Injection casting

The author wishes to express his thanks to Dr. P. Geittner (Philips Forschungslabor Aachen) for the fruitful discussions on centrifugal (injection) casting. 

A new plastic forming process has been developed, injection casting, in which clay ceramic pastes are injected into the mold and further compressed by closing the slightly opened tool. This process can also be used for manufacturing nonrotationally symmetric articles. 

Injection casting enables the manufacture of nonrotationally symmetric articles... 

The solid (U,Pu)2Zni7 intermetallic compound, containing FP-3 and selective FP-4 fission products for proliferation resistance is vacuum distilled to remove the zinc, which is recycled. The uranium/plutonium concentrate is injection cast into rods suitable as feed to the refabrication process. 

Figure 5.34 Example of a more accurate mixing of components for liquid injection casting via a moving wedge technique...

For Direct Toolii the polymerized parts are used as simple tools and tool inserts for low-volume injection casting. 3D Systems introduced the so-called ACES Injection Molding process, AIM (where ACES is a proprietary build style). Except for very soft materials, the molds cannot be used for series production. 

Figure 36 I. Processing by casting and compressing (schematic) 1, Molding or casting 11, laminating 111, compression molding (or cavity molding) IV, direct injection molding (or injection casting).

Figure 36-2. Processing by roller coating or coating, (a) coating by roller, (b) roller coating with imprinting roller, (c) coating by doctor roller, (d) coating by spray coating (can also be called injection casting).

For spray-coating, the viscosity should be less than 7 Pa s. The latices, plastisols, or solutions should have little or no dilatancy. One can describe this as injection casting. 

Figure 12.1. Processing via the viscous state (schematic). (I) Molding or casting, (II) laminating, (III) compression molding (cavity molding), (IV) direct injection molding or injection casting.

For metal fuel fabrication, the actinide metals are alloyed in an injection casting furnace that melts, mixes the alloy and injects the molten metal into quartz molds. After quick cooling, the quartz mold is removed from the metal pin, which is cut to length and undergoes quality assurance measurements. These pins are placed into new fuel cladding that contains a small amount of metallic sodium, which provides a thermal bond in early irradiation in the nuclear reactor. These fuel elements are welded closed and are ready for the reactor. Recent research in this area has focused on modifying the process to minimize the volatization of americium, which is a key component in U/TRU recovered for fast reactors and has a high vapor pressure. 

A closed U-Pu fuel cycle is adopted for the MDP. A pyro-reprocessing for the spent nuclear fuel and an injection casting for fuel fabrication are to be adopted for the MDP. 

Table 5.1 Mg-based alloys with high glass-forming ability prepared by Cu mould injection casting (maximum sample thickness, thermal data from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) 20K/min, mechanical properties, publication year)... 

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