Casting metals aluminum castings

Uses. Alkah metal and ammonium fluoroborates are used mainly for the high temperature fluxing action required by the metals processing industries (see Metal surface treatments Welding). The tendency toward BF dissociation at elevated temperatures inhibits oxidation in magnesium casting and aluminum alloy heat treatment. 

Prior to its addition to the aluminum casting alloys, the strontium metal is usually alloyed into the form of a master alloy. These master alloys are typically 10% Sr—90% A1 or 90% Sr—10% Al, and improve the dissolution and handling characteristics of strontium in the foundry. 

The metal casting industry conventionally divides casting products into ferrous and nonferrous metals, in particular, iron-based, steel-based, aluminum-based, and copper-based castings. The other castings of low fractions include magnesium, lead, zinc, and their alloys. In the U.S., the foundry industry currently produces 11 million tons of metal product per year, with a shipment value of 19 billion. Of them, iron and steel accounted for 84% of metals cast.5 The remaining 15% of foundry operations are concerned with aluminum, copper, zinc, and lead production. Table 4.2 summarizes critical physical and thermal properties of aluminum, iron/steel, and cast iron. 

The next scene of the aluminum drama is laid in the United States. Henri Sainte-Claire Deville s process had made the metal a commercial product, but it was still expensive. Charles Martin Hall, a student at Oberlin College, inspired by the accounts which Professor F. F. Jewett had given of his studies under Wohler, decided that his supreme aim in life would be to devise a cheap method for making aluminum. In an improvised laboratory in the woodshed, and with homemade batteries, he struggled with this problem. On February 23,1886, this boy of twenty-one years rushed into his professors office and held out to him a handful of aluminum buttons. Since these buttons led to a highly successful electrolytic process for manufacturing aluminum, it is small wonder that the Aluminum Company of America now treasures them and refers to them affectionately as the crown jewels A beautiful statue of the youthful Charles M. Hall, cast in aluminum, may now he seen at Oberlin College (11, 55). 

Commercial tert.-butyl alcohol dried over calcium oxide is suitable for this preparation. Aluminum isopropoxide or ethoxide 2 may be used in place of the aluminum /er/.-butoxide to remove traces of water. The grade of metal known as fast cutting rods has proved most satisfactory. The checkers used turnings made from aluminum cast from melted-down kitchen utensils. Aluminum ferf.-butoxide has also been prepared successfully in another laboratory from commercially pure aluminum (2S) and from rods of the alloy 17ST (communication from L. F. Fieser). The checkers were able to obtain considerably higher yields of the butoxide from pure aluminum than from a copper-bearing alloy. 

The casting alloy products comprise sand castings, permanent mold castings, and die castings. Aluminum is the basic raw material for more than 20,000 businesses in the United States. Aluminum is an indispensable metal for aircraft, for example. See Fig. 3. Representative aluminum alloys for a broad classification of uses is given in Table 1. 

Meial Mairix Composites. Silicon carbide particles are contributing to easy-to-cast metal-matrix composites (MMCs). When compared with their non-reinforced counterparts, the SiCp/Al components are more wear resistant, stiffer, and stronger, accompanied by improved thermal stability. Additional advantages include lower density and lower cost. Nearly all prior aluminum MMCs required labor-intensive methods, such as powder metallurgy, diffusion bonding, squeeze casting, or thermal spraying. 

It will also be possible by relatively minor piping changes to convert the forward-feed evaporator to backward feed, which might be more favorable if the calcium sulfate scale problem can be solved. Except for tubes, pump shaft sleeves, impellers, etc., the plant will be built exclusively of steel and cast iron. Tube materials will be evaluated by tubing different evaporator effects and heat exchangers with steel, admiralty metal, aluminum brass, and 90/10 cupronickel. The copper alloy tubes will be used exclusively in the final condenser and in the few heat exchangers that are in contact with nondeaerated sea water. 

Dispensers for gasoline and diesel fuel typically use steel, cast iron, aluminum, brass, bronze, and sometimes stainless steel components. Of these, only the steel, cast iron, and stainless steel components are compatible with methanol. The other parts will need to be nickel-plated or substitutes made from a compatible metal. Gasboy, Tokheim, and Wayne-Dresser have produced methanol-compatible versions of their gasoline dispensers. 

The principal method used in producing aluminum metal involves three major steps refining of bauxite by the Bayer process to produce alumina, electrolytic reduction of alumina by the Hall-Heroult process to produce aluminum, and casting of aluminum into ingots (Browning 1969 Dinman 1983 IARC 1984). 

Extensive work has been devoted to aluminum electroplating in nonaqueous systems. Choosing appropriate bath compositions enables aluminum to be deposited at high efficiency and purity from nonaqueous electrolyte solutions. Comprehensive reviews on this matter have appeared recently in the literature [123,455], This work has led to the development of a number of commercial processes for nonaqueous electroplating of aluminum. The quality of the electroplated aluminum is very similar to that of cast metal. For instance, electrodeposited aluminum can be further anodized in order to obtain hard, corrosion resistive, electrically insulating surfaces. It is also possible to electroplate A1 on a wide variety of metal surfaces, including active metals (e.g., Mg, Al), nonactive metals, and steel. 

Since the in-mold pressures in RIM are generally relatively low [50 to 150 psi (0.4 to 1.1 MPa)] a variety of tooling constructions have been used. These include machined steel or aluminum, cast aluminum or kirksite, sprayed metal or electroplated shells, and reinforced or aluminum filled epoxy (Chapter 17). With mold pressures usually below 100 psi (0.7 MPa), mold-clamp-pressure requirements can accordingly be low when compared to injection and compression molding. 

Use Sand casting of aluminum and magnesium, electrochemical processes, oxidation inhibitor, fluxes for nonferrous metals, fluorinating agent. 

The studies on the ultrasonic degassing of aluminum and its alloys melts [3—5, 48,49,52] show that the significant decrease in the content of hydrogen and oxides in the melt substantially influences basic physico-mechanical properties of the as-cast metal. 

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