Experimental verification of the simulation of centrifugal casting in ceramic moulds

This paper presents the results of work on the determination of actual molten metal flow in a mould during centrifugal casting in the SuperCast induction vacuum furnace manufactured by Linn HighTherm. The centrifugal casting process uses the effect of centrifugal force on the flow of liquid metal in the mould with a resulting increase of the liquid and solidifying metal pressure. At the mould rotational speed of 250 rpm and the mould distance of 0.2 m from the rotation axis, the centrifugal force acting on the liquid metal is 14 times higher than the force of gravity. Despite a high force, misruns of unexplained origin have been found in castings from centrifugal induction furnaces. Here the action of gravity is insignificant to the flow of metal within the rotating mould. When casting in centrifugal forces, a certain amount of metal remains on the crucible surface, indicative of a minimum two forces present and acting on the liquid metal during the process. One is the centrifugal force, which prompts the flow of metal in parallel to the radius vector of the rotating mould. The sense of the other force is directed perpendicularly to the radius vector direction, as suggested by the residues of solidified metal in the crucible spout. A specially designed geometry of the casting system has been used in a series of experiments to observe the way in which the flow and casting filling occur. The analysis of produced results suggests that the inclusion of the Coriolis force in the computer-aided simulation of non-inertial reference systems explains the metal flow during centrifugal pouring. The computer calculations have proven the results of the said experiments.

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