Establishing precedent for large ferrous lost foam casting.During the last 25 years of lost foam casting development, automotive demands for weight reduction have driven aluminum applications to dominate the process and product activity. However, several applications exist where ferrous ferrous (fĕr`əs), iron in the +2 valence state. Containing or having to do with iron. The difference between ferrous and ferric is the number of valence electrons they contain (ferrous contains two and ferric contains three), which lost foam applications would be beneficial, and the product niches and benefits of ferrous lost foam castings are becoming more defined and recognized. An example is a recent casting project performed by Vulcan Engineering Co., Helena, Ala ALA aminolevulinic acid. Ala alanine. ala (a´lah) pl. a´lae [L.] a winglike process. ., that entailed the production of a ferrous diesel engine block using the lost foam casting process. The project began with a four-cylinder prototype diesel engine block cast in lost foam by one of Vulcan's customers. The design was unique in that the major foam split lines were vertical with an individual foam developing each bore jacket, bulkhead, main bearing and pan rail (Fig. 1). The four cylinder bores were formed by single twin-designed foam. A closed deck face foam covers the bore/jacket subassembly sub·as·sem·bly n. pl. sub·as·sem·blies An assembled unit forming a component to be incorporated into a larger assembly. and the foam cylinder block assembly is completed with two end foam sections. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Vulcan wanted to pursue an idea to expand the size and scope of this effort, so it took several of the foam pattern segments to Vulcan Engineering, where, with the help of Citation Citation (foaled 1945) U.S. Thoroughbred racehorse. In four seasons he won 32 of 45 races, finished second in ten, and third in two. He won the 1948 Triple Crown, and became the first horse to win $1 million. He set a world record in 1950 by running a mile in 1:33 3/5. Foam, Columbiana, Ala., it glue assembled eight-cylinder segments and two end segments to create an eight-cylinder block foam replica Earlier document exchange software from Farallon Communications, Inc. that converted a Windows or Mac document into a proprietary viewing format. The viewer could be distributed separately or embedded within the document itself, turning it into a single-document viewer. . Citation engineers then gated, coated and cast the foam replica in their production system (Fig. 2). [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] The second casting effort delivered a functional in-line eight-cylinder four-stroke iron diesel cylinder block (Fig. 3). [FIGURE 3 OMITTED] Although strictly a research and development exercise, Vulcan wanted to prove that large, complex ferrous castings demanding automotive tolerancing and quality could have future production feasibility. The only foreseeable fore·see tr.v. fore·saw , fore·seen , fore·see·ing, fore·sees To see or know beforehand: foresaw the rapid increase in unemployment. restriction on size would be the available flask flask (flask) 1. a laboratory vessel, usually of glass and with a constricted neck. 2. a metal case in which materials used in making artificial dentures are placed for processing. . This test effort was performed on a 44 x 44 x 60-in. (111.8 x 111.8 x 152.4-cm.) system. Select No. 002 at www.moderncasting.com/info [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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