Now that we know that we can find castings in every part of our daily life, let’s delve into this technology. How are these components made? What are the processes that concern them?
Foundries produce metal products (called casts or castings) of well-defined shapes, sizes and chemical-physical characteristics through a simple and efficient production process.
In a foundry, the molten metal (consisting of ferrous or non-ferrous alloys) is poured directly into sand molds or metal molds (usually steel) which reproduce the geometry of the piece to be made, within which the metal solidifies. The materials used to make the various parts of the mold are always metals with higher melting points than the injected material, such as aluminum. Once cooled, the cast is extracted from the pattern or mold and subjected to finishing operations.
The injection pressure of the molten material may vary depending on the weight of the piece to be obtained, but also the type of melting material used. It is important that the pressure is kept constant throughout the melting process until the part solidifies. In the meantime, hydraulic presses ensure perfect and complete mold closure: once the piece has solidified, the presses allow the two semi-molds to open so that the cast part can be extracte.
The casts can be supplied to the customer raw, as if they have just come out of the foundry process, or machined.