How Does Die Casting in an Aluminum Foundry Work?

Die casting is the oldest procedure for shaping metals. Basically, it lies in melting and pouring liquid metal into a mold of the desired shape and size so that it solidifies there. Generally this mold is made in sand, consolidated by a manual or mechanical tamping around a model, which is extracted before receiving the molten metal. There are no limitations on the size of the pieces that can be cast, ranging from small pieces of pró thesis dental, weighing in grams, even large racks of machines of several tons. This method, is the most adaptable to shape metals and many parts that are impossible to manufacture by other conventional processes such as forging, rolling, welding, etc.

Nowadays the developed countries, in the heat of the contemporary scientific-technical revolution, undertake the tasks of mechanization and automation, the implantation of new technologies and the improvement of the existing ones.

Stages of the die casting process

The possibility of melting a metal or alloy depends on its composition (determined by solidification range), temperature of fusion and surface tension of the molten metal. All these factors determine how well the zinc die casting process goes.

Here, we will be looking at the casting mold process as it is the method most commonly used in the foundry company Plant Mechanics. However, in Die casting mold, it is necessary to emphasize the different process of obtaining piece which are;

· Molding

· Fusion

· spilling

· Demolishing, cleaning, finishing

Each of them will have their respective technology and will be developed as two parallel production flows which at a certain moment will be joined to give shape and completion to the piece.

Preparation of the mixture

A molding mixture in its simplest form is the union of different materials capable of producing a construction material with which the mold can be made, that is, the cavity where the molten metal will be poured. When the mixtures are prepared for the molding of the template manufacturing of the males, they must respond to certain requirements imposed by the technological process such as: permeability, resistance in green, dry strength, plasticity and others, therefore the selection of the molding materials will therefore respond to certain standards, which depends fundamentally on the complexity of the piece and the weight.

Fusion

To be able to pour the aluminum metal into the molds, the metal must go through a fusion process in which the temperature will rise to its melting point, bringing it to a liquid state and supplying certain elements which will lead to the obtaining of the desired metal. , cast iron or other alloys. A determining factor in this process is the choice of the oven.

Spilling:

The pouring will be done with some overheating of the alloy above the liquidity temperature, which favors the fluidity and improves the filling capacity of the mold; however, the steel undergoes variation in its properties to a greater or lesser extent depending on the temperature, so that each steel has an optimal range of pouring temperature.

Demolishing, cleaning and finishing

In the case of the piece to be treated when being supplied by cast iron, in the rough, it is necessary to machine it to eliminate the deviations that may occur, product of the contractions of the material during the aluminum die casting process and the subsequent normalization to which they are submitted.