Effects of Recovery Behavior and Strain-Rate Dependence of Stress–Strain Curve on Prediction Accuracy of Thermal Stress Analysis During Casting

Recovery behavior (recovery) and strain-rate dependence of the stress–strain curve (strain-rate dependence) are incorporated into constitutive equations of alloys to predict residual stress and thermal stress during casting. Nevertheless, few studies have systematically investigated the effects of these metallurgical phenomena on the prediction accuracy of thermal stress in a casting. This study compares the thermal stress analysis results with in situ thermal stress measurement results of an Al-Si-Cu specimen during casting. The results underscore the importance for the alloy constitutive equation of incorporating strain-rate dependence to predict thermal stress that develops at high temperatures where the alloy shows strong strain-rate dependence of the stress–strain curve. However, the prediction accuracy of the thermal stress developed at low temperatures did not improve by considering the strain-rate dependence. Incorporating recovery into the constitutive equation improved the accuracy of the simulated thermal stress at low temperatures. Results of comparison implied that the constitutive equation should include strain-rate dependence to simulate defects that develop from thermal stress at high temperatures, such as hot tearing and hot cracking. Recovery should be incorporated into the alloy constitutive equation to predict the casting residual stress and deformation caused by the thermal stress developed mainly in the low temperature range.