History of Aluminumdie - casting

Die Casting explained

It is a process where the molten metal is injected or forced into mold
cavities (that are machined into dies) under high pressure and
temperature. Non ferrous metals especially, aluminum, lead, zinc,
magnesium, and tin based alloys are used in the manufacturing of
die - castings. It is also possible to manufacture die - castings from
ferrous metals.
Die casting and permanent mold casting are both similar except for
the fact that in die - casting, the molten metal is forced into the
cavity under high pressure of 140 30500 psi (10 - 210 Mpa) unlike
mold casting. The resultant part, thus obtained, is a uniform casting
with a better surface finish and good dimensional accuracy with
casting dimension of approximately 0.2%
Aluminum die - casting
In this process, the molten alloy of aluminum is forced into mold
cavity or a casting die at a controlled temperature and under high
pressure. The mold cavity contains two parts namely the ejector
half and cover half. Molten or liquid Aluminum alloys are casted
into metal molds using various processes like low pressure, gravity
and high-pressuredie - castings. Aluminum castings obtained from
such processes are cost effective while manufacturing complex
shapes which need minimal machining is possible.
Silicon based aluminum die casting is considered to be one of the
prominently used alloy systems because of their excellent and
versatile casting properties and a distinct mix of physical and
mechanical properties.
Frequent defects of Aluminum die - casting
The common failures of aluminum die - casting can be divided into 4
different components namely,
Corner cracking
Heat checking
Sharp edges or sharp radii cracking
Cracking due to Wear and tear or erosion

Drawbacks of Metal molding

Historically, the die casting industry is the most key supplier of parts
to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) world over. The main
drawback of molten metal processing is that the process is energy

intensive. Also, approximately 25% of cost incurred in

manufacturing die cast components is accounted for energy
consumption.

History
The earliest documented use of die casting products can be dated
back to the 1800s. Sturges in the year 1849 was awarded with the
patent for the manually operated casting-printing machine. The
process found little scope of usage in the initial 20 years, but
significant developments began to come up with new shapes by the
end of the century. By the year 1892, the commercial applications of
die castings comprised of parts included for cash registers and
phonographs. In the 1990s, the mass production of several die casting parts began at full spree.
The initial casting alloys consisted of lead and tin. In 1914, the
usage of these metal alloys decreased with the introduction of
aluminum and zinc alloys. The process involved in die casting has
evolved significantly over the decades fro the initial low pressure
casting technique to high pressure methods like semi solid die
casting and squeeze casting where the force exceeds 4500 pounds
per square inch. The contemporary techniques have the potential to
manufacture castings that are of high integrity, near net shape with
superior finishes.
In 1966, a process called Acurad was developed by the General
motors to particularly produce automotive components. It was the
first die casting process that was successful in manufacturing casts
from low iron aluminum alloys like A357 and A356. Prior to this
invention, these low iron aluminum gets soldered to the die as
such. Presently in China, there exists an established number of
aluminum die casting manufacturers covering a vast range of
casting activities. In the case of aluminum casts, the weight of the
components may even go up to 32 kilograms by mass. The
aluminum industry has seen a compounded growth of 12 percent
over the years.
Despite the fact that aluminum die - casting has a short history, this
has eventually turned out to be one of the most vastly ranged
manufacturing processes in present day words context. Aluminum
die casts though it originated in the 1830s to cater the requirements

of the printing sector, these components are used in almost every

products that are used in day to day life.
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