Simulation and validation of high-pressure die casting of an electric motor housing for automotive application

The main object is the analysis of the high pressure die casting process used for the production of an electric motor housing (carter) at Fondalpress S.p.a. This is a new class of components that are being casted for the first time on which there is no literature to make reference for the die design and the process parameters settings. We perform the process simulations with three different software: Flow-3D Cast, Inspire Cast and PIQ2 Castle. This was done to have a broad view on how they work when dealing with something outside the “traditional” range of products. The simulations have been compared and used as base for the die prototyping phase and for the setting of the process parameters. In the end the results obtained have been benchmarked with the real produced part during the sampling phase. We have found a good correlation between what forecasted by the software and the reality even if no one of the three software used can completely describe what happens in the foundry. Each of them has its good and bad points when approximating the process. Nevertheless our work on simulations has allowed to develop a company know-how to be used in the future on similar products. The optimization obtained through the simulation has also lead to a reduction of the industrialization phase of about three weeks avoiding the majority of the tweaking usually performed during the first test of a new mould.