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Procedia Engineering 177 (2017) 488 495

XXI International Polish-Slovak Conference Machine Modeling and Simulations 2016

Numerical simulation of porosity for Al based alloys

Marek Brna*, Dana Bolibruchov, Richard Pastirk
University of ilina, department of Technological Engineering, Univerzitn 8215/1, 010 26 ilina, Slovakia

Abstract

The final integrity of a casting is greatly influenced by the presence of porosity. Progressive way to predict presence of porosity
is the use of modern computer simulation programs. The main aim of performed experiments is to verify possibilities of this
promising method of porosity prediction. A calculation of advanced porosity prediction was performed for an aluminium alloys
by advanced porosity module included in ProCAST software. This calculation takes into account all basic phenomena, which are
at the origin of micro and macro porosity. For experiment purposes was used mold with specific shape Sanduhrprobe. Materials
used in experiments were not loaded from software database, because results could be distorted by deviations from particular
material we used. To achieve precise results, we used thermal analysis to get accurate data about used alloys. Important
solidification events, which affects porosity formation, such as recoalescence and nucleation undercooling temperature,
coherence point and rigidity point have been determined from cooling curves and its first derivate. These data were then included
to the database of simulation software and used in simulation process.
2017
2017TheTheAuthors.
Authors. Published
Published by Elsevier
by Elsevier Ltd. is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Ltd. This
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of MMS 2016.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of MMS 2016
Keywords: Thermal analysis; aluminium alloys; porosity;

1. Introduction

Most frequently occurring defects during casting of Al alloys are those associated with porosity. In this type of
alloys, porosity forms during solidification, in the mushy zone, where two mechanisms take place: Hydrogen
segregation/precipitation (hydrogen porosity) and insufficient interdendritic feeding (micro-shrinkage). This
resistance causes a local pressure drop of the liquid by Darcys law [1]. The precision in the prediction of porosity
depends on the adequate use of physical and thermal properties of the alloy and mold under study, as well as the
initial and boundary conditions that define the system. Submitted work presents a case of study where the data

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: marek.bruna@fstroj.uniza.sk

1877-7058 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of MMS 2016
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2017.02.250
 Marek Brna et al. / Procedia Engineering 177 (2017) 488 495 489

utilized in the simulation programs will be optimized to make it representative for a resin based mold gravity casting
process, in order to be able predict amount and character of porosity. The simulation of the mold temperature
distribution and metal cooling curves will be analysed and compared with experimental values as well as porosity in
real castings.

2. Experiment

2.1. Used alloy and its properties

The AlSi7Cu0.5Mg alloy was used in the following studies. Chemical composition is listed in table 1. Company
NEMAK, which helped us with experiments, uses mentioned alloy in their production and they have exact
composition of every batch, so it was possible for us to make identical alloy for simulation purposes.

Table 1. Chemical composition of AlSi7Mg0.5Mg

Al Si Fe Cu Mn Mg Zn Sr Ti Ca
91.54 7.18 0.15 0.49 0.061 0.375 0.01 0.0106 0.17 0.0006

2.2. Mold material, design and properties

As mold material was selected resin based sand mold. Mold material was a compound of silica sand SH 32
(D50 = 0.38 mm) with resin Avenol NB 700 (1,5 % wt. of silica sand) and last substance was hardener
katalysator 4040 (25 % wt. of resin). Design of mold and casting is based on German porosity test called
sanduhrprobe (fig. 1a). Shape of casting is chosen with respect to porosity formation. Main aim was to find the right
shape of mold cavity, so various types of porosity can occur during solidification. Top part of casting is optimized
for creation of pipe shrinkage (not analysed in this work). Bottom part connected with top part through narrowed
area (which will solidifies first and additional feeding will not be possible) is ideal for formation of internal micro
and macroporosity in the bottom part.

2.3. Thermal analysis

In experimental work, thermal analysis was executed mainly to obtain useful data for simulation software. As
will be told below, one of the main advantage of used software is the possibility to consider presence of mushy zone
in association with the porosity formation. Several metallurgical parameters are required in order to properly
characterize the mushy zone. The permeability, which depends on the number and tortuosity of flow channels, as
well as precise information on the interdendritic liquid such as its composition, viscosity, density, etc. are necessary.
The dendrite coherency and dendrite rigidity also affect the characteristics of the mushy zone. These parameters
vary with temperature and time, as well as from one location to another [2]. In text, graphs and figures below are
shown preparation techniques for measurements and few major parameters obtained in thermal analysis. On figure 1
is shown placement of five thermocouples for thermal analysis.
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Fig. 1. (a) Mold with thermocouples; (b) placement of the thermocouples.

Two thermocouples were placed into mold cavity, rest of the thermocouples were directly in various places at the
mold. For recording thermal analysis data during experiments was used Compact Portable Data Logger - Omega
RDXL 121 D.
Temperature vs. time cooling curve for sample poured at temperature 750C is presented in figure 2. The
representative first derivate vs temperature curve recorded for the same sample overlaid with dynamic baseline was
also recorded.

Fig. 2. Temperature vs. Time Cooling curve of AlSi7Cu0.5Mg alloy.

The metallurgical reactions are pointed out by the numbers and corresponding numerical values represents: 1 -
The temperature of Al dendrite nucleation. Identical to liquidus temperature since it is the first solidification
transformation; 2 - Al undercooling temperature (minimum temperature reached below transformation
temperature); 3 - Al growth temperature (maximum reached above transformation temperature); 4 -
Undercooling (Equal to #3 - #2); 5 - AlSi eutectic nucleation temperature; 6 - AlSi eutectic undercooling
temperature; 7 - AlSi eutectic minimum temperature; 8 - Undercooling (Equal to #7 - #6); 9 - Magnesium silicides;
10 - Solidus temperature. Cooling curve will be used for calibration of the material created in ProCAST.
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The Dendrite coherency point and rigidity point are also suggested to be related with the formation of porosity
defects during the solidification process. That is the reason why its necessary to understand these two parameters.
An understanding of the influence of cooling rate and element additions on the solidification of a-Al phase can be
explained by considering the point at which the free dendrites come in contact with each other - dendrite coherency
point (DCP) and also rigidity point (RP)[3]. The DCP and RP are also suggested to be related with the formation of
porosity defects during the solidification process. Figure 4 shows the comparison between cooling curves recorded
with two thermocouples located in the centre and wall of the mould. The first maximum difference between the wall
and centre thermocouples (T = TW - TC) during evolution of Al dendrite networks was used to determine the DCP
as plotted in Fig. 3. This difference is because the thermal conductivity of solid Al (dendrite network) is twice that
of the surrounding liquid Al. Similarly has been identified also RP.

Fig. 3. Temperature vs. Tw-Tc curve of AlSi7Cu0.5Mg alloy.

Rigidity point
The rigidity point is the fraction solid at which the dendrite structure of a solidifying alloy becomes mechanically
rigid. Beyond the dendrite rigidity point, feeding becomes difficult and is only possible through the aid of positive
external pressure (risers or applied mechanical pressure) or strong negative internal pressure (solidification
contraction and capillary forces). In AlSi7Cu0.5Mg alloy this occurred at approximately 89% solid temperature
561.84 C.

Coherency point
At low fraction solids (0-20%) there is usually no difficulty feeding the solidification shrinkage as the dendritic
network is not yet coherent and liquid feeding of molten metal, or mass feeding of dendritic grains, is easily
accomplished. At higher fraction of solids the dendrites join to form a continuous dendritic network. The fraction
solid at which this occurs is called the dendrite coherency point. In AlSi7Cu0.5Mg alloy the dendrite coherency
point occurs at 17.43% solid temperature 607.33 C.

At fraction solids greater than the dendrite coherency point the principal feeding mechanism of the mushy zone is
interdendritic feeding. This feeding is not necessarily very difficult due to the relatively "open" microstructure, and
due to the fact that, although the mushy zone is coherent (dendrites touch one-another), it is not mechanically very
strong and will deform under stress [4]. Temperature of coherence point at given alloy is 607 C at 17.43 % fraction
solid, and temperature of rigidity point is 561 C at 88.93 % of fracture solid.
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In order to make effective and accurate simulation model, another required information needs to be filled into
ProCAST database - fraction solid curve. Fraction solid is defined as the percentage of solid phases formed at any
point in time during solidification. Accurate information concerning the fraction solid is necessary to characterise
the solidification process and make predictions on the final casting structure as well as perform computer simulation
on feeding. ProCAST simulation model uses fraction solid curve to predict micropore formation in examined
aluminium alloy system. Corresponding numerical values for liquidus and solidus are Tliq (617.94) and Tsol
(489.35) and fraction solid curve was filled into ProCAST database.

All alloy data mentioned above were filled into ProCAST, which allowed us to make relatively precise
simulation model, in addition, also data from thermocouples placed in mold were filled into database (provided
information about real heat interference coefficient between used alloy and mold).

3. Simulation

The methodology for porosity prediction presented in this study allows the numerical simulation of hydrogen
and shrinkage porosity by considering the following factors that contributes to porosity formation: (a) heat
transfer, temperature of melt and mold (b) cooling rate (c) hydrogen redistribution during solidification (d) fluid
flow which feeds the solidification shrinkage (e) Pressure drop index based on Darcys law within the interdendritic
liquid [5]. The simulations were made using software ProCAST. This software solves the conservation equations
using the finite element method. The mesh employed in the solution of the system is made of fine tetrahedral
volume elements. A mesh of 487,364 nodes and 1,451,840 elements was involved to define the mold and casting.
Figure 9 displays cut through 3D mesh, where it can be seen, that casting was created with extra fine elements, so
calculation in this domain is precise and corresponding to real conditions. Mold elements at the edges can be larger,
since no important equations are taking places in this areas. The porosity predictions were made in "Advanced
porosity" module (APM). In APM, the microporosity model, based on the solution of Darcy's equation and
microsegregation of gas, has been coupled with macroporosity and pipe shrinkage predictions. In order to accurately
calculate the pressure drop within the mushy zone, a dynamic refinement technique has been implemented: a fine
and regular Finite Volume (FV) grid is superimposed onto the Finite Element (FE) mesh used for the heat flow
computations. For each time step, the cells, which fall in the mushy zone, are activated and the governing equations
of microporosity formation are solved only within this domain, with appropriate boundary conditions. For that
purpose, it is necessary to identify automatically the various liquid regions that may appear during solidification:
open regions of liquid are connected to a free surface where a pressure is imposed; partially-closed liquid regions are
connected to an open region via the mushy zone and closed regions are totally surrounded by the solid and/or the
mold (fig. 4) [5].

Fig. 4. Fine volume grid and liquid regions during solidification.

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For partially-closed liquid pockets, it is shown that an integral boundary condition applies before macroporosity
appears. Finally, pipe shrinkage (i.e., shrinkage appearing at a free surface) is obtained by integration of the
calculated interdendritic fluid flow over the open region boundaries, thus ensuring that the total shrinkage
(microporosity plus macroporosity and pipe shrinkage) respects the overall mass balance. The material of the
castings was a AlSi7Cu0.5Mg alloy and a resin sand was adopted as material of mold. The primary parameters used
in the simulation include specific heat, thermal conductivity, density, latent heat, solidus and liquidus temperatures.
Most of these data were obtained by thermal analysis from real alloy, as was described above. Effort was to obtain
most of the data from real conditions and use minimal amount of data from preset databases of procast, so the
simulation results corresponds with reality. Regarding the process conditions, the initial temperature of the resin
sand mold was assigned at 20 C and the pouring temperature was varying according to Table 2. Heat taking from
the mold was set to air cooling boundary condition. Velocity for gravity filling (based on experiment measurement)
was set to 0.56 m/s. Interface conditions between melt and mold was set with respect to type of mold material and
metal cooling curve.

Table 2. Pouring temperatures.

Sample Temperature (C)
1 730
2 710
3 680
4 650

Figure 5 compares the cooling curve monitored by the thermocouple with the ProCAST simulation. The
calculated profile is in very good agreement with the experimental, what we have achieved by gradual modifying
heat transfer conditions and also mold properties. From graph can be also seen, that initial temperature which was
set in Procast was slightly higher than temperature from real thermocouple. The reason for this increase was fact,
that thermocouple wasnt preheated and during measurements thermocouple itself took particular amount of heat
from the melt and it was necessary to consider this deviation.

Fig. 5. Cooling curves comparison.

After all the thermo-physical data, boundary conditions, simulation parameters and heat transfer coefficients are
determined, simulation can proceeded with calculations.

4. Results

For metallographic examination, all castings were sectioned vertically across the centreline to observe the
internal porosity, their surfaces were grounded by using 250 and 500 SiC emery papers. The percentage of
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microporosity was characterized within an area of whole sample and compared with simulations results. As can be
seen in Figure 6, the dark colour cluster which is assumed to be gas porosity defects is found in the middle of the
samples casts poured at 680 C and 650 C (c, d). Less porosity defects in center area can be observed at higher
pouring temperature as shown in Figure 6 (a, b).

a) Sample 1 b) Sample 2

c) Sample 3 d) Sample 4

Fig. 6. Porosity on casted samples.

Solidification shrinkage is one of the casting defects which can be also identified in Fig. 6 (b, c, d), it represents
the dimensional reduction of a metal changing from molten to solid state from insufficient feeding ability. The
colour at sample shown at Fig. 6d is fairly dark when compared with the others. This indicates that the porosity
defect is bigger and deep. At pouring temperature 730 C internal solidification shrinkage is almost unnoticeable
thanks to good feeding conditions. On figure 7 are shown results after solidification focused on total porosity
analysis.

Fig. 7. Porosity - ProCAST.

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Picture shows cut through center of the casting, as in real experiments. Colour spectrum represent percentage
amount of total porosity prediction in a the given area. Spectrum was set to all simulations on the same value
(specifically 5% of porosity), so results may be compared and evaluation is meaningful. Samples 1 and 2 shows
lower amount of total porosity in center area, but sample 2 have increased probability of porosity presence in upper
area, as can be confirmed also at real sample (Fig. 6b). From comparison of sample 3 real vs. simulation we can find
common features, gas porosity is concentrated in the middle, while cluster of internal shrinkage porosity is closer to
the top. For sample 4 the rules are different, one big cluster of internal shrinkage porosity from insufficient feeding
is near of the narrowed part and porosity below is concentrated above the center. More detailed explanation and
analysis will be discussed in the near future. Above mentioned results represents just a first steps of extensive works
going underway, but experiments already shows promising method for porosity prediction.

5. Conclusions

A method was tested to increase the accuracy of simulating macro-porosity in aluminium-silicon alloy castings
produced by gravity casting into resin based sand mold. Used thermal analysis proved like a useful method to
determine a wide range of solidification features vital for precise simulations. This approach can provide the
fundamental data and relationship for simulation software like, various characteristic of temperature and time, alloy
composition, addition elements, cooling conditions etc., which ultimately affect porosity formation. The percentage
of the formed porosity increases with decreasing of the cooling rate. When the cooling rate is lower, there is an
evolution of hydrogen gas bubbles due to a sudden decrease in hydrogen solubility during solidification (gas pores).
Combined gas-shrinkage porosity may also exist. Future works will be to fully identify types of porosity on analysed
area (with electron scanning machine), so we can with certainty recognize gas porosity, shrinkage porosity and blow
hole defects. In addition to material presented in this article, further on, we will use various materials with different
solidification interval to be able obtain proper boundary conditions. Also temperature of mold will be varying.

Acknowledgements

This work was created within the solution of the grant project VEGA N1/0363/13. The authors thanks the Grant
Agency for support.

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