Molding simulation of airfoil foam sandwich structure and interference optimization of foam-core

During the Co-Cure Molding(CCM)of airfoil foam sandwich structure,it is challenging to avoid collapse of foam core at the trailing edge.Herein,an Equal Proportional Thickening(EPT)method is proposed to optimize the interference of polymethacrylimide(PMI)foam core during the CCM process.Firstly,based on some basic parameters of composite skin and foam core obtained by experiments or multi-scale simulations,a thermal-curing-mechanical coupling analysis for the CCM of foam sandwich structure is performed and the results show that the maximum stress within foam core occurs at the completion of mold-closing,which tends to decrease during the subsequent CCM process.Then,the foam core is thickened by traditional equidistant-thickening method,and the simulation reveals that the foam core at the trailing edge tends to collapse because of stress concentration.Conversely,if the foam core is thickened by the proposed EPT method,the mold-closing caused collapse at the trailing edge can be effectively avoided,and a thickening ratio range of 0.6%–2.0%is obtained,which is further proved by practical verifications.Therefore,the interference design scheme proposed can ensure the molding quality and effectively reduce the scrap of molded products.

Study on Numerical Simulation of Mold Filling and Heat Transfer in Die Casting Process

A 3-D mathematical model considering turbulence phenomena has been established based on a computational fluid dynamics technique, so called 3-D SOLA-VOF (Solution Algorithm-Volume of Fluid), to simulate the fluid flow of mold filling process of die casting. In addition, the mathematical model for simulating the heat transfer in die casting process has also been established. The computation program has been developed by the authors with the finite difference method (FDM) recently. As verification, the mold filling process of a S-shaped die casting has been simulated and the simulation results coincide with that of the benchmark test. Finally, as a practical application, the gating design of a motorcycle component was modified by the mold filling simulation and the dies design of another motorcycle component was optimized by the heat transfer simulation. All the optimized designs were verified by the production practice.

Study and Application of Mold Filling Simulation of Shaped Castings

In this paper, an algorithm for simulating fluid flow and heat transfer for mold filling of shaped castings is presented. The main features of the algorithm include: 1) a simple but practical technique based on VOF method to determine free surface, 2) an explicit scheme of enthalpy to solve the energy equation more efficiently, and 3) an effective treatment to modify the flux deviation due to pressure iteration. In order to verify these methods, well controlled experiments have been repeatedly done with both water analog and gray iron pouring experiments to record the flow patterns and temperature variations. The calculated results are in accordance with the experimental ones. For the applications, the simulated initial temperature distribution right after mold filling was used to analyse subsequent solidification and to predict shrinkage defects. Actual castings were poured and tested in a foundry plant. The reuslts show that the defects predication with considering fluid flow effects is more precise than that without considering the effects.

Shrinkage Behaviour of Spheroidal Graphite Cast Iron in Green and Dry Sand Molds for the Benchmarking of Solidification Simulation

The effects of metallurgical and processing parameters on the formation of shrinkage cavities and porosities in spheroidal graphite cast iron have been studied, considering the parameters of carbon equivalent, inoculation, casting modulus, mold type (green or dry) and pouring temperature within specific ranges of these variables. Based on the orthogonal experiments, the metallurgical and processing parameters of the minimum casting shrinkage and the maximum casting shrinkage were obtained, and the effects of metallurgical and processing parameters on the formation of shrinkage cavities and porosities in spheroids graphite cast iron castings were discussed. Finally, two regression equations relating these variables to the formation of shrinkage porosity were derived based upon the orthogonal experiments conducted.

Three-dimensional numerical simulation for plastic injection-compression molding

Compared with conventional injection mold- ing, injection-compression molding can mold optical parts with higher precision and lower flow residual stress. However, the melt flow process in a closed cavity becomes more complex because of the moving cavity boundary during compression and the nonlinear problems caused by non-Newtonian polymer melt. In this study, a 3D simulation method was developed for injection-compres- sion molding. In this method, arbitrary Lagrangian- Eulerian was introduced to model the moving-boundary flow problem in the compression stage. The non-New- tonian characteristics and compressibility of the polymer melt were considered. The melt flow and pressure distribution in the cavity were investigated by using the proposed simulation method and compared with those of injection molding. Results reveal that the fountain flow effect becomes significant when the cavity thickness increases during compression. The back flow also plays an important role in the flow pattem and redistribution of cavity pressure. The discrepancy in pressures at different points along the flow path is complicated rather than monotonically decreased in injection molding.

Review of small aspheric glass lens molding technologies

Aspheric lens can eliminate spherical aberra- tions, coma, astigmatism, field distortions, and other adverse factors. This type of lens can also reduce the loss of light energy and obtain high-quality images and optical characteristics. The demand for aspheric lens has increased in recent years because of its advantageous use in the electronics industry, particularly for compact, portable devices and high-performance products. As an advanced manufacturing technology, the glass lens molding process has been recognized as a low-cost and high-efficiency manufacturing technology for machining small-diameter aspheric lens for industrial production. However, the residual stress and profile deviation of the glass lens are greatly affected by various key technologies for glass lens molding, including glass and mold-die material forming, mold-die machining, and lens molding. These key technical factors, which affect the quality of the glass lens molding process, are systematically discussed and reviewed to solve the existing technical bottlenecks and problems, as well as to predict the potential applicability of glass lens molding in the future.

Warpage and Shrinkage Optimization of Injection-Molded Plastic Spoon Parts for Biodegradable Polymers Using Taguchi, ANOVA and Artificial Neural Network Methods

In this study, it is attempted to give an insight into the injection processability of three self-prepared polymers from A to Z. This work presents material analysis, injection molding simulation, design of ex- periments alongside considering all interaction effects of controlling parameters carefully for green biodegradable polymeric systems, including polylactic acid （PLA）, polylactic acid-thermoplastic poly- urethane （PLA-TPU） and polylactic acid-thermoplastic starch （PLA-TPS）. The experiments were carried out using injection molding simulation software Autodesk Moldflov~~ in order to minimize warpage and volumetric shrinkage for each of the mentioned systems. The analysis was conducted by changing five significant processing parameters, including coolant temperature, packing time, packing pressure, mold temperature and melt temperature. Taguchi＇s [.27 （35） orthogonal array was selected as an efficient method for design of simulations in order to consider the interaction effects of the parameters and reduce spu- rious simulations. Meanwhile, artificial neural network （ANN） was also used for pattern recognition and optimization through modifying the processing conditions. The Taguchi coupled analysis of variance （ANOVA） and ANN analysis resulted in definition of optimum levels for each factor by two completely different methods. According to the results, melting temperature, coolant temperature and packing time had significant influence on the shrinkage and warpage. The ANN optimal level selection for minimiza- tion of shrinkage and/or warpage is in good agreement with ANOVA optimal level selection results. This investigation indicates that PLA-TPU compound exhibits the highest resistance to warpage and shrink- age defects compared to the other studied compounds.

Multiphase Flow and Thermo-Mechanical Behaviors of Solidifying Shell in Continuous Casting Mold

The metallurgical phenomena occurring in the continuous casting mold have a significant influence on the performance and the quality of steel product.The multiphase flow phenomena of molten steel,steel/slag interface and gas bubbles in the slab continuous casting mold were described by numerical simulation,and the effect of electromagnetic brake（EMBR） and argon gas blowing on the process were investigated.The relationship between wavy fluctuation height near meniscus and the level fluctuation index F,which reflects the situation of mold flux entrapment,was clarified.Moreover,based on a microsegregation model of solute elements in mushy zone with δ/γ transformation and a thermo-mechanical coupling finite element model of shell solidification,the thermal and mechanical behaviors of solidifying shell including the dynamic distribution laws of air gap and mold flux,temperature and stress of shell in slab continuous casting mold were described.