Evaluation of significant factors in aluminum lost foam casting using doe approach

Abstract

In the present research, experimental investigation of lost foam casting of LM6- Al-Si cast alloy by using Design of experiments has been conducted. This investigation has as main objectives to determine the factors that significantly affect the process of aluminum lost foam casting of the LA-Si alloy and evaluate the feasible range of factors for producing a sound aluminum lost foam casting. Castings in the shape of step-like with five sections were produced mainly using a foam density of 20 kg/m and dipping time is 20 second. The four parameters were pouring temperature, slurry, vibration time and sand size. The 2-Level full factorial design with 20 experiments run, which are included by 4 center points, were replicated one time for selected responses, silicon spacing, surface finish and Porosity. In the present work, it was shown that slurry, vibration time, pouring temperature and sand size are controlling factors in LFC process of LM6 alloy. DOE full factorial Design is used to study the effects of four process factors on the LFC and their possible interactions separately. The collected data is then converted into graphical form such as normal probability plot, ANOVA, residual plot, main effects plot and interaction plots and these have been analyzed. The result shows that sand size is the most significant factors affecting lost foam casting process, while pouring temprature is the most affective parameter for 24mm thickness in LFC. Moreover, at lowest level of sand size with increasing of slurry, silicon spacing has increased, and at the highest level of vibration time with increasing of slurry, surface has deteriorated and finally at the lowest level of sand size with increasing of Vibration time, porosity has decreased accordingly.