Numerical simulation of mold-temperature-control solidification

A finite element method(FEM) for the numerical simulation of the columnar part of the mould-temperature-control solidification(MTCS) process was presented. The latent heat was taken into account and 3D transient heat transfer analysis was carried out by using the developed FEM software. The relative errors between the numerical and experimental data are less than 6%. Three MTCS cases were computed with this method. The first case only opens the cooling channels in the bottom of the mold. The second case individually controls the separate 7 groups of cooling channels by giving 7 control points. When the temperature of a control point reaches the preset value of 400°C, the corresponding channel will be opened. The third case opens all the cooling channels at the same time. The results indicate that in the second case, the solid-liquid interface keeps near-planar. The growth velocity of the solid-liquid interface is 0.3-0.4 mm/s, which is greater than 0.1-0.3 mm/s of the first case, performing better than the others. Thus the forming quality and efficiency part interior can be improved by mold-temperature-control and the numerical model is validated. The numerical simulation of MTCS can provide an available tool for the advanced investigation on the defect improvement and the crystal's quality.