56th World Foundry Congress metalcasters examine international issues, technology.

56th World Foundry Congress Metalcasters Examine International Issues, Technology

With the theme "The Future of Metalcasting," this year's World Foundry Congress examined several emerging technologies and issues--from health and safety to computers--which are confronting the foundry industry worldwide.

Nearly 1100 metalcasters from 48 countries met May 19-23 in Dusseldorf, Federal Republic of Germany, to examine many of the major technological developments that are shaping the future of metalcasting, as well as to explore what these developments bring with them.

More than 30 technical presentations comprised the program of the 56th World Foundry Congress, which was organized by the International Committee of Foundry Technical Associations (CIATF). In addition to the formal presentations, this year's meeting also featured a special technical forum on surface quality and dimensional accuracy of castings. This panel discussion was presented by eight speakers. All paper titles and authors are given at the end of this article.

Along with the technical program, CIATF elected its new officers and representatives for the coming year. George N. Booth from the United States was elected president and R. Jordan of Great Britain was named vice president. New representatives include: K. Rusin, Czechoslovakia; Y. Zhou, China; and S. Commissariat, India.

Health and Safety

Increasingly, the health and safety of foundry workers and the environmental impact of the metalcasting process have become international concerns. This subject was featured in several of the papers presented in Dusseldorf.

One was the official U.S. exchange paper given by J. Archibald and D. Warren, Ashland Chemical Co. Titled "Productivity and Ecology Considerations of Gas-Cured Binder Systems," the paper notes that while "Casting quality is the most important consideration when selecting a specific binder system," it also acknowledged that environmental aspects "play a major role in the selection process."

And, although environmental considerations are many and complex, they can be broken down into two categories. The first is the internal environment, requiring an understanding of employee exposures and control technology. The second is the effect potential foundry emissions have on the surrounding community. Potential external environmental issues include air emissions, disposal of waste foundry sands and wastewater considerations.

The authors looked at and compared four coldbox binder systems: the Ashland Process, FRC Process, [SO.sub.2] Process and the Phenolic-Ester Process. They concluded that "All chemical binder systems can present potential health hazards from prolonged or repeated inhalation overexposures. Harmful exposures also can occur through skin contact and possible absorptions of components of the unreacted binder.

"Fortunately," they added, "these exposures can be eliminated by the proper use of personal protective equipment. This includes chemical resistant gloves and sleeves. Employees also are encouraged to wear aprons to prevent saturation of clothing. Gloves made of cotton, leather or other potentially absorptive materials should not be used."

In terms of external environmental considerations, the authors pointed out that air emissions during core and mold production from each of the four binder systems can be controlled with scrubbers. Regarding disposal, the major problem with all four systems, as with most other wastes, is the declining availability of secured landfills.

Phenol is another emission that can result from the use of gas-cured binder systems. But the authors pointed out that tests of each of the binder systems showed phenol levels in leachates to be less than five milligrams per liter. "This is within most proposed or existing guidelines for phenol leachate," according to the authors.

The exchange paper from Sweden also addressed the health and safety area of foundry operations. In this case, authors L. Ronnfors and I. Svensson, Svenska Gjuteriforeningen, examined health problems resulting from vibration and methods to reduce worker exposure. According to the Swedish researchers, "In the foundry industry, the problem is worse in the fettling [cleaning] shops where various hand grinders and pneumatic chipping hammers are used."

Exposure to vibration can produce both short-term discomfort and permanent damage. Some of the short-term effects include: numbness in hands and arms; pain in arm muscles and joints; a general feeling of fatigue with headache, dizziness and nausea; and psychological troubles, such as irritation and anxiety.

Long-term exposure to vibration, according to the researchers, can lead to such permanent damages as: peripheral circulatory disorders; peripheral nerve damage; damage to bones, joints, muscles, tendons and the central nervous system; and general circulatory disorders.

They then went on to describe a variety of methods that have been developed to address the health problems associated with vibratory equipment. One example is mechanized fin cutting in which flash, feeders and gates are sheared off in a hydraulic press. Another is the use of robots for grinding and finishing. Much work also has been done in the area of damping devices for vibrating tools, they reported.

"The most effective way of solving the vibration problem is to take preventive measures during all stages of the manufacturing process, so as to reduce or eliminate operations which cause vibrations," said the authors.

Computer Technology

Perhaps more than any other single technology available today, computers are the most significant tool in enhancing the metalcasting process. Particularly in the areas of modeling and casting feeding systems, computers are opening up doors for foundrymen worldwide. This was evident in several of the presentations during the 56th World Foundry Congress.

A. Louvo and P. Kalavainen, Technical Research Centre of Finland, introduced a method for using solidification simulation to design feeding systems for ductile iron castings. In their pressure controlled feeding system, the casting is divided into smaller segments, by which the modulus can be calculated by the computer program.

According to the authors, "The modulus is calculated either by using the geometric modulus method or by utilizing solidification times for different casting sections obtained by solidification simulation and the so-called reference modulus. According to the modulus and volume calculated for the different sections of the casting, the location(s) and dimensions of the riser(s) are chosen."

The program developed by the Finnish researchers runs on Apple's Macintosh computers and uses features like a mouse, pull-down menus and both the dialog and other types of windows. All information entered can be stored in the computer's memory and can be upgraded easily.

Another development in the use of computers for foundries was described by B. Ravi and M. N. Srinivasan, Indian Institute of Science. Like the Finnish work, the Indian research involves the designing of feeding systems for metal castings using a graphic method, called the ray technique.

Specifically, the program determines the last points in a casting to solidify, thus helping the casting designer avoid shrinks or hot spots. Algorithms for determining the location of hot spots and the computation of the modulus have been used and successfully tested. The program is designed to run on a microcomputer.

The development and use of expert systems, specifically for casting defect analysis, was the topic of H. Md. Roshan and H. Sudesh from the Indian Institute of Technology. The authors described expert systems as "computer programs which solve problems in specific areas of science and engineering by virtue of the logical information stored in them."

In its simplest form, an expert program tries to match facts with which it is supplied, to possible symptoms or conditions that it knows about, said the researchers. The program then uses such evidence to either recommend or take a course of action. The authors concluded that in addition to defect analysis, expert systems hold good potential for a wide variety of other uses in foundry operations.

PHOTO : CIATF president, Maurice Grandpierre (France), welcomed the nearly 1100 attendees of the

PHOTO : 56th World Foundry Congress held May 19-23 in Dusseldorf.

PHOTO : George N. Booth (r) is congratulated by Maurice Grandpierre, immediate past president of

PHOTO : the CIATF, on being elected the new president of the organization.

David P. Kanicki Publisher/Editor