Investigating the effects of mushy zone thickness on residual stresses in alloy solidification

Abstract

A thermo-elasto-plastic analysis is performed to study the effect of mushy zone thickness on residual stress formation in alloy solidification. Specific heat flux distributions on the model boundaries are predicted in order to achieve pre-defined mushy zone thicknesses. The effective heat capacity method is utilized for the thermal analysis of the solidification process. The von-Mises criterion with a hardening model and stress–strain power law is employed to describe the elasto-plastic behavior. Material parameters are assumed to be temperature dependent and required analyses are made using the meshless local Petrov–Galerkin method. Several numerical examples are presented to calculate the temperature and stress fields developed in the material undergoing solidification. Under the assumed conditions, we conclude that the mushy zone thickness does not play a significant role in the development of residual stresses in the cast material. Moreover, it is shown that the solidification time can be reduced without having a significant effect on the residual stresses.