INFILTRATION OF MOLTEN ALUMINUM AND HEAT TRANSFER IN CENTRIFUGAL CASTING PROCESSES

In this paper, molten aluminum flow with heat transfer through SiC porous media in a centrifugal force field was described with a mathematical and physical model. The implicit TDMA Algorithm and the first kind of first-order upwind difference were employed to solve the conservation equation associated with appropiate boundary conditions. The distribution of molten aluminum velocity and its pressure, the temperature profiles of fluid and porous media in a centrifugal force field were examined for different conditions. The results show that the local temperature of the fluid phase is different from that of the solid phase in the front edge of the infiltrated region. The temperature difference between the fluid and solid phases increases with the SiC volume fraction and angular velocity, and decreases with the time of infiltration. The infiltration of the molten aluminum through SiC porous media depends mainly on the angular velocity of the centrifugal force field. SiC volume fraction has a strong effect on the velocity and pressure distribution of the molten aluminum.