Effect of ladle outlet geometry on internal porosity in gravity casting automotive brackets: An experimental investigation

Abstract

This study investigated whether the pouring ladle’s outlet shape could reduce the porosity of aluminum alloy casting products and whether it could be applied to mass production of automotive brackets based on computer simulations and experiment. The filling behaviors of the melt were simulated to compare the flow characteristics of the molten metal poured from the conventional ladle and the proposed ladle. Results show that for the conventional ladle, the pouring metal is V-shaped, while it is relatively circular and poured at a more constant rate in the proposed ladle. CT scans reveal that the proposed ladle reduces the porosity of the cast product. The proposed ladle resulted in an average of 30 fewer pores, a 299.56 mm3 smaller average total pore volume, and a 0.041% lower difference in average porosity. It is concludes that the proposed ladle can be used in the gravity casting process. By changing the ladle outlet shape can reduce the casting failure rate of mass-produced automobile bracket