Lost Foam Metal Casting Technology And The Environment
The most important environmental impacts during foundry are the large use of energy and all kinds of emissions, such as VOC's and dust.
foamcast - lost foam casting process is a new technology in the foundry industry. The main advantages of this technology are that there is much less waste, minimal machining, and thus less coolants and lubricants, necessary afterwards.
foamcast - lost foam casting process can be used in the production of iron castings including crankshafts, camshafts, valve bodies, electric motor housings and engine blocks.
foamcast - lost foam casting process is a new technology in the foundry industry. The main advantages of this technology are that there is much less waste, minimal machining, and thus less coolants and lubricants, necessary afterwards.
foamcast - lost foam casting process can be used in the production of iron castings including crankshafts, camshafts, valve bodies, electric motor housings and engine blocks.
Environmental and financial advantages:
The foamcast - lost foam casting process has some advantages for the production of castings which require complex cored passageways, uniform wall thickness and limited or no draft angles.
As the casting is a virtual reproduction of the molded foam pattern, dimensional control is improved over castings produced by the green-sand route and for many features such as gasket surfaces and drilled holes.
Furthermore, the improved dimensional control means a significant reduction in, or even the elimination of, machining. And this means a reduction in the use of coolants and lubricants, the largest environmental impacts in the metal industry!
The foamcast - lost foam casting process has some advantages for the production of castings which require complex cored passageways, uniform wall thickness and limited or no draft angles.
As the casting is a virtual reproduction of the molded foam pattern, dimensional control is improved over castings produced by the green-sand route and for many features such as gasket surfaces and drilled holes.
Furthermore, the improved dimensional control means a significant reduction in, or even the elimination of, machining. And this means a reduction in the use of coolants and lubricants, the largest environmental impacts in the metal industry!
The foamcast - lost foam casting process should be considered as a possible addition in a foundry modernization plan.
foamcast process differs from other techniques primarily in the following areas:
Non-proprietary terms that have been used to describe similar processes include: cavityless casting, evaporative foam casting, foam vaporization casting, lost pattern casting, the castral process, expanded polystyrene molding, EPC, Evaporative Pattern Casting,LFT,Lost Foam Technology,Expendable Pattern Casting,lostfoam,shellfoamcast, etc.
foamcast process differs from other techniques primarily in the following areas:
- there are no cores and no parting lines,
- dry un-bonded sand is used,
- there is no mold wall movement and
- the tooling is not subjected to foundry wear
- These differences result in the following advantages to foamcast process over conventional foundry processes:
- There is less energy needed;
- There are lower emissions, the waste is solid and relatively clean, and the sand is easily be recycled;
- Complex shapes are possible and the surface is almost finished. This means that there is less or no machining, less or no finishing and less or no assembly needed;
- The financial advantages are that there is less labor needed & the lifetime of tools is extremely long.
- Concerning the core: there are no related defects, shifts or fins, there is no core removal and there is no core equipment necessary, so no handling of hazardous core materials;
- Due to the close dimensional tolerances and the possibility of complex shapes, the design freedom is larger;
- The employees’/workers working conditions are improved.
Non-proprietary terms that have been used to describe similar processes include: cavityless casting, evaporative foam casting, foam vaporization casting, lost pattern casting, the castral process, expanded polystyrene molding, EPC, Evaporative Pattern Casting,LFT,Lost Foam Technology,Expendable Pattern Casting,lostfoam,shellfoamcast, etc.