As more and more magnesium metal is used and recycled, particularly for safety-sensitive components, the maintenance of metal cleanless remains of critical importance. The term 'metal quality' may be defined as 1) chemical composition, 2) inclusions and porosity inside the metal, 3) the surface appearance and 4) consistency. How a supplier complies with the customers expectations on these four issues is imortant for the relationship between the customer and the supplier. The customer may correlate the first impression of the ingot delivery with the quality of the producer, but this may not always be correct, and of minor importance. Dross formation in the die casting furnaces is strongly influenced by the surface of ingots. Despite having an excellent appearance, new metal sources may represent unwanted and unforeseen challenges in die caster operations, creating a need for increased quality consciousness on ingot purchase, and supplier qualification. There seems to be no clear corelation between metal cleanliness and dross formation (metal loss). Measurements of quality are traditionally based on a narrow selection of sample material, for instance ingot samples or disk samples. The HMIAM method provides rapid and reliable measurements of metal cleanliness from the molten metal in the die casting furnace, bringing the metal quality evaluation one step closer to the actual die cast part. However, the only 100 % test is melting and processing in the casting shop. Small quality differences can accumulate to give large and unwanted problems over time. Molten metal handling and furnace housekeeping is crucial both with respect of metal cleanliness. In the furnaces which is vital for the performance of the cast parts, and on the up-time of operation; the latter being crucial for the operating cost. If the metal quality is inferior, housekeeping may become notoriously difficult. After all, the die casters business is to cast parts, not to clean up furnaces.
Metal quality - the effects on die casters and end users
Metallqualität - der Einfluß von Druckgießern und Endverbrauchern
2002
7 Seiten, 4 Bilder, 21 Quellen
Conference paper
English
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