Simulation of Temperature and Flow Field by Three Dimension Finite Element Method for Castex Process of AS Wire

Castex of AS wire is a new technology of near net shape. To study the variation of temperature and velocity of liquid (or semisolid) aluminum during dynamic solidification the numerical simulation was carried out with the theory of heat-transfer and hydrodynamics by means of 3-dimensional finite element method. From simulation results, it is found that the variation of temperature and velocity is mainly influenced by the casting temperature of aluminum, rotating speed of Castex wheel and flow of cooling water. Among these influencing factors, the casting temperature distributes most to the length of liquid phase metal. Moreover, the faster the metal solidifies,the higher the metal there moves with the overall trend of descending from the bottom of the wheel to the shoe wall as well as from sidewalls to the center of wheel groove. In comparison with the practical value, the simulation is reliable.