Rheocasting
Rheocasting Workshop
When talking about Rheocasting, you open the process window of your existing High-Pressure Die-Casting machine. It is just a different melt preparation. Rheocasting doesn’t replace HPDC. It enables you to think about applications that have never been in HPDC before. Finding the right applications that fit your portfolio is the key, as Rheocasting allow the usage of highly sustainable alloys with excellent mechanical properties. Rheocasting enables helium-tight castings without impregnation. Rheocasting can cast thin fins in a heat sink as well as thick-walled truck parts. Additionally, Rheocasting can cast large parts on low clamping force machines to generate cost benefits.
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Do you need help unlocking the full potential of Rheocasting, High-Pressure Die-Casting, and Sustainability?
Casting-Campus GmbH helps you from the idea through the implementation into the production process. Book today a free consultation today to talk about your company’s potential.
What is Rheocasting?
Rheocasting is a melt preparation method, which is why the casting process is similar to traditional liquid HPDC. The difference is the additional step between the holding furnace and the shot chamber of the die-casting machine.
There are 87 methods for creating that slurry. 86 of them are temperature-controlled, and one is enthalpy-controlled. The delta between 20 and 40% of the solid fraction is in an AlSi7Mg at 0.8 Kelvin. That is less than the variation of the liquidus point in series production.
In the video below, you can see the Comptech Rheometal process running. The individual steps are:
Melt is taken from the holding furnace with the lineal ladle.
The melt is poured into the gravity die to cast the EEM (Enthalpy Exchange Mass)
Then the EEM is cooled down
The Ingate is cut off
The Robot gets the rest of the shot weight from the furnace and moves to the slurrymaker
The EEM is stirred into the melt. While solidifying, shear forces are applied to generate globulitic solidifications.
The EEM is stirred into the melt. While solidifying, shear forces are applied to generate globulitic solidifications.
The slurry is poured into the shot chamber, and the shot is released
If the DCM isn’t ready, the slurry is poured back into the furnace
Then the process starts again
Learn about Rheocasting from Dr. Per Jansson
In this Gold Nugget you can learn about the new technology, Rheocasting. Dr. Per Jansson is the owner of Comptech AB. You will understand how an alloy that never solidifies with some marketing can change your foundry. You will also understand the struggles of new technologies in the foundry industry and find out about Per Jansson’s view on innovation.
How will Rheocasting change your Foundry and access new markets?
Rheocasting is not a new technology—it has existed since the 1970s. But now, the requirements have been raised so much in terms of flow length, strength and fatigue loads, wall thicknesses, leakage rates, thermal conductivity, and sustainability that it is challenging to fulfil them in HPDC cost-efficiently if possible. You can see Rheocasting as a door opener for foundries and design owners alike to high-end solutions.
Rheocasting will not cannibalise your existing HPDC business; it expands it. That expansion into the high-end segment is not widely available, so most design owners know about the possible improvements.
When expanding towards the high-end segment, you need to think about advancing your peripherals. You start to implement better thermal management of your tools and combine that with 3D-printed inserts and micro spraying. You get advanced vacuum and venting systems into the tooling. That will impact how you design the HPDC dies and improve these processes, too. If you’re already doing structural castings, you probably are already doing that.
You will not find these advancements in properties already implemented in castings on your customers’ portals. But that is a good thing because you have to be in a direct contact line with the engineering team and have less competition during the purchasing process. Now, it is up to your business development skills to find the right applications for your product portfolio.
Rheocasting Newsletter Articles
A high Solid Fraction overcomes the limitations of HPDC
A high solid fraction in Rheocasting can unlock new business opportunities, overcome the limitations of HPDC, and achieve high-quality, leak-tight castings with improved mechanical properties by optimizing slurry flow behaviour.
The Permanent Mold Killer Approach
Discover new opportunities for permanent mold castings as HPDC demand drops. Shifting smaller DCMs towards casting thicker-walled parts like suspension components, truck beams, and brackets using rheocasting prevents dendrite formation. It enhances mechanical properties, ensuring higher quality and profitability for foundries.
What does Ketchup have to do with Rheocasting?
Rheocasting uses a semi-solid slurry with thixotropic behavior, allowing for improved flow and castability. Learn how this process, similar to the way ketchup flows when shaken, enhances aluminum casting by reducing viscosity under stress and increasing efficiency in HPDC production.
What can you expect from a Rheocasting Workshop on site?
Rheocasting has the ability to expand the product portfolio of your foundry and extend the capabilities of various castings. But how does it technically work? How do you start a business development process, and what should be the first target for our customer base and product portfolio?
We will determine the answers to these questions in a workshop at your facility with your casting experts, sales and marketing team and top management. As there are so many solutions to deliver, find out which one is best suited for you. Schedule a meeting below and get a teaser on such a Rheocasting workshop.
If you decide to proceed after the workshop, implement a strategy to execute the found direction: the Rheocasting Strategy Development or the Rheocasting Expert on Demand, depending on which is right for you. The difference between the two consulting services is the technical support in part development.
