Simulation assisted design of aluminum-silicon alloys and low pressure die casting process

The aim of this study is to realize a new generation process design that does not required heat treatment by creating an economic model of the wheel production process by using the integrated computational material engineering method in the production of aluminum wheels, by evaluating the alloy development, low pressure die casting and structural analysis in this process, and by obtaining the optimum data in wheel manufacturing. Thus, the effect of raw material and production parameters on the performance of the final product will be obtained before the pilot application and the production will be based on knowledge. Within the scope of the thesis, the usability of integrated computational materials engineering, which is one of the new generation approaches in material technologies, for aluminum alloys and low pressure die casting process has been studied for the first time in our country. The doctoral thesis has been planned in four stages as experimental design, computer aided production, pilot production and testing and characterization studies. In the design of experiment phase, alloy composition selection was carried out using the full factorial experimental design method. In computer-aided production, with computational materials engineering software, unique hypoeutectic compositions were determined in types and amounts of alloying elements, equivalent to the AlSi7Mg0.3 alloy used in wheel production, and alloy designs were realized and a database was created. This data was then transferred directly to the casting simulation software and the casting was simulated with the new alloy compositions. Thus, using integrated computational materials engineering approaches, the microstructural and mechanical properties of the wheel were obtained in computer environment on the basis of alloy composition. In the second stage, the designed alloy compositions were prepared and sample wheels were manufactured by low pressure die casting method on an industrial scale. In the testing and characterization phase, spectral analyzes, macro and microstructural examinations, hardness and tensile tests were carried out. In summary, in the thesis study, the integrated computational materials engineering production data for the production of aluminum-based wheels by low pressure die casting were compared with the manufacturing scale production data and design verification studies were carried out depending on the alloy composition.