of a prima?, dendrite a m was measurrd. The number of secondary dendrite arms occupying this length \vas then counted. The srcondary dendrite a m spacing \vas dcfined as the lrngth of the prima-- a m divided by the number of spacrs brtween secondary arms.

Equation 32

ivhere n = number of secondary dendrite arms d o n g the interccpr line. The relative crror of the mean linear intercept mrthod \vas calculated for each dendrite
arm spacing mrasurement [74].

Equation 33

whcrr 0 = relative rrror of the mran linear intsrcspt mcasurcmcnt. and n = numher of' secondary dendrite arms occupying the Iengtli of the iniercept. This allo\ic.d
ri

~veightsdmran to be calculated for al1 the secondary dendrite a m spacin,(1s in s x h samplr.

Chapter 4 - Results and Discussion

4.1 Thermal Analysis
4.1.1 Basics

Figure 15 s h o w the first derivative of temperature with respect to tirne for a typical 25

mm diameter casting. The unfiltercd deriutive cshibits severr fluctuations. Thereforit.

it is difticult to use for analytical purposs. Clcarly. there is a local minimum in the

function near 250 seconds. Howxer. it is not possible to establish a distinct point in tirne at ~vhich this occurs.

The filtered deri\-ati\-e was calculated by using the Savitzky-Gola? tSG) filtering
algorithm (631 to calculate the tirst derivative. This produced a filtred first dsrimtivr (the noise was climinared from the derivative). It is plain that the local minimum occurs at 235 seconds. Teneiiedjiev. hlulazinioglu. Closset. and Gruzlcski [ 7 5 ] have obtainrd inflcction points and rection temperatures "b>- e y . " The' state that

smoothing rrsults in a shifi in the tirne scalr. Howx-er. moving windon averaging and

SG filtering presen.e the position of a feature in timr [ 6 5 ] .This is evidenl in Figiirr

15. ~vhere ws ses that the local minimum of the tiltered derivative coincides with the

apparent local minimum in rhr: raw first derivative data. Thus it is apparent that the use of the SavitzkyGolay algonthm for drtermining the points in timc when local niininin

and maxima occur in the derivative is esperimentally sound.

Figure 16 shows a typical cooling cun-e and its first derivative. The first derivative shows 2 regions: the liquidus arrest (a) and the rutectic arrest (b). Immediatel!. afier pouring. the initial cooling rate is ve- high until grains start to nucleate. At this point.

ilt ter eh First

Derivat ive

~ n b l t e r c First d Deriva11ve

1 O0

200

300

400

500

600

Time (s)
Figure 1 5: First Derivat ive o f Temperature Wit II Respect to T i m e (25 m m Diameter Casting - No Chill)

the cooling rate drcreasrs rapidly. As latent heat is relenssd. the temperature increases with an accompanying increase in the derivative (region (a)). If sufficient latent heat is released. the derivative will rise above zero. as the temperature starts to increasr. This increase begins at 46 ssconds in Figure 16. The maximum valus to which the temperature increasrs is the liquidus plateau. As the temperature increasr or recalescence ends. the derivatiw decreases and bccomrs nepatiw. In the second region ( b ) the derkative shows a sharp increasr tonard a peak ai approsimately 120 seconds. This corresponds to the eutrctic reaction. In this esample. Closset and Gruzlsski the eutrctic plateau occurs at 569C. Tenekedjisv. ~lulazimoglu.
[76] state that the main silicon forming eutectic reaction occurs at 567C (1052F) in

unrnodikd 356 allo)s Thus it is svidrnt rhat the temperature measurrmrnt for this sample \vas accurats to ivithin 2C.
If sutectic undcrcooling occurs. the derivative will incrrase above zero. -At

approslmately 2-10 seconds there is a minimum in the derixxiw cun-s. Atirr this point. the derivative c u n s continues in an esponsntial tom. This local mininillm < c ) corresponds to the point of final solidification. The differsncr in tirne brrtwen this point and the onsct of liquidus recalescence is the total solidification timr. In this research. the focus kvas on local solidification time, rather than total soliditication timc. Local solidification time \vas definrd as the time required for the alIo'. to cool from the liquidus to the equilibrium solidus temperature. It is also possible for posteutectic reactions to occur [76]. However. behaviour of these reactions is erratic. and they are not always obsened. as in this esarnple.

4.1.2 Local Solidification Time

Local solidification tirne is s h o ~ n at vanous locations within the casting in Figure 17 and in Figure 18. The no-chill condition had the highest solidification time. Usr of a chill reduced the local solidification rime at al1 locations within the castings. This effect \vas most pronounced near the chill. This was 1'-picai of casting procrsses in general. where the solidification time is small near the chi11 and its value increases with distance from the chill [77]. Figure 1 7 shows that the copper chi11 material had the mosr significant efkct on local solidification tirne. The \-olumrtric heat capacities for 12 mm thick chills of copprr. graphite and steel w r e calculated to be: 22.1 J K'. 17.1 J K" and 21.9 J K-' resprcti\*rly.This docs not csplain the significant difference brtu-een the copper chi11 and the corresponding steel one. Howsver. the calculated values of modified SISR for
copper. graphite and steel were: 0.25. 0.03 and 0.04 respectivl>. This r r \ - 4 s that the
heat estraction capacity of the coppcr chi11 should br an order of magnitude highrr

than that of the graphite and steel chills due to its high t h s m d conducrivity. The marked rrduction in local solidification tinie. r,. caussd by a 12 mm rhick coppcr chi11 is clsarl!. evident in Figurc 17.

The 50 mm thick chills do not eshibit a marked difference in behaviour due to the
different materials close to the chi11 location. It is proposrd that rach of the 50 mm thick chills has a sufficiently high heat estraction capacity to lower the local solidification time to a practical minimum value (see Section 4.22). The steel chi11 is seen to be the Ieast effective of the 50 mm thick chills. This is due to its lower

modified MSR than the equivalent copper or graphite chills.

Chill Thickness
A

+
0

No Chiil 12 mm Thick C o p p r Chill 25 mm Thick Copper Chill 50 mm Thick Copper Chill

12 mm Thick Graphite Chill
50 mm Thick Graphite Chill 12 mm Thick Steel Chill 50 mm Thick Steel Chill

Distance from Chill (mm) Figure 17: Local Solid~fication Time versus Distance roin Cliill Siirface, 25 mm Diarneter Casting

57

The 51 mm diarneter casting eshibited similar behaviour as s h o w in Figure 18. The

no-chi11 condition had the highest values of t,- as espected. The 50 mm thick copper chi11 produced the lou-est solidification time due to its high value of modified MSR. Hou-evcr. the 50 mm thick steel chi11 produced ~ a l u e s of tf which w r e lower than thosr produced by the equi\-alent graphite chill. Once again this agrres with the respective values of modifird MSR: coppsr = 1.00. graphite = 0.12. and steel = 0.16. \bile it kvas possible to esplain local solidification times using chills of various materials of the s a m r size using MSR and chi11 VHC values. it \vas not possible to drvelop a similar esplanation for different sizes of the samr chill material. Rspsatability \vas ofien difficult to achievs. Significant variations in local solidification timr occurred at locations adjacent to the chill. panicularly in the case of the graphite chill material. Variations of the order of 5090 w r r obscnrd. This is a significant enor. It Lias found that control of metal temperature throuehout the casting afrer completion of the initial filling stage \vas diftcult to obtain. This may he due to the rapid cooling rate of the rnoltcn metal in the crucible hefore pouring leading to inaccurate pouring trmperatures. The pouring temperature was controlled to within
jC (9F). .4 more likely source of rrror is the ablation of the foam itsrlf. The rnelting

and vaporisation of the foam is a comples process. The by-products must wick and
vent through the refractory coating into the surrounding sand. Thus. permeability of the coating is a critical parameter to control. The mass of applied coating \\.as measured and found to van. by less than 5%. However. it was not possible to control distribution of the coating over the surface of the casting. Thus. it is possible that

variations in coating thickness produced variations in perrneability which affectrd the initial metal flow rare and thus the initial temperature distribution uithin the casting. Other possible sources of error include the absorption of liquid styene b y r o d u c t s into the porous graphite chill. This could affect the thermal proprrtis of the chi11 material and thus influence the local solidification tirne.

The reuse of sand may influence its thermal properties. As the sand is reused. liquid
styrene by-products rnay condense on the grains. This could alter the thermal properties of the sand. The grains tend to stick topeiher in clusters whrn coatsd in condensed by-products. Howe\-sr. these clusters break up again afier passing through the sand screening system.

4.1.3 Volumetric Heat Capacity

Local solidification time . tf. is s h o w as a funciion of chi11 volumetric heat capacity. p c V. in Figure 19 and in Figure 20. .As thc \dumrtric heat capacity of the chill increassd. the local solidification time decreased for both the 25 mm and the 5 1 mm diameter castings. Since volunietric heat capacit! rrpresrnts the amount of hcat which a material is capable of holding. an incrrase in \.olumetric heat capacity represcnts an increase in the amount of heat which the chill is capable of estracting bcforr brcoming saturated. An increase in chi11 volurnetric heat capacity \vil1 lead to a subsrqurnt drcrease in secondary dendrite arm spacinp with a corresponding increase in mechanical properties as Radhakrishna and Srshan [78] have discussed.

(s) aw!l u o y s ~ y p p !o ~~ q~

61

Figure 19 shows that the relationship between tf and VHC is non-linear for the 25 mm
diameter casting. It is reasonablr to suggest that the small diarneter casting produces a high cooling rate and thus acts as a fin to produce rapid cooling. Thus. the addition of

a chi11 ma) not produce additional gains in the reduction of t(-for thrse small castings.
The 5 1 mm diamrter castings eshibit a distinct decreasr in 1 1 . with an incrcase in chi11 VHC. The relationship between t , and VHC is much brtter than for the corresponding
3 mm castings. Hoivever. mriations from the fitted cunVesshow that a more

sophisticatcd description of chill brhaviour is necessary.

4.1.4 Modified Mold Saturation Ratio

Mold saturation ratio is the ratio of heat ivhich c m be absorbed by the mold to the heat

relrased by the casting. The modified mold saturation ratio accounts for the thermal conductivity of the chill material and the presence of a refractory coating at the metal-mold intertcs. Figure 21 and Figure 22 drpict local solidification time versus rnodified mold saturation ratio. -4s the modified mold saturation ratio increased. the local solidification time decreased for both the 25 m m diamrter and the 5 1 rnni diarneter castings. This \vas due to the higher capaciry of the chill-mold cornhination to estract heat.
As with the chi11 volumetric heat capacity. the increasrd capacit!- of the chill-mold

combination

to

estract heat implies that the niechanical propenies will be improwd.

However. the modified mold saturation ratio accounts for the thermal properties of the mold sand. the cast metal and the chill. The modified mold saturation ratio describes the thermal behaviour of the entire casting-chill-mold combination. as opposrd to the

O
'fi

chill volumetric heat capacity. which describes only the chill. Thersfore. it is reasonable to assume that the modified mold saturation ratio would be a more reliabls indicator of heat extraction effectiveness. Despite the assumption of one-dimensional heat transfer. therr was a good relationship between the modified mold saturation ratio and the local solidification lime at various locations within the 25 mm diameter castings. The relationship bstivern the moditird

mold saturation ratio (LISR) and local solidification tims ( t ~ ) c m be sssn to bs

excellent at 25 m m above the chill and decreasing as the distance abow the chi11 surface increased. Thus. the effect of the chi11 on heat estraction decreased as distance from the chill surface incrsassd. The results for the 51 mm diameter castings (Figure 22) show a poor relationship betwern t+-and MSR. Thtrre is a large drgrec of scattrr in the data. panicularl' rvident in the 50 mm thick graphite chi11 casting (YISR = 0.112). Sirnilarly. in Figure 71. for the 25 nim diameter castings. the 12 mm thick graphite chi11 casting N S R = 0.031 rshibited large scattrr in the data. In fact. the local solidification tirne drcrsased in both sets of casting as sac h repcti tion u as performed. Systrimatic brhaviour is impl icir in ihese results. The sanie chills wsre reusrd for al1 the esperiments. It is possible that the graphite chills absorbed some of the liquid styrene by-products of mrlting and thus the thermal propenies were altrred.
It is to br espected that the relationship between t,-and MSR should be better for a 5 1

mm diameter casting than for a 25 mm diameter casting. The radial temperature

gradients (from the center of the casting to the edge) are much smaller than the axial

65

gradients. Furthemore. the VISA ratio of the J 1 mm diamster casting is 13.5 as

compared to 10.3 for the equi~alent 25 mm casting. The increased ViS.4 ratio means a decrease in surface a x a a~ailablefor heat transfer per unit volume of solidifjing metal. Furthemore. the largrr W S X ratio mrans that the casting will solidie more slo\vly and thus the chi11 will become saturated. Thus. the thermal conductivity of the chill material should play an increased rols in determining the heat extraction capait~,

of the chill.
It is possible that the f o m of the function rrlating tt and VHC is not logarithmic. but

instead a more comples function. However. sincr lost foam casting procrss docs no1 obej- Chvorinov's rule. a fundamental relationship between local solidification timr and MSR is not feasihlc. The fact that ti does drcreasr with increasing .\!SR is clearly e ~ i d r nin t both Figure 71 and Figure 22.

4.1.5 Cooling Rates Initial cooling rates were calculated close to the liquidus temperaturc ( b e t w x n 650
and 62JC). The variation of cooling rats i ~ i t h casting location is shnu-n in Figure 53. The initial cooling rate \vas higher for the 35 mm diameter casting than b r the equivalent 38 mm and 5 1 mm diametsr castings. This \vas attributed to the r f k c t of casting volume to surface a r a ratio. The 25 mm diameter casting had a loiver volume to surface area ratio and consequently solidificarion timr \vas more rapid. The

volume to surface area ratios of the 38 mm and 5 1 mm diameter castings were higher and therefore. the cooling rate was lower.

ommo

aaa

Figurr 24 and Figure 73 show cooling rates at various locations within the castings.

The cooling rate decreased as the distance from the chi11 increased for both the 25 mm
diameter and the 5 1 mm diameter castings. -4s the distance above the chi11 increased. the effect of the chill on the cooling rate was reduced.

4 . 1 . 6 Directionai Solidification Figurr 26 shows the start and end of frerzing in the 25 mm diameter casting (ses
Figurr 13 ). The use of a chill does not affect the start of solidification. However. the behn~iourat the end of soIidit?cation is alterrd. The casting freezss sooner when a chili is attachrd. Thus. it is clear that chills reduce the timr requirrd for solidification to occur. Figure 27. Figure 28. and Figurr 29 compare the beha-iour at the end of solidification
for differcnt casting conditions. The slope o f the solidus isotherms was reducrd with

an incrrase in the casting diamster. This means that the tinis to reach the solidus temperature betwen two adjacent locations within the casting \\-as increasd. Thus directional solidification was promotsd. The dope of the solidus wavefronts was positive in al1 castings. Thus. directional solidification occurred in lost foam casting even if a chill \vas not usrd. This is in agreement with the obsen-ation of Shivkumar [79] that directional solidification is achieved in lost foam casting and the use of a riser can be eliminated without a negative impact on the casting quality. The poiymer degradation at the metal front is highly endothermic. This degradation produces a chilling effect and steep thermal

ILI

.- .- .I L I -

I-

-=. s

No Chill -+ 12 m m Copper 25 m m Copper +50 m m Copper 12 m m Graphite +50 m m Graphite -c 12 m m Steel +50 m m Steel
+

---

50
Time (s)

100

Figure 27: Movement ofSolidiis Wavefronts, 25 mm Diameter Casting Typical Data

74

gradients are established in the iiquid mrtal immediately after the motd is completely
filled [80].

The results of this section have k e n published in a psrr rrviewed paper [8 11.

4.2 Microstructure
4.2.1 Secondary Dendrite Arm Spacing

Typical microstructures of the A 3 6 alloy are show^ in Figure 30 and in Figure 3 1 at

25 m m and 100 mm above the top surface of the chill. These figures show the

diminishing influence of the chi11 as the hsighr above the chill surface increases. This is due to the higher heat estraction rate close to the chi11 surface which produces a tiner microstructure

[El..i\ plot of secondan dendrite a m spacing

(DASi \-ersus

disrance above the chi11 surface is shonn in Figure 311. For al1 chi11 conditions. the
DAS is lower near the chi11 than at more remotti locations.

The variation of scicondaq. dendrite arrn spacing with local solidification rime for the losr foam cast -43% alIo). is s h o w in Figure 33. Local solidification tirne vrtried from

33 seconds to 790 seconds. AS locai soliditication tirne increased. D.AS incrertssd. .A

ieast squares regression analysis yielded the following relationship:

'94 DAS ( microns) = 10.84 ~f--

Equation 31

where tf is the local solidification tims in seconds. The numerical constants prrsrntrd here are specific to the alIo. 4356 which was used in this study. The variation of DAS

from the least squares regression cun-e increased as the local solidification timr
increased. The 5 1 mm diameter castings cooled more siowly than the 25 mm and 38

Chill Thickness
. .... . -

+-

No Chill 12 mm Copper Chill * 25 mm Copper Chill 50 mm Copper Chill - 12 mm Graphite Chill 12 mm Steel Chill 50 mm Steel Chill --- - O. . . . .

.-

--

. .

Distance Above Chill Surface (mm)

Figure 32: Dendrite Arm Spacing Versus Distance Above Chill Surface 25 mm Diameter Casting

79

mm diameter castings. This is due to the effect of the VISA ratio. This slow cooling
rate produced a large microstructure. The consequences of this were that it was not possible to rneasure a large number of secondary dendrite arms continuously along a single primary a m . The lower number of secondary arms produced a reading highrr error according to equation 33. Thus. at high solidification times. errors on the second-

DAS were of the order of 20% or more. These enors could not bt: avoidrd.

They are inhereni to the DXS measurement technique.

The relationship in this study is similar to one publishrd by Zindsl. Beals. and Boilcau
[83] for .\356.

Their equation was:

-0.28

a D.AS = 3 1.6[T]

Equation 35

wherr. ATLs is the temperature diffsrsncci betwecn the liquidus and the solidus. and is the local solidification tims in seconds.

t,

Substituting values for the liquidus and the solidus temperatures (615C and S i C rrspecti\.ely [84]). the previous rquation can be ren~ittcn as:

D . S = 10.0 t 0.28 f

Equation 36

Radhakrishna. Seshan and Seshadri [85] found an altemate f o m of relationship for

DAS in 356 aluminum:

DAS = 15.07 log t - 55.84
Equation 15

where tf is the local solidification time espressed in seconds.

Both relationships are similar to results found in the present study. This is s h o w in
Figure 34 where al1 three relationships are plottrd simultanrously. The equation of
Zindel et al agrees closely at lower solidification times. while that of Radhakrishna et al agrees at higher values of local solidification timrs. It is indccd significant to note that the present relationship agrrss vrq. closely wi th those of earl irr researchers 183.

861.

1 . 2 . 2 Chill Volurnetric Heat Capaciy Figure 35 and Figure 36 show second- dendrite a m spacing plotted as a function of
chi11 volumetric heat capacity (VHC) for the 3 3 mm and the 5 1 mm diamter castings at 25 mm and 100 mm abow the top surface of the chill. There is a linear rrlationship between chill volurnrtric heat capacity and D..\S. \\-ith the DAS dcreasing with incrrasing chill VHC at 25 mm above the chill. This agrees with the statsmsnt t y Radhakrishna. Seshan and Seshadri [85] that DAS and \'HC are rrloted linrad>-. Simpson and Ravindran [81] showcd that the local soliditicarion time decreascd as thc chi1l \~olurnrtric hrat capaci t y increased. Despitr the fact that the presrnt study used various chill mairrials (copprr. steel. and graphite). the VHC effctively describes the rffect of the chill on the srcondan DAS. At a diaance away from the chiil ( c g . 100 mm). the DAS values arc relaiiwl!. unaffected by chill VHC. The influence of the chi11 is localised. and thus its effrct is

not felt at the top of the casting. This is to be e s p r c t d since chills are used to increase

local cooling rates.

1 1

1-

25 mm Above Chill 100 m m Above Chill Fitted Curve

50

100

150

200

Chill Volumetric Hcat Capacity (.I K-')

Figure 35: Dendrite A m Spacing Versus Chill Volumetric Heat Capacity - 38 m m Diameter Casting

84
Figure 37 shows D.4S versus chi11 VHC for the 3 mm diarneter casting at 25 mm and

100 mm above the top surface of the chiil. At 25 mm above the top surface of the chill.
the use of an). chill with a VHC above 70 J K-' reduces the D.AS to almost 30 microns. Radhakrishna. Seshan and Seshadri [85] achieved a minimum DAS of approsimately

30 microns in a 25 mm diameter casting using a \vater cooled copper chill to estract

hcat. The! statsd that the DAS cannot be reduccd belou- a minimum value by increasing the chi11 VHC. It is therefore proposcd that for the 25 mm diamstrr castings. the value of chill VHC required to producc a minimum D.4S is approsimatcly 20 J K ' in the lost foam castings studied.

4.2.3 Modified Mold Saturation Ratio Figure 38. Figure 39. and Figure 40 show the variation of DAS n-ith modified mold
saturation ratio for the thrce casting sizcs ( 2 5 mm. 38 mm and 5 1 rnni diameter). -As in the case of chi11 volumctric hcat capacity. an increasc in modifird mold saturation ratio rrprcssnts an increased capacit). to rstract heat from the casting. As the modited mnld saturation ratio increases- the D.AS decrases at the location 25 mni above the chi11 surface. Howsi-sr. at 100 mm ahove the chill surface. it is sren once again that tlir chill has littls effect on D.AS as the relationship brtwrrn MSR and D;\S is poor. Unlike chill VHC. n-hich dcscribes the thermal parametrrs of the chill alone. the modifird mold saturation ratio dcscribes the heat extraction capacity of the chi11 and the sand mold. Despite the assumption of one-dimensional heat transfer. the modifird mold saturation ratio p r o ~ i d e s a good indication of the effsct of the chi11 and mold on the seconda? dendrite arm spacings.

89

4.2.4 Silicon Morpholog'. Figure 41. Figure 32. and Figure 43 compare the microstructure for 2 different local
solidification times. These are typical of an unrnodified structure. The shaps of the silicon remains acicular throughout the range of solidification times studied. The sizr of the silicon is significantl>-influrncsd by the solidification tirne. as seen in Figure 44. As the local solidification time decreasrs. the silicon size decreases. but the shapr remains unaffectsd. This is particularly cvident bclow a local solidification time of 100 seconds whrre there is a rnarked drcrease in average silicon particle size. Reductions

in local solidification time lead to refinement of the silicon. Howewx. since the .A356
alloy in ihis study was not moditicd with chernical modifiers. the drprer of modification is smiill. Zindel. Beals. and Boileau (831 ha1.r shoun that below O . O O 1 ~ Sr. the solidification tims has an effect on eutectic silicon size. while the effect on the silicon shape is Yen- minor. Similarly. Samuel and Samuel [86] have shown that increasing the soliditkation rate reduces the size of the sutectic silicon particles in aluminum alIo!- 380. Funhrrmore. Cacrres. Davidson and Griftiths [87] hm-e s t a t d that the silicon particle equivalent circlr diamrter dccreasss with decrecising dendrite cell size. Obsrn-ations in this resrarch arc in agrcienient with thrsr findings. The cooling rate was not sufficiently high to producr a rrfined silicon morphology.

4.3 Mold Saturation Ratio

The mold saturation ratio is a parameter which \vas devrloped to drscribe ihc hsat
extraction capacity of an investment rnold. It has sincr been estended to includr. an anached chi11 and also to include the thermal conductivity of the materials undrr siud!.

94

In this study. an attempt has been made to estend the mold saturation ratio to the losi foam casting process.

MSR possesses a number of limitations. First. it assumes one-dimensional heat

transfer. Second. it does not taks transient heat transfer effscts into account. .4s such. it is a very simplified attempt to understand the behaviour of rnrtal solidifiing within a mold. Furthemore. the interfac ial heat transfer coefficient \vas assumsd to remai n constant in this study. This is not the case. In reality. the interfacial heat transfer coefficient is constantly changin- and is a function of ternperaturr. Similarly. the thermal conductivities of the materials concrmed are functions of temperature. Thess assumptions are made to simplif?. the solution and thus avoid calculating a transirnt heat transfer solution. The assumptions are helpful for a eutectic alIo)- wherr the temperature of the solidif\.ing mrtal remains at the eutectic invariant temperature for a long period of timr. Thus. it c m bs assumrd that the temperature nithin the chill matrrial will approach rhis temperaturc. Thus. thermal propertiss for the marcrials concerned can be taken at the eutcctic rempcrature of the alloy.

Ir is clrar that MSR is only a simplified parametsr used in this stud>-for a prcliniinar>analysis of the effscts of chill materials on solidification. Hoi\-swr. as a siniplilied parameter. it offers a potential tool for preliminap- analysis. Consider the fact that the sand. chill. refraciory coating and cast metal propenies are al1 included in one paramrter. This allow the researcher to study the effects of \-arious materials on the solidification behaviour of a casting. Since MSR assumes one-dimensional heat

95
transfer. results must be compared wiih castings of similar geornetq. (castings with the same diarneter in this study).

Chapter 5 - Conclusions
1. The use of a chi11 reduccd the local solidification time within al1 lost foam castings
studied. This effect was most pronounced nrar the chi11 itself. which is typical of all casting processes. As the volurnetric heat capacity of the chi11 increased. the local solidification time decreased dur to the increased capacit! of the chiil to estract k a t . Lack of a good relationship between volurnetric heat capacity and local solidification tirne necessitated a more sophisticated description of chill brhaviour.
thus pointing to a parameter such as the modified mold saturation ratio.

2. Thcre \vas a good relationship between the modifird mold saturation ratio and the
local solidification time for the 25 m m diameter castings. -4s \+pith the chi11 ~olumetricheat capacity. an increass in modified mold saturation ratio Ied to a corresponding drcrease in local solidification timr for al1 diameters due to the increased capaciry of the chill and mold to rstract hrat from the casting The relationship was poorer for the 51 mm diametsr castings due to a large degrse of scattrr panicularl?- in the case of the graphite chills. The Irgc variation in results for the 5 1 mm diameter graphite chills \vas sren to be systcrnatic and [vas attributrd to a change in thermal propenies possibly duc to absorption of liquid styrrne b y products.

3. Initial cooling rates above the liquidus increased with the application of chills to the
bottom of the lost foarn castings. This effect \vas confined to locations adjacent to the chill.

97
4. Directional solidification occurred in lost foam casting even if a chi11 \vas not used.

The lost foam casting process is endothermic. and thus more heat is estracted as the
metal degrades increasing arnounts of foam. The use of a chi11 enhanced directional solidification. as in an!- other casting process. Secondan- dendrite arm spacing was found to \.an. with local solidification time according to the ernpirical relationship: D.4S = 10.8-ltf 9J. This relationship is in close agreement wi th those dt-\doped 6'. other ressarc h m . There was a linsar relationship between chi11 olumetric heat capacity and dendrite a m spacing for the 38 mm and 5 1 mm diameter castings. There was an initial linear relationship and then the dendrite a m spacing reached a constant minimum value of approsimatel>- 30 microns for the 25 mm diamctrr castings. This \vas attributed to the fact that a value of chi11 volumetric heat capacity of 20 J K' \\-as sufficient to producs a fine microstnicture similnr to that produced b'. a \vatsr cooled copper chill. Incrrases in modified mold saturation ratio led
IO

drcreasrs in dendrite a m spacing

due to the increassd capacity of the chill and mold to estrrict heat from the solidifi-ing metal. Drspite the assumption of one-dimensional heat transfer. the modified mold saturation ratio provided a good indication of the effect of the chi11

and mold on the secondan- dendrite arm spacing as indicated by the bener relation

of data. This wrified the simpli-ing assumptions made.

98

8. The use of chills reduced the average silicon particle size. Silicon \ a s sipnificantl).
reduced in sizr as local solidification time decreased while the morpholog remained acicular throughout the range of solidification times studied. The reduction in size was attributed to increases in cooling rate from the presence of the chills. Since the alloy was not modified with chsrnical modificrs. the morpholog>-

of the silicon remained unaffected. The cooling rate within the castings \vas not
sufficiently high enough to produce a fibrous microstructurr.

Chapter 6 - Suggestions for Further Work

Chill parameters such as mold saturation ratio and chi11 VHC ma). be relatrd to pore size and pore distribution throughout a casting. It is already h o w n that the use of a chill will reduce pore formation. A definitive relationship betwsrn chi11 parameters

and porosity would pro\-ide a means of detcrmining the minimum required chill
capacity to reducr porosity in localized areas of a casting. Furtherrnore. inclusion formation is affected by cooling rates xithin solidifi-ing metal. Iron based inrermetallics change from coarse needles to a finer. more el-ml>distributcd phase as cooling rate increases. Studics relating chill parameters to inclusion type. sizr and disrribution 11-ould aid in detemining the minimum chi11 size required to produce a rrquired cooling rate within a casting. The higher cooling rate n-ould thus reduce the incidence of brittlr fractures at grain boundariss dur: to iron based intermetallics. V ~ ~ Ofoani U S densitics are used for aluminum and cast iron lost foani casting. Furthrrmore. di ffersnt chsmistrirs of foam are usrd. Thess different types o t' fonni ma!. play a roie in the solidification of alloys in lost foam casting by rsrno\.ing different amounts of latent heat from the liquid metal. Also. the refractory coating plays a large rolr in determinin- solidification conditions within a lost foam casting. The study of heat transfer across the oating interface is an important area of study which must be pursued.

Silica sand undergoes a phase transformation at approsimatsly 800C and thus dimensional stability in castings is a problrm. Since the mold saturation ratio includes the properties of the sand. a comprehensive study of different sand types and their effects on solidificarion parameters would be usrful. .A number of potential mold media present themsrl\-es as candidates for stud>-:

Chromits sand Zircon sand Oli~ene sand Steel shots Solidification rnodeling would confimi the esperimental results presentsd hrrr. Detern~inxion of interface hsat transfer coefficients and o\.sr;ill heat transfer
the XlSR and VHC results. brha\-iour \vould aid in ~erif\.ing

References
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N..Chiou. H. S. and Liao. G . J.: "Effects of blodification and Solidification Conditions on the Feedine Behavior of A356 . A 1 Alloy." AFS Transactions. vol. 99. ( 1991 ). pp. 605-63 1. 50. Saigal. A. and B e q . J. T.: "A Finite Element Method Analysis of the Effeci of ch il lin^ and Modification on Localized Yielding and Crack Initiation in Al-Si ~ 1 1 0 ~.4FS s . ~Transactions. vol. 92. pp. 703-708. ( 1981). 5 1. Herke. A. and Gundlach. R. B.: "Aluminurn Casting Quality in .411oy 356 Enginci Components." AFS Transactions. vol. 1O?. pp. 367-?80. ( 1994). 5 2 . Shivkumar. S.. Wang. L. and Keller. C.: Wotched Tensile Pro erties of Heat Treaied -4356 Castings." AFS Transactions. vol. 103. pp. 705-7 9. ( 1995 ). 53. Gruzleski- J. and Closset. B.: The Treatrnent of Liquid Aluminum-Silicon .4llovs. American Foundrymen's Society Inc.. Des Plaines. IL. (1990). p. 16. 54. Gruzleski. J. and Closset. B.. pp. 29-3 1. 55. Kehl. G. L.: The Principles of Metalloeraphic Laboraton- Practicr. 3lcGraw-Hill Book Company. Toronto. Ontario. ( 1 914). p. 336. 56. Backrrud. L. S. and Siewonh. G. K.: "Recent Develo ments in Thermal .Analysis of Aluminum Casting ~ n o y s . "AFS Transactions. vol. 7. ( 1 989). pp. 459-164. 57. Tsnekedjiw. N.. Mulazimoglu. H.. Clossrt. B.. and Gruzleski. J.: Microstructurrs and Thermal AnaIvsis of Strontium-Treated Aluminum-Silicon Allovs. .\mericm Foundrymen's Society. Inc.. Des Plaines. Illinois. ( 1995). p. 19. 58. Backerud. L. S.. Chai. G. and Tamminen. J.: Solidification Characteristics of Aluminum Al lovs. AFS !Skanaluminium. USA. ( 1990). pp. I 3 5- 1 1 1 . 59. Hoyt. D. F.. and Dziekonski. P.: '-Sand Properties and Their Relationship to Compaction for the Espendable Pattern Casting Process." AFS Transactions. vol. 99. ( 1991 ). pp. 22 1-226. 60. Technical Data Sheet + 9-C. Acme Resin Corporation. Wrstchester. Illinois. (April I W O ) . p. 1. 61. Foundn. Sand Handbook. Srwnth Edition. American Foundrymen's Society. Des Plaines. Illinois. ( 1963 ). p. 1 1-2. 62. Chapra. S. C. and Canale. R. P.: Numerical Mrthods for Enpinsers. kIcGra\v-Hill Book Company. Toronto. ( 1988). p. 534. 63. Press. W. H.. Flannery. B. P.. Teukolsk\-. S. A. and Vetterling. W. T.: Numerical Recipes in FORTRAN: The A n of scieni& Comptine. Second Edition. Cambridge University Press. New York. (1992). p. 611. 64. Savitzky. .4. and Golay. M.J. E.: "Smoothing and Differentiation of Data by Simplified Least Squares Procedures.. Anal>tical Chemist~.. vol. 36. no. 8. ( J u Q 1964). pp. 1627- 1639. 65. Press and Flannery. p. 646. 66. Tamminen. J.: Thermal Analysis for Investigation of Solidification Mrchanisms in Metals and Alloys." Ph.D. thesis published in Chrwicd Cornnirtnicciriorts. University of Stockholm. No. 2. (1 988). p. 16. 67. Tunle. B. L.: .*Definitions in Thermal Analysis." Modem Casting. vol. 75. no. 1 1. (NO\. .. 1985). p. 39-4 1. 68. Shivkumar. S.: 'cFundamental Characteristics of Metal Flow in the Full-Mold Casting of Aluminum Alloys." Ph.D. Thesis. Stevens lnstitute of Technology. Hoboken. New Jersey. USA. p. 133. (1 987).
49. Pan. E.

69. Incropera. F. P. and De Witt. D. P.: Introduction to Heat Transfer. 2"' Edition. John U iley dr Sons. Inc.. New York. NY. (1 990). pp. A3-A4. 70. Davis. J. R.. ed.: ,4luminum and Aiuminum -4llovs. ASM International. Materials Part. Ohio. ( 1993). p. 7 19. 71. Kubo. K. and Pehlke. R. D.: "Thermal Propenies of Molding Sands." AFS Transactions. vol. 93. pp. 405-41 4. (1 985). 72. Davis. J. R.. ed.: A41uminum and Aluminum .Allovs. AS M International. Materials Park. Ohio. ( 1993). p. 710. 73. Crepeau. P. N.. Gokhalr . A. M. and Mcyers. C. W.: "Quantitative Analysis of Cast Microstructure." JOM. vol. 11.no. 3. (Feb. 1989). pp. 16-31. 74. Blank. J. R. and Gladman. T.: "Quantitative bletallogra hy." Tools and Techniques in Phvsical Metallurm. Volume 2. Edited b ! Weinberg. Marcel D r k c r Inc.. Nex York. ( 1970). pp. 292-295. 75. Trnekedjicv. Mulazimoglu. Clossrt. and Gruzleski. p. 1 1 . 76. Tenekedjisv. Mulazimoglu. Closset. and Gruzleski. p. 1 1 . 77. Slinkoff. 1.: Solidification and Cast Structure. John Wiley 6- Sons Ltd.. p. 2 14. Chichester. Great Britain. ( 1986). 78. Radhakishna. K. and Srshan. S.: "Controlling DAS in .~luminum -4iioy Castings Using Chills." .4FS Transactions. vol. 100. pp. 667-67 1. ( 1992). 79. Shivkumar. S.: -.Fundamental Characteristics of Meta1 Flow in the Full-Mold Casting of Aluminum -4110ys." Ph.D. Thesis. Stevens Institute of Technolog-. Hoboken. New Jersey. USA. p. 1 16. ( 1 987). 80. Shivkumar. S.: --Casting Characteristics of .Al Alloys in the EPC Procrss." .4FS Transactions. vol. 101. pp. 5 13-5 18. ( 1993). 8 1. Sim son. R. and Ravindran. C.: "A Preliminap. Study of Solidification Process ~odrtfhe of Chills in Lost Foam Casting of A-356 AlIo!..-- AFS Transactions. in print. \,or 104. ( 1996). 81. ~tuowejku. C. A.. Samaraskera. 1. V.. and Brimacombe. J. K.: "Hcat Transfer and Microstructure During the Early Stages of Metal Solidification." hlrtallur~icaland Materials Transactions B. vol. 26B. pp. 36 1-33?. (April. 1995). 83. Zindel. J. W.. Beais. R. S.. and Boileau. J. M.: "The Effect of Solidification Time and Strontium Concentration on the Eutrciic Silicon Morphology in A356." AFS Transactions. vol. 1 01. pp. 3 I 5-33 7. ( 1996). 84. Davis. J. R.. cd.: .4luminum and Aluminum Allovs. p. 7 19. .ASRI International. blaterials Park. Ohio. ( 1993). 85. Radhakrishna. K.. Seshan. S.. and Seshadri. M. R.: --Dendrite .4rm Spacing in Alurninum .4110)Castings." AFS Transactions. ~ o l88. . pp. 695-702. ( 1 980). 86. Samuel. A. M. and Samuel. F. H.: "Effect of Allo!.ing Elements and Dendrite . A m Spacing on the Microstructure and Hardness of an Al-Si-Cu-Mg-Fe-Mn (380) Aluminum Die-Casting Alloy." Journal of Materials Science. vol. 30. pp. 16981708. ( 1995). 87. Caceres. C. H.. Davidson. C. J.. and Griffiths. J. R.: "The Deformation and Fracture Behaviour of an Al-Si-M Castine Alloy." Materials Science and Engineering. vol. 197A. pp. 17 1-1 9. (1 993).

P.

Appendix 1: Chill Volumetric Heat Capacity and Mold Saturation Ratio

Table 4: Chill Volumetric Heat Capacity and Mold Saturation Ratio: 25 mm Diameter Casting
--

Chill Condition

No Chi11 No ChiIl II mm Copprr Chill 25 m m Copper Chill 25 mm Copper Chill 25 mm Copper Chill 50 mm Copper Chill 12 mm Graphite Chill 12 mm Graphite Chill 12 mm Graphite Chill 50 m m Graphite Chill 12 mm Steel Chill 50 m m Steel Chill 50 mm Steel Chill 50 mm Steel Chill

Chiil Volumetric Heat Capacity (J K-' ) O O 22.1 44.3 44.3 44.3 88.5 17.2 17.2 17.7 68.6 31.9 87.5 87.5 87.5

Mold Saturation Ratio (4 0.000268 0.000768 0.25 131 1 0.502330 0.502230 0.502330 1 .O04394 0.030730 0.030740 0.030740 O. 123045 0.039795 O. 158331 O . 158231 O. 15833 1

Table 5: Chill Volumetric Heat Capacity and Mold Saturation Ratio: 38 mm Diameter Casting
Chill Condition Chill Volurnetric Heat Capacity (J K-II O 199.2 199.3 199.2 77.2 77.2 77.2
49.2

?JO

ChiIl 50 mm Copper Chill 50 mm Coppsr Chili 50 mm Copper Chill 25 mm Graphite Chill 25 mm Graphite Chill 25 mm Graphite Chill 12 mm Steel Chill 12 mm Steel Chill 13 mm Steel Chi11

49.2
49.3

Mold Saturation Ratio (-1 0.000268 1 -004294 1 .O04294 1 .O04294 0.06 1 194 0.06 1 194 0.061 194 0.039795 0.039795 0.039795

Table 6: Chill Volumetric Heat Capaci. and Mold Saturation Ratio: 50 mm Diameter Casting
Chill Volumetric Heat Capacity (J K-') No Chill O 94.9 12 mm C o ~ e e Chili r 12 mm C o ~ p e Chill r 1 94.9 94.9 12 mm Coppcr ~ h i i - ~ 379.7 50 mm Copprr Chi11 12 mm Graphite Chi11 73-6 50 mm G r a ~ h i t e Chill 1 394.3
- -

Chili Condition

Mold Saturation Ratio (4 0.000268 0.25131 1 0.7513 I 1 0.35 13 1 1 1 -004294 0.030740 O.122045
-

50 mm G r a ~ h i t r Chilt 12 mni Steel Chill 12 m m Steel Chill 21 mm Steel Chili

1 1 1 1 1 1

?943
93.8 93.8
175.0

1 1 1 1 1 1

O. 122045 0.039795 0.039795 0.079297

25 m m Steel Chili 50 mm Steel Chill

175.0
350.0

0.079397
O. 12823 1

Appendix 2: Local Solidification Time

Table 7: 25 mm Diameter Casting

Chiil Condition

Local SoIidi fication Tirne

(s

25 mm Above Chill

Local Local Solidification So 1idi fication Time Time (SI (s) 50 m m 75 m m .Above Chill .4bove ChiIl

Local Solidification Time

(s)

100 m m

Above Chill

1 25 mm C o p ~ eChill r
25 mm Copper Chi11 50 m m Copper Chill 12 mm Graphite Chi11 [ 12 mm Graphite Chill 12 m m Graphite Chill .-50 mm Graphite Chill 12 m m Steel Chill 50 mm Steel Chi11 50 mm Steel Chill 1 50 mm Steel Chill

3 7.5
40.1 47.1 1 12.4 73.0 71.4 43.0 60.9 52.7

1 1

1 1

76.7 73.3 8 1 -4 155.9 117.6 115.1 87.3 107.5 91.0

99.4 89.3

55.3 43.2

1 15.9 106.7 1 18.7 196.9 152.0 142.0 124.8 141.9 132.5 137.8 125.1

145.7 140.2 149.7

236.9
180.0 166.7 159.0 174.5 1 64.3 171.0 1 50.7

Table 8: 38 m m Diameter Casting

Chill Condition Local Local Solidification Solidification Time Time
-

Local Solidification Time

.

Local Sdidification Time

ts)
-

- -

--

- -

(s

(SI
-

- --

(s)

- --

25 mm Above Chill

No Chill
50 m m Copper Chill 50 m m Copper Chill 50 mm Copper Chi11 25 mm Graphite Chill 25 m m Gra~hite ChiIl 25 mm G r a ~ h i t s Chill 12 mm Steel Chi11 13 m m Steel Chill 12 mm Steel Chi11

420.7

50 mm Above Chill 465 -6

107.9 1 08.2 92.1 24 1.2 235.9

75 mm Above Chill 5 13.0

181.9 184.3 165.6 304.4 301 -6
1

100 mm .\bave Chiil

42.2
47.2

32.5 167.5 152.3

1 1

1 1

158.2 142.7 183.1

1 1

206.4

245.4 263.4 264.6 272.7

1 1

1 1

303.6 333.8 333.2

354.1

1 1

1 1

567.8 243.8 235 .O 328.3 338.8 378.2 373.9

399.4 398.9

4 12.7

Table 9: 50 mm Diameter Casting

Chi11 Condition

Xo Chill 12 mm Copper Chill 12 mm Copper Chill 13 mm Copper Chill 50 m m Copper Chill 12 mm Graphite Chill 50 mm Graphite Chill 50 mm Graphite Chill 50 mm Graphite Chill 12 mm Steel Chill 12 mm Steel Chill 25 mm Steel Chili 25 m m Steel Chill

Local 1 Local 1 Local ( Local Solidification Solidification Solidification Solidification Time Time Time Time (SI (s) ( 9 (s 25 mm 50 mm 100 mm 75 mm ,4bo\-r Chill Above Chill Above Chill Above Chill 612.1 737.5 672.3 377.9 479.8 58 1.6 377.1 469.0 560.3 209.8 449.3 535.0 161.7 73.1 173.2 201 .O
161.2

1 1 /

1 1 1
1 1

388.6 358.2 I85.5 157.7

4 . 0 318.9 254.4 468.8 459.5 306.7 276.0

443.6 126.3 1 -388.3 589.0 573.1 1 539.2 1 3 73 -5

1 1

1 1 1
I

5-17.1 516.6
487.0

666.4 671.9
514.0

488.0

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