CQI-27

Special Process: Casting System Assessment

Version 1, 10/2015

PROCESS TABLE C - Centrifugal Liners

All requirements given below are subordinate to customer specific requirements.

When performing the CQI-27 Casting Assessment the auditor shall verify foundry is conforming to customer requirements; including a customer approved Control Plan defining the
agreed upon inspection testing and frequencies.
*If minimum requirements are not met, provide supporting records to justify actual conditions.

What is the scope covered by this audit? The entire foundry? A specific product line? A specific part number? Other?

Describe the scope of the audit:

Observations / Comments
Pass / Fail /
Item Category/Process Step Minimum Requirement Not
about Actual
Applicable
Condition
1.0 Casting Design and Tooling

1. Casting plant must be compliant to customer specific software requirements.

C1.1 Design Software 2. Casting plant must have and maintain customer specific requirements for math data
transfer for the tooling and for part Drawings / Models.

1. The design responsible party must complete an FEA (Finite Element Analysis) for the
casting. The ultimate tensile strength, yield strength, and percent elongation used in the
FEA must be over the lower limit of engineering requirement for the specified alloy for
similar applications.
2. The foundry should know the specific features of the casting where maximum
C1.2 FEA Analysis
stresses exceed 50% of the Yield Strength. For purposes of this assessment, the
expression "high stress" refers to any feature exceeding 50% of the Yield Strength.
3. Any high stress features identified in the FEA must be evaluated when casting
simulations are reviewed, and when establishing product audits such as wall thickness,
microstructure, hardness, x-ray, crack inspections.

1. The casting plant should use solidification modeling software such as MagmaSoft,
AnyCasting, ProCast, EKK, FLOW-3D or similar software approved by customer on the
C1.3 Casting Simulation tube prior to tooling construction and prototype part submission.
2. Results must be reviewed with the Customer Product Engineering.

The surfaces to be used as datums for dimensional purposes must be reviewed and
C1.4 Casting Datum
approved by customer Product Engineering.

All production molds should be made from steel alloys unless customer Product
C1.5 Tube Mold Material
Engineering approves alternate material.

1. The life of the molds is tracked based on number of cycles.

2. There is an itemized list of regular maintenance items completed at pre-defined
frequencies.
C1.6 Tooling Maintenance 3. Checksheet to track completion of regular maintenance.
4. Abrasive systems (such as shot blast and hand grinding) not permitted for cleaning
tooling. Non-abrasive systems (such as dry ice, high pressure water blast, solvent
washing and ultrasonic) are required.

1. Replacement inserts (new steel), where there is a customer specific requirement, a

PPAP approval may be required. Customer specific requirements may require a
process change request submission with possible production trial run requirements.
2. All tooling repair (welding, grinding, machining, insert replacement) requires
C1.7 Tool Changes
dimensional verification (internal approval) prior to re-instituting the tool for production
volumes.
3. The supplier complies with all customer requirements related to which PPAP
requirements are needed when tooling is corrected.

1. All liners produced must be identified with customer branding requirements, casting
plant logo (as applicable), casting part number, and cast date in designated locations
per customer requirements.
C1.8 Casting Traceability 2. In some applications, traceability to both casting machine and/or measured process
parameters specific to the casting may be required. Identification must be accurate and
readily visible on non-machined surfaces, and must not interfere with parting lines,
appearance, function, processing or assembly.

1. Gage and fixture plan must be reviewed and approved by customer. (May include in-
line gage equipment for 100% check of critical dimensions as identified on part
specification and/or part drawing.).
2. The dimensional accuracy of all fixtures and gages must be per Customer
requirements. Typically, all fixtures and gages shall be built to a tolerance that is 10% or
less of part working tolerance. Some customers may require all fixtures and gages to be
built to +/- 5 micron maximum accuracy (this refers to the actual gage, not the part).
C1.9 Fixtures and Gages
3. All surfaces of fixtures and gages which touch the part should be made from hard
tool steel.
4. The tips of all clamps on fixtures and gages may require to be built with replaceable
tips.
5. Variable gages must pass Gage R&R per AIAG or similar standard.
6. All fixtures and gages must be certified periodically either by in-house if capable or by
third party.

© 2015 Automotive Industry Action Group 1

ISBN#: 978 1 60534 331 0
 CQI-27
Special Process: Casting System Assessment
Version 1, 10/2015

PROCESS TABLE C - Centrifugal Liners

All requirements given below are subordinate to customer specific requirements.

When performing the CQI-27 Casting Assessment the auditor shall verify foundry is conforming to customer requirements; including a customer approved Control Plan defining the
agreed upon inspection testing and frequencies.
*If minimum requirements are not met, provide supporting records to justify actual conditions.

What is the scope covered by this audit? The entire foundry? A specific product line? A specific part number? Other?

Describe the scope of the audit:

Observations / Comments
Pass / Fail /
Item Category/Process Step Minimum Requirement Not
about Actual
Applicable
Condition
2.0 Metal Control

Incoming/Returned Material Raw /Returned materials must be stored without mixing them in marked storage bins by
C2.1
Storage type.

Charging Materials and Alloy

C2.2 Individual charge materials going into melting furnaces must be weighed first.
Additions

1. Chemistry must be controlled at each key point in the process (melting, holding, and
pouring).

2. There must be a spectrometer on site for chemistry control. Industry Standards, such
as ASTM E1999, must be followed for sampling, verification, standardization and
calibration.
3. Elemental C/S analyzer (LECO or similar) is preferred for final carbon and sulfur
control. If a spectrometer is used for final carbon and sulfur control, the test sample
must be cooled fast enough to avoid free graphite. A daily verification of the
spectrometer back to a C/S analyzer may be required; results of the cross-check must
C2.3 Metal Chemistry
be documented. The limits on the cross-check must be reviewed and approved by the
customer.
4.The spectrometer must have certified Master calibration Standards which cover the
range of each chemistry element being controlled. These Calibration Masters should
be on site.
5. A procedure must be posted near the spectrometer which clearly defines the
permissible tolerance range of the Master calibration Standards.

6. There must be control limits for all key elements of the material grade including
carbon equivalent (C + 1/3Si) and customer defined elements.

For any mandatory elements, control limits must be reduced by the tolerance allowed
C2.4 Chemistry
on the Master Calibration Standards.

A Thermal Arrest unit, also known as a CE Meter, should be used on the melt deck for
C2.5 Chemistry
in-process checks.

1. Immersion is the preferred method for temperature checks at each metal holding
location with upper and lower control limits.
C2.6 Metal Temperature
2. Holding furnaces must be capable of controlling metal temperature at the metal
extraction point to +/-10°C.

1. All metal must be post-inoculated. This could be in the ladle, in-stream, or in the
mold.
C2.7 Inoculation
2. Post-inoculation based on weight is preferred. If the post-inoculation addition is
based on volume or timers, there must be a regular audit to verify the weight.

It is preferred that the carbon raiser used as an addition to electric melting furnaces be
less than 0.3% volatiles content. Volatiles content can be provided on Material
Certification from supplier of the carbon raiser. Petroleum Coke by-products and
C2.8 Carbon Raiser
industrial graphite scraps with high volatiles content can cause porosity in castings. This
volatiles requirement does not apply to organic charcoal carbon raisers such as charred
coconut hulls.

3.0 Metal Control

The centrifugal casting machines are commonly called spinners. Metal at the spinners
C3.1 Equipment
may be in a ladle or in a holder.

Define work instructions or procedure for pre-heating ladles, pour boxes, stopper rods,
C3.2 Start-Up Process
transfer ladles.

Molten metal from the melting furnaces may be tapped directly to go to the cast line, or
C3.3 Metal Transfer it may be transferred to intermediate holders. If intermediate holders are used, they
must have heating capability to maintain temperature.

© 2015 Automotive Industry Action Group 2

ISBN#: 978 1 60534 331 0
 CQI-27
Special Process: Casting System Assessment
Version 1, 10/2015

PROCESS TABLE C - Centrifugal Liners

All requirements given below are subordinate to customer specific requirements.

When performing the CQI-27 Casting Assessment the auditor shall verify foundry is conforming to customer requirements; including a customer approved Control Plan defining the
agreed upon inspection testing and frequencies.
*If minimum requirements are not met, provide supporting records to justify actual conditions.

What is the scope covered by this audit? The entire foundry? A specific product line? A specific part number? Other?

Describe the scope of the audit:

Observations / Comments
Pass / Fail /
Item Category/Process Step Minimum Requirement Not
about Actual
Applicable
Condition
1. If stationary auto pouring holders are used, they must have heat.
2. Stationary auto pouring holders must be capable of controlling metal temperature at
the metal extraction point to +/-10C.
C3.4 Auto Pouring
3. If stationary auto holders or tilting auto ladles are used, they should have an infrared
measurement sensor to check the temperature of the metal stream for each mold
poured. The device should alarm if the temperature is out of range.

1. Automatic pouring of molten metal into the molds is preferred. Manual pouring is
C3.5 Metal Pouring allowed if approved by customer.
2. Pouring ladles should be on heat when not in use.

If manual ladle or auto ladle pouring, the ladles must have a teapot spout construction
C3.6 Ladle Construction
in order to hold slag back.

Immersion temperature audit from each ladle or pour box to confirm that all molds were
C3.7 Batch Pour System
poured within specified temperature range.

Charging raw materials or scrap into the auto pouring holders or ladles and running
C3.8 Metal Quality
production out of them at the same time is prohibited.

Alloying into the spinner holding furnaces or ladles is allowed, but must be minimized in
C3.9 Alloying
order to prevent defects such as inclusions.

The tubes must have traceability to each ladle / heat of metal poured. The location for
C3.10 Tube Traceability
the first tube and last tube per ladle / heat must be easily identifiable.

It is recommended that equipment computer programs or mechanical limits for pouring

C3.11 Machine Settings and cycle times are protected from non-authorized changes so that only authorized
personnel can change the program or settings.

Spinners should have real time closed loop monitoring which is either tied into the
extractor/robot control or creates an alarm when key parameters are beyond control
C3.12 Control Limits
limits. Tubes that are outside the control limits must be segregated for additional
inspections.

4.0 Spinners
C4.1 Process Centrifugal casting is to be used to produce the raw tubes.
C4.2 Pre-Heat Automated spinner cells must have a mold preheat station.
C4.3 Process Spinners may be manual or automatic.

An automated reciprocator must be used to clean the inside diameter of the mold
C4.4 Cleaning
before each cycle.

C4.5 Coating An automated reciprocator must be used to apply the coating spray.
C4.6 Coating The coating spray volume must be measured and controlled.
C4.7 Coating The coating spray Baume (viscosity) must be measured and controlled.
C4.8 Coating The coating spray tank must have continuous agitation.

The mold coating spray should be applied with PLC control. PLC alarms when
C4.9 Coating
parameters such as volume, pressure, time, temperature are out of range.

C4.10 Cooling The water cooling cycle must be PLC controlled.

C4.11 RPMs The spinner RPMs must be PLC controlled. There must be an alarm if out of range.

5.0 Pouring
C5.1 Pouring The tilting action to pour the metal into the spinning mold must be automated.

If manual ladle or auto ladle pouring, the ladles must have a teapot spout construction
C5.2 Ladle Construction
in order to hold slag back.

C5.3 Ladle Pre-Heat If manual ladle or auto ladle pouring, the ladles must be on heat when not in use.

If manual ladle or auto ladle pouring, immersion is the required temperature

C5.4 Temperature
measurement method.

C5.5 Inoculation All metal must be post-inoculated.

© 2015 Automotive Industry Action Group 3

ISBN#: 978 1 60534 331 0
 CQI-27
Special Process: Casting System Assessment
Version 1, 10/2015

PROCESS TABLE C - Centrifugal Liners

All requirements given below are subordinate to customer specific requirements.

When performing the CQI-27 Casting Assessment the auditor shall verify foundry is conforming to customer requirements; including a customer approved Control Plan defining the
agreed upon inspection testing and frequencies.
*If minimum requirements are not met, provide supporting records to justify actual conditions.

What is the scope covered by this audit? The entire foundry? A specific product line? A specific part number? Other?

Describe the scope of the audit:

Observations / Comments
Pass / Fail /
Item Category/Process Step Minimum Requirement Not
about Actual
Applicable
Condition
Post-inoculation based on weight is preferred. If the post-inoculation addition is based
C5.6 Inoculation
on volume or timers, there must be a regular audit to verify the weight.

C5.7 De-Slagging The ladles must be slagged off before every pour.
C5.8 Pour Weight The pour weight must be measured and controlled.

C5.9 Temperature The temperature of all molds must be checked at the pour station right before pouring.

If the temperature of the mold is too cold, an alarm must sound and the tube must be
C5.10 Temperature
scrapped. Tubes from cold molds must be identified and scrapped after extraction.

6.0 Extraction

C6.1 Traceability After extraction, all tubes must be individually marked for traceability.

The spinner cell must be built such that scrap tubes can easily be removed from the cell
C6.2 Scrap
right after extraction.

C6.3 Dimensional There must be control limits for the raw tube inside diameter and outside diameter.

C6.4 Dimensional There must be an audit to section raw tubes for wall thickness checks.

7.0 Processing and Inspections

C7.1 Shot Blast Shot blasting must be in-house.

C7.2 Shot Blast Pressed-in-place liners can only be shot blasted before machining.

Shot blast cleaning on machined cast-in-place liners is acceptable. Surface finish after
C7.3 Shot Blast
shot blast must be measured and controlled.

Liners must be 100% eddy current tested at least on the inside diameter and the
C7.4 Crack Inspection outside diameter for cracks, blows and inclusions. Other inspection methods (such as
leak test) require Product Engineering approval.

Eddy current checked inspection must include both the inside diameter and the outside
C7.5 Crack Inspection
diameter.

C7.6 Crack Inspection Eddy current check the entire length of the liner, including the flange and chamfers.

Masters for the eddy current must include both horizontal and vertical surface cracks.
C7.7 Crack Inspection
For creating masters, these cracks may be micro-machined .

C7.8 Crack Inspection The process flow must separate eddy current rejects away from liners to be packed.

Eddy current rejects must be accumulated and re-run as a controlled batch. Two times
C7.9 Crack Inspection
rejects are scrap.

C7.10 Crack Inspection The crack detection must be the last step before packaging.

Magnetic Particle Inspection must be available on site. The early production ramp up
C7.11 Crack Inspection
may require 100% magnetic particle inspection.

C7.12 Crack Inspection Dye penetrant inspection must be available on site.

C7.13 Crack Inspection Ultrasonic inspection must be available on site.

© 2015 Automotive Industry Action Group 4

ISBN#: 978 1 60534 331 0
 CQI-27
Special Process: Casting System Assessment
Version 1, 10/2015

PROCESS TABLE C - Centrifugal Liners

All requirements given below are subordinate to customer specific requirements.

When performing the CQI-27 Casting Assessment the auditor shall verify foundry is conforming to customer requirements; including a customer approved Control Plan defining the
agreed upon inspection testing and frequencies.
*If minimum requirements are not met, provide supporting records to justify actual conditions.

What is the scope covered by this audit? The entire foundry? A specific product line? A specific part number? Other?

Describe the scope of the audit:

Observations / Comments
Pass / Fail /
Item Category/Process Step Minimum Requirement Not
about Actual
Applicable
Condition
C7.14 Cleanliness The volatiles content of liners being shipped must be audited, measured, and controlled.

C7.15 Traceability Pressed in place liners may be required to be ink jet marked for traceability.

Unless otherwise noted on part print, all pallet boxes or containers of liners must have
customer part number and have traceability information on a sticker attached to the
container. The traceability label must contain a code which when provided to the liner
supplier will allow the liner supplier to provide the following information:

1. Date of casting
C7.16 Traceability 2. Spinner number
3. Chemical composition
4. Operator number
5. Casting machine number
6. Casting lot number
7. Machining equipment used
8. Machining operator number

1. Customer must approve any salvage repair procedures. Casting repairs, such as
welding.
C7.17 Repairs 2. If repairs are allowed by Customer Product Engineering, procedures need to be
completed and approved by Product Engineering before repairs can be used.

1. As a minimum, the casting plant shall have a programmable Coordinate Measuring

Machine (CMM) on site. The CMM must be run in an automatic mode. Where possible,
the application of point cloud/laser scanning inspection technology is preferred. When
used in combination with point cloud scanning technology, the CMM is considered the
“gage of record” for dimensional measurements because of precision associated with
C7.18 Dimensional Inspection - Part One
the points measured.
2. The casting plant shall maintain a
CMM hit point map/drawing showing all CMM hit points that are agreed upon between
the casting plant and the customer. (Point Cloud Inspection/laser scanning can be used
in place of CMM inspection if agreed upon with customer Product Engineering).

3. The CMM program must include checking the flatness of each individual raw casting
datum surface if the datum pad is intended to be a flat surface. Preferably less than
0.250mm.
4. Point cloud/laser scanning inspection must use the part-design datum construction to
align the measurement data. Unless otherwise specified by the customer, "best-fit" data
alignment is not allowed.
C7.18
Dimensional Inspection - Part Two 5. The casting plant is responsible for comparing the scan with the 3D Math Model. In
(Continued)
all cases the Point Cloud/laser scan must be aligned to the math model using the X-Y-Z
raw casting datum surfaces. Results must be shared with customer Product
Engineering and the responsible APQP Quality Engineer.
6. Point Cloud/laser scanning Inspection is
recommended for prototype parts and PPAP parts as defined by the customer specific
requirements. The scanning may be out-sourced.

C7.19 Dimensional Liners must be stabilized at 21°C, +/- 1° for CMM dimensional inspection purposes.

There must be regular audits to section raw castings for wall thickness verification;
including any high stress features in the FEA. If the supplier is responsible for any
C7.20 Wall Thickness
machining, there must be regular audits to section machined castings for wall thickness
verification.

The supplier must be capable of conducting internal Integrity inspection using non-
C7.21 Internal Integrity destructive testing method (x-ray) or destructive testing (sectioning) per customer
requirements; including any high stress features in the FEA.

8.0 Material Properties

The supplier shall have a metallurgical lab located on-site with capabilities to analyze
C8.1 Laboratory Location chemistries, hardness, microstructure, area fraction porosity, and any other features
specified by customer Product Engineering.

© 2015 Automotive Industry Action Group 5

ISBN#: 978 1 60534 331 0
 CQI-27
Special Process: Casting System Assessment
Version 1, 10/2015

PROCESS TABLE C - Centrifugal Liners

All requirements given below are subordinate to customer specific requirements.

When performing the CQI-27 Casting Assessment the auditor shall verify foundry is conforming to customer requirements; including a customer approved Control Plan defining the
agreed upon inspection testing and frequencies.
*If minimum requirements are not met, provide supporting records to justify actual conditions.

What is the scope covered by this audit? The entire foundry? A specific product line? A specific part number? Other?

Describe the scope of the audit:

Observations / Comments
Pass / Fail /
Item Category/Process Step Minimum Requirement Not
about Actual
Applicable
Condition
Material property testing must be defined per customer design records. Mechanical
properties testing must be available, preferably on site. Mechanical property testing
must include ultimate tensile strength, yield strength, and percent elongation. Some
C8.2 Material Property Testing customers may require yield strength to be measured by an extensometer attached to
the specimen. If retest or replacement is necessary must be with agreement of the
customer Product Engineering. Testing begins with prototypes and continues through
regular production.

The casting source must prepare test bars from a location approved by customer
Product Engineering. For example, these might be cut from a liner or from a separately
C8.3 Mechanical Property cast bar. Mechanical properties are often required from test bars cut from tubes in an
area designated on the engineering drawing or in the part quality document. The test
bar location in the liner will be dimensioned from liner features.

Metallurgical examination is to be done by the supplier prior to any testing to insure

microstructure meets engineering drawing specification.
1. A metallograph image analyzer is preferred.
2. Reference photographs must be readily
available at the metallograph for all microstructure requirements.
3. The designated location for microstructure audits is the honed ID wearing surface
diameter.
4. Graphite Type and Size must be measured at the honed ID (wearing surface).
C8.4 Microstructure Analysis
5. The D&E graphite percentage must be minimized.
6. There must be reference photographs for D & E graphite from the actual production.
7. Pearlite spacing must be measured at the honed ID.
8. Size and distribution of TiCN particles must be measured at the honed ID.
9. Eutectic cell size and count must be measured at the honed IN.
10. Carbides, steadite, ferrite must be measured at the honed ID.
11. MnS particle size and distribution must be measured at the honed ID
12. Microstructure audits must include any high stress features in the FEA.

1.Hardness testing is to be done per ASTM E10/ISO 6506. Supplier site must have
certified Master blocks for auditing the calibration of the hardness tester.
2. The Tolerance range for the Master block must be posted on the hardness tester.
3. The Tolerance range for the Master must not exceed +/- 3%.
4. The customer specified hardness range must be reduced by the tolerance allowed on
the hardness Master block.
C8.5 Hardness Testing 5. Unless Product Engineering specifies otherwise, Brinell hardness test raw tubes
using a 3000Kg load, 10 mm diameter indenter, and 10 - 15 second dwell time.
6. Hardness to be measured at a specified location from customer Product Engineering.
7.If hardness readings are out of specification, all tubes in the Lot shall be hardness
tested with any out-of-specification tubes rejected.
8. Machined liners to be hardness tested per customer Product Engineering
requirements.

Machinability testing may be required by the customer. This testing can be outsourced
C8.6 Machinability Testing
at a Lab agreed upon with Product Engineering.

© 2015 Automotive Industry Action Group 6

ISBN#: 978 1 60534 331 0