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Visual-Cast
Following is the list of available workflows for ESI ProCAST and ESI QuikCAST solvers:

ProCAST solver QuikCAST solver

Some optimization has been done on the workflows and the main enhancements are described below:
Foundry Oriented Workflows
The process type headings have been changed for a better fit to the foundry terminology and bubble
information is now available.
A “unit” tab has been added in the workflow preferences in order to let you set the specific units to be used in
the corresponding workflow.
The general units, such as temperature or distance are still driven from the general File > Preferences area.

Workflow Units tab

HPDC Machine Selection Workflow
In the HPDC machine selection workflow, it is now possible to transfer the maximum available pressure from
the Machine line at design pressure to ProCAST flow solver. The curve equation will be used to limit the

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pressure during the shot piston calculation.

In the HPDC workflow, the “GateNode” definition has been transferred into the Solidification step.

HPDC & LPDC Workflows

The “attached until ejection” option can now be driven from the preferences on the mobile or fixed part of the
dies. This will be taken into account for the IHTC definition automatically. Cycling inputs have also been
reordered for both workflows for easier use.

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LPDC Workflow
A pressure calculator has been added in the LPDC workflow for easier definition of filling boundary conditions.
This helps you to define the real pressure to be taken into account in the simulation, depending on the height
of the filling system.

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Investment (Equiax) Workflow

View factors are handled as follows in the Investment casting workflow:
l When loading a 2D mesh file with an enclosure tag, the View factor option is set automatically
l When the View factor option is disabled, the enclosure area in the volume manager is greyed out
Pressure table and pouring cup control options have been added in the filling step.

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l Easy to use step-by-step guided process

l Simulation parameters are adapted automatically based on your inputs
l Following process types drive the Investment (Equiax) set up:
¡ Filling
¡ Solidification with/without vacuum and radiative view factors
¡ Stress and deformation
l Multi-stage (step 4) approach is similar to the one in the Generic workflow and can be used to chain
the different manufacturing steps.

Other Updates
l The virtual mold calculation has been parallelized and speed up is about 2 times faster with similar
number of processors compared to the previous version.
l BURNONT run parameter has been added in the Simulation Parameters panel. It enables you to
derive the unit of the BURNON simulation parameter.
l Fill limit is now accessible from the calculator for the inlet boundary condition.
l COLORFLOW_SF which enables fixed or mixing colors at color borders has been added in the
simulation parameters area.
l Selection of GATENODE, TRANSPHASE_NODE enabled without displaying the solid elements.

Bug Fixes
l Progress Bar for material properties calculation is not working properly if there is "/" in the material
name. This bug is fixed.
l In Optimization workflow, when loading a VDB file, gravity direction is not considered in the display.
This is fixed.
l In Optimization workflow, the application crashes when plotting a curve in Step 4: Inverse Problems.
This is fixed.
l In Honey Comb Filter, Clear Orientation is not removing Rosette Information. This is fixed.
l Application crash while selecting element faces of quadratic type is fixed.
l Material database crash due to corrupt configuration file is fixed.
l Wrong alloy mass shown in the Volume Manager when the selected unit is Lbs. This is fixed.
l Extracted result on the die-die interfaces is wrong. This is fixed.
l Application crash on CAFÉ sub solver launch when model is not opened. This is fixed.
l Sometimes false warning message is displayed in the data checks GUI when symmetry and Inlet
condition is present. This is fixed
l Unable to pick interface regions from Process condition GUI. This is fixed.

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l Unable to sort volumes in ‘Selection List’ GUI posted from the entity selector. This is fixed.

Known Issues
l When Material Database dialog box is opened to visualize TTT/CCT diagrams, context change to
Visual-Viewer may result in instability on some machines.
l The format of *PrefixForceOnPiston.xyn generated in ProCAST 2014.5 causes Visual 13.0 and newer
to crash.
Workaround: Replace the header of *ForceOnPiston.xyn with the header of *HPDCOutput.xyn
l A known bug affects the computation of Aluminum Alloy if Ti is present. For trace amounts of Ti, it is
recommended to remove it.

Limitations
l Extraction/Mapping functionality is not supported for MILE cases.
l Loading <prefix>d.dat files with special characters in material name may sometimes fail in Linux
versions.
Workaround: Edit such files and rename material by removing special characters.
l In ‘Start Simulation’, -hostlist can be specified only in option1.
Workaround: In ‘Start Simulation’ on Windows platform, avoid specifying both -hostlist in option1 and
hostfile together.
l If mold and alloy are connected by a line of common nodes instead of interfaces, the solver will throw
an error when launched.
Workaround: Create COINC nodes at these locations in Visual-Mesh.
l Frequencies defined, such as TFREQ, VFREQ, cannot be changed when calling ‘Restart’.
Workaround: Use extract and define new TFREQ and VFREQ.
l The Stress calculations are not supported in new multi-radius accordion calculations.
l Computation of m and k values using back diffusion method on Linux platform is incorrect.
Workaround: Use Scheil, Lever, or Compute on Windows platform.
l APM, HCS, CAFE in post-processor mode are not fully compatible with the new storage frequency
capabilities.
l The units selected in ‘Cast Preferences’ are not reflected in the database editor.
l Avoid special characters in project folder path (name). Solver fails to launch if the folder name contains
special characters.
l While importing ‘vdb’ files saved in previous version that contain wrap process condition values, the
‘Heat vs. Thickness’ curve is not displayed in the wrap database. It is advised to redefine heat values
for different thickness inputs, as explained in the user manual.
l ‘Run Multi-Stage’ on Linux will run the batch file in the same shell window that will start running the
solver. Hence, it is advised to generate batch file and data separately and then launch this batch file.
l During pmf file import, if default regions have been renamed, the file import fails. You must rename it
manually in QuikCAST and then import.
l If exemesh fails for some pmf files, try again after computing volumes.
l On systems with AMD graphics cards, if you experience stability issues when displaying the model,
toggle off ‘Enable optimized rendering’ option in the Graphics tab of Preferences panel. (To post this
panel, select File > Preferences from the menu).
l ProCAST materials are supported in QuikCAST. However, the properties must be recomputed prior to
the first usage.
l The QuikCAST manual for Visual-Cast is being developed and will be available in subsequent

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releases. The old version manual is available in this version from the Help menu.
l Computation of properties for any material in QuikCAST skin will not show the hidden tab information in
ProCAST.
Workaround: Re-compute properties again in order to get all the information.
l In Multiple Solidification Path module, if MFSPATH = ON, you must verify TSTOP parameter and
modify it manually if required so that TSTOP < T solidus for any cooling rate.

ProCAST Solver 2018.0 Updates

QuikCAST Solver 2018.0 Updates

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