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riser systems. It is also a power- ful customer service and sales tool that can educate custom- ers about the appropriate and successful use of castings and illustrate design suggestions that may lead to sounder cast- ings, cost savings or a casting conversion. Following are six ways (each
S 1 40
with a case study example) that steel caster Eagle Alloy Inc., Mus- kegon, Mich., uses solidification software to improve operations, as well as customer relations.
Introducing the Casting Process to Unfamiliar Customers
Increasingly, customers have
little or no knowledge about the capabilities of castings. Many customers and design engi- neers have the impression that castings are full of porosity, so they continue to specify parts machined out of bar stock or plate, when castings can offer significant cost and time savings. For example, a customer was producing a fully ma-
Simulation Software Customer Relations
Ways Builds
Several case studies show how solidification software can be an important sales tool for illustrating design enhancements with the casting process.
Jim Smith, Eagle Alloy Inc., Muskegon, Michigan
olidification software is more than an en- gineering tool used to produce the most efficient gating and
chined 5-in. diameter shaft out of 8-in. diameter bar stock due to the flange size (Fig. 1). Wasted material and machine time prompted the customer to consider using castings. When quoted as a casting, the savings were significant. In order to move the project forward, Eagle Alloy made a presentation of its capabilities and the casting process, using solidification simulation to show how a sound casting could be made for the application.
2 Explaining How
Design Elements Affect Casting Soundness
Designers often add features
to reduce weight, assuming part cost also will be reduced. But castings typically are not priced by the pound, and sometimes added features generate cast- ing problems by creating thick sections surrounded by thin sections that cannot be fed. Solidification simulation can
Fig. 1. A simple simulation presentation showed Eagle Alloy’s customer that a sound casting could replace a machined part that was wasting material and machine time.
illustrate a potential problem to the customer, offer solutions, and promote discussion and design review. When a customer requested feedback on a design, Eagle Alloy used solidification- only simulation to come up
MODERN CASTING / February 2011
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