Prediction of the effectiveness of the feeding system of carbon steel sand castings using the solid fraction criterion. Application to square bars

This work analyses the dimensioning of a gating-risering system for a particular piece that consists in a low carbon steel square bar. Empirical rules are considered and a simple gating system is designed. Several variations about the distance between risers and their location in the mould are submitted to simulation, for which the VULCAN software (ATZ Quantech) is employed. To evaluate gating-risering system action, the solid fraction criterion is considered. The results show good agreement between the simulation results and the empirical solution. Onset of porosity takes place only for a longer distance at the end of the bar than the end effect, which corresponds to the empirical solution. Empirical rules allow us to optimise the distance between risers, although longer distances are allowed for the coldest part of the piece. This work provides a better understanding of sand casting processes and how to analyse the related simulation results.