CASTING CONTEST
Bridging Investment Casting Technology to the Future ENTRY: CASTING 102 the
The customer was seeking an alternate approach to manufacture
of an automotive rear axle shaft that
eliminated the need for welding. The customer had previously manufactured a machined shaft and machined disc that were welded together. Welding the shaft and disc together during assembly resulted in deformation. As a result, the final assembly requirement for concentricity and perpendicularity (0.02 mm) could not be achieved. The foundry eliminated welding by consolidating the
two-piece weldment into a single piece casting. Casting and machining process requirements were reviewed to pinpoint risk areas (welding, perpendicularity, and concentration) and minimize them with solutions in advance. The final process resulted in an increase in productivity by eliminating welding and subsequent stress relief operations. The customer benefitted from enhanced production yields, reduction in manufacturing cycle time, reduction in direct material procurement and reduced material handling costs.
CATEGORY: AUTOMOTIVE
Name: Weight: Alloy:
Rear Axle Shaft 5.5 Lbs. (2.5 Kg) 16 crmo4 steel
ENTRY: CASTING 103
The turbocharger intake oil flow assembly employs a seal plate component with an internal cavity. This feature could not be addressed with machining, which is the generally accepted approach to seal plate manufacture. The client requires as as-cast component with +/- 0.30mm flatness. Moreover, the casting requirements for concentricity, perpendicularity, and angular tolerance are all tightly specified. The foundry developed a process using soluble cores as part of the wax pattern. The soluble core tool reached a flatness of 0.050mm, in order to attain +/- 0.10mm flatness in the wax pattern. By using this process enhancement, the foundry was able to achieve a flatness +/- 0.15 mm against the +/-0.30mm as-cast requirement. The development team took concentricity, perpendicularity, and angular tolerance requirements
into account when designing the tooling,
which resulted in conforming castings with a high degree of repeatability.
CATEGORY: AUTOMOTIVE
Name:
Dimensions: 15.7 mm x 38.5 mm Weight:
Seal Plate 85 grams
14 ❘ August 2023 ®
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