Development of an Experimental Setup to Investigate Influences on Component Distortion in Gravity Die Casting and a First Variation of Temperature Control Strategy

Distortion (1), residual stresses and hot cracks can facilitate significant decreases in quality characteristics of casting products. Their reduction by a suitable component design (2) and process control is therefore desirable. In the casting process, these characteristics are assumed as a result of the combination of solidification shrinkage paired with the local self-feeding and the geometric constraints imposed on the component by the mold. In gravity die casting (3) of aluminum (4) with thermally well conducting and rigid metal molds, the control of solidification through a localized adjustment of the heat balance (5) appears to be a suitable approach to minimize these effects. The development of an experimental setup for the assessment of the interdependencies of the alloy, casting geometry and cooling are described in this work. A first series of experiments with A356 aluminum alloy and the introduction to the different methods of evaluation are presented. Furthermore, an approach to improve the understanding of the underlying mechanisms is outlined.