Study of an Industrial Scale Counter Pressure Casting Process Using an Advanced Thermal-Stress Model

Abstract

This work comprehensively investigates the industrial scale Counter Pressure Casting (CPC) process with the aid of an advanced, coupled thermal-stress model. A series of experiments were performed on a commercial CPC machine to acquire quantitative data from the production process of an “H-shaped” casting. Three process conditions, where the chamber (counter) pressure was varied, were tested to investigate how the die temperature was impacted by the chamber pressure. The in-die temperatures, measured at various locations, were not significantly affected by the chamber pressure in the range tested (1.2–3.0 bar). However, air venting in the die cavity during filling became more inadequate with the increased chamber pressure. A coupled thermal-stress model was developed to simulate the casting process and validated using the acquired temperature data. The thermal-stress model shows improved accuracy of prediction of die temperature compared to conventional thermal-only models, due to its ability to describe the complex interface behavior between casting and die. The model was also used to enhance the understanding of how the casting/die interface gap and pressure impact the temperature field in the casting.