ESI GROUP 
By
Paris, France - 10 January, 2012 - ESI Group, pioneer and
world-leading solution provider in virtual prototyping for
manufacturing industries, announces the latest release of
ESI's Casting
Simulation Suite, composed of ProCAST & QuikCAST. The suite
provides a predictive evaluation of the entire casting
process, including filling and solidification defects,
microstructural changes and part distortion. It enables
rapid visualization of the effects of design changes for
cast parts, to aid in making the right decisions from an
early stage of the manufacturing process. Virtual
Prototyping enables foundries to shrink product development
costs, reduce time to market, and increase product
quality.
This new release includes a complete and new user
environment, with a modeler that drastically reduces the
preparation time thanks to a new methodology, new interface
and enhanced automatic assembly. Also, the first release of
the new pre-processor, Visual-Cast, provides set-up of
process conditions straight onto the CAD topology, instead
of onto the meshing. This gives the possibility of adapting
the model to the simulation needs without resetting the
process definition. This version of the Casting Simulation
Suite also provides an advisor to assist in computing the
mechanical properties of aluminum after age hardening
treatment for parts like wheels, suspension components,
cylinder heads and engine blocks. This tool has been
originally developed by Rio Tinto Alcan, and by Michel
Garat in particular.
New microstructure models are now available; for example
for Ni-Resist and Compacted Graphite Iron, materials mostly
used in the automotive industry.
To ensure sound castings, major functionalities like core
gassing, oxide particles tracing and prediction of burn-on
and mold penetration have been implemented.
In addition, users will benefit from the results of global
research projects on light-weight materials and superalloys
that will lead to improvements in centrifugal casting
modeling and in the prediction of micro-porosity.
To further complement of the capabilities of its Casting
Simulation Suite, ESI now distributes a
filling system design tool. CTIF (Centre Technique des
Industries de la Fonderie
