The calculation method of carbon emission from sand casting based on process design parameters was proposed. Aiming at low carbon, the process design parameters of sand casting were optimized by genetic algorithm. In fact, this is a promising method to reduce carbon emissions by optimizing process design parameters without changing the production line.
In the research, the characteristics of sand casting process design parameters are analyzed, and the calculation model between sand casting process design parameters and carbon emission is established. The quality of castings was verified by simulation software, and the carbon emissions of two sets of process design parameters before and after optimization were estimated respectively. The results show that the carbon emission of sand casting is significantly reduced. In this way, this paper solves a blank in the field of energy conservation and emission reduction of sand casting. The advantages of this method can be summarized as follows:
(1) Carbon emissions can be estimated at the stage of sand casting process design.
(2) The process parameters of sand casting can be optimized before production to reduce carbon emission.
(3) This method can support designers to create low-carbon casting process in the design stage of sand casting process.
Combining the proposed method with the optimization of sand casting process parameters can achieve better improvement results in the future work.