Experimental Study on Casting Design and Manufacturing of Steering Knuckle

Abstract

The steering knuckle is a vital component in vehicles, serving as the crucial link between the suspension system, steering mechanism, wheel hub, and vehicle chassis. To produce a defect free mass production of complex shape components like steering knuckle various parameters are involved. In this study we have only worked on the elimination of the major defects like porosity, shrinkage, air traps, cold shuts, hot tears and sand inclusion. All these defects are due to improper feeding of metal in mold cavity. Designing effective gating systems and selection of casting shape and casting allowance for sand casting is a prolonged and resource-intensive process which results in sound casting. Traditional trial-and-error methods often result in suboptimal designs which may not be the best one, leading to increased costs and casting defects. The steering knuckle used for experimentation is composed of SG Cast Iron. This research aims to develop an optimized gating system for steering knuckle production through the application of casting simulation software, Altair Inspire. By implementing methodologies and mathematical modeling, results visualization and selective design strategies through simulation and experiments this project seeks to predict casting behavior, minimize shrinkage, and enhance yield. This is done to reduce the rejection rate of casting production of steering knuckle in a foundry. The produced steering knuckles must be fully free from porosity, cold shuts and sand inclusion. Moreover, by performing few experiments and vast number of simulation iterations of gating system design and casting cavity of product for filling and solidification of mold in ideal and worst conditions to get accurate results. The simulations were carried out and molten metal flow and simulation results are observed by filling and solidification modules of software. The purpose of this study is to create the most efficient and reliable gating system design with best fit casting of product, implementing unidirectional solidification that ensures the sound castings process production of steering knuckle while fine-tuning the resource utilization.