Enabling Technologies for Thermal Management During Permanent Mold Casting: A Critical Review

Abstract Thermal management plays a crucial role in the resultant cast structure as well as influencing the operational cycle time during dynamic casting processes. While traditional batch processes, such as sand casting, have primarily relied on heat removal at designated locations using inserted chills, dynamic casting processes, such as permanent mold casting and die casting, require rapid heat removal and heat recovery (or cooling) for subsequent casting cycles. However, thermal management of permanent molds is further challenged due to localized variations in heat transfer resulting from geometrical variations and intricacies of the part being cast. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of heat transfer mechanisms and behaviors during solidification is imperative to manage thermal conditions during dynamic casting processes. Various thermal technologies have been employed for heating and cooling permanent molds to achieve efficient thermal management of molds locally and dynamically. This review paper presents the significance of thermal management in permanent molds; discusses critical heat transfer mechanisms and numerical modeling for solidification behaviors; investigates both heat transfer characteristics under processing parameters and numerical modeling approach and limitation of various enabling thermal technologies; identifies scientific gaps and suggests further approaches for efficient thermal management in permanent casting processes.