Metal-Mold interfacial heat transfer

Abstract

During the solidification of metal castings, an interfacial heat transfer resistance exists at the boundary between the metal and the mold. This heat transfer resistance usually varies with time even if the cast metal remains in contact with the mold, due to the time dependence of plasticity of the freezing metal and oxide growth on the surface. The present work has studied interfacial heat transfer on two related types of castings. In the first type, a copper chill was placed on the top of a cylindrical, bottom gated casting. Using the techniques of transducer displacements and electrical continuity, a clearance gap was detected between the solidified metal and the chill. The second type of casting had a similar design except that the chill was placed at the bottom. Owing to the effect of gravity, solid to solid contact was maintained at the metal-chill interface, but the high degree of interface nonconformity resulted in a relatively low thermal conductance as indicated by solution of the inverse heat conduction problem. Finally, the influence of interfacial heat transfer on solidification time with three mold ma-terials is compared by a numerical example, and criteria for utilizing Chvorinov's rule are discussed.