International Journal of Advance Mechanical and Mechanics Engineering

Volume 1 Issue 1

Optimization of gating design through casting simulation

forLT302038component
H. SrividyaKulkarni1, Mohnish.P2, Ghaleppa3
1
Assistant Professor,,Global Academy Of Technology, Bangalore, India
2
Student, Global Academy Of Technology, Bangalore, India
3
Assistant Professor,,Global Academy Of Technology, Bangalore, India
srividya.kulkarni@gmail.com

Abstract
In today’s worldwide competitive atmosphere there is a need for the casting set ups and
foundries to expand the components in quick lead time. Defect free castings with smallest
amount production price and lead time have become the need of this indispensable industry.
Rejection of casting is caused because of faulty components with defects consisting of
porosity, shrinkage, cold shuts, air trap, and mould erosion e.t.c. Previous research studies
have proven that these defects depend mainly on gating and feeder design. Simulation is now
well accepted as a scientific approach to designing the gating, internal quality, optimal yield
of casting process. The simulated results can be used to predict the quantity of these defects,
optimize the design and take corrective steps to minimize these defects thereby increasing the
quality of casting. In the present work, effort is made to optimize the gating design and feeder
parameters to obtain quality castings.

Keywords: Optimization; optimized Casting design; gating and feeder design; Casting
defects.

INTRODUCTION The cavity thus is known as a shrinkage

Metal casting is one of the most ancient
techniques used for manufacturing metal
parts. It is the process of forming metallic
objects by melting metal, pouring it into
the shaped cavity of a mould and allowing
it to solidify.
Heat is absorbed by and transferred
through the mould wall during pouring of
molten metal in mould cavity
[1,2].because the molten metallic shrinks
in quantity during solidification within the
mould hollow space, a part of fresh molten
steel should be fed to make up for the
shrinkage. But, for the reason that
sparkling molten steel cannot be fed to an
remote non solidified metallic completely
surrounded with the aid of solidified metal,
porosity defects inclusive of a hollow
space and other void areas are fashioned
therein as a result of shrinkage of the
molten metallic.
cavity that's one of the severe casting
defects. Feeders are appended to the
casting to compensate the solidification
shrinkage and providing the directional
solidification (from casting to feeders) so
the closing solidification points are carried
out to the feeders. The feeders are cut off
and recycled after whole solidification.
Therefore appropriate design of feeding
system (wide variety, function, size and
shape of feeders) is a key for production of
sound castings. Further, it's far preferred to
lessen volume of feeders for reducing the
production price. In current years, casting
simulation is broadly used in foundry
enterprise for evaluating designs and
predicting formation of the shrinkage
cavities. The casting modeling structures,
which are available for foundry users
nowadays, are software program packages
which accept a person’s design and then
analyze the layout to make a prediction of

22 Page 22-28 © MAT Journals 2017. All Rights Reserved

 International Journal of Advance Mechanical and Mechanics Engineering
Volume 1 Issue 1

the probability of defects. Once an analysis wheel with different position of sprue and
has been finished, the consumer riser as well as varying in number of risers
perspectives the effects of the analysis, and has been carried out. Figures 1-4 show the
if an area of capacity defect is found modeled component and various locations
within the casting, then the user needs to of feeder & gating system.
make some logical amendment in layout
and repeat the simulation till the desired The defects under study are shrinkage,
result is acquired. Accordingly, the porosity,coldshuts, air entraps & mould
traditional trial-and-mistakes layout cycle erosion. The distribution of filling
on the foundry ground has been changed temperature & pressure is also studied.
with trial-and-errors at the laptop. but
simulation programs are frequently too
complicated to apply and want expertness
in CAD and stable modeling as well as the
feeding layout ideas. Furthermore the
resulted design is not essentially optimal
and its quality is function of the user
expertness and patience. In recent years a
number of papers have been published
which report successful use of the
numerical optimization methods in the
field of optimal feeder design. [3] Fig.1: 3D model of hand-wheel component

ProblemDefinitio
The objective of present work is to
minimize the casting defects & optimize
the yield with casting simulation. Casting
simulation eliminates the wastage involved
in conventional trial & error process. The
best possible design processes are to be
studied keeping in view of directional
solidification. The design process includes
identifying the location of feeder and riser
Fig.2: 3D model of gating design1 with
positions, also with the number of feeders
opposite single sprue and riser
and risers that can be used, keeping in
view of optimal yield. Simulation is then
carried out using Z-cast softwarefor
various input parameters. The observations
are then studied and the optimized design
chosen for production.

Methodology
As a initial step, 3D model of the
component LT302038 (HANDWHEEL)
isdeveloped by CAD software CATIA and
simulated using z-cast software. The
casting defects are analyzed for various Fig.3:3D model of gating design2 with
defects and optimal design chosen. Design single riser followed by sprue.
of possible gating systems for a hand

23 Page 22-28 © MAT Journals 2017. All Rights Reserved

 International Journal of Advance Mechanical and Mechanics Engineering
Volume 1 Issue 1

Fig.4:3D model of gating design3 with Fig 5c:Blue spots indicate Porosity in
single sprue and two riser methodology Design-3

RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS

Fig 6a:Red spots indicate Air entrap in

Fig 5a:Blue spots indicate Porosity in Design-1
Design-1

Fig 6b:Red spotsindicate Air entrap in

Fig 5b:Blue spots indicate Porosity in Design-2
Design-2

24 Page 22-28 © MAT Journals 2017. All Rights Reserved

 International Journal of Advance Mechanical and Mechanics Engineering
Volume 1 Issue 1

Fig 6c:Red spots indicate Air entrap in

Design-3
Fig 8a: Distribution of filling temp in

Design-1

Fig 7a:Mould erosion in Design-1

Fig 8b: Distribution of filling temp in

Design-2

Fig 7a:Mould erosion in Design-2

Fig 8c: Distribution of filling temp in

Design-3

Fig 7a:Mould erosion in Design-3

25 Page 22-28 © MAT Journals 2017. All Rights Reserved

 International Journal of Advance Mechanical and Mechanics Engineering
Volume 1 Issue 1

Fig 10b:Cold shuts in design-3

Fig 9a:Distribution of pressure in

Design-1

Fig11:NIYAMA criteria:Distribution in
micro shrinkage levels in Design-3
Fig 9a:Distribution of pressure in
A common simulation output variable
Design-2
mechanically used by foundries to hit upon
solidification Shrinkage defects in steel
castings is the Niyama criterion (new
york), that is described because the local
thermal gradient divided via the square
root of the local cooling price[4].This
standards is helpful in studying the micro
shrinkage defects.
Fig 9a:Distribution of pressure in In design1, position of sprue and riser are
opposite to each other. Here the molten
Design-3 metal flows through the sprue and ends up
with riser.Directional solidification plays a
role, where molten metal starts solidifying
from riser way towards the sprue, Since
the distance from sprue to riser is high this
enhances progressive solidification which
results in higher blow holes, shrinkage and
misrun.

In design2, position of sprue is at the

center of geometry and riser is at the outer
Fig 10a:Cold shuts in design-1 circumference. There is an equal

26 Page 22-28 © MAT Journals 2017. All Rights Reserved

 International Journal of Advance Mechanical and Mechanics Engineering
distribution of molten metal from the sprue
into the cavity and two risers will
effectively compensate for shrinkage
defect.
In design3, based on Niyamacriteria, we
could overcome the shrinkage defect to a
larger extent as the sprue is situated away
from the hand wheel and most of the
defects get eliminated in the gating system
before reaching the component. Shrinkage
faults could be reduced by this gating
system, pouring at correct temperature and
taking care of directional solidification and
also on velocity flow of molten metal,
reduction in velocity leads to laminar flow
of molten metal which avoids porosity
formation.
Cold Shuts occur when two fronts of
liquid metal do not fuse properly in the
mould cavity, leaving a weak spot. The
reasons can be too cold molten metal, too
thin casting section, too small gates and
less gate junctions, too many restrictions in
the gating system or low metal fluidity
[5].It is observed that Design-3 is better
equipped to counter cold shuts compared
to other designs.
Mold erosion means the continued
material loss at the mold surface due to the
contact and relative movement between
the mold surface and the incoming
melt.Mold erosion in design1 is found to
be more at intricate parts but less when
compared to design2. Mold erosion in
design to is found to be more at most of
the areas which is indicated by light blue
color.
Likewise, the distribution of pressures
&hottest temperatures in design-3 is in the
sprue and riser which aids for directional
solidification, unlike in the web portions of
other designs.
27 Page 22-28 © MAT Journals 2017. All Rights Reserved
Volume 1 Issue 1
CONCLUSION
Gating design is one of the important
aspects to be considered for defect free
casting apart from material composition,
pouring temperature and mould properties.
In the present paper we have optimized the
gating design for the component
LT302038 (HANDWHEEL)made of
spheroidal cast iron. We have come to a
conclusion based on the results of
simulation software that design3 is of
better gating design compared to the rest
two designs. But the component is not
completely defect free .This might be
because of velocity of flow, material
composition, mould properties and
atmospheric conditions.
REFERENCES
1. C. M. Choudhari, B. E. Narkhede, S.
K. Mahajan, 2012. Finite Element
Simulation of Temperature
Distribution during Solidification in
Cylindrical Sand Casting with
Experimental Validation, 4th
International and 25th All India
Machine Tool Design and Research
(AIMTDR 2012),Jadavpur University,
Kolkata, India, 1, 3-8
2. C. M. Choudhari, K. J. Padalkar, K. K.
Dhumal, B. E. Narkhede, S. K.
Mahajan, 2013. Defect free casting by
using simulation software,Applied
Mechanics and Materials, Trans Tech
Publications, Switzerland, 313-314,
1130-1134.
3. Automatic optimal feeder design in
steel casting process
RohallahTavakoli *, ParvizDavami
4. Department of Materials Science and
Engineering, Sharif University of
Technology, P.O. Box 11365-9466,
Tehran, Iran
5. Received 12 May 2007; received in
revised form 4 July 2007; accepted 12
September 2007
6. Use of the Niyama Criterion To
Predict Shrinkage-Related Leaks in
High-Nickel Steel and Nickel-Based
 International Journal of Advance Mechanical and Mechanics Engineering
Volume 1 Issue 1

Alloy Castings-Kent D. Carlson and 7. Analysis of Different Sand Casting

Christoph The University of Iowa, Defects in a Medium Scale Foundry I
Iowa City, IA 52242 ndustry - A Review-Bhushan Shankar
Kamble

28 Page 22-28 © MAT Journals 2017. All Rights Reserved