Table 2. Time of First Liquid Metal Contact, Begining and End of Solidifi cation TC


by thin gage 1.5-in. (38-mm) diameter steel tubes. Given the great propensity of aluminum to dissolve iron, the composition of the A356 alloy after a run was measured in a runner and in the steel tube and then compared to that of the furnace melt. The results, shown in Table 1, indi- cate that only a small amount of iron (up to ~0.02%) was picked up when the melt remained fully liquid and still inside the steel tube for several minutes. Because the transit time of the aluminum in the tube during filling is of the order of one second, the iron pick- up is negligible.


Thermal Analysis In Figure 5, the three green dots


indicate the locations of three ther- mocouples which were inserted inside the mold cavity during molding. T e responses of the thermo-


couples are shown in Figure 6. T e arrival time of the liquid metal and the start and fi nish of solidifi cation are listed in Table 2. T e measured solidifi cation


times are reasonably close to the predicted values shown in Figure 7. It is predicted the solidifi cation pro- gresses from the mid-height of the


Fig. 7. Illustrated is the predicted solidifi cation time inside the casting (in minutes).


Riser Gate Tube


Line Color Blue


Orange Gray


Contact at 85s


66.5s 64.0s


Solidifi cation Starts 112s 129s 243s


Solidifi cation Ends 689s 564s 1150s


Investment Casting Aluminum, Brass, Bronze & Al / SiC Metal Matrix Composite Alloys


Introducing IC100 ToughMet ®


The Strength, Stiffness and Lubricity of ToughMet Investment Cast to Near - Net - Shape


Options That Make Designed Products Better IC100 ToughMet Copper-Nickel-Tin Bronze A20X The world’s strongest commercially cast aluminum alloy Aluminum / Silicon Carbide Metal Matrix Composites


Ɣ Ɣ Ɣ


Providing Engineers with Innovative Alloy ®


AMVNJOVN t #rBTT t #ronzF t "* 4J$ ..$ t Turnkey .BDIJOJOH t Rapid Prototypes 600 Cannonball Lane O’Fallon, MO 63366 (636)272-6176 http://ofalloncasting.com


Fig. 8. The inner surface of the casting is fi nely polished.


ToughMet is a registered trademark of Materion Corporation.® Jan/Feb 2016 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | 39


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60