Once-struggling PSU metalcasting program turns corner, regains foothold.

Fewer than 10 years ago, the metalcasting program at Penn State Univ. (PSU), the U.S.'s largest engineering university, was scaled back to almost a skeleton, and dangerously near closing--like so many foundries at that time. Today, under the direction of Bob Voigt and thanks to support from graduates and a renewed support from PSU administration, the metal casting program has returned to solid ground. In addition, it will move to an unparalleled new facility in 1998.

Cast metals has had a presence at PSU since 1883, and was built up to one of the nation's strongest programs by Foundry Educational Foundation (FEF) Key Professor Al Draper, who served at the school from 1957-1987. According to PSU, the program, which since World War 11 has had two metalcasting faculty members, has supplied more engineers to the foundry industry than any other U.S. university. According to Voigt, Draper was "a pioneer in university research before it became fashionable, one of only a handful of professors conducting extensive research in the 1960s." He also worked with foundrymen to find practical solutions to their problems, primarily in the areas of cupola operation, foundry sands and sand binders.

With Draper's death in '87, however, the program he built struggled in limbo. Although the metalcasting curriculum continued, the program was without a metalcasting professor. In 1990, the university's dilapidated foundry building was razed, and the metalcasting lab was soon shuffled amidst other labs.

"The program's activities and research were being deemphasized, and metalcasting was in danger of being severely reduced," said Voigt. "That's often the kiss of death; it then becomes easy to take the next step--shutting the the program's doors."

However, an advisory committee consisting of PSU grads and the FEF rallied to keep metalcasting on the minds of PSU administrators, and Voigt was hired from the Univ. of Kansas in '90 to revamp the program. "Without the guidance of the committee, the program might have been dropped," Voigt said. "They refused to let it be pushed aside."

Today, the program has been brought back to full service, notes Voigt, and he and his staff are building on the school's historical legacy of "complete" education and research. PSU's educational program, said Voigt, focuses on casting laboratory experience and providing students experience through industry internships.

Unlike other schools where metalcasting is part of material science departments, PSU's program is unique in that it is located within the Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Dept. Voigt said PSU's graduating manufacturing engineers enter industry grounded in production engineering, quality control and quality systems, systems integration, and ergonomics, as well as metalcasting. "Rather than focusing on material specifics, they earn an education that is geared toward getting castings out the door," he said.

The program is one of the few with its own full-time technician (with 25 years foundry experience). Also, a total of 400 students participate in the foundry program per year.

As for research, some recent projects include: dimensional control of steel castings (Steel Founders' Society of America, U.S. Dept. of Energy); dimensional repeatability of castings (American Metalcasting Consortium participants, Defense Logistics Agency); environmental issues (40 Pennsylvania foundries); ADI Ausrolled Gears (Ford); investment casting (CMI Investment); and machinability of ductile irons (Wells Manufacturing).

Another of Voigt's initiatives was putting the program back in touch with foundries. For instance, PSU assisted in new training at nearby Belleville Casting Corp., which hired 80 "green" employees after it changed ownership in '93. Over a 10-week period, Voigt taught night classes in foundry technology, including on-the-floor instruction.

With its renewed relationship with administration, PSU's metalcasting program was given a significant shot in the arm in '94, when it received word that it was to be included in the new "Teaching Factory," to be completed in the summer of '98.

The facility is a revolutionary 98,000 sq ft building that will integrate manufacturing and materials labs that are now located separately. It is arranged similar to a factory, with casting and molding (casting will occupy 20% of the floor space) at one end and finishing, machining and assembling at the other. Space will be also devoted to robotics, automation and flexible manufacturing.

The new facility is designed to train students in a real-life setting, as they machine parts, make molds, pour metal, transfer product, download programs from off-site computers and track inventories--learning how to work effectively in a factory. "This facility will make manufacturing education come alive," said Voigt. "It will be a realistic setting for students, and will highlight metalcasting as an important manufacturing alternative."

Key areas of the metalcasting plant will include patternmaking and tooling (rapid prototyping); molten metal lab (coreless induction furnaces); green sand system (muller, sand delivery and testing equipment); molding and casting lab (green sand and nobake, coremaking, lost foam and permanent mold); finishing room; analytical lab (destructive and nondestructive testing, cooling curve analysis, spectrometer, and x-ray and sonic inspection equipment); and process simulation lab (gating design and solidification software).

A fund-raising drive is underway to raise the $1.6 million in cash and equipment that the department needs to develop its teaching and research facility. For more information, contact PSU Metal Casting at 814/863-2378.