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Optimal gating system design for investment casting of 17-4PH stainless

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Article  in  International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology · March 2017

DOI: 10.1007/s00170-017-0198-0

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Int J Adv Manuf Technol
DOI 10.1007/s00170-017-0198-0
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Optimal gating system design for investment casting of 17-4PH
stainless steel enclosed impeller by numerical simulation
and experimental verification
Jenn-Kun Kuo 1 & Pei-Hsing Huang 2 & Hsin-Yi Lai 3 & Jian-Rong Chen 2
Received: 12 October 2016 / Accepted: 20 February 2017
# Springer-Verlag London 2017
Abstract The impellers of centrifugal pumps are highly sus-
ceptible to the latent damage of corrosion and cavitation after
long periods of transporting chemical fluids. To enhance the
structural integrity and effective lifespan of impellers, this
study applied mold flow analysis to the design of gating sys-
tems for 17-4PH stainless steel enclosed impellers. Our objec-
tive was to eliminate shrinkage and porous defects common in
investment casting. We adopted various bottom, side, and top
pouring systems with different pouring parameters to examine
the behavior of the molten metal flow and solidification in the
mold cavity. We designed a pressurized gating system with
specific gating ratio to achieve a stable flow velocity at in-
gates. Physical sensors preset in the interior of the cavity were
also used to detect thermodynamic behavior and analyze
phase changes during casting simulations. The probability of
shrinkage defect formation was assessed using the retained
melt modulus (RMM) and the Niyama criterion.
Experiments and nondestructive inspections show that opti-
mizing the design of the gating system prevented surface
shrinkage and interior defects. The improvements also re-
duced post-processing time and costs, increased yields, and
enhanced casting quality.
* Pei-Hsing Huang
phh@mail.npust.edu.tw; phhuang1970@gmail.com
1
Department of Greenergy, National University of Tainan,
Tainan 70005, Taiwan, Republic of China
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Pingtung
University of Science and Technology, Pingtung 912, Taiwan,
Republic of China
3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Cheng-Kung
University, Tainan 701, Taiwan, Republic of China
Keywords Investment casting . Mold flow analysis . Niyama
criterion . Retained melt modulus . Riser . Shrinkage
1 Introduction
Investment casting can be used to produce components with
complex geometric shapes with high dimensional accuracy
and superior surface roughness at low cost, which is widely
adopted in the production of metal components in the medical,
defense, and aerospace industries [1–5]. During the initial
stage of casting blanks, new production lines tend to be de-
veloped through trial and error. Thus, the flow behavior and
solidification of molten metal are hard to predict. This in-
creases the likelihood of shrinkage and pore formation in casts
(as shown in Fig. 1). Such product defects severely weaken
the competitiveness of industry and their business
opportunities.
Research has shown that employing mold flow analysis to
design casting schemes can greatly increase yields [6–12].
Zhang et al. [3] and Wu et al. [5] predicted the shrinkage
and gas porosity of dental prostheses and optimized the gating
system designs in dental medicines based on numerical anal-
yses conducted using MAGMASOFT software. Swaminathan
and Voller [13] proposed the volume of fluid (VOF) equation
to derive the relationship between the free surface location
function and the time step function for a shape liquid/air in-
terface. Jin et al. [14] used the ProCAST software to determine
the boundary effects of thermophysical parameters and solid-
ification parameters. Their results indicate that increasing the
heat transfer coefficient at the interface decreases the width of
the mushy zone. Norouzi and Farhangi [15] examined thermal
cracking behavior during casting. They found that increasing
cooling rate increases the thermal gradient, which raises the
likelihood of hot tearing. Pan et al. [16] used ProCAST and the

Fig. 1 a Location of defects in
impeller casting fabricated using
initial scheme. b Gaseous pore
defects on the rear cover surface
of the impeller. c Shrinkage
defects in the front cover surface
of the impeller. d Shrinkage
defects affecting the structure of
blade (b–d are magnifications of
the locations marked in a)
Niyama criterion to predict the formation of shrinkage pores
in TiAl alloy castings. They also found that the thickness of
the casting section influences Niyama criterion values via the
cooling rate. Wang et al. [17] enhanced the casting quality of
seven-blade stainless steel helicoid impellers by redesigning
the gating system and casting parameters. Gao et al. [18] cov-
ered runners and shell mold surfaces with cotton insulation to
deal with the problem of cold shuts and misruns in the casting
of combined guide vanes. Feng [19] increased the yield rate of
impeller castings to 90% using an annular gate and runner
system in conjunction with exothermic risers. Budavari and
Molnar [20] employed the modulus technique of Chvorinov to
simulate the local solidification processes of large steel cast-
ings with walls of nonuniform thickness. The characteristics
of nonisotropic solidification have been derived using the con-
trol volume method. Chen et al. [21] adopted AnyCasting
software to examine various insulating and exothermic riser
designs for the steel castings of gear ring seats in excavators.
The riser modulus, as well as the volume and quantity of
risers, can be derived according to the feeding liquid method
and the solidification times obtained through simulations.
Wang et al. [22] presented the evolution of flow dynamics
and liquid fraction in low-pressure die-casting for magnesium
wheels using the commercial software PAM-CAST. Based on
the prediction of the Niyama criterion using ProCAST soft-
ware, Guo et al. [23] investigated the volume fraction of mac-
roscopic shrinkage and microscopic pore defects caused by
hot spots during the solidification of nickel-based alloys. Xu
et al. [24] examined the solidification and effects of heat
shrinkage on ceramic shells. They also proposed the use of
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
dual thermocouple ceramic molds to measure the thermal
properties of alloys, such as thermal conductivity and specific
heat capacity. They used the MAGMASOFT package to sim-
ulate and adjust experiment cooling curves, thereby enhancing
the accuracy of mold flow analysis in casting simulations.
Yahaya et al. [25] used activated charcoal to modify ceramic
shell molds. Molds with 20% activated charcoal were shown
to enhance microwave absorption, reduce dewaxing time, and
improve collapsibility. In this study, we applied the techniques
of metallic mold flow analysis to trial production runs of high-
value stainless steel impellers for use in centrifugal pumps.
Optimizing the design of the gating system and various pro-
cess parameters greatly enhanced casting quality and short-
ened the production line development time.
2 Experimental and numerical methods
2.1 Gating system design and process parameters
Based on previous experience, we first developed an initial
gating scheme with a simply designed sprue cup, runner, ven-
tilators, and mold cavity, as shown in Fig. 2a. Considering that
the impeller would need to operate in chemical fluids for
prolonged periods of time, we selected the commercial 17-
4PH stainless steel with high-strength and corrosion resistance
characteristics as casting materials (chemical composition: C,
≤0.07%; Si, ≤1.00%; Mg, ≤1.00%; Cr, 15.00∼17.50%; Ni,
3.00∼5.00%; Cu, 3.00∼5.00%; S, ≤0.030%) [26]. The coeffi-
cient of thermal expansion and the thermal conductivity are
Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Fig. 2 a Design of gating system in initial casting scheme. b Temperature distribution at filling rate of 10%. c Solidification sequence and unsolidified
regions at t = 100.7 s

varied significantly with temperature, which are considered as
variables. As to the thermophysical properties possessing a
limited change with temperature, such as the density, dynamic
viscosity, specific heat, and latent heat, they are treated by
constants in the AnyCasting simulation package. Table 1 lists
the thermophysical properties of the 17-4PH stainless steel,
including density (ρ), specific heat (S), coefficient of thermal
conductivity (K), latent heat (L), liquid-phase temperature (Tl),
and solid-phase temperature (Ts). For numerical simulation,
we designed five sets of casting process parameters based on
solid- and liquid-phase temperatures of the material, including
the ceramic shell material, ceramic shell temperature (Tceramic),
casting temperature (Tcasting), pouring time (tpouring), ceramic
shell thickness (δ), and mesh number, as shown in Table 2.
2.2 Physical model and numerical method
During the pouring process, the molten metal forms a
viscoplastic and unsteady flow field within the mold cavity.
We employed the AnyCasting software package with finite
difference (FD) scheme to analyze complex flow behavior
and solve the associated thermodynamic equations by di-
viding the simulation domain into finite mesh grids at each
time step. This approach has the advantages of numerical
stability and convergence, while reducing computation
time and reducing memory requirements [4, 28, 29]. The
simulation procedures include three core blocks: (i) prepro-
cessing, in which the AnyMESH and AnyPRE modules are
used to generate the meshes of the gating system and set the
casting process parameters; (ii) analytic calculations, in
which the AnySolver is used to analyze the physical
phenomena observed in the casting process, including pre-
dictions pertaining to the distribution of phase fraction and
mechanical characteristics as well as the formation of cast-
ing defects; and (iii) postprocessing, in which the simula-
tion results are visualized using the AnyPOST module. In
analytic calculations, the heat loss and nonthermostatic so-
lidification process of molten flows follow the conservation
laws of mass, momentum, and energy, dominating by the
continuity equation, Navier-Stokes equation, and energy
equation, as shown in Eqs. (1)–(3) [27]. The free surface,
surface tension, and turbulence generated by the pouring
process are predicted by the models of the volume of fluid
(VOF), wall adhesion, and the standard k-ε function, as
shown in Eqs. (4)–(7) [27]. We adopted the successive
overrelaxation (SOR) method with convergence accuracy
of <0.001 for the numerical iteration processes. This meth-
od provides a satisfactory balance of convergence speed
and computation costs [27].
1. The continuity equation is applied to the conservation of
mass and the filling process:
∂ρ ∂ðρui Þ
þ ¼0 ð1Þ
∂t ∂xi
2. The Navier-Stokes equation is applied to the conservation
of momentum and the calculations of flow velocity and
pressure:
∂u⇀ ⇀
þ ρu⇀⋅∇u⇀ ¼ −∇p þ μ∇2 ⇀
ρ u þf ð2Þ
∂t

Table 1 Thermophysical
properties of 17-4PH stainless ρ (kg/m3) S (J/kg K) K (W/m K) L (kJ/kg) Tl (°C) Ts (°C) μ (g/cm s) rs (%)
steel
7750 460 Variable 289.99 1440 1400 0.03354 3.16

Source: [27]
 Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Table 2 Design parameters used in impeller casting process defect formation, i.e., the Niyama criterion [30] and the
Exp. 1 Exp. 2 Exp. 3 Exp. 4 Exp. 5 retained melt modulus (RMM) [4, 27]. The Niyama criterion,
Ceramic shell material Zircon (Zr) sand proposed by Eisuke Niyama, can be formulated as follows:
.pffiffiffi
Mesh number 3,008,460 Ny ¼ G R< CNiyama ð8Þ
Tceramic (°C) 1150 1200 1220 1250 1250
Tcasting (°C) 1550 1600 1600 1600 1650 In Eq. (8), G denotes the temperature gradient and R is the
tpouring (s) 5 5 6 5 5 cooling rate. Based on the Niyama criterion, a value calculated
δ (mm) 5.5 to be smaller than the critical value (CNiyama) is an indication
that shrinkage defects are likely to occur at this location.
RMM denotes the volume of retained melt divided by the
3. The conservation of energy equation is employed to cal- surface area at the time when a critical solid fraction is reached
culate thermal conductivity, the temperature field, and the at each mesh. A lower RMM value indicates a higher proba-
solidification process: bility of defect formation [4].

∂H ⇀−∇⋅ðk∇T Þ−q ¼ 0
ρ þ ρH∇⋅u ð3Þ
∂t
3 Results and discussion
4. The VOF function simulates the nondirectional flow state
of the molten metal on the free boundary: 3.1 Numerical mold flow analysis of initial scheme

∂ Fv ∂ Fv ∂ Fv ∂ Fv We used numerical mold flow analysis to analyze the process

þ u1 þ u2 þ u3 ¼0 ð4Þ
∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z of casting impellers as well as the influence of gating system
design and process parameters on defect formation. Figure 2b
5. Surface tension is calculated using the surface curvature shows molten metal flowing directly into the cavity through
of the molten metal: the vertical gate without passing the transverse runner to buff-
er the flow. This promoted the formation of a turbulent flow
σ ¼ C σ ⋅K a ð5Þ field in the cavity and carries air or slag into the impeller
structure, thereby forming oxide inclusions or micropore de-
fects. Moreover, before the molten metal filled up the mold
6. The standard k-ε turbulent model is used to predict the
cavity, the blocking of vent holes on both sides prevented the
turbulent flow field, as follows:
discharge of gas from the mold. Figure 2c presents the solid-

  ification sequence in which the impeller begins solidifying
∂k e ∂k e ∂ ut ∂k e
þ uj ¼ uþ þ Pk e −ε ð6Þ from the outer rim toward the gate. The areas in which molten
∂t ∂x j ∂x j σke ∂x j
metal has not been fed into the front and back covers of the

  impeller are prone to cooling shrinkage, resulting in insuffi-
∂ε ∂ε ∂ ut ∂ε ε ε2
þ uj ¼ uþ þ C ε1 Pk −C ε2 ð7Þ cient filling and shrinkage defects.
∂t ∂x j ∂x j σε ∂x j ke ke Figure 3a–c presents the probability of defect formation at
* the end of the solidification period, as determined using the
In Eqs. (1)–(7), ρ represents density (kg/m3), u denotes retained melt modulus. The dark red indicates regions with the
velocity vector (m/s), P stands for pressure (Pa), T means highest probability of defect formation. As shown in Fig. 3b,
temperature (°C), k denotes thermal conductivity (W/m K), the largest shrinkage defect appeared in the pouring cup. The
*
F is the volume fraction (i.e., the VOF), f represents particle insufficient availability of molten metal being fed into the
weight (body force), μ denotes dynamic viscosity (mPa·s), H solidifying casting led to the formation of porous defects on
signifies enthalpy (J), Cσ is the coefficient of surface tension the front cover of the impeller, as shown in Fig. 3c. Figure 4a–
(dyne/cm), ka denotes curvature, ke stands for turbulent kinetic c uses the Niyama criterion to predict the probability of defect
energy, ε is the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy, σk formation. Due to the thin and curved structure of the impeller
denotes the Prandtl number corresponding to turbulent kinetic and poorly designed ventilators, both sides of the covers and
energy k, and σε is the Prandtl number corresponding to dis- the blades are prone to defects over large areas. A comparison
sipation rate ε. of defects in the impeller (Fig. 1) and the probability of defect
Various prediction models are applied for the forecasting of formation (Figs. 3 and 4) demonstrate that the results obtained
shrinkage and porous defects [4, 29–34]. In this study, two from numerical simulation are in good agreement with actual
models were adopted to evaluate the probability of casting castings.
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
Fig. 3 Probabilities of defect formation in initial casting scheme (Exp. 3), as evaluated using the retained melt modulus. a Exterior surface. b Interior of
gating system. c Cross-sectional view of the front cover
3.2 Improvements in gating system design
Analysis of the initial scheme revealed severe porosity and
shrinkage defects throughout the impeller structure. We devel-
oped six improved gating system designs to remedy these
defects (cases 1∼6), as shown in Fig. 5. The bottom pouring
design in case 1 prevents pouring directly into the mold cavity,
as was the case in the initial scheme. Risers were also placed
on the rear cover to serve as feeders. The side pouring design
in case 2 and case 3 employed three 50 × 50-mm risers and
two to four gates attached to a ring-like runner along the outer
rim of the impeller. The side-pouring gating system in case 4
provides an improved annular bevel design in the rear cover.
The top pouring designs in case 5 and case 6 use a transverse
runner with gates placed atop the mold cavity. Case 6 also
includes two vent holes and an annular bevel of 8.5 ° on the
rear cover to enhance venting performance.
3.3 Numerical analysis of improved gating system designs
We employed the hot spot method to derive a suitable design
for the risers. The diameter of hot spots was determined ac-
cording to the sectional thickness of castings, whereupon an
empirical formula was used to derive the dimensions of the
Fig. 4 Probabilities of defect formation in initial casting scheme (Exp. 3), as evaluated using the Niyama criterion. a Cross-sectional view of rear cover.
b Interior of gating system. c Front cover
riser, including the height, diameter, and volume of the risers
as well as the size of riser neck. The design of the riser must
fulfill three major conditions [12, 21, 31]: (1) the solidification
timing of the riser neck must exceed that of the casting to
ensure a smooth feeding flow (energy principle); (2) the vol-
ume of the riser must be adequate to feed the shrinkage vol-
ume of the casting (volume principle); (3) the potential energy
of the riser must be higher than that of the casting (potential
principle).
The results of mold flow analysis revealed that neither the
side pouring approach of case 3 nor the mock-side pouring
approach of case 4 could effectively eliminate the casting
defects. However, simulations of the solidification process
indicate that the riser and annular bevel feeding design can
effectively increase the temperature gradient of the impeller.
Shell mold cracking occurred in case 5 during the dewaxing
process. This can be attributed to the excessive size of the gate,
which resulted in thermal expansion and excessive stress in
the wax patterns within the ceramic shell. Thus, we selected
case 1, case 2, and case 6 for comparison and further improve-
ments. Moreover, to make the contents of the paper as con-
cisely as possible, only the parameter set (selected from Exp. 1
to Exp. 5 in Table 2) that was most appropriate to each im-
proved gating system design was shown for comparison and

Fig. 5 Improved gating system designs. a–f Case 1 to case 6, respectively
discussion. Figure 6 displays the transient temperature distri-
butions during the casting process using the improved
schemes. All of the runners buffered the effects of the thermal
shock and flow of the molten metal. Case 2 presented the
smoothest and filling sequence of greatest stability, thanks to
uniform pouring into the mold cavity afforded by the four
gates. In contrast, the design of the annular bevel for the top
pouring approach in case 6 made it possible to guide the air
flow, thereby reducing the formation of porous defects. At a
filling rate of 100%, the molten metal maintained tempera-
tures above the alloy solidus line (1399 °C), such that prema-
ture solidification did not occur. The solidification sequence of
the molten metal is closely related to the locations of defect
formations. Figure 7 presents the transient phenomena in the
solidifying metal using the improved schemes. In case 1, feed
interruptions occurred between the middle gate and the risers,
resulting in the formation of isolated residual melt in the
Fig. 6 Transient temperature distributions during casting process in a case 1 with bottom pouring approach at filling rate 40%, b case 2 with side pouring
approach at filling rate 25%, and c case 6 with top pouring approach at filling rate 60%
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
bearing structure of the impeller. In case 2, the gates and risers
aided feeding, thereby helping to ensure that the residual iso-
lated melts were formed within the risers and transverse run-
ners. In case 6, the design of the annular bevel helped to direct
ventilation and solidification in the rear cover of the impeller
and at the gates, thereby increasing the temperature gradient in
the impeller structure and improving the feeding of molten
metal.
As aforementioned, the shrinkage defects are likely to oc-
cur at the bearing structure of case 1 based on the simulation
results. Therefore, the improved gating system designs with
an appropriate casting parameter, i.e., case 2 (Exp. 4) and case
6 (Exp. 2), were further analyzed and compared with the initial
casting scheme, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9. The influence of in-
gates and risers on feeding in case 2 promoted the last residual
melts situated in the annular runner and risers, thereby reduc-
ing the number of defects in the impeller, as shown in Figs. 8a.
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
Fig. 7 Unsolidified regions in molten metal in a case 1 with bottom pouring approach at t = 310.9 s, b case 2 with side pouring approach at t = 94.8 s, and
c case 6 with top pouring approach at t = 79.2 s
Furthermore, the annular bevel in case 6 increased the tem-
perature gradient and ventilation efficiency, thereby reducing
the number of shrinkage defects in the impeller by more than
50%, as shown in Fig. 8b. Figure 9 presents the probability of
shrinkage defects as determined by the combined defect pa-
rameter of the Niyama criterion. As shown in Fig. 9a, we
adopted the Exp. 4 parameters in case 2, including preheating
of the ceramic shell and enhancing the performance of riser
feeding, thereby eliminating the formation of shrinkage de-
fects in various parts of the impeller. Furthermore, the venting
introduced in case 6 reduced the formation of air traps in the
mold cavity and enhanced the flow of molten metals, thereby
reducing the growth of dendritic structures and mediating the
probability of shrinkage defect formation, as shown in Fig. 9b.
Any residual gas or slag suspended in the molten metal can
lead to the formation of porous defects and oxide inclusions in
castings. A failure to reduce air pressure within the mold cav-
ity can cause air to remain in the form of air traps or pores.
Figure 10 presents the distribution of air pressure within the
mold cavity. The blockage of vent holes on both sides of the
rear cover in the initial scheme resulted in the formation of air
Fig. 8 Sectional view showing the probability of defect formation in the front impeller cover. a Case 2 (Exp. 4) and b case 6 (Exp. 2), as calculated using
the retained melt modulus
bubbles over the rear cover. In case 2, the gating system makes
use of the venting space in the risers to squeeze out air from
within the mold cavity, moving it to the top of the risers. In
case 6, the vent holes on the two sides were shown to reduce
air pressure within the mold to 4571.4 dyne/cm2. The air was
squeezed from within the mold cavity to the annular bevel in
the rear cover of the impeller, thereby preventing the forma-
tion of porous defects.
3.4 Gate flow analysis of gating systems
Swift, uniform, and stable flow fields are the objective during
the pouring processes. Figure 11a–c exhibits the flow velocity
curves at the gates under the initial scheme, case 2, and case 6.
The flow velocity curve of the initial scheme presents the
greatest fluctuations, peaking at approximately 140 cm/s,
resulting in the formation of turbulent flow fields within the
mold cavity. The flow velocity curves at the gates in case 2
and case 6 are more level, indicating stability in the flow fields
within the mold cavities. This is expected to decrease the
probability of defects forming due to entrapped air, oxidative

Fig. 9 Sectional showing the
probability of defect formation in
front (left) and rear (right)
impeller covers. a Case 2 (Exp. 4)
and b case 6 (Exp. 2), as
calculated using the combined
defect parameter of the Niyama
criterion
inclusions, and pores. The inclusion of a pressurized gating
system with a gating ratio (i.e., ratio of cross-sectional area
between the sprue, runner, and in-gates) of 1:0.866:0.6959 in
case 6, the flow velocity at both gates was maintained at about
a constant 70 cm/s.
3.5 Comparison of thermodynamic behavior using
the improved schemes
In the previous section, we demonstrated the effectiveness of
the modified gating systems in reducing the probability of
defect formation. To compare the improvements in case 2
and case 6, we installed physical sensors at the same locations
within the impellers, as shown in Fig. 12a. Process parameter
combinations Exp. 4 and Exp. 2, which exhibited the greatest
improvements, were respectively selected for case 2 and case
6. Figure 12b shows that when the cooling time in the initial
casting scheme reached 204 s, it will be the earliest reach the
Fig. 10 Distribution of air pressure in mold cavity. a Initial casting scheme. b Case 2. c Case 6
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
alloy solidus line (1400 °C). Then, an excessively high rate of
cooling was observed. The addition of risers and a thicker
annular bevel on the rear covers (case 2 and case 6) greatly
reduced the speed at which the impeller blades cooled. This
reduced interruptions in the feeding of molten metal and elim-
inated shrinkage defects in the front cover. Moreover, as
shown in Fig. 12c, the temperature-solidification curve of
the initial scheme began a noticeable drop when the solidifi-
cation rate reached 16%. This widened the temperature range
of alloy crystallization in the initial casting scheme. Thus,
flowability declined when the molten metal sharply
contracted, resulting in the formation of dendritic crystals on
the casting surfaces and shrinkage defects in the impeller
blades. In contrast, when the solidification rates of case 2
and case 6, respectively, reached 49.5 and 41.8%, the
temperature-solidification rate curves dropped steadily. This
allowed the solidified alloy to maintain a temperature high
enough to prevent the premature solidification of internal
Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Fig. 11 Changes in flow velocity at in-gates in a initial scheme, b case 2, and c case 6, as a function of pouring time

molten metal, which would otherwise hinder feeding.
Furthermore, the improvements gained by the various
schemes can be observed through the cooling rates and tem-
perature gradients obtained by the sensors. The cooling rates
in the initial scheme, case 2, and case 6 were 2.58, 2.48, and
2.38 °C/s, respectively; the temperature gradients were 3.114,
3.431, and 6.576 °C/cm. A constant cooling rate and higher
temperature gradient are necessary for optimal feeding effects.
Thus, shrinkage defects in impeller structures can be eliminat-
ed simply by altering the mechanism by which molten metal is
fed into the mold.
We conducted a comprehensive assessment of the various
pouring schemes with regard to field stability, ventilation/
trapped air, the directionality of solidification, the probability

Fig. 12 a Sectional view showing the locations of the physical sensors in the initial scheme, case 2, and case 6. b, c The temperature-time and
temperature-solidification rate curves obtained by the sensors

of defect formation, and the costs of the postprocessing, based
on the numerical simulations. The results of this assessment
reveal that case 6 possesses the best overall gating system. The
yield of each solution was evaluated as follows: initial scheme
(13%), case 1 (15.9%), case 2 (16.7%), case 3 (17.3%), case 4
(32.3%), case 5 (19.0%), and case 6 (40.9%). Clearly, case 6
presented the highest yield at a lower cost with enhanced
casting quality. Thus, this is the design we used in subsequent
trial-run production experiments. Wax material was first heat-
ed to 53 °C to produce a wax impeller pattern, using an injec-
tion temperature of 63 °C with an injection pressure of 20 kg/
cm2. The resulting wax tree of the case 6 gating system is
presented in Fig. 13a. Figure 13b presents a ceramic shell
mold created by dipping the wax pattern in a slurry and coat-
ing it with zircon sand to a thickness of approximately
5.5 mm. Once the slurry and sand had bonded and dried (this
required roughly 1 week), the shell was dewaxed to form a
hollow mold. The ceramic shell was then sintered at 1200 °C
to strengthen it, whereupon molten metal (1600 °C) was
poured into the shell mold. Postprocessing was then conduct-
ed to obtain the impellers, as shown in Fig. 13c. Figure 13d–g
presents X-rays images of various regions of the impeller,
showing that the structure of the blades, as well as the front
and rear covers are intact. This experiment verifies the high
casting quality and lack of defects in the resulting impellers.
4 Conclusions
This study used AnyCasting software to perform mold flow
analysis of a stainless steel enclosed impeller for use in a
centrifugal pump. We examined the thermodynamic behavior,
ventilation/air traps, and directionality of solidification in the
formulation of various gating system designs. The probability
of defect formation in the castings was used to make adjust-
ments aimed at improving casting quality. The primary find-
ings of this study are as follows:
Fig. 13 Casting scheme of case 6. a Wax tree. b Ceramic shell mold. c Impeller product. d–g X-ray images of various impeller parts
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
1. When manufactured using the initial casting scheme,
the thin walls of the impeller were prone to shrink-
age defects due to rapid cooling and insufficient
feeding. Analysis of flow velocity at the in-gates re-
vealed instability in the flow velocity curves. The
design of the gating designs was improved through
the incorporation of the bottom, side, and top
pouring methods to overcome the adverse effects of
unstable flow into the mold cavity. The changes re-
duced the entrapment of air turbulence in flow,
which in turn prevented the intrusion of air into the
molten metal to form porous defects.
2. Simulation results revealed that the configurations in case
1, case 3, and case 4 would be unable to eliminate shrink-
age defects. Designs such as these should be avoided dur-
ing the predesign of molds, in order to facilitate mold
modification and reduce the time required for product
development.
3. The inclusion of vent holes and an annular bevel design
on the rear cover was shown to enable the release of air
pressure from the mold cavity, thereby increasing the tem-
perature gradient of the impeller blades, and extending the
time to cooling. The temperature-solidification curve
shows that with an alloy solidus temperature of
1400 °C, the solidification fraction in case 6 is 25.8%
higher than achieved in the initial scheme. This made it
possible to maintain the solidified alloy at a temperature
sufficient to prevent a rapid cooling of the interior of the
molten metal, which would otherwise hinder feeding.
This had the effect of reducing the probability of shrink-
age defect formation.
4. The yields of the various improved designs were as fol-
lows: initial scheme (13%), case 1 (15.9%), case 2
(16.7%), case 3 (17.3%), case 4 (32.3%), case 5
(19.0%), and case 6 (40.9%). Clearly, case 6 presented
the highest yield at a lower cost with enhanced casting
quality.
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledge the support
provided for this research by the Ministry of Science and Technology,
Republic of China, under grants MOST 105-2221-E-020-014 and MOST
105-2622-E-020-002-CC3.
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