Parametric Approach Towards Automated Design of Gating System for Die Casting Process

Abstract

Die-casting is the manufacturing process which is capable of producing near net shape products. Die-casting involves lot of human expertise and knowledge, especially in die design process. The designers use empirical knowledge and use trial and error methods which involved excessive time and often multiple die trials. This makes the die-casting a time consuming and tedious job. The die-casting industry has an imperative need to integrate the design-manufacturing of die-casting process. It helps to shorten the lead time to the market and reduce the cost in die design and manufacturing. The parameters like parting line generation, side core design, cavity layout, gating system design etc. of diecasting die design needs to be automated with the aid of CAD systems. Out of these parameters, CAD of cavity layout and gating system are receiving interest. This thesis describes the CAD system structured by parameters, cavity system and gating system, of die-casting die design. Cavity design includes the determination of number of cavities and their appropriate layout on the die base. The proposed system calculates optimal number of cavities considering time, economical and technical constraints. The system also provided the feasible cavity layout pattern based on calculated number of cavities. The proposed system for gating system design includes gate design, runner design and overflow design which have their relative importance to maintain the constant flow rate in die-casting process. The system generates different parameters of gating system like gate thickness, gate area, runner selection and their respective area and overflow volume and their length etc. The system is designed with the aid of MATLAB 7.10.0. Feature library of gating system and die-casting part design has been prepared using Pro-E wildfire 5.0. Developed systems would be useful in achieving the objectives of design-manufacturing integration of diecasting process.