The application of integrated computational material engineering (ICME) in metal castings simulation

Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) is emerging as a methodology for developing advanced materials, manufacturing processing, and engineering components in a faster and more cost effective way. For casting processes, ICME involves many physical phenomena such as thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid flow, stress, defect formation, microstructure evaluation, and thermophysical and mechanical properties. In this paper, the integration of thermodynamic calculations, thermophysical and mechanical property predictions, and the prediction of microstructure and defects during solidification and heat treatment will be presented. Such integration is helpful to understand the effects of alloy chemistry and processing conditions, and their relationship to microstructure, defect formation, and the final mechanical properties from solidification to heat treatment. Eventually the alloy chemistry and processing parameters can be optimized with the help of the integrated computational modelling.