An Assessment of Porosity in Die Casting by Virtual Prototyping

The presented study is related to a certain problematic area in engineering analyses when using virtual prototypes—the representation of a subject with a large variation in geometry size. Especially, this is related to the possibility of including material imperfections-porosity—when a mechanical design is to be assessed—and this is the research subject. A methodology is developed, based on a preliminary solved set of simple models that allows including the influence of porosity on the elastic behavior of aluminum alloys. These simple models are created according to the requirements of a certain industrial standard, but apply to other materials and requirements as well, targeting to determine the impact of porosity changes on mechanical properties. The developed methodology is demonstrated through an example from an industrial project, where the lowest possible cost is sought while meeting a certain strength requirement. The obtained solution is based on both engineering (structural stiffness) and financial (production cost) assessments, yielding a better solution and motivating the production of the component. Future research activities are marked as related to the upgrade of the available information on the influence of porosity on material properties.