GRAVITY CASTING

•
•
MATERIAL
DFM
CAST-DESIGNER
• QUOTATION END TO END SOLUTION FOR CASTING BUSINESS
• GATING DESIGN
• FLOW & SOLIDIFICATION
• STRESS & DISTORTION
•
•
MICRO-STRUCTURE
DOE
ADVANCED CFD BASED
• PART-GATING-PROCESS-PRODUCTION CASTING SIMULATION SOFTWARE
OPTIMIZATION

Master Distributor in India and C3P India Co-coordinator  EASY  FAST  ACCURATE  AFFORDABLE

HELPING TO REDEFINE
www.nestech.in THE COMPETITIVENESS OF CASTING INDUSTRY
 CAST-DESIGNER CAST-DESIGNER OVERVIEW

SALIENT FEATURES CASTING PROCESSES Cast-Designer from C3P Engineering Software International Co Ltd., is a software specially
• Gravity Casting designed for casting business, has more than 50 years of industry experience, provides
Full and Complete Casting Simulation Capabilities • Sand / Permanent / Tilt Pouring eend-to-end solution for foundry industry, ranging from DFM analysis, step-by-step
 Fast design for manufacturing (DFM) • Investment / Shell Casting guidance in gating design, advanced flow, solidification and stress simulations and artificial
• Lost-Foam Casting intelligence based automatic optimization.
 Fast upfront design validation tools
• High & Low Pressure Die Casting
 Built-in gating system design capability
• Semi-Solid Casting
Geo-Designer
 Expert system based gating design advisor • Continuous Casting Design For
 Full CAD Driven gating optimization • Centrifugal Casting Manufacturing
• Core Blowing & Core Gas Saving-Cast:
 Design of experiments (DOE) capability Gating Design
SPECIAL PROCESSES Raw Material
Advisor and
 Powerful and automatic assembly meshing • Mechanical & Thermal Stress Optimizer &
Tools
Quotation
 Unique node smoothening to match geometry • Micro-Structure Analysis
AUTOMATION & OPTIMIZATION
 Dual solver technology, the FEM & FVM Cast-Designer
• Gating Optimization
 Advanced CFD flow analysis
• Process Optimization Intelligent Part,
Flow and
 Simulate the physical phenomena and • Design of Experiments Gating &
Solidification
• Production Optimization Production
mechanical behaviour of metal filling, Simulation
• Distortion Compensation
Optimizer
solidification and cooling process. The thermal,
Mechanical
RAW MATERIAL OPTIMIZATION and Thermal
flow, stress and micro-structure solvers are fully • Saving-CAST, can provide Stress
optimized mix of raw materials, Simulation
coupled.
scrap, or return materials at lower
 Automatic production optimization capability cost for the specified alloy mix.
MATERIAL DATABASE Cast Designer provides End-to-End solution for Casting Business
 Mechanical & thermal stress and deformation
• Cast Designer has more than 400
 Automatic deformation compensation solver Cast-Designer supports all major foundry processes and predicts the casting defects like
industry standard materials in the
 Core blowing and core gas analysis database including Cast iron,
shrinkage porosity, air entrainments, surface defects, residual stresses, distortions, etc,
Steel, Stainless Steel, Copper, Helps foundry engineers to make right decisions early in the design stage of casting system
 Open system and highly customizable
Mg, Zn, Ni, Gold, Silver & development and to improve quality & yield, thus reducing manufacturing cost. Cast-
 Powerful Paraview for Post Processing & Aluminium alloys and varieties of Designer can help the industry to achieve the target of ‘Time to Market’, ‘Quality to Market’
Visualization mould, sand, & sleeve materials. + and remain ‘Competitive’.
User defined materials
 FIND HOT SPOTS! IN 3 CLICKS, 3 MINUTES GEO-DESIGNER DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURING (DFM)
Geo-Designer is a powerful upfront Design for Find critical points in
Manufacturing (DFM) tools for designers and manufacturing casting manufacturability
engineers with innovative technology. DFM Analysis is the and respond to RFQ
FIRST STEP for part manufacturing. It is the bridge to link the quickly
part designer and manufacturing suppliers.

EXAMPLE: RISER, FEEDER DESIGN FOR SAND CASTING

Insert CAD Create Mesh Find Hot Spots in minutes Geo-designer Can
Heat Distribution Index also considers heat affection of the Predict 90% Of
additional heat energy sources, which helps user to effectively Shrinkage Porosity
GEO-DESIGNER FEATURES design gating design with risers, chills and sleeve on the Problems In 3 Minutes
hotspots and make design decisions quickly.

Include
additional
energy like
sleeve
(heating) and
chill (cooling)
Detect Slider Zones Find Ejection Force Extract Core shape
Part Geometry With complete gating arrangement

Thickness Analysis Find Parting Line Draft Analysis

Also find part information like Projected area, modulus of the part or selected region, weight,
volume, surface area, etc. Perform radius analysis, detect sharp edges, find draft angles, find
under-cut regions, casting zone-wise analysis, etc. Find thin thickness in fine parts, Based on
MDI, perform optimization of the part to avoid heavy hot-spots in the castings
 AUTOMATIC VARIABLE POURING CAST-DESIGNER GRAVITY CASTING
Cast-Designer can
automatically control the
pouring rate of the liquid
metal to match the
practical conditions that
maintains the liquid metal
level with the specified
minimum and maximum
height in the pouring cap. TURBULENCE, OXIDES, AIR ENTRAPMENT, BUBBLE MOVEMENT

COLD SHUT & MISRUN Slow filling or heavy temperature loss may cause cold-shut or
pre-mature solidification or un-filling. The turbulence combined
The temperature drop in the flowing liquid
with high temperature during filling may lead to inclusions. Air
metal due to slow filling and cold mould, may
bubbles in the heavy turbulence area forms oxide layers, that
lead to problems like un-filling, misrun, cold
may get trapped in areas where fluid flow is restricted and may
shut or pre-mature solidification. Cast-
create locally weaker region in the component. These defects
Designer’s “full-couple” flow and thermal
can be precisely analysed which helps designers optimize
computation predicts such problems Filling in Aluminium Sand
their gating system and better position for the vents. Air Bubbles during
accurately. filling in GDC casting with Chills and Sleeves

BUOYANCY DRIVEN FLOW DURING CAST IRON SOLIDIFICATION

SOLIDIFICATION
Cast-Designer can consider flow during solidification. It
is common to shut the flow solver during solidification
phase in casting simulation software, it is found that the
buoyancy forces are driving the flow during
solidification. It moves the hot-spots and the final
location of the shrinkage porosity.
Regions of misrun and pre-mature solidification
MOULD EROSION & SAND
INCLUSION
High flow velocity, turbulences combined
with high temperature causes mould erosion
and the eroded sand is included into the
molten liquid metal causing serious casting
defects. Cast-Designer can highlight such
potential areas in the simulation.
In the casting solidification process, it combines the heat transfer, metal
flow and density & phase change. The cast iron solidification also
considers eutectic solidification of cast irons along with the formation of
inoculation, austenite, carbide and graphite precipitation.
Solidification in Cast
Iron Engine Block
SHRINKAGE POROSITY & NIYAMA
MICRO POROSITY
Accurately predicts the shrinkage porosity,
also considers the expansion of cast iron
and the density variations that occurs during
the cooling process in the solidification.
Cast-Designer accurately predicts the
Niyama micro-porosity occurring late in the Shrinkage and micro porosity comparison of two
methoding in Sand Cast Iron casting
solidification stage.
DISA GATING DESIGN
Cast-Designer has specially designed
templates for DISA system
BUILT-IN RISER CALCULATOR
Using modulus of the casting region or user
formula, Cast-Designer can suggest riser volume
/ modulus required in the region
MATERIAL DATABASE CAST-DESIGNER GRAVITY CASTING
Over 400 standard materials in cast iron,
SG iron, steel, stainless steel, Ti, Mg,
Nickel, Aluminium, Cu alloy materials in
the database.
Vast collection of Sand Mould materials,
Chills, Refac, filters etc
EXO-THERMIC & INSULATIVE Comprehensive design and simulation capabilities for sand casting, permanent die casting, tilt
casting, centrifugal casting, and low pressure die casting processes. Evaluation of gating, riser, chill
SLEEVE MATERIAL DATABASE
& sleeve design for flow turbulence, mould erosion, porosity.
Cast-Designer has comprehensive
GATING SYSTEM DESIGN ADVISOR
standard databases of Exo-thermic and
insulative sleeve material database from Cast-Designer has built-in capability for gating design with specially designed user-interface to
the major manufacturers. Use of such design various gating components like feeders, pouring caps, runners etc. Cast Designer has KBE
(Knowledge based Expert System), which has 50 years of industrial experience and industry
material in the simulation provides the
standard recommendations.
real world effects and predicts exact
solidification and shrinkage porosity
results.
Database includes Foseco, Joymark,
Exochem, ASK, AMCOR, Jodovit etc
STANDARD PARTS LIBRARY
Cast-Designer has library of standard
parts like pouring caps, tilt pouring
caps, DISA parts, Exo-thermic and
insulative sleeves in different shapes
and sizes. Helps user to quickly design TEMPLATE GATING DESIGN
the casting system.
‘Template Gating Design’ is a new concept and function
to design gating system in an express way. Based on
the pre-defined gating system template, the user can
adjust the style and parameters in the table to generate a
gating system in few minutes. Both the design time and
work load could be reduced to minimum.
Optimized result: Gives right mix of raw materials and scrap to make CAST-DESIGNER CASTING ALLOY CHARGING
the desired alloy composition, by keeping the cost at minimum and
still maintaining average chemical composition set by the user or by SavingCAST is a software specially developed for foundries, designed for optimal selection
of ingredient materials for an user-defined / standard alloy composition for a specific load
the standard. within the available stock materials
• Spectrometer Integration:
• For Example: Scrap materials may contain
SavingCAST can be directly expensive ingredients. This tool can find out the
integrated with spectrometer. best mix of scrap grades, fresh raw materials,
• Complex formula supported by
ingots, to arrive at the required composition of
alloy material. Mix of ingredients are selected
composition calculation. based on cost and composition of various scrap
• MS-Excel out put materials available in stock.
• ERP integration. • SavingCAST will let you prepare your charges at
the lowest cost, saving time, avoiding human
Parallel coordinator to error, managing the stock and keeping track of
select the best charging
plan and robustness.
your operations.

• SavingCAST is suitable for all casting processes.

EXAMPLE: STEEL CHARGING

Price per kg in CNY

SAVE
UP TO 25%
EVERY TIME

SavingCAST main
interface
CAST-DESIGNER MICRO-STRUCTURE ANALYSIS CAST-DESIGNER MATERIAL PROPERTY CALCULATOR

The formation of microstructures associated with solid state phase transformation during Cast-Designer has integrated a reputed thermodynamic material property calculator
cooling or heat treatment can also be simulated with Cast-Designer using models based on which has more 30 years' experience in this field. The user can enter the chemical
Time – Temperature - Transformation (TTT) or Continuous Cooling Transformation (CCT) composition of the alloy and this tool automatically predict all required temperature
diagrams. Mechanical properties can then be determined from the calculated microstructure. dependent properties required to accurately simulate the different casting processes.

• Simulation of solidification and solid-state transformations could be performed for Gray • Material properties, such as the enthalpy curve and the solidification path , density,
Cast Iron (GCI), Nodular Cast, Compacted Graphite Iron (CGI), Steel, Aluminium and other viscosity and thermal conductivity as well as elastic and yield stress data can be
alloys. computed automatically from thermodynamic databases. Such calculation also used
for the microstructure analysis automatically.

Some of the Results
• Pearlite
• Ferrite
• Gray Grain Radius
• Whilte Grain Radius
• Brinel Hardness
• Fe-White
• Fe-Gray
• Fe-Austenite
• SDAS
User Interface to
• Tensile Stress
• Yield Stress
different materials
Al database:
Ag Al B C Cr Cu Fe Gd Ge Hf Li
Mg Mn Ni Sc Si Sn Sr Ti V Y Zn Zr
Fe database:
Al B C Co Cr Cu Fe Mg Mn Mo N
Nb Ni P S Si Sn Ti V W Zr
Ni database:
Al B C Co Cr Cu Fe Hf Ir Mn Mo
N Nb Ni Pt Re Ru Si Ta Ti W Zr
Ti database:
Al B C Cr Cu Fe H Mo N Nb Ni O
Si Sn Ta Ti V Zr
Mg database:
Ag Al C Ca Ce Cu Fe Gd La Li Mg
Mn Nd Ni Sc Si Sn Sr Y Zn Z Sample Al Alloy Composition AC4D
Sample Fe Database:
20 Components:
Major alloy elements: Fe, Co, Cr, Mo, Ni, V, W.
Micro-Structure
Minor alloy elements: Al, B, C, Cu, Mg, Mn, N, Nb, Ni, P, S, Si, Ti.
Analysis of 150 Phases: Liquid, BCC_A2 (ferrite), HCP_A3, FCC_A1
(austenite), TCP phases, Carbides, and so on.
Recommended composition range (in wt%):
CAST-DESIGNER CORE GAS CAST-DESIGNER CORE BLOWING

Chemical binders in the sand can produce gas when heated by the molten metal and if
not vented adequately, the gas may flow into the metal resulting in a gas porosity defect.
Cast-Designer’s the core gas model is designed to predict the possibility of such gas
defects and is intended to help design core venting that would evacuate safely all the
binder product gas from the cores.
Cast-Designer’s core blowing analysis allows the user to obtain the optimum nozzle
configuration by varying the number and position of the nozzles through which the
sand is blown in and also the number and the position of venting nozzles through
which the air escapes. Also, helps to find the packing pressure and the sand density.

Casting + Core

A • Region A: filled last and gas could not be

escaped, may cause defects, i.e. crack;
• Region B: filled last, but due to the vents and
slider, the gas could be escaped, it may not
bring defects.
Mesh model (detail)
• Solution: add vents to region A.

The core gas can escape from the top, bottom and outside, but in the centre of
the core is very difficult. So it will bring risk to the casting part for gas porosity. A Defect in Actual practical result matching the
solution is add venting inside the core. simulation prediction
CAST-DESIGNER TILT POURING CASTING CAST-DESIGNER LOW PRESSURE DIE CASTING
In the Tilt Pouring Casting process, the gravity direction, rotation axis and the rotation The Low-Pressure Die Casting process module in Cast-Designer supports, variable
velocity must be defined. Cast-Designer’s dedicated pouring cup design wizard helps the pressure inputs in the inlet to simulate the actual practical condition. Thermal balance of the
user to design the pouring cup quickly. mould is very important for LPDC dies, various cooling channels and water or air spray
mechanisms are used in the industry. The opening time, closing time of such cooling
mechanism plays vital role in maintaining thermal balance of the mould, all such conditions
can be modelled in Cast-Designer very effectively.

Pre-defined analysis setup templates

Examples: Temperature of the molten metal during tilt pouring LPDC Part Typical LPDC mould available for most of the casting processes.
Air Bubbles movement during flow
filling for wheel casting Above showing for LPDC process

CAST-DESIGNER LOST FOAM CASTING CAST-DESIGNER CENTRIFUGAL CASTING

Example of Horizontal rotation,
Cast-Designer has the complete set of tools and technology to model Lost-Foam Casting Cast-Designer has complete set of tools and RPM 150
process, the gas pressure of the burned foam also considered in the flow analysis. technology to model Centrifugal Casting
process, it can handle both horizontal and as
well as vertical rotation processes, accurately
predicts the defects location and engineers can
find correct rotation speed.

Casting CAD Mesh for Casting Metal flow filling sequence in Lost-Foam casting process Aero Space Component: Door Frame, Material: Ti
Model and Shell showing flow temperature alloy, Vertical Rotation, RPM: 300
Top View
CAST-DESIGNER INVESTMENT CASTING CAST-DESIGNER STRESS & DISTORTION

ENCLOSURE, RADIATION & VIEW / SHADOW FACTOR
• The casting and the gating geometry may create some shadow region in the radiation
affection, which affects the solidification speed or cooling rate in such regions and the
final location of shrinkage porosity. Such effect can be simulated in Cast-Designer.
• Even if no physical enclosure is used in the process, the factory roof and walls act as
a big enclosure. Cast-Designer always considers the enclosure effect in the
simulation.
Cast-Designer can perform the full couple simulation of thermal, Automatic
flow and stress together. The stress simulation includes both
Distortion
thermal and mechanical stress, accurately predicts casting residual
stresses and distortion. Compensation
Cast-Designer stress module helps casting part designers and die designers to
consistently predict the dimensions of a casting part after cooling, with being able to
closely predict casting dimensions will lead to

• Better Design: Helps designer to make better casting part design

• Better Die Design: Helps die designers to compensate for the part distortion during the
WITH WITH OUT die design stage. Thus, reduce the rate of scrapped castings
VIEW/SHADOW VIEW/SHADOW • Quality Improvement: Close prediction of casting dimensions leading to tighter tolerance
FACTOR FACTOR and thinner walls resulting in high quality casting and reduced scrap
• Save Time: Saves development time
Shrinkage No Shrinkage
• Save Cost: Reduces operation cost due to improved first shot capabilities and fewer
Radiation Effect in Enclosure Predicted Predicted
number of interruptions
AUTOMATIC SHELL GENERATION DEWAX ANALYSIS • Improved Efficiency: Better products with reduced cost help to redefine competitiveness

Cast-Designer’s automatic shell generation Dewax function checks

capability is very useful since the casting the casting geometry
shell geometry is very important for the and identifies potential
heat transfer, radiation and solidification in regions which could
investment casting process. cause dewax issues. A
casting system with
good dewax design
can improve the
product quality and
save energy
Regions with
dewax problem

Casting CAD Model Mesh for Casting and Shell

Cast-Designer Optimizer can execute multi-criteria non-linear CAST-DESIGNER OPTIMIZATION
optimization based on Genetic Algorithm as known in Artificial
Intelligence. DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS PROCESS ROBUSTNESS
Design of Experiment, to study a process Stochastic approach to check that the given
• Multiple Criteria Targets: All physical problems could be optimized, including the
window and its robustness so as to obtain a process is robust.
flow, thermal, stress, warpage, microstructure, material properties etc. For
set of ideal parameters which provide good
Example: Single or multiple targets of the simulation, what the foundry engineer is For Example:
result inside an user defined goal.
trying to achieve like to maximize the yield, minimize shrinkage or the minimize gas • Vary the furnace temperature within the
entrapment and balance the flow during the filling process. For Example: known range to check that the process
• Yield: To find best location and size of is robust, Find out the maximum and
• Multiple Design or Process Variables: Thanks to the powerful parametric CAD risers to minimize shrinkage porosity minimum variations allowed in the
capabilities of Cast-Designer, any CAD geometry like runner dimensions, ingate and for better yield. process while still obtaining the
locations or riser diameter or including part features can be set as variables. Also desired good quality parts.
• Sensitivity: To identify the sensitivity of
process parameters, like pouring temperature, velocity, or the HTC.
the influential process parameters like
increasing the mould temperature vs.
• Genetic Algorithm in Cast-Designer Optimizer, checks the results of each
adding insulation sleeve.
optimization iteration like shrinkage porosity volume and intelligently sets the new
value for the variables like size and location for the riser. New CAD geometry is • Cost: Compare costs for maintaining
created automatically with such new values and such iterations are continued until higher melt temperatures vs. rejection /
the targets are achieved. production losses.
• Feasibility: Determine the optimization
• Complex user formulas are supported. goals, manufacturable aspects during Cast-Designer Optimization supports parallel
production, in-line with the known automatic optimization, this is a breakthrough
production constraints of a foundry. technology to reduce the lead time of
GATING PROCESS PART optimization.
OPTIMIZATION OPTIMIZATION OPTIMIZATION
BENEFITS
Find the best locations Find the best process Find the best dimensions Cast-Designer Optimizer enables
and sizes for: variables like: or locations of lower research expenditures and
Ingate Pouring temperature shorter implementation time. The
Runner Die temperature Part Features main purpose of the system is to
Riser Pouring rate relieve a designer or researcher
Chill Ejection time For Defect-Free Castings from the sufficiently complex and
labour-intensive process of
searching for optimal system design
The Taguchi method provides best possible combination of parameters which simultaneously
variations. should meet a great number of
For Example: out of 512 combinations, it is possible to get controversial requirements.
desired results by trying 16 combinations.
GRAVITY CASTING: DOE OPTIMIZATION FOR YIELD & POROSITY CAST-DESIGNER OPTIMIZATION

Variables Start End Step GRAVITY CASTING: RISER OPTIMIZATION

Chill 1 3 1 OPTIMIZED DESIGN
ORIGINAL DESIGN
Feeder 1 1 3 1 Shrinkage Porosity in Optimized Desig
Shrinkage Porosity in Original Design
Yield = 59.83%
Feeder 2 1 3 1 Yield = 60.55%
Riser 1 3 1
Pouring temperature 1540 C 1580 C 20 C
OPTIMIZATION
SETUP
Change riser, feeder
sizes and locations
to achieve better
yield with lesser
shrinkage porosity

Full combine models: 243 models GRAVITY CASTING: SHRINKAGE POROSITY OPTIMIZATION
Taguchi DOE method: 27 models

To optimize the casting yield ratio and

shrinkage porosity of an automotive part.
Using the GA method to find the Pareto
front points. The X axis was the total riser
volume and the Y axis was the shrinkage
porosity volume.
FLOW RESULTS SOLIDIFICATION
RESULTS
 Flow Fluid Fraction
 Flow Temperature  Solid Fraction

 Flow Velocity  Solidification Temperature

 Flow Velocity Direction lines  Casting Temperature

 Flow Pressure  Mould Temperature

 Flow Gas Entrapment  Thermal Modulus

 Flow Length  Solidification Time

 Flow Material Age  Shrinkage porosity

 Flow Oxides  Niyama Micro porosity

 Flow Vs Gate in colour  Cooling Rate

 Flow Material Trace lines  SDAS

 Gas Entrapped Inside Casting  Dendrite Arm Spacing

 Gas Entrapped at surface  Ultimate Tensile Strength

 Flow Velocity graphs vs Time  Elongation

 Flow Temperature graphs vs Time  Piping

 Maximum Air Pressure  Pin Squeeze Analysis

 Filling Time  Temperature graphs (…)

 Mould Erosion (…) MICRO-STRUCTURE

RESULTS
STRESS RESULTS
 Pearlite
 Distortion / Displacement
 Ferrite
 Compensation for Distortion
 Gray Grain Radius
 Normal Stress
 Whilte Grain Radius
 Effective Stress
 Brinel Hardness
 Strain
 Fe-White
 Fatigue
 Fe-Gray
 Hot Tearing (…)
 Fe-Austenite
 SDAS
 Tensile Stress
 Yield Stress
…. More…. (  Animation  Image )
 C3P Engineering Software International
Master Distributor in India and C3P India Coordinator
www.nestech.in With the combination of software
development, advanced analysis,
extensive product development
experience and cost effective local
human resources, C3P Engineering
Software International Co., Limited
NESTech Consulting Private Limited provides industry and manufacturing
businesses with comprehensive
COIMBATORE: Gowtham Centre Annex, 1054/18, solutions and engineering services on
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Phone: +91 80563 72404
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For Technical & Business Enquiries For more information, please visit:
Mr. K. G. Venkatesan, Director www.c3p-group.com or www.cast-
Mobile: +91 98430 21363, Email: kgvenky@nestechglobal.com designer.com
Mr. N. Kannan, Product Manager
Mobile: +91 88700 09210, Email: kannan.nagarajan@nestechglobal.com
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