the molding and gating process to achieve consistent casting geometry.”


Considering the complexity of the large-scale project, university


professors and PCM engineers EsŘsfiǼǼs_ ¯NjŸŎ ǼÌs ĶŸO Ķ OŸŘ- nection. “It was an enormous ad- vantage to actually talk to the people making the object and to work with them when we were designing the experiments,” said Cary Forest, UW-Madison phys- ics professor.


PCM delivered the two cast hemispheres in November 2011.


Casting the two sections in A356-2 alu- minum, PCM built massive multiple air set molds to cast the 11,500-lb. hemispheres. (The sections each weighed 6,800 lbs. after machining.) At nearly 75,000 lbs., each mold included numerous risers and a complex system of chills.


In addition to a number of pouring-relat- ed complexities, the hemispheres had to be machined heavily before delivery. Thirty-two stainless steel “water lines,” the concentric circles that ring the sphere’s interior, needed to be placed in exact locations to allow for proper temperature control. PCM then tested


the hemispheres for vacuum integrity, before Ř ŸȖǼǣÞ_s fiNjŎ OŸ Ǽs_ ǼÌs ÞŘǼs- rior in alumina to hold up to the high temperatures. The com- pleted dynamo was delivered to the university in January 2012.


To cast each half of the dynamo, PCM created a five-section sand mold that weighed nearly 75,000 lbs.


MELTING POINT 9


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