Studies on flow characteristics at high-pressure die-casting

Abstract

The flow and filling characteristics influence product quality of high pressure die castings. A planar jet of liquid aluminum is formed at the ingate due to its high inlet velocity. The ingate design triggers the flow characteristics of the jet. Analytical investigations show that the process of drop formation at the liquid planar free jet is dominated by atomization at the ingate. Numerically, high-pressure die casting is attacked by a Volume of Fluid approach. Drop formation at the phase interphase cannot be captured by the numerical model since drops are much smaller than feasible grid spacing. Global spreading of the free jet in the casting mold is well pictured by this first numerical simulation. Experimentally the process is studied by water modeling validating the numerical results. The observed flow characteristics are discussed in comparison to product quality results observed in Al pressure die casting parts of the similar design.