한국주조공학회

The effects of casting condition and hot melt glue during Lost Foam Casting were investigated on the fluidity of Al alloy melt. The fluidity increased linearly with increasing pouring temperature in thick castings but non-linearly in thin casting due to the difference in main heat flow direction. The metal flow velocity was in range of 0.5~2.7 cm/s in no evacuation condition and the minimum value of it was measured after the melt flow through the hot melt barrier. The mold evacuation improved the metal flow velocity by around 0.5~1 cm/s. And the reaction zone layer thickness was about 1 cm in no-evacuation conditions but about 0.6 cm in mold evacuation condition of 710 torr due to the easier removal of pyrolsis product of EPS. And hot melt barrier thickness of 0.6 mm increased the reaction zone layer thickness up to about 2.5 cm. The fluidity decreased remarkably with an enlarged thickness of hot melt due to a lot of pyrolysis products.

lost foam casting, Al-alloy, fluidity, mold flask evacuation, hot melt glue, polystyrene