Based on a project which has been carried out recently at the Institute of Materials Science, a new hot tearing criterion for big casts should be developed by means of finite elements simulation. Therefore, the residual stresses in casts are calculated with the programs ANSYS© and MAGMAsoft©. The material properties for the recently developed cast steel G-X12CrMoWVNbN 10 1 1 which are necessary for simulation will be determined in experimental investigations.