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Description
This project seeks to explore a patent and introduce an innovative technological solution for designing and producing molds for high-pressure aluminum casting. It primarily focuses on enhancing the casting process through several key innovations.
One significant innovation involves the redesign of the casting system. This new approach reduces the material input, resulting in a cleaner melt with minimal slag and oxide compound impurities. This cleaner melt ensures a higher quality products.
Another critical component of this innovation is the implementation of an efficient scraper that incorporates superior air supply through an external outlet channel. This feature captures molten oxides during the casting process, keeping the melt clean. The designed casting system can efficiently feed the foundations and is adaptable to standard equipment.
Additionally, a novel approach involves enabling direct punching during the mold opening of the casting machine. This innovation simplifies and accelerates the casting process. It also allows for the creation of molds with complex, deep inner ribs, reducing the need for labor-intensive and potentially hazardous manual work. The expected outcomes of this project are substantial. They include a notable reduction in wasted materials and associated CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the ability to design complex elements for aluminum die-casting molds will lead to a decrease in undesired air inclusions.
Leading this project is Laki 131 Ltd., a company with specialization in high-pressure casting of aluminum and royal alloys. The project''s collaborating partners include Ruvi Place Ltd. and the Technical University of Gabrovo. Ruvi Place Ltd., a micro-enterprise located in Lovech, will conduct the initial research and development activities. Meanwhile, representatives from the Technical University will validate the initial research and development results and oversee the dissemination of subsequent findings.
Summary of project results
The main economic and industrial challenge in he sector is the achievement of high quality with minimal inputs for single production. In the production of aluminum parts the most widely used is the high pressure casting. This technology is, however, energy-intensive and the scrap products is a factor that greatly affects the price of the final product and the amount of energy used to produce a new detail and melting scrapped details. In the well-known and widely used technology, die cast molds are used, the deaeration of which is done by means of built-in vacuum valves for vacuum removal of air. The technical and economic challenges with these technologies are that, together with the molten metal in the mold cavity (where the part itself is formed), there are some slag (burned, oxidized metal, mixed with casting coatings) and air. After the die casting parts has cooled, these impurities remain there and reduce the quality, properties and appearance of the castings. In this case, it is often necessary for them to be scrapped because of the inability to use them effectively. The third serious technological problem is the impossibility of constructing a die casting mold on the method used so far to cast complicated details having internal ribs and sections and more than two dividing lines. With the use of the known casting system, it is not possible to dispense such parts by high pressure casting at all
The following activities took place during the project implementation:
- Design and production of a prototype of die casting tool for the die-casted aluminium parts
- Development of a technical projects for developing of die casting tool prototypes with the specifics of the patented innovation;
- Development of a die casting tools with from the newly purchased steel dies; - Making samples of die-casted aluminium parts.
- Purchase of two tools / dies for injection moulding on a press thickening machine for testing
- Purchase of production equipment - a casting machine with 800 ton pressure.
As a result of the successful implementation of the project, an innovative technological solution for design and production of moulds with high-pressure casting of aluminium parts has been applied. The main elements of the innovative solutions are:
- design of an entirely new and previously not implemented method of casting system with lower supply to the fundamentals materials. Thus the cast will be with a clean melt without impurities of slag and oxide compounds obtained during the process itself;
- implementation of a new and very efficient scraper, designed with top air supply through an outlet channel outside the casting and slag, which will capture the resulting molten oxides during the process, where the designed casting system will feed the foundations and will be applicable to standard instruments;
- providing direct punching through the effort of opening the casting machine for moulds and transfusions of the mould, which is innovative and unknown in the standard design and method of work till now and is especially useful in complex and technologically difficult to achieve casting of parts under high pressure. It will also increase the production speed;
- the new technology will lead to increased durability of main production facilities, which will result in the reduced percentage of waste. Average life expectancy of an instrument (mould) is approximately 100,000 strokes (duty cycles), which means that 100,000 units will be produced with a 5% difference in production waste.