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This rear lower control arm for the automotive industry was cast hollow with A356 aluminum alloy through a low-pressure permanent mold casting process.


facility, which can advise on such factors as availability and relative cost of ingot, production costs and reproducibility of results. Service requirements also are a key consideration in


alloy selection. If high strength is required, heat-treat- able alloys must be used. The alloy options can be nar- rowed further when considering the remaining require- ments, such as pressure tightness, corrosion resistance and machinability (Table 1). Alloy Designation System—The U.S. Aluminum Association


(AA) monitors industry standard specifi cations for designat- ing aluminum alloys through a numbering system known as the AA “Pink Sheets.” The system designates individual alu- minum metalcasting alloys using a three-digit number plus a decimal, which is included on casting blueprints to specify the casting alloy to be used. The standard specifi es the chemical composition limits of aluminum alloys and the percentage of each alloying element or an allowable chemistry range. The fi rst digit of the three-digit number system categorizes the casting alloys by groups (or series) according to their major alloying elements (Table 2). The balance of the three-digit number identifi es the various


individual alloys within each alloy series. For example, the 300 series of alloys includes more than 50 individual alloys (319, 356, 357, 380, etc.). Some of these individual alloys have mul- tiple variations, all using the same three-digit number. These alloy designations include a letter before the three-digit alloy designation. For instance, variations of 356 are A356, B356, C356 and F356. This letter distinguishes between alloys that fall within the alloy chemistry ranges, but differ slightly in percent- ages of alloying elements or impurities—such as F356.0, which has a lower minimum level and tighter range for magnesium than 356.0 (Table 3). These variations can determine special casting properties. The Pink Sheet standard designations apply to aluminum


alloys in the form of both castings and ingot, and the single digit following the decimal indicates how the alloy will be used. These designations include: • XXX.0 = casting; • XXX.1 = ingot used to make the casting; • XXX.2 = ingot used to make the casting with typically tighter chemical limits than the XXX.1 ingot designation. If AA alloys 356.1 or 356.2, for example, are listed as the alloy


30 Metal Casting Design & PurChasing 2010 Casting sourCe DireCtory


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