Archive > Casting Technology > March-June 2011

CASTING TECHNOLOGY March-June 2011 Issue

A Complete Global Publication on Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Foundries

Special Feature

Sand-Casting: An Overview

EDITOR'S COMMENT

Effective usage of innovative technology will prove profitable for foundry industry
The Indian Metal casting (Foundry Industry) is well recognized in the global market. The various kinds of castings that are produced are ferrous, non-ferrous, Aluminium Alloy, graded cast iron, ductile iron, Steel etc. The foundry industry is the key feeder to all engineering sectors including auto, railways, power, textile machinery, sanitary castings, earthmoving machinery and many more.

SPECIAL COVERAGE

• Sand Casting-An Overview

  Sand casting is comparatively less expensive while standing as a sufficient refractory even for the usage of steel foundry. An appropriate bonding agent (generally clay) is mixed or occurs with the sand. The mixture is then moistened with water to develop potency and plasticity of the clay while making the aggregate suitable for molding. More than 70% of all metal castings are produced by sand casting process.

NEWS CORNER

• ATI completes acquisition of Ladish Co.

  Based in Pittsburgh, PA, Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI) has completed the acquisition of Ladish Co. Inc., Cudahy, Wis., owner of investment casting industry leader Pacific Cast Technologies (PCT), Albany, Ore.

• ARI to resume operations at Ohio Castings

  Directors at American Railcar Industries Inc. (ARI) have approved plans to resume their Ohio Castings operation in Alliance, OH.

• Martinrea International signs agreement for Metalcaster Honsel

  Martinrea International Inc., a leader in the production of high quality metal parts, assemblies and modules and fluid systems focused primarily on the automotive sector, has signed a purchase and transfer agreement for all of the assets of Honsel AG, a German-based leading supplier of aluminium components for the automotive and industrial sectors.

• Bradken increases capital to fund Chinese, Domestic growth

  Bradken Ltd., Newcastle, Australia, has decided to increase $100 million to establish a metalcasting facility in Xuzhou, China, and fund two U.S. foundry expansions announced earlier this year.

• IBC Advanced Alloys inks exclusive supply contract

  IBC Advanced Alloys Corp. has inked an exclusive supply contract to provide investment-cast engineered components to a global leader in the design and manufacture of high-technology assembly equipment.

• Grede acquires two Mexican Foundries

  Grede Holdings LLC has acquired two Grupo Proeza foundries in Mexico. The cost of the acquisition was undisclosed. Both the NovoCast and Teknik foundries are located near Monterrey, Mexico.

• General Aluminium plans to idle Georgia Diecaster

  General Aluminium Manufacturing Co., a unit of Cleveland-based Park-Ohio Industries, is planning to idle the Rome, GA, diecasting plant, which it acquired from the former Rome Die Casting in October 2010.

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

• Modification of a Cast Al-Si-Cu Alloy by Heat Treatment in the Semisolid State and Evaluation of Its Wear Characteristics

  Heat treatment of an as-cast Al-10Si-3.2Cu alloy in the semisolid state at 600°C resulted in rounding off of the a-Al grains and spheroidisation of the eutectic silicon particles. A sample with the modified microstructure suffered more wear than an ascast sample under moderate loads in pin-on-disc sliding wear test. A steady state of wear was attained when the wearing surface was work-hardened. At this stage, the coefficient of friction also dropped sharply in case of both the as-cast and semisolid heat-treated samples. SEM-EDS studies indicated that wear proceeds by oxidation and delamination of the workhardened surface. Iron ( 0.5%) present in the alloy as an impurity diffused into the oxide scale during the wear test denuding the work-hardened subsurface of its iron content.

REFRACTORY

Refractories industry in India-present scenario, issues and way forward

The Indian refractory industry has witnessed sustained growth in the past few years buoyed by the growth in the iron & steel, cement and non-ferrous industries. Refractories play an extremely important role in the development of the core sector, a fact which mostly remains unnoticed. Although, turnover-wise it is miniscule compared to the GDP of the country, it is critical to the production process and as well as quality. The industry, which is now at the advanced stage of growth has the capability to address the increased challenges posed by the user industries like stringent operating parameters, demand for clean steel etc.

Role of nanometric titania on the properties of spinel castable

Nanometric titania is synthesized through inorganic sol-gel route followed by ultrasonification. Addition of this nano titania in low cement spinel castable refractories improves the bulk density, compressive strength and spalling resistance due to formation of consolidated flexible matrix of castables at high temperature. In the present investigation, white tabular alumina aggregate, dead burnt magnesia, calcium aluminate cement bond material, microfine alumina, microsilica and nanometric titania are utilized in the formulation of the castable batch. The important properties like bulk density, apparent porosity, linear change, cold crushing strength before and after thermal spalling of castables are investigated. Atomic force microscopy is used to characterize nanometric titania. Phases formed in the castables are identified by X-ray diffraction studies. SEM analysis has been done to understand the microstructure of the castables.

TECHNOLOGY/PROCESS REVIEW

• Simulation of a Rectangular Object with Shrinkage Defect

  Gating system design is one of the most important factors that ensure the quality of casting by controlling the mould filling pattern. In this study, the effect of gating design including gate geometry and importance of riser was incestigated by pouring ductile iron into a sand mould. The direct observation method was used with and without riser and various stage of stimulation is recorded by a computer system and compared with each other.

CONTINUOUS CASTING

Making Casing History

Top-quality jumbo slabs are essential for high-grade pipe and plate steels. Siemens VAI is the first anywhere, to cast ultra-thick slabs of 400 mm on a straight mold machine with the proven concept of bending and unbending during the liquid state while keeping the strand temperature above the critical ductility trough. The machine with its straight mold has an extremely long metallurgical length of 45 m. The 11 m bow radius is an essential aspect of the machine’s design and contributes to product quality. The single-strand machine is designed for a yearly capacity of 1.1 million tonnes.

PRE-GIFA/METEC 2011

GIFA, METEC, THERMPROCESS, NEWCAST - A global leading trade fairs point the way forward

After 4 years of long waiting, finally the world’s biggest trade fairs have punched the clock! Arrangements for the four international technology trade fairs GIFA, METEC, THERMPROCESS and NEWCAST are now in high gear. Visitors and exhibitors from around the world are much excited to flock to these trade fairs in Düsseldorf.