Customer: SHW (Germany)

SHW is a world-renowned automotive component manufacturer,  specialising in automotive pumps, engine parts and brake discs. The  company supplies major vehicle OEMs and maintains stringent  requirements for casting internal compactness and mass-production  stability.

Project:
 Die-casting mould development for Part No. 200944-00 housing

Component: Aluminium alloy housing

Raw casting dimension: 220 × 168 × 112 mm,

Raw part volume:  398.0 cm³;

Raw part weight: 1.070 kg.

Finished-part dimension: 220 × 168 × 112 mm；

Finished-part volume：362.1 cm³;

Finished-part weight:  0.974 kg.

Project target:
Secure smooth serial-production  launch of the housing at SPC-Diecasting facility in China.

Project Challenges

Preliminary solidification simulation identified critical porosity /  shrinkage cavity risk at the heavy-wall hot-spot in the housing  central area. This zone serves as a functional mounting surface;  product geometry modification was not permitted due to functional  constraints.

Defect location: Central thick-wall hot-spot of  housing. Defects can be detected via X-ray inspection and lead to  component rejection.

Hard constraint:Product functional geometry cannot be  altered.

Risk of baseline Version 1 design: High  thermal-stress-induced mould cracking risk and frequent core-pull  mechanism damage, resulting in poor mass-production robustness.

Alternative technical approach: Deploy built-in  secondary squeezing (squeezer pin) inside the mould. Local pressure  compensation is applied to the hot-spot to eliminate internal  shrinkage defects.

Our Solution

Our PE engineering team built two sets of simulation models for direct  benchmark

comparison:

Version 1: Original baseline design from SPC-Die  Casting

Version 2: Our optimised mould concept (final  recommended solution)

Key optimisations of Version 2

1. Casting orientation adjustment:

Rotate the  housing casting position by 40°. Decouple biscuit cooling from  core-pull actions within the gating system. Eliminates major risks of  mould cracking and core-pull component failure caused by excessive  thermal stress in Version 1.

2. Redesigned gating system:

Gate thickness kept  at 2.5 mm with gate cross-section 347 mm². Re-profiled runner  sectional gradation from A1-A15. A gating system with counter-cone for  the biscuit is realised on the moving mould half, maximising design  freedom for core-pull cooling circuits.

3. Optimised secondary squeezing system:

Squeezer pin diameter 13.5 mm. Optimised squeezing  stroke 9.1 mm and squeezing volume 13.0 cm³, precisely aligned to the  critical hot-spot region.

4. Over-flow configuration:

Total overflow volume  ≥ 20 % of raw casting volume (≥ 80 cm³) to improve cavity venting and  minimise air-entrapment defects.

5.Defined mass-production prerequisites:

Clear  process control requirements transferred from simulation to  shop-floor: 100 % cyclic monitoring of squeezer stroke and hydraulic  pressure, stable cycle time, limited dosing-volume variation and  uniform pre-fill mould temperature distribution.

Simulation Comparison & Key Process Parameters

Unified simulation boundary conditions for both concepts: Pouring  temperature 600 °C, mould temperature 200 °C, specific injection  pressure 700 bar.

Simulation findings:

Both concepts achieve complete cavity filling. Air‑entrapment risk  stays controllable with overflow features implemented.
 Baseline porosity simulation results are comparable for both concepts.  Critical shrinkage porosity at housing central hot‑spot must be  eliminated by secondary squeezing action in both versions.
 Core advantages of Version 2: Removes mould thermal‑cracking risk seen  in Version 1. Offers greater design flexibility for core‑pull cooling  circuits, significantly improving mould service life and production  reliability.

Results & Business Value

➢ Delivered production-ready Version 2 mould concept via CAE benchmark  simulation, avoiding mould cracking and core-pull failure risks from  the original design.

➢ Eliminated shrinkage porosity defects in critical thick-wall  functional zones by implementing mould-integrated secondary squeezing,  meeting X-ray non-destructive testing requirements for internal  soundness.

➢ Provided complete mass-production process control specification to  support stable serial manufacturing.

➢ Enabled successful ramp-up for SHW’s component production at its  Chinese die-casting partner.