innovative hot chamber Medium Pressure Die Casting process for Aluminium

Project Information

MPDCA

Grant agreement ID: 808257

DOI

10.3030/808257

Project closed

EC signature date 22 March 2018

Start date 1 April 2018

End date 31 August 2018

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Nanotechnologies

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

NEWMEC SRL
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MPDCA (innovative hot chamber Medium Pressure Die Casting process for Aluminium)

Reporting period: 2018-04-01 to 2018-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

"The hot-chamber process is used for die-casting of light alloys due to its clear advantages over the cold-chamber one: smaller installations, lower pressures, more controlled temperature, better quality, less scrap, lower energy consumption, etc. Despite these benefits, the hot-chamber system cannot be used for aluminium die-casting because the molten aluminium attacks the metallic parts of the injection pump and the die-casting machine.
If the hot chamber process could be used for aluminium, the quality of the components would be higher and their cost significantly lower. A lot of energy would be saved too.
#MPDCA project is aimed to put in the market a disruptive technology based in the development of a new injection pump that enables the fabrication of hot-chamber machines for aluminium die casting.
"

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the technical feasibility study, we have assessed the required specifications for the injection pump (body, piston and sealing) and the cavity filling with MPDC process, evaluating temperatures and pressures. We have also performed a materials and cost evaluation, and analysed the technical risk for industrialization.
MPDCA will be the only system in the market for hot-chamber die-casting of aluminium. It enables for better quality, lower operation costs and less energy consumption. The business opportunity is clear because the demand of aluminium die-cast strongly rising, mainly driven by automotive industry. The target market are the die-casters that supply to automotive and transport sectors and also the OEMs (as prescribers). We have analysed the competitors and the potential partners, as well as the IP protection (the technology is patented).
From the financial point of view, we have considered the risks and market barriers and made a SWOT analysis. The revenues will come from new machines, retrofitting of old machines (cold-chamber) and licensing of technology. The expected ROI after 5 years is 4.4 and the new staff recruitment >200

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Nowadays, aluminium die-casting can also be done with cold-chamber machines. Some attempts to use the most advantageous hot-chamber process performed during the last decades have failed, but we have developed an injection pump that can be used to build hot-chamber machines for aluminium die-casting. It is a disruptive development for the aluminium die-casting sector that will make the present technology obsolete.
The new process enables to use smaller installations and to produce better components at lower cost. The energy consumption will drop more than 25%. It will be possible to retrofit the present installations to adapt them to the new technology.
The creation of a bigger consortium to take this technology to the market is being considered.

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