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Materials
Processing
Technology
ELSEVIER Journal of Materials Processing Technology 63 (1997) 690-695

FLOW ANALYSIS ALONG THE RUNNER AND GATING SYSTEM

OF A CASTING PROCESS

SRAMSUDDIN SULAlMAN and TRAM CHEE KEEN

Department of Mechanical and Systems Engineering
Universiti Pertanian Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor MALAYSIA.

ABSTRACT
Simulation of molten metal flow along runner and gating system of pressure diecasting is carried out. Network
analysis method is used for this simulation with the aid of a program written in FORTRAN language. This method is
chosen to reduce the amount of computation needed. Analysis was done on runner and gatin& system with four gates.
0
The angles of the branches leading to the gate and mould cavities are varied from 40 to 90 . This is to find out the
pressure needed to be applied by the plunger of the injection system during the casting process and how branch angle
of the runner and gating system affect it. Metal front movement will also be determined. The results of this study
shows that smaller branch angle will require less pressure to fill the runner and gating system. The time required to
fill the runner and gating system takes longer when smaller branch angle is used. Bend and large cross sectional area
changes should be reduced as this leads to high pressure needed to be applied by the plunger. Larger time interval
may be used without affecting the accuracy of the pressure calculated.

1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 THE RUNNER AND GATING SYSTEM

In pressure die casting, the metal is injected into the
die at high velocity and solidifies under applied
pressure [1]. A plunger is usually used to apply this
pressure. This enables the production of intricate
components nt relatively low cost and also high
production rate [1].
The pressure applied during casting is important as it
determines the filling of the molten metal into the
mould cavity. Incorrect pressure may result in
incomplete filling of the mould, porosity in the cast
parts and bad surface finishing. Current shop floor
practice uses the trial-and-error method to determine
the needed pressure, when new moulds are used.
This method is costly and results in a lot of wasted
castings. To address this problem, study is done on
the runner and gating system to simulate the molten
metal flow and to analyze the pressure and metal
movement during the casting process. This study is
carried out using the Network Method as explained in
[2] which includes the mathematical model and
matrix representation. The flow chart of the program
is shown in figure 1.
The main function of the runner and gating system is
to deliver molten metal passed into the mould into all
section of the mould cavity [3]. The speed or rate of
metal movement is important and also the degree of
cooling while the metal is flowing. Slow filling and
high loss of heat results in misruns and cold shuts.
Rapid rates of filling can produce erosion of the
gating system and the mould cavity, which may result
in entrapped mould material in the final casting.
Cross-sectional areas of the various channels can be
selected to regulate flow. The shape and length of the
channels can be used to regulate flow [3].
This study is done on die casting of aluminium LM24,
an alloy fairly tolerant to impurities, therefore
secondary (recycled) aluminium can be used [4]. As
aluminium has high affinity for iron, it is exclusively
cast on cold-chamber machines, at pressure commonly
exceeding 100 MFa [4].
2. MODEL
TIle dimension of the actual runner and gating system
is as shown in figure 2. The branch angles are all at

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PII S0924-0136(96)02708-2
 S. Sulaiman. Tharn Chee Keen / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 63 (1997) 690-695 691

!INCiLE SlNGL[ NUllIPlE

1-------'-''----< DR MUl TIPLE
'---''''-''-i-==..J CASTIN!;$

NO
PRESSURE
CDNVERG[1

YeS

TH[ Nth NO
STEPS?

Figure I: Flow chart of fluid network program.

692 S. Sulairnan. Tharn Chee Keen I Journal of Materials Processing Technology 63 (1997) 690-695

METAL FLOW IN

------------ 287------------

'-::::::===~==~~==========~;;;::==Zjj:=~9.76
]1-32

2LlB

METAL lOW our

'+-------177.66 - - - - f - - - - '

METAL FLOW our METAL FLOW our

Figure 2 : Runner and gating system with 90 0 branch angle.

Figure 3 : Modelling of the 90 0 branch angle system.

 S. Sulaiman, Tham Chee Keen / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 63 (1997) 690-695 693

Fr~
~~==::=I1=---=2\~~1======:C=~~\:: r: :=~'
METAL FLOW OUT METAL FLOW OUT

/ /

~TAL FLOW OUT TAL FLOW OUT

Figure 4: Runner and gating with branch angle 8.

Figure 5 : Modelling of runner and gating with branch angle 8.

694 S. Sulaiman, Tham Chee Keen / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 63 (1997) 690-695

90 0 to the main runner system. Figure 3 shows the
modelling of the system, dividing it into many smaller
elements. The dimension of the rest of the runner and
gating systems with different branch angle, e is as
shown in figure 4.
shows a graph of pressures against time for model
with branch angle 90 0 and 40 0 . The other four
models with different branch angles of 50,60,70 and
80 degree shows similar pressure changes at node 1.
Comparing the model with branch angle of 40 degree,
the changes in the pressure with time is almost the
same for the first 20 elements.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS As expected, the pressure required at the plunger

increased with the increase in branch angle. The final
The pressure applied by the plunger is approximated maximum pressure needed for model with branch
from the pressure calculated at node I. Figure 6 angle 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90 degree are 2790483,

2.50E+06 f

2.00E+06 I
1.50E+06
(
1.00E+06
:
5.00E+05
,.J 11- 40 deg - 9 0 deg
O.OOE+OO
o 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
(SEC.)

Figure 6: Graph ofthe pressure against time for model 40 and 90 degree at node 1

BRANCH ANGLE
NODE * 40 50 60 70 80 90
1 2.79E+06 2.79E+06 2.80E+06 2.81E+06 2.81 E+06 2.81E+06
2 2.79E+06 2.79E+06 2.80E+06 2.81E+06 2.81E+06 2.81E+06
20 5.36E+05 4.93E+05 4.72E+05 4.65E+05 4.68E+05 4.77E+05
21 8.62E+04 8.98E+04 9.64E+04 1.02E+05 1.08E+05 1.08E+05
22 5.36E+04 4.96E +04 4.42E+04 3.97E+04 3.50E +04 3.19E+04
28 (27) 2.59E+03 2.46E+03 2.23E+03 2.05E+03 1.83E+03 1. 71E +03
29 (28) O.OOE+OO O.OOE+OO O.OOE+OO O.OOE+OO O.OOE+OO O.OOE+OO
38 (36) 2.04E+02 2.14E+02 2.32E+02 2.50E+02 2.78E+02 3.12E+02
39 (37) 1.93E+02 2.03E+02 2.20E+02 2.37E+02 2.65E+02 2.99E+02
45 (43) 1.01E+02 1.05E +02 1.14E+02 1.25E+02 1.48E+02 1.83E+02
46 (44) 1.01E+02 1.05E+02 1.14E+02 1.25E+02 1.48E+02 1.83E+02
47 (45) 5.07E+01 5.57E+Ol 6.42E +01 7.47E+Ol 9.49E+Ol 1.29E+02
48 (46) 2.94E+Ol 2.95E+Ol 3.04E+Ol 3.11E+Ol 3.18E+Ol 3.11E+01
49 (47) 2.60E+Ol 2.69E+Ol 2.84E+01 2.98E+Ol 3.11E+Ol 2.87E+Ol
54 (51) 1.20E+00 1.25E+00 1.34E+00 1.42E+00 1.50E+00 1.50E+00
55 (52) O.OOE+OO O.OOE+OO O.OOE+OO O.OOE+OO O.OOE+OO O.OOE+OO
* The values m bracket under the node column IS the node number for model with 90,0 branch angle only.

Table 1: Table showing the final pressures N/m 2 of corresponding physical elements for model with different branch angle.
 S. Sulaiman, Tham Chee Keen I Journal of Materials Processing Technology 63 (1997) 690-695
2794317,2801008,2807477,2813162 and 2813489
N/m2 respectively. This is because smaller branch
angle offers less resistance to the molten metal flow,
that is the loss coefficients is less at junction with
smaller angles. Therefore, the pressure required will
be less to push the molten metal through the runner
system. The final pressure at selected nodes of all
the six models is shown in table I. The time required
to fill the models with larger branch angles is less
compared to the time required for smaller branch
angles model. The time required to fill the models
with branch angles of 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90
degree are 0.0320 s, 0.0306 s, 0.0296 s, 0.0288 s,
0.0284 sand 0.0278 s, respectively.
4. CONCLUSIONS
The network analysis method can be used to
model simple runner and gating system where the
overall flow direction can be determined successfully.
The results from the four gates runner system is as
follows:
I. The smaller the branch angle, the less the applied
pressure at the plunger is needed. The use of smaller
branch angle will therefore minimize the energy
needed for the pressure diecasting process. This is
because smaller branch angle offers less resistance to
the metal flow since the loss coefficient is less.
2. The flow into all the castings is not the same. The
smaller the branch angle, the longer it takes to fill the
695
casting cavities. This is because smaller angle will
increase flowrate to the first two castings, therefore
decreasing the flowrate to the secondary runner and
the remainder two castings. This may give rise to
solidification problems and cold shuts in these two
castings as heat loss is more if the filling time is
longer.
3. Bends and large cross sectional changes should be
reduced as this leads to high pressure for the sections
before the first junction of the runner system.
REFERENCES
1. P.R Beeley P.R, 'Foundry Technology', The
Butteworth Group (London Butterworths),
(1972).
2. S.B Sulaiman and D.T Gethin, 'A network
technique for metal flow analysis in the filling
system of pressure diecasting and its
experimental verification on a cold chamber
machine', Proc. Instn. Mech. Engrs. Vol 206
ImechE (1992), p261-275.
3. E.P Deganno, YT Black and R.A Kohser,
'Materials and Processes in Manufacturing', Mac
Millan Publishing Co. 7th Edition (1990).
4. D.F Allsop and D Kennedy, 'Pressure
Diecasting: Part 2. The Technology of the
Casting and the Die', Pergamon Press (1983).