1Industrial and Production Engineering Department, S.G.S. Institute of Technology and Science, Indore, M.P., India.
2Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, M.S., India.
*Corresponding Author
As the molten metal is poured in the sand mould it starts loosing its heat to the mould material. Heat loss during solidification can be divided into three distinct phases (1) from pouring temperature to liquidous temperature (2) latent heat release (3) from solidous to ambient temperature. At times as the moulding sand absorbs heat it gets superheated and, gets fused to the adjoining casting surfaces. This defect is known as sand fusion. The junction regions of finned castings are more prone to such defect. In this work Finite Element Method based transient thermal analysis is performed to assess the cooling potential of four types of moulding sands (Cerabead, Zircon, Chromite and Silica sand) for a stator casting. Five points are identified between the fins at the locations that withstand high temperatures during casting solidification. Temperatures are obtained for these five points for the various moulding sands. On comparison it is found that Zircon sand is five times more effective in preventing sand fusion compared to Silica sand at high temperatures, and is especially useful for parts with closely-spaced fins.
Sand Fusion, Finite Element Method, Transient Thermal Analysis, Sand Casting
