Methods to control macro shrinkage porosity and gas bubbles in cast aluminum engine blocks

A system to estimate proper eutectic modification level of a liquid metal during casting of aluminum automobile components, said system comprising:

• an information input configured to receive information relating to at least one of trace elements of the liquid metal, casting component geometry, and casting process parameters;
• an information output configured to convey information relating to proper eutectic modification level predicted by the system;
• a processing unit;
• and
• a computer-readable medium comprising a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer-readable medium cooperative with the computer processor, the information input and the information output such that the received information is operated upon by the computer processor and the computer-readable program code to be presented to the information output as proper eutectic modification level, said computer-readable program code comprising a proper eutectic modification level module, wherein:
• the proper eutectic modification level module estimates the required minimal addition of strontium to the liquid metal using
• Peff(wt %)=P(wt %)+c1*Sb(wt %)+c2*Bi(wt %)−c3*Ca(wt %) (2)
• estimating the required minimal addition of strontium to the liquid metal using
• Sreff-min(wt %)=a1+b1*Peff(wt %) (3);
• estimating the allowed maximal addition of strontium to the liquid metal using
• Sreff-max(wt %)=a2+b2*Peff(wt %) (4);
• where:
• Peff (wt %) is the combined effect of trace elements in weight percent on eutectic modification;
• P (wt %) is the phosphorous weight percent in the liquid metal;
• Sb (wt %)is the antimony weight percent in the liquid metal;
• Bi (wt %)is the bismuth weight percent in the liquid metal;
• Ca (wt %) is the calcium weight percent in the liquid metal;
• Sreff-min (wt %) is the required minimal addition of strontium in weight percent to the liquid metal eliminate macro shrinkage;
• Sreff-max (wt %) is the allowed maximal addition of strontium in weight percent to the liquid metal eliminate gas bubbles;
• and
• a1,a2, b1, b2, c1, c2, c3 are constants that depend on a given set of casting component geometry and casting process parameters.

An article of manufacture to estimate proper eutectic modification level of a liquid metal during casting of aluminum automobile components, said article of manufacture comprising an information input, an information output, a computer processor, and at least one computer usable medium, wherein:

• the information input is configured to receive information relating to at least one of trace elements of the liquid metal, casting component geometry, and casting process parameters;
• the information output is configured to convey information relating to proper eutectic modification level predicted by the article of manufacture;
• the processing unit is cooperative with the computer usable medium to operate upon computer-readable program code means embodied on the computer useable medium for estimating the required minimal addition of strontium to the liquid metal ;
• and
• the computer useable medium comprises computer-readable program code means embodied therein for:
• estimating the required minimal addition of strontium to the liquid metal using
• Peff(wt %)=P(wt %)+c1* Sb(wt %)+c2*Bi(wt %)−c3*Ca(wt %) (2);
• estimating the required minimal addition of strontium to the liquid metal using
• Sreff-min(wt %)=a1+b1*Peff(wt %) (3);
• estimating the allowed maximal addition of strontium to the liquid metal using
• Sreff-max(wt %)=a2+b2*Peff(wt %) (4);
• where:
• Peff (wt %) is the combined effect of trace elements in weight percent on eutectic modification;
• P (wt %) is the phosphorous weight percent in the liquid metal;
• Sb (wt %)is the antimony weight percent in the liquid metal;
• Bi (wt %)is the bismuth weight percent in the liquid metal;
• Ca (wt %) is the calcium weight percent in the liquid metal;
• Sreff-min (wt %) is the required minimal addition of strontium in weight percent to the liquid metal eliminate macro shrinkage;
• Sreff-max (wt %) is the allowed maximal addition of strontium in weight percent to the liquid metal eliminate gas bubbles;
• and
• a1,a2, b1, b2, c1, c2, c3 are constants that depend on a given set of casting component geometry and casting process parameters;
• and
• the computer useable medium is cooperative with the information input and the information output such that the received information is operated upon by the computer-readable program code means to be presented to the information output as an estimation of the proper eutectic modification level of the liquid metal during aluminum casting.