Simulation of cooling of liquid metal in an inclined slope to predict the condition for semi solid forming and its experimental validation

Abstract

In semi solid processing, the preparation of slurry with globular microstructure is very important. A recent technique named the inclined slope casting, to produce the semi-solid metal slurry, has been evolved. The microstructure of casting depends on several process parameters like initial temperature of liquid metal, length of the slope, cooling rate and the rate of flow of liquid metal. In the present work numerical modelling of cooling of liquid was carried out. Modelling was done for different mass influx velocities, temperature of pouring and different inclinations of the slope set-up. In this work, a CFD model based on finite volume method for simulating flow along the inclined slope was carried out. Heat transfer, fluid flow and solidification were studied by varying the process parameters like slope angle and inlet pouring rate. The numerical results were verified with experiments for same conditions.