2021
19-20#03 Turbulent Gating Effect on C89833
Principal Investigator: Andy Shea, A.Y. McDonald Manufacturing Company
Brass foundries have seen an increase in “leaker” scrap when pressure testing brass castings since the switch to no-lead materials. This investigation will examine the impact of turbulent gating on pressure tightness and mechanical properties.
The purpose of this project is to help determine if turbulent gating has an impact on pressure tightness and mechanical properties of C89833 material.
Library Paper Number: 21-110
Webinar Link: Click Here
2020
16-17#01 Influence of Core Variables in Semi-Permanent Mold Dimension
Principal Investigator: Russel Stein, Michigan Technological University; Randy Oerhlein, Carley Foundry
Steering Committee Chair: Brian Began, Foseco
Casting shape, core materials (sands & resins) and the methods used to make and remove sand cores will influence the final dimensional shape and repeatability of a semi-permanent mold casting. Rather than understanding or predicting the dimensional variance in a casting, a common practice has been to allow sufficient tolerance in the design to accommodate the unknowns. If greater accuracy is desired after initial sample, subsequent sample runs, and tool correction are used to “tweak” the process tooling in.
Objectives are to make cold box and shell cores using multiple resin levels. Cores are to be dimensionally scanned and included in data analysis. Castings are then run and knocked out at two points, either just after removal from mold or after achieving room temperature. After the core is removed by the assigned methods the part is to be scanned and /or run through CMM analysis to establish a deviation from perfect shape map.
17-18#11 Effect of Filling Conditions on Steel Casting Quality
Principal Investigators: Dr. Laura Bartlett, Missouri University of Science and Technology; Dr. Mingzhi Xu, Georgia Southern University
Steering Committee Chair: Tom Prucha, Metal Morphasis, LLC
Recent understanding of the effect of filling conditions on casting surface and performance of aluminum castings has resulted in new gating systems that eliminate damaged metal, greatly increasing casting quality and yield. It has been proposed by recent researchers that nearly all surface and internal defects in steel castings result from air entrainment during turbulent filling conditions causing unnecessary weld repair, low mechanical properties, and customer rejections. Novel gating systems have been boasted by some to greatly reduce oxide and gas defects and completely eliminate the need for post welding of steel castings. However, there has never been a quantitative study to determine the effectiveness of these gating systems for steel castings and the impact of filling conditions on actual steel quality is currently unknown.
The purpose of the research is to quantitatively evaluate the effect of different filling conditions on steel casting quality and mechanical properties. A series of test castings will be produced using different rigging systems commonly used in steel foundries. Filling of gating systems such as direct pour, horizontally gated, and bottom gated systems will be designed using filling and solidification software. The results of casting trials will be compared to the use of best-practices design involving bottom fill utilizing vortex gating. The objective will be to quantitatively compare casting metal quality and filling simulation results for a variety of filling conditions using a combination of optical metallography, automated nonmetallic inclusion analysis, and evaluation of mechanical properties.
Library Paper Number: 21-079
Webinar Link: Click Here