Modeling and numerical simulation of light metal casting process

1.Current situation

Aluminum and magnesium are typical light metal materials. Aluminum alloy has relatively light weight, high specific tensile strength and specific modulus of elasticity, which is more and more widely used in automotive industry, aerospace and other fields. Magnesium alloy is the metal structure material with the smallest density in the current engineering application. It has great potential in the realization of automobile lightweight, and has attracted more and more attention.

In modern forming manufacturing technology and product research and development, a very important development trend is to use computer modeling and numerical simulation technology more and more. Using simulation technology has become an important method to develop new technology of forming products and realize technological innovation. In the past 20 years, in the developed countries, the forming manufacturing simulation technology has been developing in a wide and deep way. Simulation technology has become an internationally recognized important frontier field of materials and manufacturing science. Simulation technology used in the field of light metal casting can shorten the R & D cycle of light alloy casting and greatly reduce the R & D cost.

In recent years, the research and development trend of numerical simulation technology in light metal casting in China is strong. In order to meet the needs of automobile, military industry and other industries for the casting and forming technology of high-performance light metal structural parts, Tsinghua University has carried out the research on macro / micro modeling and numerical simulation of aluminum and magnesium alloy casting and solidification process, and established the aluminum and magnesium alloy die casting and squeeze casting forming experimental base. With the support of many international scientific and technological cooperation projects, “973” plan, National Natural Science Foundation, and enterprise scientific research cooperation projects, the comparative systematic and in-depth research has been carried out around the modeling and numerical simulation of “process structure performance” and the macro / micro modeling and numerical simulation of aluminum magnesium alloy casting forming. China First Automobile Group attaches great importance to the research and application of casting simulation technology, applies collaborative optimization and digital modeling and numerical simulation to the design and manufacturing process of automobile engine block, establishes an intelligent production unit of automobile engine block, and integrates multiple complex process of engine block manufacturing for digital design, Production efficiency and quality have been greatly improved.

2.Challenges

Although China has made some progress in digitalization, networking and intelligence, its development in light metal casting field still faces a series of problems. The numerical simulation of light metal casting process involves complex physical phenomena spanning different lengths and time scales, and the existing models still need to be developed and improved. At present, most of the simulation work is mainly focused on the macro scale, and the research of multi-scale and multi-disciplinary mathematical modeling and the prediction of structure, performance and service life of light metal forming parts needs to be strengthened urgently. The technical level of enterprises is uneven, The application level of simulation technology needs to be improved, and the advanced concepts, methods and tools such as digitalization, networking and intelligence are not paid enough attention; the government and industry are not enough to invest in research and development.

3.Objectives

(1) Target to be achieved by 2020:

In view of the lightweight demand of automobile, aerospace, transportation and other industries, the macro modeling and numerical simulation research are carried out for the advanced casting technology of aluminum and magnesium alloy, such as high-pressure casting, squeeze casting, semi-solid casting, etc., to realize the development and verification of monomer technology.

(2) Target to be achieved by 2025:

Through the simulation of heat transfer, flow, mass transfer and casting / mold stress of liquid metal, as well as the micro modeling and verification, the formation of microstructure and defects in the casting can be accurately predicted and the casting quality control can be realized.

(3) Target to be achieved by 2030:

On the basis of coupled macro simulation, numerical simulation research is carried out on the structure and performance of castings, so as to predict the mechanical properties and service life of castings, reveal the relationship between process, structure and performance, and realize the digitalization, networking and intelligence of the whole life cycle from product design, material development, manufacturing process optimization, service evaluation, etc.

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