dieCASÒ is a PC / Workstation-based CAE software product for process modeling and analysis of die casting and related processes, including permanent mold, semi-permanent mold, and squeeze casting.

The capabilities of dieCASÒ software are:

Cavity Fill, including full coupling with heat transfer, back pressure from the cavity gas, venting, and vacuum.

Heat transfer & Solidification, including solidification times, die temperatures, and casting temperatures.

Casting Distortion, including thermal shrinkage following ejection from the die and associated residual stress.

Die Distortion, including nonuniform thermal expansion, clamping forces of the die casting machine, cavity pressure, and uneven contact between die components at the parting surface.

The analysis results provide revealing insight into a broad spectrum of die casting problems.  dieCASÒ software addresses a variety of product and process problems, many of which are unique to die casting, as shown in the table below.

Unlike other general purpose casting analysis products, dieCASÒ software is specialized to die casting. As a result, it can take advantage of die casting’s characteristics and achieve enormous savings in analysis time, without sacrificing solution accuracy. The dieCASÒ software system has been used for more than ten years at GM Powertrain to improve existing processes as well as avoid problems on new product programs. This experience has helped to quantify the relationships between analysis results and the occurrence of process problems.

Casting Distortion

The analysis is based on a shell-like finite element model of the casting together with a three-dimensional finite element model of the die. This combination creates the following unique advantages:

Direct Calculation of the Steady Periodic Die Temperatures. Unlike all other commercial systems, dieCASÒ software does not have to analyze the leading process transient to calculate die temperatures at steady state. This reduces computer time from several days (and even weeks for a large die) to a few hours.

Simplified Model Creation & Editing. Because dieCASÒ uses three-dimensional unstructured finite element meshes automatically, the user has to generate only the surface mesh to create the volume mesh automatically. This simplifies the process of both creating and editing the die model. Since cooling lines are represented by one-dimensional elements in the die interior, they can be altered independently of the die model.

Rapid Analysis of Cavity Fill. The unique two-dimensional representation of the die cavity enables an extremely fast analysis of liquid metal flow during cavity fill. Cavity fill run times for even large castings are just a few hours, compared with several days for conventional methods.

Complete Thermo-Mechanical Model of Casting and Die Distortion. Thermal distortions and residual stresses are calculated with minimal user input after the completion of filling and thermal analyses. All Results are available in about an hour, even on very large dies.

The combination of analysis speed and ease of use make dieCASÒ software ideally suited to a design environment, where many different process must be investigated in a short period of time.

The analysis results in dieCASÒ have been validated by experiments on production die casting equipment at the GM Powertrain Bedford plant. Nearly 200 thermocouples were installed in a transmission case die and the process was monitored during several independent experiments, each spanning a 24-hour period.

The GM / Technalysis, Inc. Die Casting Initiative

Originally developed by GM and used in its die casting plants over the last ten years, it is specifically developed to account for all stages of die casting, including cavity fill, heat transfer, solidification, casting distortions, and die distortions. Technalysis, Inc. will also provide modeling services to GM suppliers and other die casting manufacturers for design and analysis of their parts using dieCAS® software.

Links

Downloadable Documents More dieCAS® Result Pictures