B. xiao, Y. Rong, G. Wang, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA; Q. wang, General Motor, Pontiac, MI
Aluminum alloy castings are widely used in automobile industries to reduce the weight and improve fuel efficiency. Recently, more and more aluminum alloy castings like engine blocks are quenched in forced air flow for a better mechanical property and longer product life. In this paper, experiments of air quenching testing castings were carried out. Temperatures at different locations were measured and recorded by a data acquisition system as a function of time, based on which the Heat Transfer Coefficients (HTC) were determined. Finite Element simulations, including thermal simulation and stress simulation, were performed using the experimental obtained HTC and a material constitutive model for 319 aluminum alloy castings. Residual stresses were also measured using resistance strain gauge rosettes, to evaluate the accuracy of FE simulation.
Summary: In this paper, air quenching experiments were perfomred to obtain Heat Transfer Coefficients. Residual stresses on aluminum alloy castings were simulated with Finite Element package ABAQUS, using experimental obtained HTC and a material constitutive model for aluminum alloy castings. The simulation results are compared to measurement results.
