About PoligonSoft

SCM LP " PoligonSoft "

The PoligonSoft computer modeling system for foundry processes (SCM LP) is a professional tool for creating and optimizing foundry technology. PoligonSoft works on the basis of the finite element method and performs filling, crystallization and stress analysis for most foundry technologies and any alloys.

Professional solution for modeling foundry processes

The PoligonSoft computer modeling system for foundry processes (SCM LP) is a professional tool for the foundry technologist, designed to predict and analyze the causes of defects at the design stage of the casting mold and gating-feeding system. "PoligonSoft" is a virtual foundry where you can develop, analyze and debug the main stages of foundry technology in a short time and without additional costs. By doing all the work on a computer before tooling begins, the technologist receives more information about the process than he could get in a foundry.



Universal tool

The PoligonSoft computing core consists of three solvers: hydrodynamic, thermal and stress. Together with a range of additional options, they simulate all traditional foundry technologies and many special processes:

  • Sand casting with any binder;
  • Chill casting (including cooled or heated);
  • Lost wax casting;
  • Vacuum casting (including all types of directional crystallization);


End-to-End Modeling

The quality and reliability of the calculation are directly related to the possibility of end-to-end modeling of the technology. In PoligonSoft, all stages of the technological process of obtaining a casting can be sequentially simulated: heating the mold, filling the mold with the melt, solidification on the platform or in a thermostat, removing the casting from the mold, cutting off the gating system and profits, etc.



Quickly start calculations based on templates

In the process of creating a technology, it is often necessary to calculate many options for the gating-feed system or technological modes. In this case, usually only the geometry of the casting block or the pouring temperature changes, while all materials and heat transfer conditions remain unchanged. To avoid routine operations when starting a calculation, PoligonSoft uses technological process templates that provide the user with ready-made, debugged data sets specific to each technology. Of course, all templates and data can be edited according to the requirements of a particular production.

In addition, PoligonSoft has a built-in mechanism for inheriting all parameters from any previous calculation for the current task. All this allows the technologist to start the calculation with just a few mouse clicks and focus on the creative process.



Working with geometry of any complexity

PoligonSoft works with a model of a casting block and a mold of any complexity, consisting of many elements of arbitrary shape. Coolers, cores, sand or ceramic molds, heat-insulating and exothermic materials and metallurgical equipment to varying degrees can affect the quality of the casting and should be included in the calculation.

Model of the casting “Case” with refrigerators and chill mold, prepared for calculation (JSC “AAK “Progress” named after N.I. Sazykin”)

PoligonSoft uses a modern and accurate finite element method to ensure that the surface area and volume of the shaped casting model are as close as possible to the original. The finite element mesh generator on the SALOME platform is included in the kit and allows you to flexibly and easily manage the process of creating a mesh model for calculations. The user decides where better detail is needed and where a coarser mesh can be used to make optimal use of computer resources.

Mesh model of a turbocharger blade casting block, built in SALOME (SKBT LLC)

In lost wax casting, the ceramic mold has a geometry that depends on the thickness and surface shape of the wax master model. Our own shell generator will allow you to create a mesh model of a ceramic shape with a given thickness without preliminary construction in a CAD system. Simple elements can be formed in a similar way: covers, linings, heat-insulating and exothermic mixtures, etc.

Ceramic mold automatically created in the PoligonSoft preprocessor (SKBT LLC)



Filling the mold with melt

The modern and powerful Euler flow solver simulates the filling of a mold with melt as it happens in a foundry:

  • From a rotary or stop bucket;
  • Into one or more risers;
  • With topping up into the riser or profit;
  • With constant or variable flow rate (pressure drop).


Solidification of the casting

The Fourier thermal solver calculates temperature and phase fields taking into account heat transfer (conduction, convection, radiation) and heat release during solidification.At this stage the technologist learns:

  • How the temperature changes in the casting and mold;
  • How does the casting harden?
  • Where and why thermal nodes are formed;
  • Magnitude and distribution of residual stresses in the casting;


Shells and porosity

One of the undoubted advantages of SCM LP "PoligonSoft" is the model of shrinkage macro- and microporosity, which allows you to accurately predict the formation of defects, which is especially important in the manufacture of critical castings (working and nozzle blades of gas turbine engines, monowheels, pump impellers, etc.).

Special algorithms that take into account the capillary effect and pressure drop during solidification of closed thermal units make it possible to more accurately calculate the picture of defects when using closed profits.At this stage the technologist learns:

  • Shape, size and location of shrinkage cavities;
  • Size and location of macroporosity zones;
  • Sizes and location of microporosity zones.


Warping and cracking

The Hooke solver is designed to calculate residual stresses and deformations that arise in a casting during cooling and interaction with the mold. The built-in cracking criterion shows areas of possible failure.

Special algorithms will calculate the final state of the casting after removal from the mold and removal of the gating system.

The reliability and stability of the algorithms allow the solver to be used even for simulating heat treatment processes (hardening in various environments, annealing, tempering, etc.) in order to determine residual stresses, deformations, warping and possible destruction.At this stage the technologist learns:

  • Magnitude and distribution of residual stresses in the casting;
  • Magnitude and distribution of stress deformations in the casting;
  • Warping of the casting as a whole and along the coordinate axes;
  • Zones of probable hot and cold cracks.


Material database

TPoligonSoft comes with its own database of domestic materials and alloys, which includes the properties of many steels, cast irons, aluminum, nickel, titanium, copper, zinc and precious alloys. In addition, it contains data on mold materials (sand-clay, liquid-glass and cold-hardening mixtures, ceramics, fireclay, asbestos, shot, heat-insulating and many other materials used in foundry production). The database can be edited and updated by the user.



Additional features of SCM LP "PoligonSoft"

SCM LP “PoligonSoft” has great capabilities for criteria-based analysis of the results obtained. Using the Criterion-3D module, you can calculate and analyze properties and parameters such as structure, hardness, burn, shape erosion, cooling rate, etc. The module contains a wide range of built-in functions that allow the user to create their own analysis criteria that meet a specific production: powers, trigonometric logarithms, gradients, rates of change of quantities, search for minimum and maximum values, and much more.



Niyama criterion

Although SCM LP PoligonSoft predicts shrinkage porosity using its own specialized model, the user can use the Criterion-3D module to calculate the Niyama criterion. This dimensionless criterion, which takes local thermal conditions into account, has long been standard in all casting simulation software packages. Many foundries around the world still use it to predict porosity in castings. Modeling foundries analyze maps of Niyama values and assume that shrinkage porosity will form in areas where the Niyama criterion is below a certain critical value.