Effects of runner diameter on the mechanical strength and porosity distribution of thin section castings

This study was aimed to determine the effects of runner diameter on mechanical strength and porosity distribution pattern of thin section Al-12Si alloy castings which were casted through sand casting process. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling was used to identify the flow behavior during th...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hashim, Mohd Yussni, Mohd Amin, Azriszul, Vijay, R. Raghavan
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Published: 2007
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/4125/
http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/4125/1/EFFECT_OF_RUNNER_DIAMETER.pdf
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Summary:This study was aimed to determine the effects of runner diameter on mechanical strength and porosity distribution pattern of thin section Al-12Si alloy castings which were casted through sand casting process. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling was used to identify the flow behavior during the filling process. X-ray radiography test was used to examine the general distribution of defects in the castings from different runner diameters. 3-point bending test was applied to measure the flexure strength. The scatter of flexure strength results was quantified by Weibull statistics. The casting defects existing on the fracture surface of the casting specimens were observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Simulation results show that predicted porosity location moved to ingate and runner area when the size of runner diameter is increased. This gives good agreement with experimental results, which showed that the casting product with a larger runner diameter leads to the improvement of average flexure strength and reduction of porosity defects. Both results support the conclusion that the use of runner with a larger diameter size can produce casting product with more reliable mechanical properties and fewer porosity defects. An area ratio of unity is recommended in some cases.`