Evaluating the Application of Heating Conductor Surfaces Inside Plasma Sprayed Coatings in Permanent Mold Metal Casting Processes for Local, Near-Surface Heat Release

With casting being a complex process which involves several physical effects and interactions, a wide array of means for influencing such processes exist. Here, the liquid–solid phase change is of utmost importance, as it is a deciding factor for a part’s final properties. Especially with today’s high critical material property requirements, control of the solidification process is indispensable. For the most part, the cooling of a casting defines its solidification. What determines the cooling process is the heat balance of the system. The foundry industry has been using different approaches for influencing the heat balance for a long time. The application of different kinds of coatings with either insulating or heat transfer promoting properties as well as temperature control via cooling channels inside the mold is widely used. Progress in the field of plasma spraying of coatings and the application of heating conductor surfaces have rendered a new concept possible: The integration of heating conductors inside a coating allows for the release of heat in closest vicinity of the melt–mold interface. This paper depicts the use of numerical simulations to investigate the local application of heating conductor layers inside the mold surface coating for a permanent mold casting process and discusses concepts for influencing the heat balance that would not be possible with state-of-the-art cooling channel approaches.