Applications of the horizontal squeeze casting process for automotive parts manufacturing

Abstract

In recent years, the Horizontal Vertical Squeeze Casting (HVSC) process has been used with different aluminium alloys to fabricate high integrity automotive parts. In this study, the Horizontal Squeeze Casting (HSC) process is adopted to cast automotive parts using ADC 12 aluminium alloy. To minimize amount of gas porosity inside the squeeze casts, concepts of minimization of ingate velocity and maximization of flow rate along with bottom filling pattern are applied during the cavity filling. The maximum intensification pressure is also applied during solidification in order to ensure the higher cooling rate and minimization of porosities. Based on the experiment, castings can pass a blister test at 490 degree Celsius for 2.5 hours. Then, castings are heat treated by solution treatment at 484 °C for 20 minutes and artificial age at 190 °C for 2.5 hours, respectively. This improves UTS of the heat treated squeeze cast to 254.14 MPa with 1.84% of elongation.