Research Initiation: Application of Thermal Analysis to Numerical Simulation of Solidification and Shrinkage Prediction in Ductile Iron Castings

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The project deals with the development of finite element solidification simulation software for the prediction of shrinkage defects in near and near-eutectic commercial ductile iron castings. In order to accomplish this goal, two fundamental problems must be solved. First, the solidification of eutectic alloys which occurs essentially at constant temperature is inherently more difficult to simulate than that of freezing range alloys because of the discontinuity in the enthalpy-temperature relationship. Secondly, the solidification behavior of ductile iron, perhaps the most complex of the common casting alloys, is extremely sensitive to metallurgical processing conditions and hence not at all amenable to modeling on the basis of fundamental considerations. It is proposed that both problems may be overcome by a novel application of Newtonian analysis of cooling curve data to obtain a heat generation function that directly accounts for unique solidification characteristics of a given alloy attributable to metallurgical processing practice which can be efficiently incorporated into finite element solidification simulation code to realistically model the liberation of latent heat during solidification. A significant impact on the foundry industry as a whole is anticipated from this work, and for the first time provides a direct link between computer-aided design based on numerical simulation and process control in the foundry based on thermal analysis.