Manufacturing Simulation for the
Casting Industry
with STAR-Cast
Agenda
• Manufacturing Simulation
• Casting
• STAR-Cast
• Application coverage
• Outlook
Simulation for Manufacturing
• Simulation widely used for
– Research E-Coating
– Product Design
• Verification Fixed Bed
– Thermal
– Efficiency
– Safety
• Increased interest in manufacturing processes
• Process simulation
• Tool Design
Blast
Furnace
Casting
Manufacturing of Castings
Aspects of Casting Manufacturing
Materials Casting Processes Manufacturing:
• Non Ferrous alloys • Die Casting • Casting
• Aluminum • Tilt • Filling and Solidification
• Nickel • Low/High Pressure- • Defect distribution
• Titanium Casting • Structural integrity
• … • Gravity • Accuracy
• Ferrous alloys • Precision Casting • Tools
• Steel • Centrifugal • Cooling
• Ductile/Grey Iron • Bridgeman • Design
• …. • Continuous Casting • Longlevity
• Sand Casting
Overall goal: Increase the quality of the casting and minimize production costs
Casting Simulations
Sensitivity
analyses for
process
parameters
Geometrical
Defect
parameter
Elimination
Objectives
studies
where Casting
Simulation
aids
manufacturing
Enhancement
Reduce and
number of trial conservation
runs of raw
materials
Strategic Partnership
• Best of both worlds
– Provide state of the art of casting simulation solution by combining the
engineering experience of two companies which have a long-standing
track record in providing CAE solutions and casting processes for over
25 years
– Established casting solution STAR-Cast
STAR - Cast
• Dedicated tool for Casting Simulations
• Key Features:
– Multiphase Filling & Solidification
– Criteria Functions for Defect Prediction
– Material Database
– Shell mold generation
STAR-Cast
• Latest release (with STAR-CCM+ v8.02) as an Add- on to STAR-
CCM+
• From CAD to Post Processing in one GUI
• Add all the benefits of having STAR-CCM+ in the background
– Expand STAR-Cast’s application coverage
– State of the art Meshing and Solver technology
• Parts Based Meshing
– Leverage STAR-CCM+’s streamlined workflow
• New Release of STAR-Cast every 4 months
STAR- Cast: Multi Phase Simulation
• Fully Transient Simulation
• Simultaneous solving for flow and energy:
• Multiphase: Volume of Fluid (VOF)
• Resolution of the molten flow and filling front
• Model phase change
• Conjugate Heat Transfer
• Convection, Conduction, Radiation
• Across multiple fluids and solids
STAR-Cast : Material Database
• A dedicated Material Database is available in STAR-Cast, pooling
all relevant material information for the casting engineer
STAR-Cast: Melting and Solidification
• Enthalpy Melting Solidification Model
– Enthalpy formulation to track solid portion of the metal phase
• Mushy / Slurry Zone for metal alloys
– Large solidification intervals
– Growing net of dendrites impede flow
• Flow Stop Model
– Complete stop of flow in solidified areas
Solid Mushy Liquid
fL= 0.0 fL= 0.3 fL= 1.0
STAR-Cast: Defect Prediction
• Aim is to provide additional information on
the quality and structure of the casting
– Shrinkage
– Macro/ Micro Porosities
– Primary/Secondary Dendrite Arm Spacing
• Available Models
– Criteria Functions
– Macro Porosity Model
centre line porosity
Ref: Access, STAR-Cast
Casting Processes
Die Casting Investment Other
• Low/ High Pressure Casting Processes
Die Casting • Gravity Casting • Continuous Casting
• Tilt Die Casting Sand Casting
• Centrifugal Casting • Composite Casting
• Gravity Die Casting • Bridgeman Process • Pouring Simulation
STAR-Cast application range
Die Casting – Tilt Casting
• Tilting of the entire system
– Die, Cast Part, Cores, …
– Tilting curve applied via Rigid Body Motion
– Track air bubbles
90 deg turn in 10 s
Die Casting - LPDC
• Time depended pressure profile
pushes the melt into the die
• Improper process parameters like
pressure profile or die temperature
leads to porosities
Several casting cycles necessary to
achieve steady state temperature profile
Sand Casting
• Large and complex castings
• Porous mold
– Porosity is crucial for the mold filling
• Incorporate feeder, cooling irons, filters
• Mold filling important for the overall
quality of the casting
– Accurately capture the pouring of the
melt
Investment Casting
• Challenges in Investment Casting
– Thin-walled components with designs at the limit of producibility
– New materials
– Shell molds/ wrappings
• Shell Mold Generator
Courtesy of Access
Automatic shell mold generation
Investment Casting
• Lost mold process
• Investment mold is porous
• Back pressure influences filling
• Bridgeman process
• Estimate proper heater location and power
• Part removal via Rigid Body Motion
• Gravity
• Centrifugal
• Rotating crucible
• Stationary crucible
STAR-Cast and beyond
• Bringing STAR-Cast and STAR-CCM+ closer together leads to
synergy effects
• Extended application coverage
– Optimization with OPTIMATE
– Detailed Die Cooling analysis
– Pouring Optimization
STAR-Cast and OTPIMATE
• Leverage STAR-Cast’s capability with
OPTIMATE for design optimization
Solidification Front
• Example
– Design exploration with STAR-Cast and Feeder
OPTIMATE/Sherpa
– Find sensitivities between Shape/ Die
temperatures and feeding capabilities
• Solidification time ( max)
• Solidification front (minimum area)
DIE
DesignParameters
Pouring Optimization with STAR-Cast
• Pouring optimization
• Reduce misruns
• Increase yield
• Skull reduction
• Use STAR-Cast ( VOF + Overset mesh) to find optimized pouring curve
• Variation in rotational speed, pouring height and position
Before optimization After optimization
Outlook
• The new Casting User Interface in v8.04
– To be used as a stand alone or parallel to the
simulation tree
• Benefits
– High degree of automation
– Short learning curve
– Driven by the casting process
• Add additional physics as required
THANK YOU!!
• We invite to visit out best practice session on Wednesday from
10:30 to 12:30 in the Royal Palm Ballroom 2
• Live Demo’s to highlight key features of casting simulations with
STAR-Cast
• Sneak a peek at the new Casting User Interface
Manufacturing Simulation for the
Casting Industry
with STAR-Cast
