Development of heat pipe technology for permanent mold casting of magnesium alloys

One of the key techniques for producing sound permanent mold castings is to use controlled mold cooling such as air cooling, water cooling and heat pipe cooling. Air-cooling has limited applications in permanent mold casting due to its low cooling capability and high cost. Water-cooling is widely used in permanent mold casting, but has some disadvantages such as safety issues and the facilities required. The early applications of heat pipes in permanent mold casting have shown tremendous results due to their high cooling rates, low cost and safety. In this work, a permanent mold for magnesium casting has been designed with the intention of producing shrinkage defects in the castings. Novel heat pipes that can generate high cooling rates have been constructed and used to direct the solidification in order to reduce the shrinkage. In this paper, the design of the mold and that of the heat pipes are presented. The results of some of the computer simulations that were conducted to determine casting conditions along with the potential of using heat pipes to direct the solidification are also presented. Moreover, a preliminary evaluation of the performance of heat pipes in the permanent mold casting of magnesium will also be discussed. (author)