Promoting Distance Learning in Metal Casting by Implementing Four Simulation Activities

The metal casting industry has less than thirty certified Foundry Educational Foundation (FEF) university/colleges in North America.For this reason, it is important to support and maintain quality educational programs.For the past thirty-five years, metal casting simulation tools have been affiliated with academia primarily in research and development.At the same time metal casting industry has adopted a digital approach to manufacturing where simulations play a major role.Educational institutes need to involve solidification and simulation technologies at the undergraduate level.Can solidification simulations be an effective tool to support student understanding of metal casting concepts in an introductory engineering course via distance learning?The authors investigated scaling up the use of a sequence of modules containing realworld simulation problems (hot-spot detection on castings, surface area-to-volume issues on castings, fluidity of various casting alloys, design optimization and yield calculations).The implementation of flow and solidification simulations activities were explored in an introduction to Metal Casting course when the COVID-19 pandemic prohibited the conventional, face-to-face, and hands-on learning activities of the engineering course.Participants were eighteen sophomore/junior level engineering students at Western Michigan University during the Summer Semester 2020.Casting flow and solidification predictive analysis were verified from actual casting trials where gating designs were experimentally evaluated preceding the course.The effectiveness studies were reported after comparing the evaluations of course assignment and examination scores prior and post the solidification simulation activities.At the end of the course evaluation, feedback from students was solicited regarding the distance learning solidification simulation experiences.The simulation activities were described, and output analysis was provided.The experience conveyed insights into the role of simulation as an efficient and effective teaching tool in distance education.Results supported an adoption and implementation of the simulation software tool when teaching introduction to Metal Casting on any platform.