Control of cooling in casting dies based on thermal feedback

Thermal control of High Pressure Die Casting (HPDC) attracted significant research effort between 1970 and 2001 because of its influence on quality. Many researchers had examined feedback control and modelling of the thermal factors of high pressure die casting process in order to better regulate the process. In general, feedback and modelling had been treated as two separate areas, but the objective of this research was to investigate them as a whole. The research work here is funded by the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for CAST and is part of a larger program involving Deakin University, CSIRO, Ford and Nissan Australia. The research is specifically aimed at high pressure die casting processes but analogous processes (such as injection moulding and thixomoulding) that used cooling channels to stabilise or balance die temperature profiles could also benefit from this research. A key element of this research program was the development and construction of a small, prototype casting system that could be used to explore the validity of any developed, thermal models.