Simple Solutions That Work! Issue 13

52 T he increasing demand of customers pushes suppliers to research and develop new casting processes and technologies. CASTING COOLING One of the main issues in the foundry field is the casting cooling time. An efficient casting cooling method allows foundries to increase their GAETANO CORAGGIO Process Engineer MAGALDI TECHNOLOGIES, LLC ARTICLE TAKEAWAYS: • An efficient cooling method can increase foundry production volumes • Automatic systems can help to ensure an accurate control on process parameters • A test-rig and CFD analysis are helpful to obtain an effective casting cooling CASTING COOLER CONVEYORS production volumes, also through a properly designed material handling system and a tailored-made plant arrangement. In order to gain a reliable and flexible process it is necessary to have a fine-tuning step and adjustment of casting cooling parameters. Regardless the casting process, the cooling method must be able to ensure the performance along the casting cooling curve. In the metal casting processes, the solidification is a phenomenon that controls several properties of the final product. In this scenario, the cooling curves control the quality of the castings. One of the most important parts of the cooling curve is the cooling rate, which affects the microstructure and properties of the castings. During the local solidification time, the material is completely converted from liquid to solid. In alloys, solidification will not occur at a given temperature value, Figure 1: Metal casting, typical cooling curve Figure 2: Cooling curves for aluminum casting