Result Types
The available result types for filling and solidification analyses.
Cycling Results
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Temperature | View how the temperature changes during the cycling process. It will take more time for the part to reach demolding temperature with each cycle until the mold reaches working temperature. |
| Solid Fraction | View how solidifcation time changes between cycles. The part will take more time to solidify during each cycle until the mold reaches working temperature. |
| Mold Temperature | See temperature changes in the mold during the cycling process. The mold will absorb more heat with each cycle until it reaches working temperature. |
Filling Results
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Temperature | View how the temperature changes during the filling process. You can determine the temperature required for two fronts of material to fuse and study the risk of cold welding. |
| Flow Front | Observe how the material behaves as it enters the mold, so you can predict filling time. You can then decide if you need to reposition the gate and overflows to avoid air entrapment or turbulences. |
| Tracer ID | Observe how the material flows into the mold from each
ingate. You can then decide to reposition overflows or adjust
the gates' position, size, shape, or timing for optimal results. Note: Compute Flow Tracing must be
enabled in the Gate microdialog for this result type to
show meaningful information.
|
| Solid Fraction | Display areas where solidification will occur. These
multicolored areas will not fill completely and are therefore
prone to shortage of material. Based on the results, you may
need to increase the pressure, increase the velocity, or reduce
the filling time to prevent shortage of material. Red represents liquid material where there will be no filling issues. |
| Velocity | View the filling process represented as vectors, allowing you
to detect turbulences and velocities. Besides using velocities during mold filling, you can use the velocities profile to analyze the filling behavior at gates and to prevent turbulence due to a poor design. |
| Last Air | See the last areas to fill, so you can predict where bubbles
may form. You can then reposition the overflows to prevent
porosity. Air bubbles will impact die casting more than sand molds as they are less susceptible to porosity thanks to sand’s permeability. |
| Mold Erosion | Determine areas where velocity exceeds 35 m/s, where mold
degradation is likely to occur. High speeds (velocities above 30–40m/s) and areas in direct contact with the flowing melt increase the degradation of steel molds in HPDC. Mold erosion increases the roughness of the affected zones and the propensity to solder, reducing the durability of the permanent molds. Erosion usually occurs in areas close to the gates because of the thin section at the gates and because the liquid directly collides with the walls in front of the gates. The best way to analyze the areas prone to mold erosion is by combining Max Velocity and Velocity results. |
| Pressures | See changes in pressure during filling in Pascals.
Inspire Cast shows relative pressures, so if a negative pressure appears, it means that it is under atmospheric pressure. Inspire Cast solvers are biphasic; that is, the pressure of the air inside the mold is computed in addition to that of the liquid. |
| Filling Time | Observe the time it takes the material to reach different
areas within the part. This helps you determine the best way to
fill the part. Filling Time also provides you with information about the first and second phase times for HPDC. |
| Cold Shuts | Examine where two fronts of material meet and what the
temperature difference is. This is useful for predicting cold
unions or cold shuts, which are caused when two fronts of
material meet in the mold cavity and do not fuse together
properly, forming a discontinuity in the casting. To analyze the cold shuts, you need to know if there is a high temperature difference and if you are close to the solidus temperature in the area where the cold shut is. The values in the legend are the result of subtracting the average of the temperatures of the fronts from the initial temperature. Tinlet – (Tfront1+TFront2)/2 |
| Air Flow | View the behavior of air inside the mold during the metal filling process. When metal fills the cavity, air inside the mold pushes out through vents, parting lines, risers, and filling systems. |
| Mold Temperature | See temperature changes in the mold during the filling process. |
Solidification/Thermomechanical Results
| Option | Description | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Temperature | See changes in temperature during the solidification process.
If filling was calculated previously, solidification temperatures start with the last temperatures of the filling. If not, it starts with a constant temperature. The calculation stops when the maximum temperature is under the solidification stop criteria. Solidification stop criteria is equal to tsolid * 0.7. |
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| Solid Fraction | View the last areas to solidify to predict shrinkage
porosity, which is more likely to occur in isolated
areas. Click on the legend to change the solid fraction value, which is set to 0.7 by default. (In most cases, this corresponds to the value at which the liquid stops flowing.) In the animation, solidified material (above 0.7) is transparent, while liquid material (below 0.7) is shown colored. |
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| Solidification Time | Observe the time required to solidify different areas of the part. This helps you identify which areas will solidify first and predict possible areas of cold welding. | |||||||||||||||
| Micro Porosity |
The Micro Porosity result is based on the Dimensionless Niyama criterion. This method avoids the need to know the threshold Niyama value below which shrinkage porosity forms; such threshold values are generally unknown and alloy dependent. The dimensionless criterion accounts for both the local thermal conditions (as in the original Niyama criterion), but also considers more things like pressures, material properties, and parameter properties. |
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| Niyama | The Niyama Criterion function is commonly used by foundries
to detect solidification shrinkage defects. It is defined as the
local thermal gradient divided by the square root of the local
cooling rate. Low temperature gradients cause the material to
have less pressure to fill the interdendritic spaces and a high
cooling rate, thus it solidifies faster and the the material has
less time to fill the interdentric spaces. The lower the value,
the higher the probablity of shrinkage. Ranges of critical
values are:
|
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| Pipe Shrinkage |
This is similar to shrinkage porosity (mass deficit produced by the metal contraction), but it occurs when the top surface is open to the atmosphere. Therefore, as the shrinkage cavity forms, air compensates. |
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| Solidification Modulus | The solidification modulus is used to set a proper feeding system by adjusting the modulus of the risers. This calculation is based on the modulus (the ratio of the casting volume to the surface area) and solidification time (Chorinov's rule). | |||||||||||||||
| Geometric Modulus | The geometric modulus is an alternative method for calculating the modulus, which is used to set a proper feeding system by adjusting the modulus of the risers. This calculation is based on geometric and solidification data where data image processing is used to post-process the results. | |||||||||||||||
| Porosity | Review areas where the ratio of voids to solid areas is
greater or equal than to the specified percentage value. This is
the macro porosity or shrinkage porosity. Click the legend to change the percentage value. |
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| Total Shrinkage Volume | This result is the combination of Pipe Shrinkage and Porosity results and provides the volume of the total amount of macro porosity. | |||||||||||||||
| Displacement | Displacement shows folding, bending, twisting or bowing in the cast part, which is usually due to non-uniform cooling. The displacement contour displays how the part is warping so that you can make the appropriate corrective measures to the cooling rate, cooling channel design, or process data. | |||||||||||||||
| Stresses | The Stresses result shows matrix components and principal stresses of the stress tensor. | |||||||||||||||
| Von Mises | The von Mises stress results can be used to predict part performance and durability. Areas shown in orange/red have exceeded the peak stress. | |||||||||||||||
| Mold Temperature | See temperature changes in the mold during the solidification
process. Mold temperatures help you determine temperature differences between different components (e.g., part, core, and sleeves). Results will provide you with valuable information to help you create and validate the design of the cooling channels. |
Demolding
| Option | Description | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Temperature | See changes in temperature during the demolding process.
Demolding temperatures start with the last temperatures of the solidification process. The calculation stops
when the maximum temperature is under the demolding stop
criteria.
Note: Inspire Cast
calculates stop criteria automatically, but you can
customize them in the preferences. Select
File,
Preferences,
Analysis, Stop
temperature (C), and enter a temperature
in degrees Celsius.
|
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| Solid Fraction | View the last areas to solidify to predict shrinkage
porosity, which is more likely to occur in isolated
areas. Click on the legend to change the solid fraction value, which is set to 0.7 by default. (In most cases, this corresponds to the value at which the liquid stops flowing.) In the animation, solidified material (above 0.7) is transparent, while liquid material (below 0.7) is shown colored. |
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| Solidification Time | Observe the time required to solidify different areas of the part after demolding. This helps you identify which areas will solidify first and predict possible areas of cold welding. | |||||||||||||||
| Micro Porosity |
As in the cooling stage, the Micro Porosity result for demolding is based on the Dimensionless Niyama criterion. This method avoids the need to know the threshold Niyama value below which shrinkage porosity forms; such threshold values are generally unknown and alloy dependent. The dimensionless criterion accounts for both the local thermal conditions (as in the original Niyama criterion), but also considers more things like pressures, material properties, and parameter properties. |
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| Niyama | As in the cooling stage, the Niyama Criterion function for
demolding is commonly used by foundries to detect solidification
shrinkage defects. It is defined as the local thermal gradient
divided by the square root of the local cooling rate. Low
temperature gradients cause the material to have less pressure
to fill the interdendritic spaces and a high cooling rate, thus
it solidifies faster and the the material has less time to fill
the interdentric spaces. The lower the value, the higher the
probablity of shrinkage. Ranges of critical values
are:
|
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| Solidification Modulus | As in the cooling stage, the solidification modulus for demolding is used to set a proper feeding system by adjusting the modulus of the risers. This calculation is based on the modulus (the ratio of the casting volume to the surface area) and solidification time (Chorinov's rule). | |||||||||||||||
| Geometric Modulus | As in the cooling stage, the geometric modulus for demolding is an alternative method for calculating the modulus, which is used to set a proper feeding system by adjusting the modulus of the risers. This calculation is based on geometric and solidification data where data image processing is used to post-process the results. | |||||||||||||||
| Pipe Shrinkage |
As in the cooling stage, the Pipe Shrinkage result for demolding is similar to shrinkage porosity (mass deficit produced by the metal contraction), but it occurs when the top surface is open to the atmosphere. Therefore, as the shrinkage cavity forms, air compensates. |
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| Porosity | Review areas where the ratio of voids to solid areas is
greater or equal than to the specified percentage value. This is
the macro porosity or shrinkage porosity. Click the legend to change the percentage value. |
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| Total Shrinkage Volume | This result is the combination of Pipe Shrinkage and Porosity results and provides the volume of the total amount of macro porosity. | |||||||||||||||
| Displacement | Displacement shows folding, bending, twisting or bowing in the cast part, which is usually due to non-uniform cooling. The displacement contour displays how the part is warping so that you can make the appropriate corrective measures to the cooling rate, cooling channel design, or process data. | |||||||||||||||
| Stresses | The Stresses result shows matrix components and principal stresses of the stress tensor. | |||||||||||||||
| Von Mises | The von Mises stress results can be used to predict part performance and durability. Areas shown in orange/red have exceeded the peak stress. |