EDITOR'S COMMENT
Indian foundrymen strongly believe that the current pressed condition will be over shortly
The Western world, mainly several countries in the west, has been very badly hit by the ongoing economic meltdown as it has been termed and on a more serious note, recessionary trends have been pulling the Industrial Production Index (IIP) down in these countries to an alarming levels which left an alarm for the entire world as well, be it hit by the recession or not. India stands to be no exception to that. Although India is not affected as badly as the other countries in the European and South Eastern regions, but a fall in the growth rate from 9% to 7% in the country in recent times is significant enough to leave an overall negative impact on the employment and the investment climate of the country.
NEWS CORNER
Slow export growth in India in May 2008
India’s export growth slowed sharply in May 2008 at $ 13.78 billion over $12.21 billion indicating a growth rate of 13% owing to lower global demand, curbs on export of various commodities and loss of competitiveness.
Restrictions on export of steel and iron ore on the anvil
The government is planning for more restrictions on exports of steel and iron ore to boost domestic supply and to lower prices. As reported in the recent past, in spite of increase in input costs, Indian steel companies had been holding steel companies had been holding steel prices, which would end shortly. By the time they would gear up for increase in prices and would also find themselves facing more export curbs.
Indian foundry industry to make large investments
As reported in the recent past, the Indian foundry industry is making large investments due to huge demand for castings in the domestic as well as international markets. In the last few years, the southern part of India has attracted couple of thousand crores of investment in new foundries, created higher capacities for intricate castings and incorporated quality improvements in order to meet global needs.
TECHNOLOGY FOCUS
Experience with Cokeless Cupola at NML and Agra Foundries
The present discusses the experience regarding (i) the conversion of conventional coke-fired cupola to cokeless cupola during 1996-97 and its operation at National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur and (ii) the erection, commissioning and operation of commercial scale cokeless cupolas at Agra foundries. The coke-fired cupola at National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur was successfully modified and converted to suit oil / gas firing. During the developmental stage many problems like the selection of appropriate burners, their angle of orientation, size and number of water-cooled grates to support balls and weight of charge and the bed height were encountered prior to the melting of cast iron. Based on the experience gained by facing several design and operational problems at NML, two commercial scale (2 tonnes / hour and 3 tonnes / hour) cokeless cupolas were established at Agra foundries. Extensive trials conducted in these two cupolas over a long span of well-established their suitability as a viable alternative to the conventional coke-fired cupola in Indian foundries.
ASK Chemicals: Colloquium about Sustainability in the foundry supplier industry
Ashland-Südchemie-Kernfest (ASK Chemicals) held a seminar on sustainability in the foundry industry, at the opening of the new Testing & Applications Center in Hilden. ASK Chemicals opened its new Foundry Testing & Applications Center in Hilden on October 30. The official ceremony was followed by a seminar in Dusseldorf on “Sustainability in the industry: call to foundries and their suppliers.” Over 140 representatives from the foundry industry attended the sessions to learn more about mobility and the cutting edge of science.
ASK Chemicals open new application technology centre
With the installation of the melting furnace, ASK Chemicals completed its new foundry technology centre in Hilden. In the newly commissioned facilities ASK can now simulate and optimize all key foundry processes under near-reality conditions without disrupting its customers’ manufacturing processes.
SPECIAL COVERAGE
Endurance limit od Cast and Forged wheels used on India Railways
Most of the materials used either in automobile, aircraft and power generation industries are subjected to cyclic loading. Under cyclic loading, all materials fail at a static loading. Such failure is known as fatigue failure. Almost 90% materials fail in service only due to this phenomenon. Therefore, for application under cyclic loading conditions, it is necessary to know the fatigue limit of the materials in addition to other mechanical properties.
TECHNOLOGY/PROCESS REVIEW
Industrial Pollution Control through Four R's+
Indiscriminate discharge of solid wastes, liquid effluents and gaseous emissions leads to degradation of soil, water and air. These are finite resources and must be protected from pollution. Effective destruction of pollutants can be done by the conventional ‘end of the pipe’ treatment, but reduction, or preferably, elimination of the pollutants at source, reuse of effluents with or with or without treatment, recycling effluents with or without treatment and recovery of useful by products from the waste streams can reduce pollution to a considerable extent, besides offering some
financial returns. Pollutants remaining after the above steps can then be economically treated in the ‘end of pipe’ waste treatment plant. In fact,
inclusion of the four Rs into a waste treatment facility should be the aim of designer of the treatment plant.
Traceability in Casting Technology
The challenge faced by OEM’s in meeting the features of ‘product liability’ and ‘extended warranties’ so common in today’s globalised business, make it mandatory for component vendors to ensure that they have a mechanism to trace the source of a problem consignment, if any. This would avoid wholesale rejection of all supplies hitherto as well as indicate the corrective actions to be taken to overcome the problem without delay.
Benefits of Divided Blast Cupola (DBC)
Energy is one of the important inputs in a foundry unit. It is used for melting iron in a cupola, and constitutes about 12-15% of the total cost of production. Hence, optimal utilisation of energy is vital for the profitability of a foundry’s operations. However, a majority of small-scale
foundries in India use outmoded, low-efficiency cupolas that in addition generate considerable quantities of greenhouse gases and particulate
emissions.
EVENTS WATCH
ISF 2009 Conference and Exhibition on Surface Finishing - February 5-7, 2009, Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai
Topics of the Conference
• General Metal Finishing n Environmental Aspects
• Other Surface Treatmant processes n Emerging Technologies.
Details are available from : Metal Finishers’ Association of India.
E-mail : mfaihq@vsnl.net
Website : www.mfai.org
57th Indian Foundry Congress - February 13-15,2009, Theme : Mission - Leadership through technology Venue :Science City, Kolkata
Details are available from :
IFC Secretariat
The Institute of Indian Foundrymen
Eastern Region
IIF Center, 335, Rajdanga Main Road
East Kolkata Township P.O.
Kolkata - 700 107, www.ifcindia.net
IFEX 2009 Exhibition of Foundry and Associated Products Venue : Science City, Kolkata
Organiser : The Institute of Indian Foundrymen, Eastern Region
Details are available from :
YA Tradefair Services Private Limited
1st Floor, 6-3-885/7/B, Raj Bhavan Road, Somajiguda Circle.
Hyderabad - 500 082, E-mail : info@yatradefair.com
Website : www.yatradefair.com
World Technical Forum 2009, June 1-3, 2009, Brno, Czech Republic
Details are available from : www.wtf2009.cz
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