Metal Casting Zone Info Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Ductile Iron Castings’

Castings without pattern – A new way to produce iron sand castings

Nopatech™ is a new technology developed by Saguenay Foundry. Its purpose is to make very short production runs of gray & ductile iron castings faster and more cost effective by eliminating the need to produce a pattern.

In regular production, patterns are made de create an imprint in a sand mould. Metals are then poured in the “negative” of the part. After cooling, you get a part to the correct dimensions and shape. This technology has been done for hundreds of years to obtain complex shapes that could not otherwise be machine directly in a cost-effective manner.

The problem with patterns is that they are expensive. If you redo the castings dozens or hundreds of even better thousands of time, it can easily be amortized. But in certain situations, one or two castings might be all you need. For instance, prototypes of an unproven design are subject to change after a trial of one or two castings. With a pattern, some change can be made, but not always, so you are always taking a risk.

In this case, a casting that cost 2000$ can require a 5000$ wood pattern do be produced effectively. If you do only one, your casting has cost you 7000$ . Nopatech™ on the other hand might cost you only an extra 1500$ – 2000$ to cast a part without pattern . This is a very substantial gain. The lead time might also go down by half.

To obtain this low cost and fast lead-time, Nopatech™ benefits from the advance in robotic technologies to machine blank sand moulds directly to the final shapes. Cores can also be done, so there is no limit to the complexity of the final shape. Basically, what can be done with wood patterns can be done with Nopatech™.

Also, the quality matches exactly what you get from a casting made with a regular pattern. You reach an average “as cast” RMS figure of 500 and the accuracy of the mould is within 1/16” of an inch, a precision that compares favourably to pattern-made parts. The size limitations is also the same as any other part done at our foundry, with a 115” x 115” maximum flask and a 16,000 lbs gross weight pouring capacity.

How about the cast iron & pig iron prices in China

As a metal foundry in China, we always keep our eyes on the updated pig iron prices. At the same time, we also provided the updated cast iron prices on Dandong Foundry’s website. In this way, our clients and visitors can learn about the latest prices about grey iron casting, ductile iron casting and pig iron in China.

As for the pig iron prices, we got them from those websites we often used. We have compared their prices with our purchased prices. So, these prices are accurate and representative.

As for the cast iron prices, we have quoted them by gray iron castings by green sand casting process and resin sand casting process. And likewise for the ductile iron castings.

However, you must know that these prices are just average prices, which are just for your reference. There are many factors will affect the prices of iron castings. Such as the unit weight, the annual demand, the structure complexity, material requirements, surface and inside requirements, dimensional requirements etc. So, if you need accurate quotations, you should contact the manufacturers and send the drawings and requirements to them. The incautious inquiry and quotations will affect the both profits for the buyer and seller.

What is the relations between cast iron and pig iron?

There are direct relations between them. In other words, if the pig iron rises 100 USD/ton, then the cast iron prices will rises 100 USD/ton too. Therefore, pig iron prices will largely affect the iron casting prices.

By the way, the different degrees for the gray iron and ductile iron will also affect their prices. The higher degrees will require higher costs. As for the gray iron, the GG 15, GG20, GG25 should have similar prices, but the GG30 and GG35 should have higher prices. As for the ductile iron, the GGG50 should have higher price than GGG40. The GGG60 and GGG70, GGG80 will have more higher prices. Why? The higher degrees will require higher requirement and technical capability. Moreover, the higher degrees will mean the difficulty to recycle the materials. In other words, as for the GG20 materials, we can reuse their casting head (gate and feed) to make GG20 again. Since we make GG20 materials everyday, so the inferior products can be our raw materials again. However, the higher degree materials have to wait for making the same materials again.

For the updated cast iron & pig iron prices, please check Dandong Foundry.

Basics of cleaning and maintenance of cast iron cookware. I will post several videos on seasoning, removing rust, ect… This is just the basics on how to keep your cast iron looking good and well seasoned. At the end of the video, it cut-off at “What is seasoning” – This is a message I sent to fellow YouTuber, MinhSaChau, explaining the term: When a cast iron pan is completely bare – with no oil or anything on it – It will be gray in color, like gun metal. When it is in this unprotected state, any small amout of moisture, humidity or water will cause it to rust… and rust rather quickly. “Seasoning” means that layers of oil have been allowed to bond to the metal. The more layers of oil, the better the bond is… This is what seasoning is… The more you cook with your pans, the more of these layers of oil/coating will build-up and protect that gray metal. A pan that is well seasoned will be very black and smooth in color. It will be as good or better than teflon-coating as far as non-stick performance. : ) I have another video that will help show this – what seasoning and non-stick performance of even just a little seasoning can do.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Ductile Iron Application

The scope of ductile iron application can be divided into four fields: First, pressure pipes and fittings. Second, the automobile industry. Third, agriculture, road and construction applications. Fourth, general engineering.

1. Pressure pipes and fittings

Ductile iron pipe has been used to transport water and other liquids, which testifies to the ball better than gray cast iron pipe. Because cast iron has excellent strength and toughness. These physical characteristics make the pipeline withstand the high operating pressure, and can withstand the excavation near pipelines and municipal construction and transportation requirements.

2. Automotive applications

The automotive industry is the second largest ductile iron casting application fields. Ductile iron has been used in cars in the three main areas: first, the car engine parts, second, gears and bushings, third, suspension, brakes and steering. Almost all crankshafts of the Ford Motor Company have been manufactured by ductile iron. Most of the worldwide cars are fitted with ductile iron crankshaft, instead of forged steel crankshaft.

3. Agriculture, road and construction applications

Modern agriculture requires a reliable and long service life of agricultural machinery. The entire agricultural industry are widely using ductile iron castings including tractor parts, plows, brackets, clamps and pulleys. For other types of agricultural machinery including bulldozers, moved into machines, cranes and compressors, ductile iron castings in these areas have a very wide range of applications.

4. General engineering applications

The machine tool industry is using the excellent engineering performance of the ductile iron to design complex machine parts. Ductile iron has high tensile strength and yield strength, and good mechanical processing properties, thus allowing production of lighter castings to keep a good rigidity. Similarly, the strength and toughness of ductile iron has made it to be widely used in all kinds of hand tools such as wrenches, clamps and gauges etc.

Paper manufacturing industry is using the high strength and high elastic modulus of ductile iron. These properties can reduce the weight of the pressure drum and drying drum.

Therefore, ductile iron castings have been widely used in many industrial areas worldwide. With the continuous development of metal founding, the application of ductile iron must be wider in the future.

This article was from Dandong Foundry Blog.

Do you ever mind how ductile pipes are made which we often see them in underground drainage’s. Watch this video.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

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