Numerical Simulation of Zr-based Bulk Metallic Glass During Continuous Casting Solidification Process

A numerical simulation method was used to analyze the solidification process of Zr-based bulk metallic glass (BMG) during the horizontal continuous casting (HCC) process. The large-scale general-purpose finite element analysis software ANSYS was adopted to develop a temperature field model. The variation of temperature field in the specific area at different time was studied. Its accuracy was verified by the experimental results of Zr₄₈Cu₃₆Ag₈Al₈ bulk metallic glass continuous casting solidification process. The effects of casting parameters include intermittent casting procedure (drawing and stopping), casting speed, pouring temperature and cooling rate. The results show that the optimum casting speed range is 1-2 mm/s, pouring temperature is 1223 K and cooling rate of 10 mm rod casting is 5 L/min respectively. A fully Zr-based bulk metallic glass whose diameter is 10 mm and length has no limitation has been successfully fabricated.

Keywords:
bulk metallic glass; continuous casting; composite water cold copper-graphite mold; numerical simulation of casting process; temperature field