Field of the Invention
[0001] The present invention relates to a low-pressure casting mold for an aluminum wheel,
specifically to a water-cooled side mold and a water-cooled bottom mold for improving
the shrinkage porosity at spoke roots.
Background of the Invention
[0002] In the production process of low-pressure casting of aluminum wheels, spoke roots
are very obvious hot spots where the shrinkage porosity and cavity defect easily occurs.
Therefore, whether the mold design and the artificially added cooling are reasonable
will greatly affect the shrinkage porosity at the spoke roots, especially the shrinkage
porosity of the spoke roots produced fast is a non-negligible defect. However, the
present common design cannot thoroughly and effectively solve the shrinkage porosity
at the spoke roots, which brings great difficulty to speeding up the production.
[0003] Fig. 1 shows the present common cooling design of spoke roots, the side mold insert
provided with a water channel 1 is made of ordinary mold steel, which causes low thermal
conductivity and slow cooling of the spoke roots. Although a cooling water channel
2 is arranged in the bottom mold to assist in cooling the spoke roots, the cooling
water channel 2 often affects the feeding of spokes to the spoke roots; thus arranging
cooling water channel in the bottom mold brings more adverse effects. Of course, the
shrinkage porosity at the spoke roots can be fed by prolonging the production cycle,
adding insulation to the spokes and other measures at the expense of production efficiency.
Summary of the Invention
[0004] Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a novel water-cooled
mold for casting an aluminum alloy wheel, thereby overcoming the above problems.
[0005] In one aspect of the present invention, provided is a water-cooled mold for casting
an aluminum alloy wheel. The water-cooled mold is composed of a top mold, a side mold
and a bottom mold, and is characterized in that: a side mold insert is included between
the side mold and the bottom mold, the inner surface of the side mold insert faces
a cavity, and the upper surface and the lower surface are matched with the side mold
frame respectively; the side mold insert is made of copper; the matching surface between
the side mold insert and the side mold has a contact matching surface having a length
of 10-15 mm at the edges of the inner ring and the outer ring respectively, and a
gap of 0.05-0.20 mm is formed between the side mold insert and the side mold between
the contact matching surfaces.
[0006] In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the matching surface between the
side mold insert and the side mold has a contact matching surface having a length
of 12 mm at the edges of the inner ring and the outer ring respectively, and a gap
of 0.10 mm is formed between the side mold insert and the side mold between the contact
matching surfaces.
[0007] In a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the water-cooled mold, a cooling
water channel of the bottom mold is located on the outer side of the bottom mold.
[0008] The advantage of the technical solution in the present invention is that by the above
measures, the cooling on spoke roots is effectively improved and the influence of
the cooling water channel on spokes is limited.
Brief Description of the Drawings
[0009] The embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below in combination
with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a side mold insert for spoke roots in the prior art;
Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a side mold insert for spoke roots according to the
present invention;
Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a matching surface of the side mold insert and a
side mold according to the present invention.
[0010] In which: 1-side mold insert, 2-bottom mold cooling water channel, A-upper surface
of the side mold insert, B-lower surface of the side mold insert.
Detailed Description of the Embodiments
Embodiment 1
[0011] A water-cooled mold for casting an aluminum alloy wheel is composed of a top mold,
a side mold and a bottom mold, and is characterized in that: a side mold insert is
included between the side mold and the bottom mold, the inner surface of the side
mold insert faces a cavity, the upper surface is matched with the lower surface of
the side mold, and the lower surface is matched with the upper surface of the bottom
mold; the side mold insert is made of copper; the matching surface between the side
mold insert and the side mold has a contact matching surface having a length L1 at
the edges of the inner ring and the outer ring respectively, and a gap L2 is formed
between the side mold insert and the side mold between the contact matching surfaces.
[0012] In this embodiment, the following implementation scheme is adopted for test, and
the test settings are recorded in Table 1:
Table 1: Parameters of each group of test device in this embodiment
Group No. |
L1/mm |
L2/mm |
Test group 1 |
10 |
0.05 |
Test group 2 |
12 |
0.10 |
Test group 3 |
15 |
0.20 |
Control group 1 |
The side mold insert is made of mold steel and the entire matching surface is fully
fitted |
Control group 2 |
The side mold insert is made of red copper and the entire matching surface is fully
fitted. |
[0013] The above five groups of water-cooled molds are used to produce five groups of hubs
in the internal research and development workshop of CITIC Dicastal Co., Ltd., 1200
hubs constituting each group. In addition, the test results of the five test groups
are measured by hub failure caused by the shrinkage porosity defect at spoke roots.
The results show that the test group 2 has the best hub production quality, and the
unqualified hubs caused by the shrinkage porosity defect at the spoke roots include
12 cases in test group 2, 37 cases in test group 1, 42 cases in test group 3, 81 cases
in control group 1 and 54 cases in control group 2.
[0014] Hence, the mold of test group 2 reduces the ratio of the unqualified hubs caused
by the shrinkage porosity defect at the spoke roots.
1. A water-cooled mold for casting an aluminum alloy wheel, being composed of a top mold,
a side mold and a bottom mold, wherein a side mold insert is included between the
side mold and the bottom mold, the inner surface of the side mold insert faces a cavity,
and the upper surface and the lower surface are matched with the side mold frame respectively;
the side mold insert is made of copper; the matching surface between the side mold
insert and the side mold has a contact matching surface having a length of 10-15 mm
at the edges of the inner ring and the outer ring respectively, and a gap of 0.05-0.20
mm is formed between the side mold insert and the side mold between the contact matching
surfaces.
2. The water-cooled mold according to claim 1, wherein the matching surface between the
side mold insert and the side mold has a contact matching surface having a length
of 12 mm at the edges of the inner ring and the outer ring respectively, and a gap
of 0.10 mm is formed between the side mold insert and the side mold between the contact
matching surfaces.
3. The water-cooled mold according to claim 1, wherein in the water-cooled mold, a cooling
water channel of the bottom mold is located on the outer side of the bottom mold.