Journal of Materials Processing Technology 168 (2005) 1015

Simulation of casting solidication and its grain structure

prediction using FEM
A. Venkatesan
a,
, V.M. Gopinath
b
, A. Rajadurai
b
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Sriperumpudur 602105, India
b
Manufacturing Engineering Division, Anna University, Chennai 600025, India
Received 1 June 2004; received in revised form 24 September 2004; accepted 27 September 2004
Abstract
Metal casting is one of the basic manufacturing processes. Numerical simulation of solidication is useful in getting high quality castings
and minimising product cost and scrap. Finite element analysis in heat transfer can be used for this purpose. In this study, a program for
nite element modelling of casting solidication was developed. The salient features of the program are: facility to incorporate latent heat
through enthalpy method, incorporation of air gap by coincident node technique, ability to handle non-linear transient heat conduction through
temperature dependent material properties, and object oriented programming. The code was written in C++ language and Gaussian elimination
method was used to solve the matrices. This programcan handle two-dimensional solidication of pure metals and alloys. Using this program,
solidication of innite slab of water was simulated and the results were compared with the reported literature and ANSYS and were found to
be in good agreement. Also, solidication of Al6 wt.% Si alloy in sand and metal mould was simulated and compared with the experimental
ndings and simulation results reported in the literature and ANSYS. For a given geometric prole, the solidication time obtained from the
present program was 1200 s as against the literature of 1100 s and ANSYS package of 900 s. So it was found to be in good agreement with the
research and experimental ndings. The program was limited to 2D heat transfer analysis using linear quadrilateral elements. The program
could be extended for predicting the grain structure. From the simulation results, the solidliquid interface velocity (R) and solidication rate
(dT/dt) could be calculated and using these values thermal gradient (G) could be found and there by the most probable grain structure could
be predicted.
2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.
Keywords: Casting; Solidication; Finite element method
1. Introduction
Casting, one of the important processes used in industries,
is a complicated process, which involves considerable metal-
lurgical and mechanical aspects. The rate of cooling governs
the microstructure to a large extent, which in turn controls the
mechanical properties like strength, hardness, machinability,
etc. The location, size and shape of riser in a casting depend
on the geometry of the casting, mould design and thermal
properties of metal, old and other process parameters. Im-
properly designed riser results either defective casting with
shrinkage cavity or lower yield. Hence properly designed

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: avsan@svce.ac.in (A. Venkatesan).
mould and good control over the process parameters are a
must for quality castings [1].
From realistic considerations, the experimental routes are
always better for design and development of mould and for
arriving at the optimum process parameters. It is costly and
time consuming and may be impossible in some cases. But
a computer simulation of the whole process is a convenient
way of design of mould and analysing the effect of various
parameters.
1.1. Objectives
The objectives of the present work were (i) develop a com-
puter program to model the solidication process of metals
and alloys, using nite element method. Using the model,
0924-0136/$ see front matter 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.
doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2004.09.090
A. Venkatesan et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 168 (2005) 1015 11
simulate the solidication of AlSi alloy in metal and sand
mould and (ii) validating the result of simulation by compar-
ing with the experimental ndings and reported literature.
2. Formulation of solidication analysis
The eld variables namely temperature at all nodal points
are varying with time. Also the thermal properties like ther-
mal conductivity, density and specic heat are varying with
temperature and hence a non-linear transient solution tech-
nique had been used [2]. The latent heat release during phase
change was incorporated in this program using enthalpy
method by taking in to account the sudden variation of heat
capacity during solidication. As solidication progresses
the metal shrinks causing an air gap formation between the
casting and mould. Heat transfer in the gap was by convec-
tion only and as the gap widens, the heat transfer co efcient
was affected. Here interface element was used between the
casting and mould to accommodate the change in interface
condition. Coincident node technique was applied to account
for the metal mould interfacial heat transfer.
The governing differential equation in Cartesian co-
ordinates for two-dimensional heat transfer is expressed as

x
_
KT
x
_
+

y
_
KT
y
_
=
C
p
dT
dt
(1)
By using variational formulation and suitable shape func-
tions, this is written in a short form as
[K]
e
{T
i
} + [C]
e
{T
i
} = {F}
e
(2)
where [K]
e
is the conductivity matrix, [C]
e
the capacitance
matrix, T
i
the time derivatives of nodal temperatures, {F}
e
the thermal load vector.
In general the conductivity matrix is expressed in two parts
as conduction and convection matrices,
[K]
e
= [K
c
]
e
+ [K
h
]
e
=
_

[B]
T
[K][B]d

+
_

hN{N}d

(3)
where
[B] = [J]
1
_
N
1,r
N
2,r
N
3,r
N
4,r
N
1,s
N
2,s
N
3,s
N
4,s
_
The convection term was applicable only for those elements
lying on the boundary having specied heat transfer co-
efcient.
The capacitance matrix was expressed as
[C]
e
=
_

C
p
N[N]d

(4)
and
{F}
e
= T

_

h{N}d

(5)
Fig. 1. Interface element.
Radiation effect and specied heat ux on the surface were
not included in the load vector calculation.
2.1. Incorporation of latent heat
The effect of latent heat release during phase change was
incorporated in this program by enthalpy method, since en-
thalpy is a continuous function of temperature throughout and
obtaining the equivalent heat capacity, C
*
by differentiating
the enthalpy with respect to temperature.
The equivalent heat capacity at the integrating points can
be approximated, using the relation Morgan et al. (1978),
C

= rC
p
=
_
(H/x)
2
+ (H/Y)
2
(T/x)
2
+ (T/Y)
2
_
1/2
(6)
2.2. Interface element
Castingmould interfacial heat transfer was accounted us-
ing the coincident node technique by constructing a virtual
conductivity matrix for the gap element.
In Fig. 1 the nodes 3, 5 and 4, 6 are coincident nodes
with same spatial co-ordinates. The convective terms from
the metal side was given by
[K]
gap
met
= h
_
3,4
N
T
(T
metal
T
mold
)d

(7)
3. Program description
Acomputer programin C++ language has been developed
to perform thermal analysis of two-dimensional solidifying
bodies. The nite element idealisation has three groups of
elements namely casting, mould and gap elements.
The capabilities of the programwere dynamic memory al-
location, elements of linear quadrilateral type only for analy-
sis, incorporation of temperature dependent material proper-
ties, interface modelling using gap elements, skyline storage
of global matrices, Guassian elimination method for solving,
facility to edit the input data, facility to use stored material
properties for certain materials.
The input module of the program gives two options to the
user. The user can input the data or can be read from a previ-
ously stored data. Also the data can be input either through the
program or can be directly typed in the respective les. The
program asks for the number of elements, number of nodes
in the mesh and interfacial heat transfer coefcient. Thermal
properties viz. conductivity and enthalpy were given input as
12 A. Venkatesan et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 168 (2005) 1015
Table 1
The thermal conductivity and enthalpy of water/ice
Temperature (K) Thermal conductivity
(W/mK)
Enthalpy (J/m
3
)
0 2.22 0
272.75 2.22 4.8 10
8
273.25 0.556 8.185 10
8
283 0.556 8.608 10
8
300 0.556 9.331 10
8
functions of temperature for casting and mould materials sep-
arately. The material properties for steel, aluminium, Al6%
Si alloy, water (Table 1) [9], sand, cast iron were already pro-
vided in the program and the user can use them directly by
specifying the material.
For each nodal temperature of the element, corresponding
conductivity value was interpolated from the material data
input according to the type of element. After getting conduc-
tivity values at all nodes, the conductivity for the element
was interpolated using shape functions. Nodal enthalpy of
element was found like conductivity and then heat capacity
was approximated by
C

= C
p
=
_
[(H/x)
2
+ (H/y)
2
]
[(T/x)
2
+ (T/y)
2
]
_
1/2
(8)
The conductance matrix was given by
_
1
1
_
1
1
[B]
T
[K][B]|J|d
r
d
s
(9)
The convective matrix, capacitance matrix and force vector
were evaluated in the same way. The element matrices were
assembled after they were calculated. Since they were sym-
metric, the resulting global or assembled matrix was also
symmetric, with many zeros away from the main diagonal.
So they were assembled in half banded form.
Guassian elimination method was used to solve the matri-
ces.
Fig. 2 shows the ow chart of the program.
4. Computer simulation
4.1. Solidication of an innite slab
The C++ code developed for the analysis of solidication
was initially validated by conducting trial simulation of solid-
ication of water and comparing the results with the reported
values of Comini et al [3]. The solidication of Al6 wt% Si
alloy was simulated and the results were validated by compar-
ing with the ndings of Stefanescu et al [4]. The solidication
of an innite slab of water was considered for trial analysis.
The slab was initially at 283 K. The temperature of the face at
x =0 was suddenly brought down to 253 K and other bound-
aries were insulated. The solidication range was assumed
to 272.75273.25 K. Quadrilateral elements of 20 numbers
Fig. 2. The ow chart of the program.
over a length of 1 M were considered for simulation with the
latent heat release during solidication of 338 10
6
J/m
3
.
4.2. Solidication of Al6wt% Si alloy
Solidication of Al6wt% Si alloy in a sand and steel
mould was simulated. Fig. 3 shows the FE mesh for Al6%
alloy solidication. Adiabatic boundary condition was as-
sumed over the casting and mould surfaces and the heat trans-
fer took place through one side of the mould with convective
heat transfer coefcient of 12 W/m
2
K. Initial temperature of
the metal was 1033 K and sand mould was 308 K.
A. Venkatesan et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 168 (2005) 1015 13
Fig. 3. FE mesh for Al6wt.% Si alloy solidication.
Table 2
Thermal conductivity and enthalpy of Al6%wt Si alloy
Temperature (K) Thermal conductivity
(w/mK)
Enthalpy (J/m
3
K) 10
6
498 164.61 896.35
598 167.59 1172.50
698 163.35 1472.70
798 163.35 1808.50
848 173.5 2496.26
898 183.6 2840.12
988 183.6 3176.61
1033 183.6 3294.29
Tables 2 and 3 shows the material properties of Al6%wt
Si alloy, sand and metal mould.
4.3. Prediction of grain structure
On execution of the FEM programme (Fig. 2) the spatial
distribution of temperature at various time interval could be
obtained. From the simulation results solidliquid interface
velocity (R) and solidication rate (dT/dt) could be calculated
and using these values thermal gradient (G) could be found
[5,8].
The relationship between the solidication variables,
namely G, R and dT/dt is
dT
dt
= GR (10)
and
G =
_
1
R
__
(T
f
T)
i
(t)
_
(11)
Table 3
Thermal conductivity and heat capacity of sand and steel
Material Thermal conductivity
(W/mK)
Heat capacity (J/m
3
)
Sand 0.61 1758000
Metal 45.64 4338695
Table 4
Parameters for microstructure prediction
Mould m
1
(K/wt.%) K
1
D (m
2
/s) (mK) T
n
Sand 24 0.13 3 10
10
2 10
7
0.60
Steel 14 0.13 3 10
10
2 10
7
0.75
In metallic mould, a fully columnar structure G
CL
, is formed
when,
G
CL
1.27(N
0
)
1/3
_
1
_
T
n
T
c
_
3
_
T
c
(12)
And fully equiaxed dentritic structure is formed when
G
Eq
0.462(N
0
)
1/3
_
1
_
T
n
T
c
_
3
_
T
c
(13)
where
T
c
=
_
8m
1
(1 K
1
)C
0
R
D
_
1/2
(14)
and
=

S
f
(15)
N
0
=1.26 10
12
/m
3
.For values of G between Eqs. (12)
and (13), it resembles a mixed region or transition zone.
Similarly in sand mould,
G
CL
2.86(N
0
)
1/3
_
1
_
T
n
T
c
_
3
_
T
c
(16)
G
CL
2.86(N
0
)
1/3
_
1
_
T
n
T
c
_
3
_
T
c
(17)
For values of G between Eqs. (16) and (17), it resembles a
mixed region or transition zone.
Here T
n
is the under cooling required for interface
growth, the GibbsThomson coefcient, m
1
the liquidus
slope, C
0
the liquid alloy composition, the solidliquid in-
terfacial energy, N
0
the nuclei density, S
f
the entropy of
fusion, K
1
the equilibrium partition ratio, and D the diffu-
sivity. Table 4 lists the parameters used for microstructure
prediction
5. Results and discussions
5.1. Preliminary validation
Fig. 4a and b shows the prediction of the developed pro-
gram, Comini et al. and ANSYS package on the distribution
of temperature in the innite slab of water as a function of
distance from the cool end after a time period of 5 and 20 h,
respectively [6].
14 A. Venkatesan et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 168 (2005) 1015
Fig. 4. (a) Temperature distribution plot at 5 h. (b) Temperature distribution plot at 20 h.
Table 5
Comparison between the predictions of the various simulations
Study Predicted thickness of ice (mm)
5 h 20 h
Present programme 85 140
[3] 75 125
ANSYS 100 135
For the purpose of comparison the thickness of ice (i.e.
distance up to which the temperature is less than 273 K) was
measured for all the predictions and tabulated (Table 5).
It was evident that the %variation between the predictions
of the present study and Comini et al. [3] was about 10%,
which is generally considered to be an acceptable variation
in simulations.
Therefore the present programme could be used for the
simulation of solidication to obtain results with acceptable
accuracy.
Fig. 5 shows the effect of number of elements on the accu-
racy of the nite element solution. It could be inferred that as
the number of elements were increased, solution approaches
the analytical value.
Fig. 6. Cooling curve for Al6 wt.% Si alloy in sand mould.
5.2. Solidication of Al6wt.% Si alloy
Fig. 6 shows the cooling curves obtained from the simula-
tions of present study, Stefanescu et al. [4] and ANSYS. The
cooling curves correspond to the centre of the casting, which
is node number 3 in the present study.
Table 5 lists the time taken for completion of solidication
found out from the above stated studies.
Fig. 5. Effect of number of elements on the accuracy of the solution.
A. Venkatesan et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 168 (2005) 1015 15
Fig. 7. Cooling curve for Al6 wt.% Si alloy in steel mould.
Table 6
Time taken for solidication
Sl. no Study Time taken for
solidication (s)
1 Present programme 1200
2 [4] 1100
3 ANSYS 900
Fig. 7 shows the cooling curve obtained from the simula-
tion of solidication of Al6wt.% Si alloy in a steel mould.
The cooling curves of the present study (Figs. 5 and 6)
clearly revealed the two stages in solidication namely pro
eutectic and eutectic stages. This became possible by dis-
tributing the release of latent heat at two instants during so-
lidication. One third of the latent heat was incorporated dur-
ing the rst two third of the solidication range and the two
third of the latent heat was released during the last one third
of the solidication range. Whereas in conventional studies
the latent heat is released uniformly throughout the solidi-
cation range resulting in the non-revelation of the ranges in
solidication.
A simple comparison of the present prediction on time
taken for solidication with others (Table 6) indicates that
the variation between the present study and the experimen-
tal/simulation results of Stefanescu et al. [4] is only about 8%,
whereas the prediction using ANSYS differ by about 25%
[7]. The reduction in time taken to solidication in the pre-
dictions of ANSYS could be attributed to non-incorporation
of thermal resistant between casting and mould.
6. Conclusion
In this paper, a C++ code is developed for the simulation
of casting solidication. The programme can perform two
dimensional heat transfer analysis for non-linear transient
cases. Latent heat release is incorporated in this programme
using enthalpy method. Coincident node technique is used
to obtain conductivity matrix for the gap elements. Linear
quadrilateral elements are used to discretize the domain. The
program gives the temperature distribution in the nodes at
various time intervals.
Taking these temperatures as input, this programme can
be extended to calculate the values of G, R and dT/dt. From
these values the grain structure of the casting can be found.
Programme is to be extended for pre- and post-processing
to take the input for the programme and for giving graphical
output, respectively.
References
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81-204-0363-0.
[2] The Finite Element Method in Heat Transfer Analysis, Wiley,
1996.
[3] G. Comini, S.D. Guidice, R.W. Lewis, O.C. Zienkiwiez, Finite ele-
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[4] D.M. Stefanescu, G. Upadhya, D. Bandyopadhyay, Heat transfer
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