Objective
Within the ADITECH project a the new production process to combine the ADI technology and the squeeze casting technique has been developed to make the above mentioned advantages of ADI applicable to a broader field of applications. The characteristic of this process is the pouring, shaping and solidification of liquid metal in a die, whereby complex part geometries can be produced Near Net Shape. The solidification under pressure leads to a non-porous microstructure and improved material properties. The high cooling rate by the use of a metallic mould makes a finer and more homogenous microstructure attainable.
In addition to these advantages, the squeeze casting process offers the possibility to eject the part out of the mould after solidification with an austenitising temperature. Therefore, the austenitising step of the conventional heat treatment can be saved by the integration of the heat treatment procedure and the squeeze casting process (in-situ heat treatment). Furthermore, by avoidance of sand defect-free surfaces can be attained This research contained the conception and design of a prototype plant for the production of Near Net Shape ADI-parts, the alloy development, the determination of in-situ head treated squeeze casting process parameters, the part design and the determination of machining strategies. Besides the production of the mould the development of suitable coatings was carried out to increase mould lifetime and to avoid the use of black wash. Furthermore, comprehensive experience is gained in the field of casting, machining and material behaviour of this new ADI material in order to get relevant data to understand the influences of the new casting process. As results of all these process benefits a low alloy ductile iron material could develop with material properties never seen.
Objectives and content
In the design of automotive vehicles there is a strong move towards reducing weight of components, driven by a range of environmental and social pressures backed by legislation. This trend is a consequence of the overall objective in the automotive industry to reduce the fuel consumption of vehicles.
Besides enormous cost savings, which result from lower fuel consumption, also environmental benefits due to a decrease in pollution have to be mentioned. Weight reduction can in many cases most effectively be achieved by replacing the traditionally cast iron and steel by new materials. In the field of ductile cast iron especially austempered ductile iron (ADI) has a very high performance concerning the potential of material substitutions. Regarding the mechanical properties this material allows to substitute cast, forged and welded steel components as well as conventional ductile cast iron parts by getting weight and cost savings. Due to the excellent density-yield stress ratio this material is even capable to replace
light alloys as for example, aluminium. Based on these advanced mechanical properties and the Near Net Shape capabilities an optimisation of the component design should permit a weight saving of about 15% by replacing steel and conventional ductile cast iron. This aim is important to increase the competitiveness of the European foundry and automotive industry. Furthermore, the opportunity to an enormous benefit concerning environmental aspects is given by increased fuel efficiency due to the weight reduction. The conventional sand mould casting processes cannot attain the required ADI material properties. The main disadvantage of the sand casting process is the formation of micro-porosity. One possibility to overcome the described deficits is given by pressure-supported casting methods. One of these methods is the squeeze casting process. The characteristic of this process is the pouring, shaping and solidification of liquid metal in a die, whereby complex part geometries can be produced Near Net Shape. The solidification under pressure leads to a non-porous microstructure and improved material properties. The high cooling rate caused by the use of a metallic mould makes a finer and more homogeneous microstructure attainable. Furthermore, the cooling rate itself causes shorter cycle times and improves the requirements for an effective mass production. Besides these advantages the squeeze casting process offers the possibility to eject the part out of the mould after solidification with an austenitising temperature. Therefore, the austenitising step of the conventional heat treatment can be saved by the integration of the heat treatment procedure and the squeeze casting process (in-situ heat treatment).
The described process is not available for the production of high temperature melting alloys, yet. Today the industrial application of the squeeze casting process is restrictively used for aluminium. Experiences from thixo- forming of semi-solid bronze, red brass and steel as well as first laboratory investigations let the development of this process for production of ADI-parts appear very promising.
To make the above mentioned advantages of the new production technology and the new material applicable to a broad field of application, intensive research in this more precise, energy saving and Near Net Shape casting process, which is also applicable for other materials with a high melting point, has to be carried out.
Therefore, the planned research contains the conception and design of a prototype plant for the production of Near Net Shape ADI-parts. The plant concept mainly consists of a hydraulic press and a squeezing tool. Since the mould is exposed to high temperature, the tool life is supposed to be an important factor, which will influence the economic efficiency of the technology. Because of this reason intensive research in suitable combinations of mould materials and thermal resistant coatings for the optimisation of the tool life will be carried out. Furthermore, a reliable process for the part production has to be ensured. Therefore, the alloy development, the determination of squeeze casting specific process parameters, the in-situ heat treatment and the part design has to be checked against one another. The machinability of the new in- situ heattreated material with improved material properties has to be determined to ensure the economic efficiency of the whole production process. For the determination of the applicability of the improved material the performance of the produced components in use under realistic conditions will be tested.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology mechanical engineering manufacturing engineering subtractive manufacturing
- engineering and technology mechanical engineering vehicle engineering automotive engineering
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry post-transition metals
- engineering and technology materials engineering coating and films
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels
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Coordinator
03600 Karkkila
Finland
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