Ronald G. Hurley

Temperature Measurements On Semi-Permanent Mold Surfaces Using Infrared Thermography

Die surface temperature and internal die thermal balance are critical to the quality of semi-permanent mold die castings. Measurements of the surface temperature are currently made using either hand-held contact temperature probes or optical pyrometers. Neither measurement technique provides a thermal map of the entire die surface. This paper discusses the use of infrared thermography for die surface temperature measurement. Using infrared thermographic techniques, scans were made over the surface of an experimental 302 CID semi-permanent mold cylinder head die during several casting cycles. The results obtained were in reasonable agreement with the temperature measurements made using optical pyrometers and the contact probes. In addition, using gray-level conversion the IR technique provided a measure of the temperature gradient over the surface of the die. Such thermal mapping has not been practical using optical or contact temperature probes.