Estimation of Interfacial Heat Transfer Coefficient by Control Volume Technique during Solidification of Cylindrical Aluminum Alloy Casting

Metal casting is one of the most important manufacturing methods. The quality of the casting is determined by the desirability of its microstructure and the absence of defects which in turn depends on the process of solidification. The solidification process is complex in nature and the simulation of the process is desirable to predict the quality of cast. Precise estimation of the interfacial heat transfer coefficient (IHTC) is essential for accurate simulation of the casting process. The present work estimates IHTC during solidification of aluminum alloy casting of cylindrical geometry with the sand mold. The mold surface heat flux and temperature are estimated by inverse heat conduction method using control volume technique. The instantaneous cast temperature is measured experimentally and this value is used in the theoretical investigations. In the present technique, partial differential heat conduction equation is reduced to ordinary differential equations in time, which are then solved sequentially. The IHTCs at various time intervals are determined from the surface heat flux and the mold surface temperature.