Design of Reliable Lightweight Cast Components : An Optimization Driven Design Appraoch

Abstract: The present-day automotive industry is striving to design lightweight components by optimizing the design for minimization of weight. The topology optimization is used widely for the design of lightweight components. The casting process is time and cost effective for mass production and widely adopted within the automotive industry. Generally, castability is not considered in the weight optimization process. These weight optimized components are optimized once again in the later stage for cost-effectiveness in the casting process. The modified design usually weighs more than the weight optimized design. The design can be optimized for weight and castability simultaneously in the early stage of design and this thesis report presents an optimization process for the same. The optimization process presents effective usage of the topology optimization to design lightweight components without compromising castability. It is a three-step process where thetopology optimization is integrated with solidification simulation along with DFX -castability evaluation. The reliability of the conceptual design is predicted based on the mapping of solidification and stress hotspots. The process is implemented to design three components of Scaniatruck and weight is reduced by 15% to 25%.