Numerical Simulation of Investment Casting of Gold Jewelry: Experiments and Validations

This paper proposes the numerical simulation of the investment casting of gold jewelry. It aims to study the behavior of fluid flow during mould filling and solidification and to optimize the process parameters, which lead to predict and control casting defects such as gas porosity and shrinkage porosity. A finite difference method, computer simulation software FLOW-3D was used to simulate the jewelry casting process. The simplified model was designed for both numerical simulation and real casting production. A set of sensor acquisitions were allocated on the different positions of the wax tree of the model to detect filling times, while a set of thermocouples were allocated to detect the temperature during casting and cooling. Those detected data were applied to validate the results of the numerical simulation to the results of the real casting. The resulting comparisons signify that the numerical simulation can be used as an effective tool in investment-casting-process optimization and casting-defect prediction.




References:
[1] M. A.Grande, A. Zambruno, M. Rosso, S. Bezzone, and A. Incognito,
"Computer simulation of the investment casting process: experimental
validation", in TCN CAE Conference, Lecce, Italy, 2005, pp. 63-73.
[2] M. A. Grande, L. Porta, and D. Tiberto, "Computer simulation of the
investment casting process: widening of the filling step", in Santa Fe
Symposium on Jewelry Manufacturing Technology, 2007, pp. 1-16.
[3] J. Fischer-B├╝ehner, "Computer simulation of investment casting," in
Santa Fe Symposium on Jewelry Manufacturing Technology, 2006, pp.
193-216.
[4] J. Fischer-B├╝ehner, "Advances in the prevention of investment casting
defects assisted by computer simulation," in Santa Fe Symposium on
Jewelry Manufacturing Technology, 2006, pp. 193-216.
[5] J. C. Wright, "Computer simulation and jewelry production", in Santa
Fe Symposium on Jewelry Manufacturing Technology, 2005, pp. 521-
535.