Rheocasting is no Golden Paint - Part 1

We all heard the sentence, “We tried [enter technology here]; it didn’t work.” The first question you must ask is: What didn’t work? You need more data to conclude.

Of course, some technologies don’t live up to their promise and deserve to be forgotten, or it wasn’t the proper application for that technology.

You need to go through a learning curve, and the surroundings don’t always integrate well with the technology. In the application of Rheocasting, some trials were set up to fail. Let me give you some examples.

Example 1: Porosity Problem in HPDC

A part with leakage requirements had major porosity problems in HPDC. The company assumed that Rheocasting solved porosity problems. So, when we take the tool to a Rheocasting facility, we get perfect castings. Against better judgment, no changes were made. And the parts were equally bad. How could this be?

The ingate was on the wrong side. The highest wall thicknesses were at the end of the filling. The right solution requires a tool change. The ingate has to be placed at the highest wall thickness to ensure a good feeding of the solidification shrinkage.

Example 2: High Property Requirements

Another part has leakage requirements and crash-relevant properties. This time, a new tool was made. Several ingate possibilities were discussed. The optimal solution would have required an additional slider. So, the best solution for HPDC was chosen for use in A-samples and Rheocasting trials.

The result was that the ingate worked well in AlSi10MnMg HPDC, but shrinkage porosity was an issue. But when we tried Rheocasting, there was no chance to fill the part. The metal speed in the gate was so high that the AlSi7MnMg started to solder directly. Nothing between a fully liquid alloy to 35% solid fraction changed the result.

Conclusion

In both cases, Rheocasting failed to improve the situation. But did the Technology Rheocasting fail?

No, the surroundings, in this case, the gating, weren’t suited to enable Rheocasting to work properly. Rheocasting cannot change the physics. Specific requirements have to be met to allow for a great casting.

These were examples about the gating. A few more things need to be in place. But as soon as the requirements are met, various castings open up to your foundry that could never be cast in HPDC. That rules out 99% of your current competition. How does that sound?

The Solution

Rheocasting can achieve things never seen before in HPDC. However, you must consider that R&D budgets aren’t infinite, and such trials aren’t cheap. Why don’t we talk, and you get an unbiased opinion on whether starting a Rheocasting trial with the current setup makes sense? The Consulting Call is completely free, and you will learn how to succeed with Rheocasting during that meeting.