Abstract
The Effects of the coat permeability and the expansion ratio of pattern on the mold filling of the molten aluminum alloy in the expendable pattern casting (EPC) process were investigated experimentally. An aluminum alloy plate was cast by the EPC process, and the filling time of the molten metal was measured for 3 kinds of pattern expansion ratios. The use of a high permeability coat or a high expansion pattern led to a larger melt velocity. The melt velocity does not increase in proportion to the coat permeability and the pattern expansion ratio. The experimental values of the melt velocity were compared with the calculated values based on the mold filling model by the previous study, and were in relatively good agreement with the calculated values for the case in which the coat permeability is under about 2. In the case the coat permeability is over about 2, the experimental values of the melt velocity were smaller than of the calculated values.
