Title: Water analogue experimental study on the filling process of a steam turbine housing casting

Authors: Jinwu Kang; Chao Dong; Xiaokun Hao; Gang Nie; Yongyi Hu; Tianyou Huang

Addresses: Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing Technology, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China ' Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing Technology, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China ' Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing Technology, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China ' Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing Technology, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China ' Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing Technology, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China ' Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing Technology, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Abstract: Mould filling is of determining effect on the quality of castings. Numerical simulation is widely used for the study of mould filling, but the result is necessary for validation. Water analogue experiment used to be a main way for mould filling research before, but it was hard to simulate the mould filling of real castings. In this paper, a new water analogue system for real castings was established. The casting cavity was shaped by assembling transparent organic glass slices cut by laser, with each slice exactly representing the geometry of each casting section. Therefore, the shape of the mould cavity is guaranteed. The system was applied to study the filling process of a heavy steam turbine housing casting weighing 70.3 tons. Its filling process was observed and analysed. It is found that there is alternating flow in the gating system because of the height difference of the ingates. That also resulted into the uneven filling during the process. Therefore, the design was improved and it was proved to be more effective through experimental study. This water analogue method is proved to be applicable for research on the filling process of castings.

Keywords: casting; mould filling; water analogue systems; laser cutting; steam turbines; turbine housing; castings quality; alternating flow; gating system; organic glass slices.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMPT.2013.058960

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 2013 Vol.47 No.1/2/3/4, pp.200 - 215

Received: 18 Jan 2013
Accepted: 23 Aug 2013
Published online: 28 Jun 2014 *

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