Sessions Extend to Buyers, Designers Metalcasting Congress? We’ve got them covered.
Missed the technical sessions for buyers and designers at the 114th
CastExpo’10 marked the first time the annual event targeted technical sessions specifically at designers and purchasers of castings. Nine sessions were offered over three days, some as panels with multiple speakers. Following is a roundup of some practical tips that can be taken from each presentation.
A Buyer’s and Designer’s Intro to Metalcasting Process and Alloys
Alfred Spada, Leo Baran, American Foundry Society Many different metalcasting methods exist, and de-
signers and purchasers of metal castings should under- stand the differences between them. As a general rule, bonded sand casting methods are versatile, can be used for high and low volumes and large and small castings, and offer low tooling costs. However, the processes do not achieve great surface finishes. Lost foam casting can produce complex, thin-walled designs with no cores, but the process requires high initial tooling costs. Permanent mold processes produce highly complex castings with great accuracy and excellent surface finish but have the highest tooling costs of any process and suffer from strict size constraints. Investment casting is useful for casting difficult to cast alloys, offers superior casting finish, and is suitable for large or small quantities of parts. Like the permanent mold processes, however, investment casting tooling is expensive, and the process can produce only smaller parts.
Cost-Effective Casting Design—A How-To for Designers and Purchasers
Mike Gwyn, Advanced Technology Institute Castability geometry is the way casting shape interacts
with metallurgical characteristics of metalcasting alloys. A well-designed casting geometry can interact positively with the physics of metal flow and solidification and result in a more robust casting. The physics that must be considered when designing geometry for castability are: • fluid characteristics of the alloy as it arrives in the mold cavity;
• reactions with air as the alloy arrives in the mold cavity; • temperature above liquidus (or in some cases solidus) of
May/June 2010
By simulating sand casting (left) versus permanent mold casting (right), the designer was able to use software to select a metal- casting process.
How to Identify a Quality Casting Supplier
Robert Mueller Jr., P&H Mining Equipment When vetting a supplier of metal castings, be sure to audit
Metal Casting Design anD PurChasing 45
the alloy as it arrives in the mold cavity;
• refractory nature of the mold elements; • thermal gradients between the metal and mold elements.
Casting Simulation: A Primer for Casting Buyers & Designers
Christof Heisser, Steve Sikorski, Magma Foundry Technologies Inc.
Designers and their metalcasters must consider cast-
ability, casting geometry (stress/distortion), and the achievable mechanical properties of the process during casting development. Simulation software can perform all of these functions. What’s more, suppliers that utilize simulation can assist with casting design, verify tooling design, develop the casting process without an extensive trial and error period, and reduce “firefighting” costs.
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