How to Start with Rheocasting? - Part 1

For high-pressure die-casting foundries, the automotive industry is by far their largest customer. But that industry is struggling with declining sales volumes and a vast amount of out-of-competition. Additionally, the transition from combustion engines to EVs reduces the number of parts required by 60 to 75% for foundries, as fewer components are needed. The same projection also shows an increase in aluminium used in the car

New parts with Rheocasting

In that market situation, any new business is highly appreciated. So, many people look into Comptech Rheocasting to acquire new business. But how do you get started without falling into the typical pitfalls?

The unsatisfactory answer to that question is, it depends. The situation at each foundry is different. There are various experiences, machine sizes, production pipelines, and post-processing steps. So, what is the best way for you is impossible to generalise. However, the Rheocasting Workshop from Casting-Campus GmbH can provide you with the knowledge and clarity to make that determination. Inquire for more information by scheduling a free consultation call.

At a top level, there are two directions to approach Rheocasting, and both ways aim to gain an unfair advantage over your competitors.

Possibility 1: Existing Products

A more straightforward starting point may be to utilise existing castings and integrate them into Rheocasting. This makes sense if both of the following conditions are met:

• You can stay within the current specification

• You face constant quality issues in your HPDC production, or you can produce a cost advantage

The first condition eliminates most of the structural castings, as they utilise AlSi10MnMg or similar near-eutectic alloys that are not suitable for Rheocasting. However, with the tendency to move towards AlSi7 alloys, structural castings come back into focus with Rheocasting, as the castability in HPDC drops significantly with lower silicon content.

The situation is easier for AlSi9Cu3-type alloys, such as 46000, 226, and A380. Their specification reaches down to 7 or 8% of silicon. In combination with a high copper content, this provides a sufficiently large solidification window for Rheocasting.

These alloys are widely used for all types of castings. Especially, the valve, gearbox, and other housings face several issues, including constant wall thickness jumps, porosity, tool wear, or impregnation costs. That is the perfect starting point for Comptech Rheocasting to address all these issues simultaneously.

To get started, you need to adjust your internal specification for the alloy, install the Comptech Slurrymaker, and adjust your tool, especially the gate and overflow system, for Rheocasting. Then, you’re ready to go.

Conclusion

Transforming the already existing production is the easiest starting point for your Rheocasting implementation. You already know the part, the alloy and the customer. You can simply eliminate the issues troubling you at the moment with it.

But be aware that there is no free lunch. Rheocasting requires you to adapt to the process. This is valid in terms of the tool, alloy and process equipment as well as your people. You need to do some things differently than in HPDC, and that requires active change and knowledge management, as well as Research and Development work to implement successfully.

You can shorten that process by having Casting-Campus GmbH constantly by your side with the Rheocasting Expert on Demand, but it still needs resources in capital and people. You can directly have th ROI calculation with the smaller DCM and lower scrap rate. However, the impact of having an organisation that does not constantly worry about a Q-Help situation is hard to calculate, even though the impacts are significant. You never know what comes out of it, but it gives you the breathing room to explore!

Part 2 will follow next week. Please reach out to me via my scheduling tool below with any questions.