FLOW-3D CAST 2023R1

What's New in FLOW-3D CAST 2023R1

All products in the FLOW-3D software family received IT-related improvements in 2023R1. FLOW-3D CAST 2023R1 now supports Windows 11 and RHEL 8. Our Linux installer has been improved to report missing dependencies and it no longer requires root-level permissions, which makes installation easier and more secure. And for those of you who have automated your workflows, we added a command-line interface to our input file converter so that you can ensure your workflow is working with updated input files, even in scripted environments.

Advanced features in FLOW-3D CAST 2023R1 allow users to:

§       Optimize shot performance, including when making Giga-castings

§       Address tooling wear

§       Simulate advanced carbon and low alloy steel castings

§       Account for the effects of macro-segregation

Plunger motion improvements

We have improved our slow shot calculator to improve accuracy, reduce air entrainment, and expand the range of validity to better handle low fill levels. We also streamlined the user interface, and this combined with the improved slow shot calculator delivers impressive results. You can now easily use data from the slow shot calculator in either plunger position or time-based definitions. The new calculator also provides refined shot profiles that significantly reduce the air entrained at the end of the slow shot.

A comparison of the 2007 slow shot calculator vs the 2022 version. Note the reduction in the entrained air volume with the new calculator at the end of the slow shot.

Expanded PQ2 analysis

Large castings are computationally expensive, and Giga-castings can push a simulation software to its limits. Approximating the shot sleeve and plunger with a velocity boundary condition or metal input is a useful simplification to reduce runtime. However, without PQ2 analysis, it is not possible to know if the HPDC machine is running close to its limits and may not perform as expected, therefore threatening the quality of the part. We have addressed this issue by taking our very capable PQ2 analysis and applying it to metal inputs and velocity boundary conditions. This translates to significant reduction in turnaround times while still maintaining filling accuracy, even in the largest and most complex castings.

Mold erosion prediction

Casting molds and dies wear out for a variety of reasons, including mechanical stressors. Our existing shear load metric is helpful when studying this wear but until now has not accounted for impingement of the metal on the mold and has not been able to predict the final location of sand inclusions in sand casting molds. To address this issue, we added a new output to better understand this wear mechanism. The new output shows the regions where this type of erosion is likely as well as the predicted location of sand inclusions.

Die soldering prediction

Permanent dies used in aluminum castings are subject to chemical wear as the aluminum in the melt bonds to the iron in the die, forming solder that affects the longevity and maintenance needs of the die, as well as part quality. The importance of this wear mechanism led us to build a model that predicts both the location and severity of the soldering.

Simulated solder (left) vs observed solder (right; in red). Note that the image is mirrored since the simulation shows the part while the photo is of the die.

Chemistry-based carbon and low alloy steel solidification model

The result of one of our longer-term development goals is a powerful, chemistry-based solidification model for carbon and low alloy steels that provide an accurate accounting of the precipitation reactions, solidification and remelting path, and microstructure features and defects. The model also accounts for the important three-phase peritectic reaction and corresponding defects that are associated with the large volume shrinkage due to the delta ferrite to austenite transition.

The model shows excellent agreement with experiments, and provides insights into nonintuitive, time-dependent behaviors, for example, why a hyper-peritectic alloy might develop regions of ferrite at the end of solidification.

Macro-segregation prediction

Macro-segregation can have an important impact on the quality and downstream processing of castings so we added that to our chemistry-based solidification models. The model predicts where macro-segregation-related defects may occur so you can anticipate and mitigate them before casting.

A comparison of simulated results to experiment for a steel casting. W.T. Adams, Jr. and K.W. Murphy, “Optimum Full Contact Top Risers to Avoid Severe Under Riser Chemical Segregation in Steel Castings,” AFS Trans., 88 (1980), pp. 389-404