Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ñ The quality of a die casting is more than
skin deep
ñ A quality casting is free of defects
ñ In order to determine the quality of a casting,
you must be able to identify the defects
ñ There are three common types of defects
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ñ Vorrectly identify the common surface
defects
ñ Vorrectly identify the common internal
defects
ñ Vorrectly identify the common types of
dimensional defects
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ñ Inclusions
Materials that have been included in the alloy
that should not be there, such as aluminum
oxide, silicon carbide, fluxes and sludge
ñ Polymorphic
The ability of, in certain environments, the
properties of the alumina crystals to change
drastically
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ñ Porosity
A void in the casting, caused by trapped gas or
shrinkage
ñ Viscous
The state of being semi fluid; not flowing freely
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Flow Defects
Vold flow Poor fill
Vold shut Laps
Flow marks Flow lines
Vold Swirls
Vhill Knit lines
Severe chill Mis run
Non fill
Other Defects
Blisters Soldering
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Vracks
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ñ ^esult from how metal
flows to and within the die
ñ Adjusting process
variables can sometimes
impact their occurrence
The alloy begins to freeze
before the casting is
completely filled out
Several alloy flows converge
but do not weld or fuse completely together
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| Factors Affecting Flow Defects
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ñ The maximum allowable time to fill the die
cavity that results in an acceptable casting
If exceeded, the casting will have some defect
ñ Fill time calculation based on several factors
Die temperature
Alloy temperature
Vasting geometry
Alloy being cast
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ñ Part of the casting¶s geometry
Heavy wall sections equate to a lot of heat and
high cooling requirements
Thin walls equate to very little heat and minimal
cooling requirements
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ñ Time averaged temperature of the die during
sustained production
ñ Vannot be measured any time at any place in
the die
ñ Ideally, it will:
Be as high as possible
Still permit making the casting
Vary as little as possible over the entire cycle
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ñ Temperature of the alloy as it begins to fill
the die cavity, as it passes through the gate
ñ Hard to measure in real time as the casting is
being made
ñ Estimated to determine fill time calculations
ñ Avoiding delays in alloy transfer can
minimize temperature losses
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ñ The distance that the metal must flow once it
passes through the gate
ñ Alloy should flow to its terminal location
without freezing
ñ If the flow distance is too long and if the alloy
speed is too slow, it¶s difficult for the metal to
fill the cavity without beginning to freeze
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ñ The speed the alloy travels as it passes
through the gate
ñ If not controlled, can be detrimental to the
tooling causing washout and erosion
ñ If too low, the alloy may not atomize and not
have enough energy to reach the ends of the
casting or to properly weld together
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ñ Van make difference in the surface finish
ñ Zinc, Zamak was designed to have the best
fluidity and surface finish
ñ Silicon content in aluminum aids fluidity
ñ Alloys closer to the eutectic will be more fluid
ñ Eutectic alloys are regarded as harder to cast
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ñ Trapped air causes blisters and gas porosity
and backpressure in the cavity
ñ Back pressure can change the flow enough
to cause surface defects
ñ Most noticeable in blind features
ñ May be necessary to add vacuum to remove
gasses
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ñ Bubble like bumps
on the casting
ñ Gases trapped in the
casting near the casting
surface cause them
ñ When casting is ejected
and the casting surface
is not strong enough to withstand the gas pressure,
the surface yields and the blister forms
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ñ Two major causes for cracks are:
Heat
± Insufficient
± Excessive
Externally applied stresses
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ñ The fusion of aluminum in the
alloy with iron from the steel
surface of the die cavity
ñ When soldering occurs, the
casting sticks to the cavity;
casting must be torn away
ñ Aggravated by higher than usual
die temperatures, high gate velocities
and high metal pressures
ñ Enhanced if the iron content in alloy is low
ñ Van be caused by insufficient draft angles | |
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ñ Mechanical properties include:
Tensile strength, elongation, hardness, impact
strength and others
ñ Measured on samples; results are published
to help designers pick best suited material
ñ Internal defects reduce mechanical
properties
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ñ Pressure tightness
An important property for some applications
The process has to be controlled while making
solid, low porosity castings
Internal defects can cause loss of pressure
tightness/leaks
ñ Machineability
Affected by porosity and inclusion defects, the
two types of internal defects |
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ñ Most inclusions are
non metallic aluminum
oxide (corundum)
ñ Oxides get into the bath
ñ Most is removed, but
some remains and ends
up in castings
ñ Size and shape of the individual corundum particles
varies widely
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ñ Inclusions of oxide films
and dross are major
cause for leakers and
excessive tool wear
ñ This is generally gamma
aluminum oxide
ñ Oxide films prevent divergent
alloy steams knitting together
properly as the cavity fills
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ñ Silicon carbide
refractories get into
castings if furnace
cleaning practices
not maintained
ñ As damaging
as corundum
ñ Encountered infrequently compared to corundum
ñ Distinguished by its very black, glass like coloring
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ñ Not usually recognized during a cursory
visual inspection
ñ Vasting must be submerged in city water
overnight
ñ If flux inclusions are present, they will grow
crystals on the casting surface
ñ Appears as light mottling on all surfaces
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ñ Vomposed of complex
inter metallic compounds
of Al Si Fe Mn Vr
ñ Is quite hard and will
damage cutter tooling
ñ Under high magnification
sludge is easily recognized by the extremely fine
primary crystals and their pentagonal shape
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ñ A void in the casting
ñ Has two root causes:
Trapped gas
Shrinkage
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To solve a gas porosity problem, look at all
sources of gas generation
ñ Trapped air
Always present because of the turbulent method
used to fill the die cavity
ñ Air in cold chamber
minimized by filling the cold chamber with alloy
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ñ Turbulence: when alloy is subjected to
turbulence in the presence of air
Minimize when picking up and transporting alloy
to the cold chamber through ladling practices
Slow portion of the shot cycle must be controlled
± Optimize timing of plunger
± Accelerate plunger tip when past pour hole
± When sleeve is filled, follow with a smooth
acceleration to the fast shot speed
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ñ Improper venting: another cause for trapped
air
Vents must be open to allow air trapped above
the alloy in cold chamber to escape
If vent is working, a puff of air coming out can be
seen
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ñ Excessive lubricants: can result in gas from
two sources
^elease of combustion products when some of
the die lube burns when the alloy hits
Most releases are diluted with water
Water in lube will turn to steam and produce a
great volume of gas
Gas forms when alloy runs over puddled plunger
tip lube |
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ñ Other sources of trapped gas
If die cavity cracked, it might allow fluid from the
cooling line to leak into die cavity
Water or oil in the cavity, when hit by the alloy,
will form gas
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ñ Shrinkage: porosity that occurs if the alloy
solidifies without pressure on it
All alloys shrink a certain percentage
ñ High pressure die casting
Uses intensifiers/other methods to increase alloy
pressure once cavity has been filled with alloy
Alloy pressure must be transmitted from the
biscuit through the runner to the gate
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ñ Shrink defects:
occur at the last place
in the casting to freeze
characterized by a rough
and jagged appearance
tends to be continuous
by nature
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ñ Dimensional variations covered:
Linear variation, across parting line variation,
shift and mismatch, warpage
ñ Most dimensional defects related to:
Die temperatures
Vondition of the die
Force of injection
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ñ Thermal expansion/contraction: objects
lengthen when heated, get smaller when
cooled
Vastings get smaller when cooled
Dimensional problem can occur when one half of
die is much hotter than other half
Van be a problem for the die and the casting
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ñ Flash Buildup at parting line
Prevents the die from closing properly
May cause an oversize dimension
Prevents wedgelock from holding slide in place
ñ Flash buildup at front of slide
Prevents slide from going to ³ready to cast´
position
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ñ Soldering
Small core pins can be very susceptible; solder
buildup can cause an oversize out of tolerance
condition
May occur in walls; could cause an undersize or
thin wall
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ñ Force of injection
Overcomes locking capability, causing tie bars
stretch and allowing die to flash
Flashing adds to size, cause slides to backout
Normal injection force, impact, and intensification
Van:
± ^educe the mass and speed
± Minimize impact
± Apply intensification before gates freeze
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ñ Statistical dimensional control
Product gets larger or smaller over time
Process variables that contribute to the
dimensional variation need to be identified
A control technique, such as the average and
range chart, needs to be applied
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ñ categories of defects: surface, internal, and
dimensional, and many defects in each
ñ The operator may or may not have control
over them
ñ subcategories of surface defects:
flow and other
ñ There are many types of flow defects
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ñ subcategories of internal defects:
inclusions and porosity
ñ Dimensional defects are related to die
temperatures, die condition, and the injection
force
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