Tech Transfer at Cast in North America Te Cast in North Amer-


ica sessions of Metalcasting Congress covered topics of interest to casting designers and buyers, providing strate- gies for enhancing the casting supply chain and methods for producing economical cast parts that take advantage of design freedoms allowed by the casting process. Follow- ing are summaries of a few of the sessions presented in Schaumburg in April.


Metalcasting Process Audit Basics


Michael Nash, senior quality engi-


neer at John Deere Waterloo Found- ry’s Casting Center of Excellence, presented a discussion on conducting casting supplier audits to identify actual or potential risks, identify areas for opportunities and improve effec- tiveness and efficiencies. Nash went over the work required


in the lead-up to the audit, during the audit and after the audit in his presentation. Audit pre-work includes reviewing customer-related standards and requirements and previous audits and their findings. During the plan- ning stages of the audit, the scope, type, timeline and lead auditor should be established. Audit types include process, process-part specific and quality systems. After the audit, the team should


plan to follow up with the casting supplier to check on its process for cor- rective actions and implementa- tion and to see whether meet- ings have been conducted with personnel to create an action plan, if required.


Benefits of Casting Simulation Early in the Design Process


Vadim Pikhovich, applications


manager at Magma Foundry Technologies, delivered a presen- tation on the advantages of using


The fabricated cylinder end head at left was redesigned to be a single steel casting produced via shell mold casting.


44 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | May/Jun 2014


castings to fine-tune quality requirements and use this in defining a part’s acceptance criteria. Other ways designers


Casting simulation aids in predicting casting quality to define acceptance criteria.


casting process modeling in the early stages of design. Several factors impact how cost effectively a part can be cast: • Metallurgical characteristics of casting alloys.


• Molding process factors such as part orientation, parting lines, cores and associated dimensional tolerance capabilities.


• Dominance of the alloy vs. the process to meet required mechan- ical properties.


• Quality expectations based on the casting process specifics and capabilities. Juggling the above factors is aided


with casting simulation, which can pre- dict casting quality throughout the part. Designers can analyze overall castability potential and provide recommendations based on the results to modify casting geometry. Simulation also is useful to study the effect of the size and location of risers on shrink porosity formation. Designers also can correlate predicted results with the quality of existing


can take advantage of early design through casting process modeling include material properties testing, modeling of residual stresses, thermal distortion predictions, and du- rability analysis in the presence of porosity. According to Pikhov-


ich, considering the casting process early in the design stage will help avoid supplier-related casting issues that will have a significant impact on end-use production.


Total Cost of Castings Jim White, category manager for


Caterpillar Inc., discussed the factors that impact the total cost of a casting, including the complexity of geometry, material requirements of the applica- tion, casting process, quality require- ments and lead time. Aspects of casting geometry that af-


fect cost include the presence of internal passages made with the use of cores, wall thickness, sand-to-metal ratio and fettling or finishing costs. Including the metalcasting supplier in the initial con- cept and design can help keep geome- try-related costs down and perhaps find additional ways to reduce costs. Te level of quality requirements,


such as dimensional tolerance, surface finish, soundness and metallurgi- cal conformity/integrity, and material requirements, such as mechanical properties and alloy purity, also affect cost.


Fab-to-Casting Conversion Using the Shell Mold Process


Jeff Cook, sales manager,


Eagle Alloy Inc., gave a case study example of redesigning a fabricated cylinder end head into a single steel casting produced in the shell mold process.


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