The present situation of global financial slowdown has added a tremendous pressure on the industry. Die casting fraternity, which was already in a considerable pressure to reduce costs due to high input costs viz., energy, raw materials, consumables, environment, etc., find the going very difficult to handle. It is high time to optimize the cost.
This case study is a simple example of minimizing the runners and overflows of a die casting shot design of an alternator bracket casting, thereby reducing the cost. Figure 2a shows the shot design before optimization. Figure 2b shows the optimized shot design after numerous iterations. The key aspects of this design can be appreciated by the following:
Figure 2 - a) Shot design before optimization;
Figure 2 - b) shot design after optimization;
Figure 2 - c) optimized shot design.
Analysis of Results
The flow simulation of the optimized design has predicted significantly very low potential defects, as shown in Figure 2c.
Key Benefits
Figure 3 - Top, solidification result of a bowl indicating potential shrinkage porosity; bottom, solidification result of a head indicating potential shrinkage porosity.