Die  casting  is  one  of  the  most  economical  casting  processes  for  manufacturing  precision  shaped  parts  in  mass production. It is a precise casting method in which molten metal is injected at high pressure into a die cavity. As soon as the molten  metal  has  filled  the  cavity,  it  solidifies  by  fast  cooling.  Diecast  components  are  being  used  increasingly  in  the automobile, aerospace, electronic and other industries because of their premium quality, low cost and low weight. Because of high pressure and short cycle times involved, thin wall sections are possible.

. In  diedesign  system  of  various  forming  processes,  Shaffer  developed  progressive  die  design  by  computer  (PDDC) system and J.P. Kruth made efforts to develop an integrated CAD/CAM system for mould design and manufacture. J.C. Choi developed a compact and practical CAD system for blanking or piercing of irregular shaped sheet metal products and stator rotor parts. 

 In  studies  of  die  casting  process,  C.C  Thai  used  runneroptimization  design  method  and  the  abductive  network  in modeling  the  die  casting  process  according  to  the  experimental  data.  W.  Zhang  researched  the  CAD/  CAE  system  that  die designer  can  determine  the  shape  and  dimension  of  runner gating  system  under  different  casting  condition. Generally speaking, die designer still have to depend on engineers experiences and knowhow due to lack of proper analytical ability metal flow and velocity and heat transfer in die. Current shop floor practice uses the trial and error method to determine die design, when new moulds are used. This method is costly and results in a lot of wasted casting. To solve this problem a study was done on the runner and gate system to simulate the molten metal flow and to analyze the pressure and metal movement during casting process. Although some finite element analysis software is capable of analyzing the melting process and flow conditions of the products (work piece) under various injection conditions, they are only giving some limited suggestions and information to die design.

In  this  study,  die  design  system  for  die  casting  process  has  been  developed  to  present  flow  chart  for  automation  of  die design, especially runner gate system. In addition, specific rules and equations for runner gate system have been presented to avoid too many trials and errors with expensive equipment. It is possible for engineers to make an automatic and efficient die design and it will result in reduction of expense and time