Vacuum Die Casting Process and Simulation for Manufacturing 0.8 mm-Thick Aluminum Plate with Four Maze Shapes

Using vacuum die casting, 0.8 mm-thick plates in complicated shapes are manufactured with the highly castable aluminum alloy Silafont-36 (AlSi9MgMn). The sizes and shapes of the cavities, made of thin plates, feature four different mazes. To investigate formability and mechanical properties by shot condition, a total of six parameters (melt temperatures of 730 °C and 710 °C; plunger speeds of 3.0 m/s and 2.5 m/s; vacuum pressure of 250 mbar and no vacuum) are varied in experiments, and corresponding simulations are performed. Simulation results obtained through MAGMA software show similar tendencies to those of the experiments. When the melt pouring temperature is set to 730 °C rather than 710 °C, formability and mechanical properties are superior, and when the plunger speed is set to 3.0 m/s rather than to 2.5 m/s, a fine, even structure is obtained with better mechanical properties. The non-vacuumed sample is half unfilled. The tensile strength and elongation of the sample fabricated under a melt temperature of 730 °C, plunger speed of 3.0 m/s, and vacuum pressure of 250 mbar are 265 MPa and 8.5%, respectively.