Analysis of cooling channels performance

The die casting industry is under increasing pressure to improve production rates to enable greater productivity. The potential to decrease the cycle time is of great significance. A small reduction in the cycle time can significantly improve production rates. Employing conformal cooling channels allows improvements to be made to die performance through the reduction of solidification times. The paper reviews simulated solidification results from a traditional cooling channel design and a conformal cooling channel design. The paper continues by describing the construction of bonded laminate insert with integrated cooling channels. Casting trials were conducted using the inserts to validate the simulated results. Work to date has demonstrated the ability to manufacture laminate inserts quickly, the accuracy of computational fluid dynamics and the importance of conformal cooling design.