Characterization of Casting Pores in Fe-rich Al-Si-Cu Alloys by Microtomography and Finite Element Analysis

Abstract

An accurate methodology has been developed to identify local stress concentration on the contour of casting pores in high Fe-content Al-Si-Cu alloys. It relies on the 3D reconstruction of the pore morphology by micro-computed tomography (μ-CT), which was converted into a 3D volumetric model to be used as an input for linear finite element analysis (FEA) with the aim of investigating the structural influence of these defect. In combination with an appropriate visualization of the results, this treatment allowed localizing highly stressed regions. Results indicate that particularly holes in the shape of shrinkage pores act as stress concentrators and can thus be identified as hot spots.