Modeling the Effects of Mold Topography on Aluminum Cast Surfaces

The air-gap nucleation time, the stress evolution and the solid shell growth pattern are examined for different mold topographies to illustrate the potential control of aluminum cast surface morphologies during the early stages of solidification using proper design of mold topographies. The interaction between heat transfer and deformation during the early stages of solidification is considered in this work. Simulation results show that a sinusoidal mold surface with a smaller wavelength leads to an earlier nucleation of air-gaps. In addition, the unevenness in the solid-shell growth pattern decreases faster for a smaller wavelength. Such studies can be used to tune mold surfaces for control of cast surface morphologies.