2017 Volume 58 Issue 12 Pages 1721-1728
A mathematical model based on commercial finite volume package FLUENT has been developed to describe the melt flow and heat transfer during planar solidification casting process of 7050 alloy ingot with cross-section size of 600 × 600 mm. The effects of two fixed sprues and two movable sprues served as the feeding system on the temperature field and velocity field of planar solidification were investigated. Moreover, the model has been verified by the temperature measurements obtained from experiments. The numerical results reveal that the effect of feeding system on melt temperature field is dominating during planar solidification casting process and the movable sprues are significantly superior to the fixed sprues. The characteristics of planar solidification front and uniform temperature field are achieved by movable dense sprues. According to the numerical results, an ingot without V- shaped shrinkage and crack on the surface, and with uniform microstructure and small difference in composition was casted successfully.
