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CASTING TECHNOLOGY July-December 2011 Issue

A Complete Global Publication on Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Foundries

Special Feature

Modernisation and Technology Upgradation in Foundries

EDITOR'S COMMENT

Foundry Industry booming with Technology fairs
The foundry industry on a global scale is surely on a booming path. With upcoming augmentation plans and a touch of technology, it won't be a surprising sight to witness the related sector to on a brighter forum. Additionally, with the onset of series of technological fairs and expert meets, the foundry sector is gaining new highs.

SPECIAL FEATURE

• Modernisation and Technology Upgradation in Foundries

  Foundry industry has a dominant influence on the economy of any country because metal-casting is the primary step for a large number of sub-sequential metal shaping operations. It is the basic manufacturing industry whose products are used in almost all aspects of modern industrial economy. The growth of engineering industries generally depends on the casting industry. Founding is one of the most important manufacturing processes for producing metallic engineering components.

NEWS CORNER

• Accuride Corp., Monterrey- first to offer aluminium wheels

  Accuride Corp. stands as the first company to offer aluminium wheels from its Monterrey plant, Mexico. This is exercised post shifting of a machining line to that operation from its Erie, PA, plant, previously in 2011.

• Aerocast set to augment output

  Aerocast Inc., Mesa, Ariz., fabricating non-ferrous sand castings has secured a loan of approximately $2 million to augment its output. The company opined it has received $1,450,000 of the original loan and is in discussions with the same lender for additional advances.

• ATI extends supply agreement with Boeing

  Allegheny Technologies Inc., ATI, Pittsburgh, has extended its supply agreement with Boeing Co., Chicago. This contract is expected to provide a prospect for more usage of ATI’s cast titanium products.

• Cosma International to acquire aluminium die casting plants from BDW

  Cosma International, an operating unit of automotive supplier Magna International, has an agreement to acquire four aluminium die casting operations in Central Europe from BDW Technologies.

• Cast Strategies LLC signs MoU with ALUCAST

  Cast Strategies LLC at Dublin, Ohio has signed MoU with the Aluminium Casters’ Association of India (ALUCAST) to uphold the Indian die casting community in North America.

• First Japanese foundry to install SinterCast process control technology

  Toa Koki Co. Ltd. will be the first Japanese foundry to install SinterCast Ltd.’s process control technology for compacted graphite iron (CGI) production, following an order for the developer’s Mini-System 3000.

• General Motors to invest in Saginaw Metal Casting Operations

  General Motors (GM) announced that it will invest around $215 million in its Saginaw Metal Casting Operations, Saginaw, Mich., to update the plant for production of future engine blocks and heads.

FOUNDRY INDUSTRY

• Optimisation of Casting Weight Using Box-Behnken Design in Foundry Industry for Energy Conservation

  The quality and weight of castings from green sand mould is influenced significantly by process parameters like moisture content, bentonite, coal dust and mixing time. In the present study, experiments were conducted to measure the casting weight by varying the process parameters. The corresponding green sand properties viz., green compression strength, permeability, compactibility and mould hardness were measured. Regression analysis was carried out on the experimental data collected based on statistical design of experiments (DOE) to establish the input-output relationship of the process. Box-Behnken design of response surface methodology is used to develop the model for predicting and optimising the casting weight. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to test the statistical adequacy of the model. The results indicated that moisture content and bentonite determined the weight of castings. The experimental values were in good agreement with the predicted values.

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

Parametric Influence on Melting Rate in Rotary Furnace Using Bio-Fuels - A Parametric Study Using Taguchi Method

The paper aims to find an efficient way to determine influential factor on the response factor by reducing process or product variability and also minimising product error by using a relatively small number of experiment and to achieve superior quality product. An experimental investigation into the process parameter is done to have a robust design method for identifying process parameters having the major influence on melting rate in rotary furnace. Minimum number of experiments are planned using Taguchi Method. The variation of several parameters and the interaction between parameters are investigated using orthogonal array technique. An experimental investigation into the process parameter effects using Jatropha as fuel is presented to determine this influence for quality castings. Rotary furnace involves several critical parameters like flame temperature, preheat air temperature, rotational speed of the furnace, excess air percentage, melting time, fuel consumption and melting rate of the molten metal which should be controlled throughout the melting process to produce homogeneous casting of high quality. The relative effect of these variables on melting rate while experimenting using Jatropha oil as fuel is quite complex. Partial factorial design using L9 (34) orthogonal array is used to study the effect of these parameters on melting rate. Having the knowledge of interrelationship between these variables, the manufacturer would be able to select the optimum input parameters which would yield ideal melting rate for producing quality castings.

SEMINAR & EXHIBITION

• Technical Press Day (TPD) organized by SKF at Mumbai, India

  SKF, one of the key bearing-manufacturing companies, hosted its Technical Press Day (TPD) at Mumbai, India which offered a knowledge forum to share the technological developments in significant sectors-promoting SKF Group’s dedication, supplying sustainable products and services for Indian and global customers through constant innovation system.