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Large functionally integrated casting and electrification are rapidly changing the high-pressure die-casting industry. The requirements for these new castings differ from those of the previous ones. Load-bearing capability, fatigue, ductility, and crashworthiness all increase, and the foundry’s readiness for this varies and is challenging. At the same time, the carbon footprint needs to be reduced, meaning that recycled, secondary aluminium usage is required, making the challenge of attaining the required component performance significantly more difficult. The current paper examined the conditions and requirements to manage and reach the required targets, both from a material standpoint as well as from a climate impact and resource-efficiency perspective.

Forming complex geometries using the casting process is a big challenge for bulk metallic glasses (BMGs), because of a lack of time of the window for shaping under the required high cooling rate. In this work, we open an approach named the “entire process vacuum high pressure die casting” (EPV-HPDC), which delivers the ability to fill die with molten metal in milliseconds, and create solidification under high pressure. Based on this process, various Zr-based BMGs were prepared by using industrial grade raw material. The results indicate that the EPV-HPDC process is feasible to produce a glassy structure for most Zr-based BMGs, with a size of 3 mm × 10 mm and with a high strength. In addition, it has been found that EPV-HPDC process allows complex industrial BMG parts, some of which are hard to be formed by any other metal processes, to be net shaped precisely. The BMG components prepared by the EVP-HPDC process possess the advantages of dimensional accuracy, efficiency, and cost compared with the ones formed by other methods. The EVP-HPDC process paves the way for the large-scale application of BMGs.

This paper presents the effect of hot-chamber HPDC (high-pressure die casting) process parameters on the porosity, mechanical properties, and microstructure of AM60 magnesium alloy. To reduce costs, a Taguchi design of the experimental method was used to optimise the HPDC process. Six parameters set at two levels were selected for optimisation, i.e., piston speed in the first phase, piston speed in the second phase, molten metal temperature, piston travel, mould temperature, and die-casting pressure (the pressure under the piston). Signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios were used to quantify the present variations. The significance of the influence of the HPDC parameters was assessed using statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results showed that the die-casting pressure had the most significant influence on the porosity of the AM60 alloy. Moreover, piston speed in the first phase, second phase, and die-casting pressure had the most important effects on tensile strength. It is well known that porosity determines the mechanical properties of die castings; however, in AM60 alloy, changes in the HPDC parameters also contribute to microstructural changes, mainly through the formation of Externally Solidified Crystals.

This article presents studies on the effect of Sr and TiB on the crystallization process, mechanical properties, hardness, and density index of the Al-Si alloy from the EN AC-46000 group, with a narrowed chemical composition, produced by die-casting and HPDC (high-pressure die casting) technology. The research used the Box–Wilson method to design the experiment and stepwise multiple regression. To identify the optimal amount of Sr and Ti in the analyzed alloy that would simultaneously guarantee the maximization of UTS, YS, Agt, and HBW and the minimization of the DI (density index), multi-criteria optimization was performed. The modifiers were added to the liquid alloy as AlSr10 and AlTi5B1 master alloys. It was found that for 0.02–0.04 wt.% Sr and 0.05–0.08 wt.% Ti in the die castings, the highest mechanical properties, such as UTS, YS, Agt, and HBW (treated as stimulants in the experiment), can be obtained simultaneously with the lowest alloy gasification identified by DI (treated as a destimulant in the experiment). It was also confirmed that the same amount of the above-mentioned elements in HPDC castings caused an increase in UTS by approx. 14%, YS by approx. 6%, A by approx. 47%, and HBW by approx. 13%, with a relatively small increase in DI by approx. 5% compared to the unmodified alloy.

High pressure die casting (HPDC) of aluminum alloys is increasingly used for thin-walled and lightweight components in automotive and other industries. However, a major concern associated with these castings is gas porosity mostly attributed to air entrapment during the filling process of the high-speed metal injection in HPDC. One approach to reduce gas porosity is to use a vacuum to remove air from the die cavity during the filling process and improve the mechanical properties of the HPDC components. However, quantitative effect of vacuum on porosity formation and fluid flow during die casting has not been sufficiently established to maximize the benefits of vacuum use in the die casting industry. In this paper, water analog experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of vacuum on die cavity fill and porosity formation. The results were compared to MAGMASOFT® flow simulations and X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) scans of HPDC aluminum alloy castings to quantify the reduction of entrapped air and gas porosity at different levels of vacuum. The water analog experiments and simulations show good agreement and demonstrated quantitative benefits of using vacuum in high pressure die casting.

Although numerical simulation accuracy makes progress rapidly, it is in an insufficient phase because of complicated phenomena of the filling process and difficulty of experimental verification in high pressure die casting (HPDC), especially in thin-wall complex die-castings. Therefore, in this paper, a flow visualization experiment is conducted, and the porosity at different locations is predicted under three different fast shot velocities. The differences in flow pattern between the actual filling process and the numerical simulation are compared. It shows that the flow visualization experiment can directly observe the actual and real-time filling process and could be an effective experimental verification method for the accuracy of the flow simulation model in HPDC. Moreover, significant differences start to appear in the flow pattern between the actual experiment and the Anycasting solution after the fragment or atomization formation. Finally, the fast shot velocity would determine the position at which the back flow meets the incoming flow. The junction of two streams of fluid would create more porosity than the other location. There is a transition in flow patterns due to drag crisis under high fast shot velocity around two staggered cylinders, which resulted in the porosity relationship also changing from R1 < R3 < R2 (0.88 m/s) to R1 < R2 < R3 (1.59 and 2.34 m/s).

In recent years, Non-Heat Treatable High Pressure Die Casting Al alloys (NHT-HPDC Al alloys) have been proposed and developed for integrated die casting in the automotive industry. These alloys exhibit excellent castability and can achieve sufficient mechanical properties without the need for heat treatment. Despite their industrial significance, there is a lack of an updated and comprehensive description of such alloys. The insufficient availability of literature and the absence of a systematic design mentality have hindered their development. Therefore, this study reviews several aspects of NHT-HPDC Al alloys. Firstly, the NHT-HPDC Al alloys are divided into Al-Si, Al-Mg-Si and Al-Fe-Mg alloys, with the NHT-HPDC Al-Si alloys being the mainstream. The solidification behaviors of NHT-HPDC Al-Si-(Cu)-(Mg) alloys are discussed using phase diagram analyses. Secondly, the manipulation of critical phases is discussed, including: (i) impurity phase: Fe-rich phase (the neutralization treatment); (ii) strengthening phases: Eutectic Si phase (the modification treatment)/main alloying elements regulating phases/trace alloying elements regulating phases/ceramic particles. Thirdly, the typical three regions of NHT-HPDC Al-Si components and their formation mechanisms are identified and reviewed. Then, the influence of vacuum assistance and intensification pressure to the general quality of NHT-HPDC Al-Si components is comprehensively discussed. Finally, future challenges for NHT-HPDC Al-Si alloys are also proposed.

The paper reports an experimental study of die-casting dies with conformal cooling fabricated by direct-metal additive techniques. The main objective is to compare the benefits and limitations of the application to what has been widely discussed in literature in the context of plastics injection molding. Selective laser melting was used to fabricate an impression block with conformal cooling channels designed according to part geometry with the aid of process simulation. The tool was used in the manufacture of sample batches of zinc alloy castings after being fitted on an existing die in place of a machined impression block with conventional straight-line cooling channels. Different combinations of process parameters were tested to exploit the improved performance of the cooling system. Test results show that conformal cooling improves the surface finish of castings due to a reduced need of spray cooling, which is allowed by a higher and more uniform cooling rate. Secondary benefits include reduction of cycle time and shrinkage porosity.

This industrial research focuses on the implementation and development of a productive process for an automotive structural component (Shock tower) manufactured by a high-pressure die casting (HPDC) process made of aluminum alloy AuralTM-5. This aluminum alloy has been considered in diverse automotive and aerospace components that do not require heat treatment due to its mechanical properties as cast material (F temper). On the other hand, AuralTM-5 has been designed for processing as HPDC because it is an alloy with good fluidity, making it ideal for large castings with thin-wall thicknesses, like safety structural components such as rails, supports, rocker panels, suspension crossmembers, and shock towers. The mechanical properties that were evaluated for the evaluated components were yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, and elongation. Eight samples were taken from different areas of each produced shock tower for evaluating and verifying the homogeneity of each casting. The samples were evaluated from the first hours after they were manufactured by casting until eight weeks after being produced. This was performed to understand the behavior of the alloy during its natural aging process. Two groups of samples were obtained. One set of components was heat-treated by a water quench process after the castings’ extraction and the other set of components was not quenched. Results demonstrated that both sets of components, quenched and not quenched, achieved the expected values for the AuralTM-5 of yield strength ≥ 110 MPa, ultimate tensile strength ≥ 240 MPa, and elongation ≥ 8%. Additionally, this is very important for industry since by not treating the structural components by quenching, there are savings in terms of infrastructure and energy consumption, together with benefits in the environmental aspect by avoiding CO2 emissions and being sustainable.

This study addresses a critical issue in mass-producing gearbox housing MQ200GA at Škoda Auto a.s. The combination of SW ProCAST simulations and metal 3D printing (laser powder bed fusion—L-PBF) overcomes challenges posed by full mold printing. Instead, the authors adapt the conformal cooling design, introducing specific channel paths in 3D printed inserts. Exploring conformal cooling (CC) and conformal cooling channels (CCC), the study focuses on stabilizing the temperature field, optimizing heat exchange, and improving part quality. Real production implementation successfully eliminates shrinkage porosity, demonstrated in a test series of 8 000 castings. Challenges with the unregulated cooling circuit temperature are acknowledged, along with a close correlation between simulations and real-world measurements. The feasibility of 3D-printed inserts in molds is confirmed in active production, producing over 43 000 castings. This experiment showcases the benefits of metal 3D printing in high-pressure die casting (HPDC). Despite challenges, the authors successfully modified serial tools for aluminum HPDC, deploying test 3D-printed inserts with CC directly into real production. This risk pays off, providing valuable insights for researchers and industry experts considering a similar approach.