Modelling and simulation of die casting process for A356 semi-solid alloy

To describe the flow behaviors of semi-solid state alloy A356, two non-Newtonian constitutive equations are modeled in this paper. All the parameters in the above equations are obtained by an isothermal shear experiment. The CFD software PROCAST is used to simulate the process of die filling. The filling temperature is 585 degrees C (solid fraction is 0.4). A Newtonian type fluid which stands for the traditional casting is also performed. Based on the results of the simulation, it is found that the material in semi-solid state exhibits an apparently higher viscosity and thus, flows much more smoothly than the Newtonian fluid. In addition, the semi-solid metal alloy has a special die filling behavior compared with liquid filling which is of great importance in improving the quality of the final components. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd.