Investigations of the Cold Box Core Curing Stage Using an Augmented Simulation Approach

Abstract

Foundry sand cores are used to produce complex metal castings. They are manufactured on universal coremaking machines in two distinct stages, shooting and curing. Various simulation tools exist to optimize the coremaking process. Numerical modeling of the two distinct process stages is challenging as it involves different tooling, raw materials, and process parameters. Additionally, each stage requires appropriate mathematical modeling of the fluid flow since the relevant physical phenomena are different. The state-of-the-art combined simulation approach (CA) can simulate these two stages in sequence using a Core shooting & curing module. The gassing system (GS) is also important to consider when calculating the complete physical mass flow during the curing stage in CA. An augmented simulation approach (AA) is proposed, which can include GS in the coremaking simulations. This approach enables the execution of two-stage combined simulations (CA) using Magma C + M software (SW1) and incorporates GS data using FLOW-3D CAST software (SW2). In order to analyze the influence of including selected factors such as the hopper during the shooting stage and GS during the curing stage, the simulation approaches CA and AA were compared. The simulation results were correlated with experiment results (EX) to analyze sand density distribution and different curing times, focusing on the final core quality. Quantity analysis has been done among EX samples to observe the cured core trend. The results obtained from AA exhibit a significantly better correlation with EX than with CA. The proposed augmented approach offers significant potential for the improved analysis, optimization, and accurate prediction of complex coremaking processes within polyurethane (PU) Cold Box Systems.