Cast Shop Technology: Casting and Casthouse Operations
Sponsored by: TMS Light Metals Division, TMS: Aluminum Committee
Program Organizers: Halldor Gudmundsson, Century - Nordural; Stephan Broek, Kensington Technology Inc
Wednesday 2:00 PM
March 22, 2023
Room: 31C
Location: SDCC
Session Chair: Halldor Gudmundsson, Nordural ehf
2:00 PM
Designing a Safe Casthouse: Alex Lowery1; 1Wise Chem LLC
The vast majority of casthouses built in our industry in the past decade were designed with production not safety in mind. This issue contributes to many incidents resulting in workers being injured and killed. This paper will discuss the common design mistakes that occur in casthouse design and construction. My paper will cover common hazards overlooked during casthouse design. Current design of casthouses focuses on a myriad of other goals excluding safety. I argue that only by focusing first on safety during the design of a casthouse can our industry stop these incidents from injuring and killing workers.
2:25 PM
Operations Assisting and Predictive Maintenance Tools in Casthouses – Examples from AMAG Casting: Alexander Poscher1; Martin Mönius1; Eduard Faschang1; Bernd Prillhofer1; 1AMAG casting GmbH
The interference-free functioning of cast house-equipment such as moulds, starter blocks, metal level sensors or simply the vehicle fleet is critical to smooth and safe operation. Malfunction can cause unforeseeable cast stops leading from downtime to safety issues and equipment damage due to bleed-outs, hang-ups or metal freezing in the nozzles and certainly reduces productivity. However, the wide variety of equipment used challenges production and maintenance employees responsible to keep an overview on the usage and condition of each single device at any point of time. Therefore, digital assistant systems seem to be a suitable way to support operations by tracking such devices on the shopfloor and predict at best equipment conditions depending on the past and future production program. This paper deals with a selection of digital support tools developed and used at AMAG casting to further improve on condition-based maintenance and increased equipment availability.
2:50 PM
Counter Gravity Casting of Al Alloys: Microstructure and Properties: Konstantinos Georgarakis1; Mark Jolly1; 1Cranfield University
Counter gravity casting can improve the structural integrity of castings by eliminating defects resulting from the turbulent flow of the molten metal during filling. The Constrained Rapid Induction Melting Single Shot Up-casting (CRIMSON) is an alternative counter-gravity casting approach designed for improving energy efficiency in castings promoting the concept of sustainable foundry. It mainly comprises induction melting of only the sufficient quantity of metal for a single casting, the use of high-quality raw materials and controlled liquid flow (turbulence-free) for counter gravity filling. This work reports on the structure and properties of eutectic and hypoeutectic Al-Si based alloys, produced by CRIMSON casting. Comparisons with gravity sand castings reveal differences in porosity and flow-induced defects. Optical and scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray tomography, hardness and tensile tests were employed to study the structure and mechanical properties. The effect of grain refinement in CRIMSON Al-castings is also discussed.
3:15 PM
Defect Minimisation in Vacuum Assisted Plaster Mould Investment Casting through Simulation of High Value Aluminium Alloy Components: Emanuele Pagone1; Christopher Jones1; John Forde2; Ben Shaw2; Mark Jolly1; Konstantinos Salonitis1; 1Cranfield University; 2Sylatech
Vacuum assisted plaster mould investment casting is one of the best available processes to manufacture ultra-high complexity castings for the aerospace and defence sectors. In light of the emerging cross sectoral manufacturing industry digitalisation, process simulation appears as a very important tool to improve casting yield, reduce metallurgical scrap and reduce lead time to new product introduction. Considering the unique aspects and the level of customisation of the process system, this work will present a Computational Fluid Dynamic based simulation tool with bespoke settings (that include thermo-physical properties). Optimal fill and solidification parameters are identified for a representative geometry able to describe a variety of very complex, high value aluminium alloy components through an iterative process.