Investigations on the Melt Flow Behavior and Microstructure of A390 Alloy During Vertical Centrifugal Casting Process: CFD Simulation and Experiments

Abstract

In this study, vertical centrifugal casting process is used for the fabrication of functionally graded A390 alloy hollow cylinder and Mg & Sr-included A390 alloy hollow cylinder. The commercial CFD software FLOW3DTM is used to obtain the optimum rotational speed for making an optimized hollow cylinder in a vertical centrifugal casting machine. The optimum rotational speed obtained is 1300 rpm. This rotational speed is used in the experiments to obtain hollow cylinders of optimized thickness for (a) A390 alloy (b) by adding various weight percentages of Mg and Sr in A390 alloy. The optical microstructures obtained at various radial locations are presented for centrifugally cast A390 alloy. The effect of individual addition of Mg & Sr into A390 alloy on the microstructures at various locations along the radial direction of centrifugally cast cylinder is discussed in detail.