fully used for years in jobbing facilities. “I’ve seen hundreds of responsible [metalcasting facilities] around the world doing this for decades,” Furness said. “BMW is not a big deal.” According to Furness, the money
spent on modifications to equipment necessary to transition to inorganic binders is often quickly returned based on energy and process savings. “It is absolutely not true that in-
organic binders are too expensive,” Furness said. “If that is the case, then
why do so many major European [metalcasting facilities] use low emis- sion binders? When switching to low emission binders in green sand, a metalcasting facility can save up to 20% on energy costs. ” Greg Sanders of binder-supplier
Hormel Foods, Canton, Mich., also reported that metalcasting facilities have been using inorganic binder systems on single product lines in the U.S., and interest in inorganic or low emission binders is growing.
“Within the last three years, the
amount of testing information and evaluations performed on low emission binders at metalcasting facilities has gone up three-fold,” he said. “There are no regulations telling people to do this, but they know it’s coming.” Eliminating emissions also holds
value that should be considered in the cost, added Jim De Venne, J B De Venne Inc., Berea, Ohio. “Plus, you don’t need the corresponding equip- ment for air treatment, and the product is not tied in with the price of oil.”
Transitioning the Binder System BMW’s Landshut plant produces 1.8
million castings a year, half of which use sand cores. In 2005, the plant decided to commit to developing an inorganic core binder system through a partnership with ASK Chemicals, a joint venture between Süd-Chemie and Ashland Inc., and its inorganic binder process. In 2006, the metalcaster began using ASK’s binder system in serial production of an aluminum crankcase. Following that success, BMW began to convert production on a product-to- product basis, with each new project
More than 300,000 castings have been produced with inorganic cores at BMW’s Landshut plant.
30
MODERN CASTING / February 2010
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