Casting Simulation Product Sheet

SOLIDCAST

THE WORLD’S MOST POPULAR CASTING SIMULATION SYSTEM

Why do over 500 companies and schools worldwide use SOLIDCast™? BECAUSE IT WORKS!! No other casting simulation program offers POWER, EASE OF USE and ACCURACY like SOLIDCast.

SOLIDCast simulates castings poured in gray iron, ductile iron, steel, aluminum, copper-base, magnesium, nickel based and almost any other alloy. A database of several hundred alloys, with all pertinent properties, is included. SOLIDCast can simulate molding processes such as green sand, chemically-bonded sand, investment and permanent mold. You can use sleeves (insulating or exothermic), chills, hot topping, cooling channels, heating elements and

Investment Cast Shell in a Sand Bed

just about anything else that is used in the metal casting process. With SOLIDCast you can import 3D models from CAD, or build your own models without CAD. SOLIDCast contains both Gating and Riser Design Wizards™, tools that allow you to rig new castings in just a few minutes, using actual simulation results, not guesses based on simple geometry. Since casting alloy, mold material and mold inserts are all considered, there is no more accurate way to rig a casting than with the Gating and Riser Design Wizards!

A Single Feeding Zone in a Ductile Iron Casting Analyzed with the Riser Design Wizard

Graphics are the most sophisticated available, with fully movable 3D models, X-ray images, high-resolution color plots and AVI video files. Send movies to anyone with a Windows PC! SOLIDCast lets you see how your casting will solidify before you make patterns, dies and costly mistakes. Pour test castings on the computer, not the foundry floor! Design gating systems and test them out before making your first casting. Casting simulation helps you to shorten lead times, produce higher quality and improve yield. All of this means lower costs, higher profits and improved marketability for your foundry. Aluminum Rigging System Designed by the SOLIDCast Gating and Riser Design Wizards

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FLOWCAST

FLOW MODELING FOR MOLD FILLING USING COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS

FLOWCast™ is the fluid flow modeling module from Finite Solutions, Inc. FLOWCast works in conjunction with models created by SOLIDCast™. Flow modeling lets you see how molten metal will flow through gating systems and fill the mold. FLOWCast models convection, conduction and radiation in the mold cavity, allowing you to analyze your casting and gating design to predict and minimize flow-related defects such as misruns due to premature solidification, or oxide formation or mold erosion due to excessive velocities during filling.

FLOWCast is a full-featured CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulation, based on the Navier-Stokes equations for fluid flow. With FLOWCast, you can view progressive temperature, fluid velocity and fluid pressure during the fill, from any angle of view. FLOWCast is integrated with SOLIDCast and uses models and meshes created with SOLIDCast. Since SOLIDCast is the world's easiest-to-use casting modeling system, flow modeling has never been easier. Just import your casting model from 3D CAD or build your model using SOLIDCast tools, mesh the model, and run FLOWCast to simulate mold filling. Results from a FLOWCast simulation can be used in SOLIDCast to model the final solidification of the casting, resulting in a completely integrated casting modeling system. Design and analysis of gating and mold filling with FLOWCast is as simple as solidification modeling with SOLIDCast.

Initial Filling of Iron Castings Showing Metal Temperature in the 10 Casting Pattern Layout

Flow Path Tracing in an Aluminum Sand Casting

Metal Velocity Prior to Misrun in two Copper Castings

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OPTICAST

OPTIMIZATION OF CASTING PROCESS DESIGN USING SOLIDCast™ and HyperOpt®

OPTICast™ is an amazing software tool that works in conjunction with the SOLIDCast™ solidification modeling system. OPTICast uses the HyperOpt® system from Altair Engineering, Inc., the leader in the field of optimization software.

“X-ray” view showing simulation of current riser feeding

Original Riser Design

Using OPTICast, the foundry engineer can start with an initial design and allow the computer to do the work of modifying the design and running simulations to achieve an optimum result.

“X-ray” view showing simulation of optimized riser feeding

Cast Iron Casting with Optimized Riser Design

What does OPTICast do? OPTICast actually automates the simulation process! Start with an initial design for a casting, with gating and risering, typically created in the SOLIDCast modeling system, using the Gating and Riser Design Wizards™. Then select the following elements:

Now, for the first time, the technology of automated design is brought to the foundry in the form of a practical and easy-to-use design tool. OPTICast can help you to improve your yield and your quality to an optimum point, while freeing design engineers from the repetitive task of trialanderror design.

Design Variables: Design elements that are allowed to vary. For example, the height and diameter of a riser. It could also be the metal pouring temperature, or the preheat temperature of an investment shell. Constraints: Used to determine whether a particular design is acceptable. For example, the foundry engineer might specify a minimum acceptable yield percentage, or a maximum acceptable level of macroporosity. The Objective Function: States what the foundry engineer is trying to achieve. Examples might be to maximize the yield, minimize shrinkage or minimize solidification time. Once these elements are identified, the user then launches an Optimization Run. This consists of a series of simulations in which the design conditions are varied under the control of HyperOpt, model changes are made and simulation results are evaluated, all completely automatically, until the desired result is achieved.

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12% yield improvement, automatically, with guaranteed casting quality!

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