Simple Solutions That Work! Issue 14

PRIMARY ALUMINUM INGOTS, SECONDARY INGOTS AND RETURNS ARE NOT THE SAME Any alloy additions in the melt will have its effect. By measuring this effect during the shift, you can rely on numbers to control your process, not just use a robust casting procedure. The chemistry will change. The cooling curve or solidification properties will change. The population of inclusions, hydrogen and oxide bifilms will change. Once porosities are created in the solid casting, it’s too late and you might not even hear about it after a couple days! Moreover, by only taking the measure of the Reduced Pressure Test (RPT) and chemistry before and after an alloy addition, fluxing and degassing treatment, you’re missing the cooling curve to have the full picture. New ingot properties will also change from batch to batch and the remelts react differently in the furnace. You know about that if you’ve been using thermal analysis on your shop floor. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PEOPLE! In advanced manufacturing, we are replacing the lab and we control the process in real-time based on data. If we need to keep the lab, we automate it. Advanced probes are installed for real- time chemistry of the melt using laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and 100% X-Ray casting inspection out of the molding machine ( both these technologies should require another article ). The usual probes are collecting the data in real-time on the shop floor. The same data is organized and processed for live process control and machine learning for robots or operators to take actions (figure 3). To get there and beyond, it’s all about the people! It’s only once data is organized that value can be extracted out of it. Each foundry is different. The right probes are installed at the right places and data starts to be collected in the database. Slowly but surely, the team members who are reluctant to data-driven process decision and training realise they now have numbers to support what their years of experience lead them to bring at the table. It’s no longer just a question of experience and more a question of science. Contact: FRANÇOIS AUDET francois.audet@solutionsfonderie.com At the same time as magnesium and titanium additions 41% We do not add magnesium 8% After magnesium but before titanium additions 8% After magnesium and titanium additions 13% Before magnesium and titanium additions 18% We do not add titanium 5% Eutectic modification is continuous coil throughout production 5% After titanium but before magnesium additions 2% 14 Figure 2. Shown are the breakdown of responses to the question: "When do you most add eutectic modification relative to other additions?" (Modern Casting, November 2016) Figure 3. Real-Time process control at the molding machine.