To improve the quality of the product and the cost efficiency, the joining of A356 alloy to an Al-18wt%Si alloys has been performed by centrifugal casting. The influence of the mold preheating temperature, the pouring temperature and the rotational velocity of the mold on the microstructures of the shell in the centrifugal casting was investigated using the experimental and simulation methods. In the present study, the cellular automaton (CA) technique and the finite volume method (FVM) were adopted to simulate the evolution of the macro structures and to calculate the temperature profiles, respectively. The evolution of the microstructures was also simulated using a modified cellular automaton (MCA) model. The optimal rotational speed of the mold for obtaining the sound shape of the shell was estimated experimentally to be over 1200 rpm. For the uniform microstructure, the outer shell needs to be cast with higher preheated mold temperature and lower pouring temperature, and the melt was poured at lower temperature in the inner shell. In order to obtain the sound shape of the joining, the different materials were poured simultaneously.