Computer Simulation of the investment casting process: widening of the filling step

Computer simulation as it applies to jewelry manufacturing technology has, in the last years, proven to have tremendous potential as a tool in helping to prevent casting defects. Nevertheless, many aspects of its use need to be widened to further improve results, including investigations into the precious alloys’ physical parameters, the properties of investment materials and the dynamics of the process itself. Regarding the latter, the need to understand and, most importantly, to be able to predict the “when,” the “how fast” and “where” the molten metal travels is of crucial importance, particularly when the filling and the solidification times are of the same order of magnitude. The paper focuses on the study of the filling times (both in terms of simulation and experimental validation) of different types of objects, with particular care for the filigrees’ process dynamics.