cfn 12.2009 neuer:layout 1 · the aerospace and defence in-dustry, with a further 100 acres...
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CFNCastings and Forgings News
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Dec
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09 C O N T E N T S
☞ See page 12
Global news 2In the spotlight 3Market Outlook 4Technology round-up 5
Global correspondents 6Quality Control 7Magnesium 8 Show preview 9 Calendar & Appointments 10Country focus: India 11
Case Study 12
News 13
Organisations 14
Retrospect 15
Did you know that? 16
Case Study:Schmolz + BickenbachCasting Group discuss highperformance measurementtechnology
Schmidt + Clemens Group
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Ladle FurnaceCommissioningMechel commissions an inte-grated steel processing facil-ity (ladle furnace) # 3 that isthe second technological partof the continuous casting ma-chine No.4 complex project atthe oxygen-converter shop ofits Chelyabinsk MetallurgicalPlant (CMP) OAO subsidiary.The ladle furnace #3 isplanned to process about 1.2million tonnes of steel peryear that would enable im-proved continuous caster effi-ciency at the continuouscasting machine No.4 in theoxygen-converter shop up to120 thousand tonnes per year.Investments for constructionand commissioning of theladle furnace #3 amounted to1.05 billion roubles.
Extrusion ToolingSubsidiarySchmidt + Clemens GmbHhas established its new sub-sidiary S+C Extrusion ToolingSolutions GmbH (ETS). “Wedeliberately chose the Englishcompany name,” says Dr.Henning Kreisel, “ETS is op-erating internationally and wetherefore favoured a widely-used language”. ETS belongsto the Schmidt + ClemensGroup and is headquartered inKaiserau – Lindlar, Germany.In addition to the Germanheadquarters, S+C also hasproduction plants in Brazil,the United Kingdom,Malaysia, Spain, and theCzech Republic. S+C SalesOffices can be found in theUSA, India, and the UnitedArab Emirates. The Schmidt +Clemens Group employs ap-prox. 1,000 people worldwide(Germany approx. 600).
NADCAP certificationAerocast Inc. announced thatits wholly owned subsidiary,Aerocast International Inc.,received NADCAP certifica-tion for optical emission spec-troscopy (OES), a referencetechnique for direct analysisof solid metallic samples. Ae-rocast uses OES to test metalsamples prior to pouring cast-ings. NADCAP — the Na-tional Aerospace and DefenseContractors AccreditationProgram — is a global coop-erative that sets quality andperformances standards foraerospace engineering, de-fense, and related industries.
Technology cooperation for theC919 passenger jet
Alcoa and CommercialAircraft Corporation ofChina Ltd. (COMAC) an-nounced they are jointlyexploring leading technol-ogy solutions for the designand development ofChina’s new, large passen-ger jet, the C919. Througha technology cooperationagreement, the two compa-nies are examining ad-vanced aluminiumstructural concepts, designsand alloys to create the190-seat aircraft.
“We are workingclosely with COMAC todevelop a tailored solutionthat will meet COMAC’sgoal of creating a globallycompetitive, high-perfor-mance, economical com-mercial airliner,” saidHelmut Wieser, Alcoa Ex-ecutive Vice-President andGroup President GlobalRolled Products and Asia.The aircraft will be assem-bled in Shanghai, but willsource parts and compo-nents globally.
“The C919 will be thelargest passenger jet to beproduced in China. Ourgoal is to design an effi-cient, high-performancestructure that will competein the global aerospacemarket. Therefore, it is im-perative that we look atdesign alternatives andcollaborate with innova-tive materials technologyleaders like Alcoa,” saidWu Guanghui, chief de-signer of the C919 pro-
gram and vice president ofCOMAC.
A prototype of theC919 was displayed at theAsian Aerospace Interna-tional Expo and Congressin Hong Kong last month.There is strong market in-terest for this aircraftbased on China’s expectedlong term growth in globalpassenger traffic demand.The C919 is expected totake its first flight in 2014and enter service in 2016.
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In the spotlight:
PTC IndustriesPTC Industries has nowbroken the weight barrierin ceramic shell castings.It utilizes an innovativeand unique technology, en-abling production of partsweighing up to 2500 kg,which offers all the bene-fits of investment castingsand vacuum pouring,moreover reducing totalcosts up to 50%.
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L&T CastingMfg UnitLarson & Toubro (L&T) in-augurated a state of the artCasting Manufacturing Unit(CUM) at its Coimbatore(Tamil Nadu, India) com-plex. The CMU will manu-facture large size castingsfor critical applications suchas wind power and energysectors. The foundry willhave a top capacity of30,000 tonnes per annumand is capable of continuousproduction of castings in theweighing between 10 and25 MT each. Covering22,000 square metres on 15acres of land, the foundryhas a unique Vibratoryfeeder charging system with15 MT dual crucible, dualtrack furnace. It hosts 11heavy duty EOT cranes,state of the art pollutioncontrol, fire control, envi-ronmental conservationmeasures for sustainablegrowth.
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World’s largestclosed-die forges
modernized
Alcoa Forging & Extru-sions has commissionedSiempelkamp to engineerand produce cast parts forone of the world’s largestclosed-die forging presses.The rebuild and modernisa-tion of the 50,000-tonne(450 MN) press located inCleveland, Ohio, USA, willmake it the most advanced,productive forging press in
the world. The Ohio forgingpress produces structuralparts made of aluminium forthe aircraft industry. Be-cause of its large press forceand its central meaning forthe American aircraft indus-try, the giant press has be-come a "National HistoricMechanical EngineeringLandmark" in the UnitedStates of America.
As part of the order,Siempelkamp will supply 14large cast parts for the upper,moving and lower beams aswell as the foundation stools.Ten of the castings weighbetween 200 and 250 tonneseach (220 and 270 US tons).Siempelkamp cast the firstfoundation stool on August20, 2009 at the company-owned Krefeld foundry. Thebeams and stools are to bemachined on large-scaleequipment, capable of pro-cessing components with aclamping length of 22 me-tres (72 ft).
courtesy of Mike Clarke/AFP/Getty Images
Continuouscasting androlling plantShandong Jinsheng hasplaced an order with SMSMeer, Germany, for the sup-ply of a complete continuouscasting and rolling plant. Thetype Contirod® plant is thesecond of its kind supplied toShandong Jinsheng. The plantis to be built in Shandong Jin-sheng's new facility in theShandong Linyi EconomicDevelopment Area. The Con-tirod® line is designed for anoutput of 48t/h and will thusbe the largest of its kind inChina. The plant comprisesthe SMS Meer-designed gascontrol system for the shaftfurnace for melting coppercathodes. The modular de-signed Hazelett twin-beltcaster will offer the largestcasting section of 123mm by70mm in China. The plantalso comprises the highlyflexible 14-stand rolling millwith frequency-controlled ACdrives and integrated coilcompacting and foil packingequipment. Commissioningof the plant is scheduled forthe end of 2010.
Computer simulation of the presswith a height of 30 m (98 ft).
Hero Group in Indiaplans to develop a 300-acreSpecial Economic Zone forthe aerospace and defence in-dustry, with a further 100acres expansion possible, thelocation has yet to be dis-closed. Hero Motors willmake a direct investment of
Rs 500 crore for various ac-tivities in the aviation sector,which include manufacturingof light sports aircraft (LSA),aircraft and aerospace appli-cations, besides setting upaviation training institutes andcolleges, as told to EconomicTimes at a press conference.
Aerospace & Defence Zone
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Issue 4 - December 2009
EditorsDavid Sear
[email protected] Hammond
[email protected] Wöbbeking
Christian BorrmannJohn Butterfield
Joe MachneyMichael Vehreschild
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Yuzhong Shen, China
Publishing DirectorDonald Wiedemeyer
Editorial DirectorSjef Roymans MA
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Siemens VAI MetalsTechnologies has an-nounced that it has broughta new continuous slab casterinto operation. It was or-dered by Gerdau Açominas,a Brazil-based steelmakingcompany which is a mem-ber of the Gerdau Group.The plant has already castslabs of various sizes andsteel grades since produc-tion started at the OuroBranco Works in Brazil.With this new plant, GerdauAçominas can now produce1.5 million tonnes of highquality steels for the flatsteel market. The accept-ance certificate was issuedin the middle of October2009. During the same timethe continuous slab caster
for Gerdau Açominas wasconstructed, Siemens alsosupplied an RH vacuum de-gassing plant together withthe associated electrical andautomation equipment. Bothplants have been designed sothat another degassing ves-sel and a second casting linecan be installed in a later ex-pansion stage. These twoprojects, which have nowbeen completed, had a totalvolume of some USD 100million. They are part of anexpansion program for theOuro Branco Steel Works,which is located in the stateof Minas Gerais. The pro-ject's objectives were to in-crease steel production inthe works by 50% from 3 to4.5 million tonnes per year.
New continuousslab caster for
Gerdau Açominas Can-Eng Furnaces,
manufacturer of a broadrange of industrial heat-treating equipment, based inOntario, Canada, has anorder from Russian railcarmanufacturer TVSZ for two10-metric tons/hour rotary-hearth furnaces for normal-izing steel castings, reportedFoundry Management &Technology. TVSZ will in-stall the equipment at itsplant in Tikhvin, Russia, toquench and temper compo-nents for railroad truck as-semblies, side frames, andbolsters. The project’sscope of supply covers theentire thermal processingneeds for a 73,000 metrictons/year combined normal-izing and quench-and-tem-per operation. Can-Eng’smulti-million dollar order is
part of a $1-billion invest-ment by TVSZ to establish acomplete casting and ma-chining operation, and rail-car assembly plant. TheTikhvin plant, 150 mileseast of St. Petersburg, willstart up in January 2011 andproduct up to 12,000 rail-cars per year. Can-Eng in-dicates the normalizingfurnaces will be suppliedwith a Level 2 Automationsystem; automated materialhandling functions; twobatch tempers; an 80,000-liter quench tank with eleva-tor; and loading andunloading roller hearth con-veyors with forced coolingon the post normalize side.Castings will be conveyedon cast alloy grids thatmeasure approximately 10 x10 ft.
Bharat Forge, manufac-turer of forged and ma-chined components, andAlstom, a power and railsystems manufacturer andservice provider, brokeground for their new jointventure facility in Gujarat,India. This follows theirNovember 2008 agreementto set up two joint venturecompanies - one for themanufacturing of steam tur-
bines and generators and theother for the manufacturingof all the auxiliaries. Tobegin with, the plant willmanufacture 300-800 MWsubcritical and supercriticalequipments with an annualcapacity of 5000 MW. Inthe future, the JV will alsoexplore possibilities of man-ufacturing turbines and gen-erators for gas-based plantsand nuclear applications.
Rotary-furnace orderfor Railcar components
Schmolz + Bickenbach closecasting site
The management ofSchmolz + Bickenbach GussGROUP announced plans toclose its production site inMonheim, Germany at theend of the year, as reportedby Gus News. Approxi-mately, 60 employees will beaffected by the closing. Thisfacility, which mainly fo-cuses on centrifugal andgravity cast products, had al-ready taken measures and cutback employee hours earlierin the year.
Since centrifugal cast-ings are heavily used in bio-fuel refineries, it turns outthat protests over biofuel be-came a critical influencer inthe closing of the facility.Matthias Pampus-Meder,Chairman of the Manage-ment of Schmolz + Bicken-
bach Guss GROUP,remembers a timewhen it was be-lieved that the useof regular gasoline andethanol would become in-creasingly mixed. So, thefoundry invested 1.8 millioneuros in the Monheim opera-tion. There have since beensignificant protests againstbiofuel. Mr Pampus-Mederwas quoted explaining howproduce was seen as takingaway fuel from food supplyand how it increasingly be-came “ethically question-able.” He said, “Currently,there is an oversupply in themarket for bio-gasoline.Even in the longer term, thesituation does not look like itwill improve . . . We deeplyregret [the closing] - espe-
cially in light of the Mon-heim long-standing commit-ment to our employees.Because of the economic sit-uation, it is, unfortunately,not possible to provide ade-quate jobs for employeeswithin the group."
Schmolz + BickenbachGuss Group says this closingwill have no effect on cus-tomers. All customers previ-ously supplied by theMonheim facility will con-tinue to receive their ordersin a timely manner. Thecompany’s three other cast-ing facilities in Krefeld, En-nepetal and Kohlscheid willnot be affected.
Multiple investments inproduction lines
Mechel OAO, a Russ-ian mining and metals com-panies, announcescompletion of several in-vestment projects atMechel Campia Turziiplant, Romania, a part ofMechel OAO’s East-Euro-pean Steel Division.
Three new productionlines were launched at theplant including: a metalfiber production and pack-ing line, a reinforcing wirecoils extension, an enlarge-ment line and steel wireproduction shop. Total in-vestments in the projectsamounted to approximately€ 7 million.
Forged JVfor Brakes
Hero Motors Ltd.,India, signed a joint ven-ture agreement with KiriuCorporation, Japan. The JVcompany, named MunjalKiriu Industries Pvt. Ltd.,will manufacture brakedisc, drums and knucklesfor automotive originalequipment manufacturersat Manesar, Haryana, India.The total project cost forthe JV, with SumitomoCorporation Japan, Sumit-omo Corp. in India andKiriu Corp (a SumitomoGroup company), is Rs 240crore.
Georgiafoundry toresumeIntermet Corp’s ductile ironfoundry in Columbus,Georgia, USA, reportedlyhas been bought by a Car-lyle Group holding, Diver-sified Machine Inc.According to the ColumbusLedger-Enquirer the saleclosed, at an undisclosedprice.
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Alstom and Bharat Forge begin construction of manufacturing plant inMundra, Gujarat, India.
Indian public sectorspecialty steelmaker MishraDhatu Nigam Ltd (MID-HANI) will invest US$86.5 million to set up a hotplate mill. The proposed6000tn/yr manufacturingfacility will produce ultra-strong wide steel plates.These plates are used ex-tensively in automobiles,nuclear reactors and motorcastings for satellites androckets. The project has re-ceived the necessary ap-provals from the Indiangovernment. The DefenceResearch and DevelopmentOrganization is expected to
invest about US$ 43.3 mil-lion in the project, whilethe remainder will be fi-nanced from internal accru-als and debts from financialinstitutions. Presently, theultra-strong steel used innuclear and aerospace ap-plications is produced bythe state-owned Steel Au-thority of India Ltd (SAIL)at the company's Rourkelasteel plant. The manufac-turing facility, which willalso include a vacuum arcfurnace, a forging press andan electro slag-refining fur-nace, is expected to beginoperations by 2012.
Ultra-wide steelhot plate mill
Xingtai Iron & SteelCorp. Ltd officially startedits CNY 1.2 billion stainlesssteel project in November.The first phase of the proj-ect was funded CNY 600million, containing an ad-vanced 700,000 tonnes alloymelting furnace, a CNY 9million continuous castingmachine made byvoestalpine AG, a 600,000
tonne AOD furnace andLadle Refining Furnace anda sharpening machine. Theproject is slated to be putinto service in October2010, and will be capable ofyielding 350,000 tonnes ofcontinuous casting billetslab a year, including stain-less steels 200, 300 and 400series, tire cord steel, ESRand more.
JV plant construction begins
China – Austria stainless steel project
In the spotlight
3
PTC Industries com-menced operations over 40years ago and has been ex-porting castings to US and Eu-rope for over 25 years. PTChas 3 foundries and 2 CNCmachine shops in India,manufacturing castings usingReplicast®, RapidCast®, In-vestment Casting (Lost Wax)and Centrifugal Castingprocesses in either as cast orfinish machined condition.PTC has a wide range of ma-terials that it can offer, includ-ing Alloy Steel, StainlessSteel, Duplex and Super Du-plex Stainless Steel, CreepResistant Steel, Heat Resist-ant Steel, Nickel Based Al-loys, Cobalt Based Alloys,Austenitic Ductile Iron,Nickel Aluminium Bronzeetc.
Investment Castings(Lost Wax) have found manyapplications in recent times byconverting conventional sandmoulded castings into preci-sion castings, thus reducingtotal cost and adding substan-tial value to the product. Theadvantages of InvestmentCasting are well known viz.superior quality, reducedweights, lesser machiningcosts, and far better surfacefinish and aesthetics. How-ever, Investment Castings arelimited by the maximumweight and size they can beused to cast, generally well
below 100 Kg. Thus, alllarger and heavier castingscontinue to be produced pre-dominantly by Sand Mould-ing process. Every castingbuyer who has dealt withSand Moulded castings hasalways gone through the painof quality troubles and delays.Most of the quality related is-sues generated in SandMoulded castings arise fromsand, binders (in sand), gas &moisture in the mould, andsand core. These elements inthe sand mould and core cre-ate problems like sand inclu-sions & reactions, gas holes& porosities, “hot tear” &cracks and “core shift” & di-mensional variation. Sincethese elements and their re-lated parameters are ex-tremely difficult to control,
Sand Moulded casting qualitybecomes highly vulnerable toany variation and thus is un-reliable and inconsistent.
PTC utilizes a processcalled Replicast® which wasdeveloped by Castings Tech-nology International (U.K).As in the Investment Castingprocess, a Die/Tooling is re-quired to make patterns; how-ever instead of a heavy andfragile wax pattern used in theInvestment Casting process,Replicast® uses light weightand dimensionally stablepolystyrene patterns. InReplicast®, the mould takes
form of a thin Ceramic Shell,while the liquid metal ispoured in that shell underVacuum. Thus, by using thisprocess, PTC is able to re-place sand and binders by aceramic shell. The presenceof moisture in the air is re-moved by applying vacuumto the shell which eliminatesthe major sources of defectsin the casting.
The Replicast® processrequires an AluminiumDie/Tooling in order to pro-duce patterns for parts havingrepetitive and series produc-tion requirements. However,for low and medium volumerequire-ments, PTC offers aunique technology namedRapidCast®. RapidCast®
uses the same manufacturingprocess as Replicast®, but in-stead of making the poly-styrene pattern from aDie/Tooling, the pattern ismachined from a solid blockof polystyrene on a large 7-Axis Machining Centre.RapidCast® uses the conceptof “Virtual Tooling”whereby the initial cost andlead time related to Die/Tool-ing is eliminated. The shortdevelopment cycle and re-duced production lead timesmakes RapidCast® very at-tractive for customized solu-tions, projects, spares, etc.
The main advantages ofcastings offered by PTC uti-lizing this unique processare:• Weight Reduction
up to 40%• Machining Time
Reduction up to 30%• Exceptional
Surface Finish• No Sand Inclusion
or Reaction• Reduced Gas Holes
and Porosity• “Green Process” – solid
waste 1/30th of sand moulding
• Flexible production lots; from 1 piece to several hundreds
• Short ‘Time to Market’ using RapidCast®
The main industriesbeing serviced by PTC arePower Plants and TurbineEquipments (includingblades), Oil & Gas, Valvesand Pumps for Petrochemi-cal Industry and Refineries,Paper Industry and DefenceEquipment. PTC has sup-plied many castings forvalves to its customerswhich have been used invery critical applications forlarge Oil companies likeSaudi Aramco etc.
PTC Industries has beenawarded the National R&D
Award from the Governmentof India in 2006. It carriesan ISO 9001:2000 BV cer-tification, PED/97/23 – BV,AD 2000 Merkblatt WO –TuV Nord while the ISO14000 & 18000 accredita-tions are under implementa-tion. The company has beenapproved by the NuclearPower Corporation of India,while BV and Lloyds haveapproved the company forMarine Classification. Ap-proval of manufacture ofNuclear Pressure-Retain-ing Castings in accordancewith ASME Section III iscurrently under process andshall be completed soon.
Not one to rest on itslaurels, PTC Industries isconstantly making invest-ments for the future. PTChas recently commissioneda fully automated, Robotassisted Shell Coating sys-tem for Replicast®. This hasled to a remarkable consis-tency in quality, increase inefficiency, shorter leadtimes and less wastage.Company has further addeda new Induction furnace formelting metal up to 5000Kg. PTC has its own in-house capability for all test-ing equipments includingRadiography up to200mm thickness. The two
CNC machine shops areequipped with state of theart CNC Turning Centres,Vertical Machining Cen-tres and Horizontal Ma-chining Centres from Japanand Germany. Additionally,a new Replicast® and Rapid-Cast® ‘Green’ Foundry isbeing set up, this plant willhave the capability to pro-duce individual parts weigh-ing up to 5000 kg.
PTC has always be-lieved that its greatest suc-cess lies in being a part oftheir customer’s competi-tive edge. As their Chair-man, Mr. Sateesh Agarwalstates, “....for only on ourcustomer’s triumph dependsour success” hence, thecompany has constantlystrived to advance theirideals of Quality, Value &Speed.
PTC Industries has now broken the weight barrier in Ce-ramic Shell castings. It utilizes an innovative and uniquetechnology, which enables it to produce parts weighing upto 2500 kg, which offer all the benefits of Investment Cast-ings and Vacuum Pouring, moreover reducing the TotalCost up to 50%.
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Contact Information
Mr. Sachin Agarwal
PTC Industries Limited
Malviya Nagar, Aishbagh
Lucknow, India. 226004
Tel: +91-522 2265300, 4051444
Email: [email protected]
www.ptcil.com
PTC has a vast range of product offerings spanning various metallurgies and weight ranges for wide industrial use.
The 7 – Axis Machining Centre for RapidCast®
Latest equipment & technologies ensure stringent quality.
2500 Kg affordable Investment Casting
The recently commissioned Robot assisted Shell Coating System for Replicast®
4 www.castings-forgings-news.com
Market Outlook
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Siemens has confirmedits objective to become oneof the world’s top providersof wind turbines. Siemensentered the wind powermarket five years ago withits acquisition of Denmark’sBonus Energy. Since then,wind power operations atSiemens have undergonerapid development. Theworkforce has grown seven-fold, while revenue has ac-tually increased tenfold."This is a success storywhose narrative we wish tocontinue," says AndreasNauen, CEO of the WindPower Business Unit. "Theoverall global wind powermarket is growing at 12%annually. We intend to sig-nificantly outpace the mar-ket growth to become one ofthe top three providers by2012."
A recent press releasefrom Siemens Wind Powerstated it currently has arecord order backlog of €6billion. Revenue from the
Siemens’ EnvironmentalPortfolio totaled about €23billion in fiscal year 2009,making Siemens the world’slargest supplier ofecofriendly technologies. Inthe same period, these prod-ucts and solutions enabledcustomers to reduce CO2emissions by 210 milliontonnes.
Part of Siemens’ strat-egy increase its market sta-tus is to strengthen itsposition in offshore wind
farms and to ensure it re-mains a leader in innovation.Innovation with productssuch as the Hywind floatingturbine project, a joint effortwith StatoilHydro, and therecently completed proto-type of its newly developedgearless wind turbine, whichassures even higher avail-ability than standard windturbines with about half thenumber of parts, seem to se-cure a place at the top forSiemens.
Wind Power continuesgrowth trend
Forgitron Technolo-gies has completed a newequipment installation atits Camden, South Car-olina, plant, and indicatedthat the second phase of itslong-term growth programis on track for completion
this year. Forgitron is a ro-tary forging operation thatproduces commercial truckwheels according to a pro-prietary technology forOEMs, contract manufac-turers and the aftermarket.It also has on-site heat-
treating. The first phase ofthe expansion involved theplant start up in 2006.Longer term, Todd Latouf,Forgitron Technologiespresident, said PhaseThree calls for more pro-duction lines at Camden,to increase forged wheelcapacity in anticipation ofan economic recovery.
Forgitron long-termgrowth plan
Larsen & Toubro (L&T)announced the formation ofa joint venture with the Nu-clear Power Corporation(NPCIL) to set up a com-pany in Gujarat for the pro-duction of special steel andultra-heavy forgings. Thefacility will come up for aninvestment of Rs 1,725crore in Hazira, Surat, andwill manufacture criticalcomponents for the powerindustry. "India has beenmaking most products re-quired for nuclear powergeneration, but heavy forg-ings were not on the Indianproduct list. The JV isaimed at to ease this con-
straint," NPCIL chairman &managing director SK Jainsaid.
The facility will have adedicated steel melt shopproducing ingots weighingup to 600 MT each and aheavy forge shop equippedwith a forging press. "TheJV will supply finishedforgings for nuclear reac-tors, pressurisers and steamgenerators, in addition toheavy forgings for criticalequipment in the hydrocar-bon sector, as well as forthermal power plants. Directaccess to a water front atHazira will facilitate multi-modal transportation and
exports," L&T chairmanand managing director AMNaik said.
"The plant will startproduction from April 2011.It will meet domestic de-mand across nuclear andthermal power and hydro-carbon sectors in the short-term. However, there areplans to start exporting from2013," he added. "L&T willhave 74 per cent stake in theventure, while NPCIL willhold the remaining 26 percent stake. The companywill have one-lakh tonne perannum steel and 40,000tonne per annum forgingsmaking capacity," Naik said.
Special steel & ultra heavy forging JV
Outstanding payable settledthrough issuance of shares
Siemens VAI MetalsTechnologies has receivedan order from Jindal Steel &Power Ltd for the supply ofa new single-strand slabcaster, which will be built atAngul in the Indian state ofOrissa. The slab caster willbe part of a greenfield inte-grated production facilitycurrently under constructionat the Angul site where anannual steel output of ap-proximately 6 milliontonnes is planned. The nom-inal capacity of the casterwill be approximately 1.5million tonnes per year withsteel grades ranging fromultra low to high carbonsteels as well as micro and
low alloyed grades. Initially,production will concentrateon slabs for pipeline andplate applications, whichwill be rolled in a newSiemens VAI 5m wide platemill which is currentlyunder construction. Thecaster is equipped with astraight mold and the cast-ing radius is 10m. Slabs willbe cast at thicknesses of200mm, 260mm and300mm and in widths from1000mm to 2300mm. Cutslab lengths will range from4.5m to 12m. SiemensVAI’s responsibilities forthis project include plant en-gineering, equipment designand supply, advisory serv-
ices for erection, installa-tion, start-up and commis-sioning in addition topersonnel training. All ofthe major process equip-ment will be provided suchas the main casting-floorequipment, mold, strand-guiding system and dis-charge facilities in additionto the torch-cutting ma-chine, deburrer, marker,roll-gap checker andpusher/piler. Electrics, hard-ware and software for Level1 automation and Level 2process optimization as wellas hydraulic, lubrication andcooling systems are also in-cluded. Start up is scheduledfor September 2011.
Jindal orders caster from Siemens
Timminco Limited, the46% owned affiliate ofAMG Advanced Metallur-gical Group, announcedthat it has agreed to issueapproximately 900,000common shares, represent-ing approximately 0.6% ofTimminco's current issuedand outstanding shares, asfull and final settlement ofapproximately $1.2 millionin outstanding paymentsdue to a supplier of serv-
ices for the silicon metaloperations of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Becan-cour Silicon Inc. Theissuance of these commonshares is subject to receiptof all necessary regulatoryapprovals, including ap-proval of the Toronto StockExchange.
The issuance of theseshares will decrease AMG'sownership in Timminco toapproximately 45.7%.
On International Volun-teer Day, Alcoa Presidentand CEO Klaus Kleinfeldcongratulated a record23,000 Alcoa employeeswho took part in the com-pany’s 2009 WorldwideMonth of Service - volun-teering in 800 communityevents to support those in
need and invest in the sus-tainability of our planet.The annual WorldwideMonth of Service programbrings together Alcoa’sglobal workforce to make apositive difference in thecommunities where they liveand work – this year partner-ing with nearly 1,900 not-
for-profit community organ-isations across 23 countries.Through Alcoa employees’efforts during the month ofservice over 14,000 mealswere served to those inneed, 4,000 charitable cam-paigns held to collect anddistribute food and clothing,and 11,000 trees planted.
Volunteers make positive global impact
Sheffield ForgemastersInternational (SFIL) willfurther develop its key rolein the development ofBritain's nuclear manufac-turing industry after becom-ing a founding member ofthe new Nuclear Advanced
Manufacturing ResearchCentre (NAMRC).
SFIL will provide afunctional and supportiverole to the NAMRC, whichwill be based at the Ad-vanced Manufacturing Parkin Rotherham, UK.
SFIL will play a crucialand enthusiastic part in thedesign, strategy and functionof the facility and the proj-ects chosen and undertakenby the centre.
The centre will provide afocal point for the bulk of theUK civil nuclear manufactur-ing industry supply chain,ensuring that manufacturersin the UK have the capabilityand capacity required tocompete for nuclear newbuild in the UK and globally,from skills training to re-search and development. Thecentre will be led by the Uni-versity of Sheffield in part-nership with the Universityof Manchester and withRolls-Royce as the lead in-dustrial partner. Other found-ing partners include Areva,Westinghouse and The Na-tional Metals TechnologyCentre (NAMTEC).
Forgemasters play a crucial role
in Britain’s Nuclear industry
Long Christmas
shutdownsMany Italian steel mills
will implement 3 to 6-weekholiday breaks. Many plantclosings will start on De-cember 19th and end onJanuary 11th. As reportedby SBB, TubemakerTenaris Dalmine’s Italianoperation will close fromthree to five weeks, whilelong products maker Ste-fana stopped production atthe beginning of Decemberand will not resume until 18January.
Brasil exports will grow Flavio Azevedo, president of Brazil’s Steel Institute Aco
Brasil, told reporters on Dec. 2 that crude steel productioncapacity in Brazil will rise 3.6 percent next year to 43.5 mil-lion metric tonnes, about double demand levels which arestill recovering from the crisis. He went on to say that in themedium-term, new mill projects, including those announcedby Vale SA, will further boost capacity, particularly for theexport market. According Aco Brasil, steel demand willclimb 22 percent to 22.9 million tons from 18.8 million thisyear as orders grow from industrial segments including car-making. “There’s going to be steel to spare,” Azevedo said.“Brazil’s going to continue with high export levels.” Ac-cording to the institute’s forecast, steel exports from Brazilincreased by 3.3% in 2009 and will grow an additional 16%to 11 million tonnes in 2010.
Technology round-up
www.castings-forgings-news.com
Technologyround-up
This page presents infor-mation about recent tech-nological developments.Due to space constraintswe have restricted oursel-ves to providing abs-tracted information only.Web links are given forreaders interested inmore details.
5
Arcos Industries LLC hasreleased Arcos 309/309L, itsnew bare wire and coveredstainless steel electrodes, de-signed for welding similar al-loys in wrought and castform. The Arcos 309/309Lbare wire (ER309/309L) andcovered (E309/309L) elec-trodes can be utilized forwelding Type 304 and similarbase metals, where severecorrosion conditions exist. Inaddition, these electrodes areused for joining 304 to carbonsteel or the clad side of 304clad steels. Arcos 309/309Lalso joins Types 304, 347,321 and 316 and duplex stain-less steels to mild and lowalloy steels and can provide abuffer layer prior to surfacing308L for corrosion resistantoverlays. Typical welding ap-plications for 309/309L barewire and covered electrodes
include general fabrication,automotive exhaust systems,pipelines and equipment inchemical processing plantsand nuclear power facilities.The bare wire electrodes areavailable in diameters from.035in- 3/16in, the coveredelectrodes are offered in threedifferent coatings, -15, -16,and -17 and in standard diam-eters from 3/32in - 3/16in, aswell as non-standard diame-ters up to .250in.
Wrought & cast weldingelectrodes
Elkem in collaborationwith NTNU and SINTEF hasdeveloped a grain refiner forsteel. While grain refinershave been used in aluminumfor many years (TiB2), adedicated grain refiner hasnot been available for steelsuntil recently. The grain re-finer is accessible both inlumpy and in cored wire, andis added just prior to casting.The cored wire is suppliedby Affival.
For low alloyed steel thatundergo massive thermo me-chanical treatment, reductionin grain size can be obtainedthrough heat and mechanicaltreatments. This is due tophase transformation and re-crystallization after plasticdeformation. In Elkem GrainRefiner (EGR) cerium, whichis the active element, willform particles (non metallicinclusions) in the melt. Theformed Ce-particles, whichhave low mismatch with thesolidifying steel, give numer-ous nucleation points (socalled nucleus) in the melt infront of the solidifying front.This will lead to reduction ofthe columnar zone and
smaller equiaxed grains, re-sulting in improved mechani-cal properties, improvementin forgeability and higher sig-nal to noise ratio during ultra-sonic testing. Examples ofsteel types that will benefitfrom grain refinement duringsolidification are near net
shape cast components thatundergo no phase transforma-tion, large near net shape castcomponents where the solidi-fication structure give coarsegrain structure, and high al-loyed steel where the coarsesolidification structure leadsto problems during forging.
Grain refiner for special steels
C O L U M N
I have had the privilege in2009 to visit several forgemasters either as an auditor orjust as a visitor. It has indeedbeen most interesting to seeboth established and new fac-tories in practice. From anend-user viewpoint I wouldlike to raise the followingquestion?
Are there any technical gapsbetween Chinese and west-ern forge masters?
Chinese have many forgemasters which are similar tothose found in Italy in the1980’s but they also are in-vesting in many advancedplants that are equal or better.Irrespective of the 2009’s re-cession such investment con-tinues at a rapid pace. (seephoto)
Commodity products num-bers for flanges, fittings,valves, balls etc are numerousand are found via western dis-tributors or in OEM finishedproducts. Issues have risen inthe past with certification,chemical & mechanical prop-erties and with dimensions.
Every now and then a “scareemail” circulates.
The main lesson learnt here inTO KNOW AND TRUSTYOUR FULL SUPPLYCHAIN. Too often purchasesare made without this knowl-edge, especially on projectswhere lump sum contractsdictate. You have to look be-yond the “paper” and “beconvinced by your supplychain’s QA/QC managementof sub-suppliers” or “becomeinvolved yourself.” One keyquestion to ask is: “May I seethe original material certifi-cate please?”
I believe things are improvingin this area….I have now runout of space in this article soI’ll continue in the next issue.Meanwhile if you have anycomments or information ad-dressing the above questionplease email direct.
Best wishes for the holidayseason and a prosperous2010!
Barrie KirkmanBSc.CEng.MIMechE
Note: Barrie also writes a reg-ular article for the ValveWorld Magazine.
Visiting some forgemasters….wow!
Reliable castings
Looking at universityresearch activities, CFNcame across some very in-teresting pages on the Uni-versity of Birminghamwebsite. There we learntthat one of the key underly-ing themes of recent workhas been to study the detri-mental effects of fillingmoulds with molten metalunder conditions that leadto surface turbulence. Ac-cording to the website it hasbeen shown that “moltenmetal flow becomes unsta-ble once its velocity ex-ceeds a critical value of~0.5 m/s. This results inbubble formation and sub-sequent damage and alsothe incorporation of doubleoxide film defects into cast-ings. Both significantly re-duce the reliability ofcastings and so it is essen-tial that such defects are atleast minimised and prefer-ably eliminated by improv-ing the filling of moulds.This is being achieved byradical changes to the de-sign of running systems andby using alternatives togravity pouring, such as tiltpouring.”
Info:www.irc.bham.ac.uk/casting/production.htm
TT6080 insert grade
Taegutec has intro-duced the TT6080 insertgrade for milling cast irons.The TT6080 milling insertencompasses the applica-tion range of both theTT6030 and TT6060grades. TaeguTec's TT6080insert grade for milling castirons increases tool lifewhen milling plain andnodular cast irons.Taegutec's grades for ma-chining cast iron come intwo different types: theTT6290 for grey cast ironmachining at high speedsand the TT6080 grade formachining both plain castiron and nodular cast iron.The TT6080 grade is capa-ble of operating at low tomedium speeds and is suit-able for manufacturers thatare machining a diverserange of cast irons. Itutilises an upgraded A1TiNcoating on a TiN layer thathas a coating affinity withK20H that increases coher-ence.
New CONDAT die lubricants for Al and Mg
Condat has developed acomplete range of lubri-cants designed to meet theneeds of all casting tech-niques at all stages offoundry processes. Therange includes: vanishinglubricants, plunger lubri-cants, slide-rail lubricants,fire resistant fluids, heattransfer fluids, pastes andgreases, release agent, andladle coating. Condat canoffer equipment for applica-tion and control of its lubri-
cants range such as sprayguns, die lubricant mixingunits, refractometer or col-orimeter, and dispensers forbeads.
Condat now offers abrand new range of solubledie lubricants for high-pres-sure die casting of alu-minium and magnesiumalloys. These new die lubri-cants, named Condafond,use the latest generation ofsoluble oils and requiredseveral months of Research& Development within theCondat R&D laboratories.They mark an importantevolution in terms of chem-istry as they do not containsilicone and are in compli-ance with the most recentFrench legislation.
Tell the world about your technology
CFN is keen to hear about your own research and deve-lopment activities. Contributions are welcome from allsides of the industry: foundries, forges, equipment sup-pliers, universities, research institutes, end users, etc. Se-lected items will be placed free-of-charge. Suggestedlength 200-500 words. To submit, please send [email protected]
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Sumitomo Metal Indus-tries Ltd and SumitomoPipe & Tube Corp. have de-veloped the world's firstThree-Dimensional HotBending and Quench massprocessing technology(3DQ), which enables theformation of automotiveparts with a tensile strengthof 1470MPa or more. Thistechnology enables steelcomponents with a hollowtubular structure to acquireultra high-tensile strength.
Application of this tech-nology reduces weight ofautomotive parts by 30-50%
and improves crash safety,compared to conventionalmethods. It is also expectedto lead to technologies forspace frame body structuresin the future. The new tech-nology enables such compo-nents with complex shapesto be manufactured in oneprocess. For example, someselected steel tube parts areheated and quenched withcooling water while a bend-ing moment is simultane-ously applied to the steelpipe with a movable roller-dice so that the pipe bends.
This 3DQ technology is
a consecutive formingmethod that allows three-di-mensional complex hotbending and quenching atthe same time. It has pro-duced effects that are hardto achieve with conven-tional hydroforming andother cold forming methods.3DQ technology combinesboth the effect of improvingtensile strength by quench-ing after hot stamping andthe advantage of hydroformprocessing for hollow tubu-lar structures. 3DQ technol-ogy can significantly reducethe number of dies required.
3DQ - Three-Dimensional Hot Bending and Quench technology
Barrie's no-nonsense columns insister publication Valve World arealways very well read.
“A modern forge master in China”
Case study:
austenitic manganese steels
0.7 % EGR was addedto an austenitic manganesesteel with 1.4% carbon and19% manganese. This is asteel that is cast to near netshape as crushing plates andcones, and undergoes nophase transformation duringsubsequent cooling. It solid-
ifies austenitic andis only given a ho-mogenizationtreatment to dis-solve carbidesformed during so-lidification and ob-tain a fullyaustenitic struc-ture. In this casegrain refinementduring solidifica-
tion is the only option toachieve a finer grain struc-ture. EGR additions led to afine distribution of CeO2particles which gave finergrain size. The result was areduction in grain size fromapproximately 800 µmdown to 250 µm.
CD-adapco, a developerof CAE programs for simulat-ing fluid flow, heat transferand stress, has teamed up witha German-based research in-stitute to introduce a newtechnique they claim will“revolutionize” industrialcasting process simulation.Their joint development,STAR-Cast, offers “unrivaledease-of-use and automation tothe simulation of castingprocesses, and introduces anew level of multi-discipli-nary sophistication to simula-tion results”. Theco-developer is Access, an in-dependent R&D centre affili-ated with the TechnicalUniversity of Aachen thatconcentrates on scientific andindustrial issues in metallurgyand materials science, particu-larly casting processes.
New casting simulation program
6 www.castings-forgings-news.com
Global correspondents
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CFN’s Global CorrespondentsAluminium R&D
James says:An interesting report crossedmy desk recently about alu-minium alloy castings. Itseems that the CTIF(Foundry Industry Engineer-ing Centre) has carried outan R&D project on defectcontrol in aluminium alloycastings in collaboration withACTRA (Association ofTechnical Centres of theRhone Alpes Region) and inpartnership with the ÉcoleNationale des Mines deSaint-Etienne.The project had three aims:to set up innovative methodsof producing samples withcontrolled internal defects; tocharacterize the impact of thedefects on mechanical be-haviour; and finally, to corre-late characterizations withsimulations and FEM calcu-lations.The project should improveknowledge of the real impactof internal defects on me-chanical characteristics offoundry parts and better de-fine the maximum acceptablelevel of these defects (toavoid current penalizingsafety coefficients).
☞ www.ctif.com
Enhanced forge
Karen writes:There’s positive news thismonth from Alcoa. The com-pany has announced that fund-ing has been approved for thecomplete repair and refurbish-ment of its 50,000-ton forgingpress at the company’s Cleve-land Works. As I understand it,the project will make Cleve-land Works a premier producerof large aluminium and tita-nium forgings for the defence,aerospace and industrial mar-kets. In a press statement,William F. Christopher, Alcoaexecutive vice president andpresident of Alcoa EngineeredProducts and Solutions, said,“This could not have happenedwithout the support of our em-ployees, community leadersand leadership of United AutoWorkers Local 1050. When thisproject is completed ClevelandWorks will be the home of themost advanced, productivelarge forging presses in theworld.” The press projectshould be completed by the endof 2011. It will involve thecomplete disassembly and ren-ovation of the 50,000 tonnepress. This 92-foot structurebegan production in 1955.
☞ www.alcoa.com
Boom in China
Yuzhong reports:The positive vibe I’ve beennoticing amongst localfoundry managers has recentlybeen backed up by official fig-ures. These reveal that theChinese foundry industry isexperiencing a boom. Accord-ing to the report, the overalloutput of Chinese castings in2008 was 33.5 million tonnes,which equals the total outputof the U.S.A, Russia, Indiaand Japan and accounted for1/3 of the world’s total output.Since the last quarter in 2008,the Chinese government hasdramatically increased infra-structure investments. In par-ticular, the State Councilpassed the Adjustment andDevelopment Plan of Ten TopIndustries, including iron andsteel, automobile, equipmentmanufacturing industry and soon. Now, all those industriesare closely related to thefoundry industry, thus provid-ing a broad space for develop-ment. So it is predicted thatafter the adjustment in 2009,despite improvements in cast-ing precision, the output ofChinese castings will exceed35 million tonnes in 2010.
☞ www.castings-forgings-news.com
James Chater’s office is inNevers, France.
Yuzhong Shen is based inShanghai, China.
Karen Miller resides in Kentucky, USA.
Precoated Steelassets acquired
Essar Steel, a fully in-tegrated flat carbon steelmanufacturer, has com-pleted the acquisition ofsteel assets of Shree Pre-coated Steels Limited. Theassets that have been ac-quired include the plantcomprising colour coatingline, cold rolling mill, gal-vanizing line and picklingline. This is only plant inIndia that uses NIR (nearinfrared) technology forcolour coating which ex-tends the life of the prod-uct. The colour coatedproducts from this plant arewell accepted in the domes-tic and export market withexports accounting for 80%of its production. Com-menting on the acquisition,Mr. Malay Mukherjee,CEO, Essar Steel said,“going forward, it is impor-tant for the steel companiesto widen the product base.This acquisition is aimed atachieving that objective.We will be able to capital-ize on the synergies offeredby this plant through tech-nical expertise of EssarSteel”. The total value ofthe fixed and current assetsacquired is approx. Rs.1200 crores. This is fundedthrough a mix of debt andequity.
Rico Autoplans new
plantsRico Auto has an-
nounced that it would set uptwo new plants outsideHaryana after a protractedlabour strike at its fourplants in the state crippledproduction for over twomonths. A top Rico officialsaid the move was in linewith a demand raised by keycustomers, who were af-fected by the 45-day strikeat its Gurgaon factory. Thefour plants located inHaryana’s Gurgaon andDharuhera automotive belts,were virtually shutdown bya labour strike during Sep-tember and October, chok-ing the lines of Maruti, HeroHonda and Tata Motors, be-sides global clients such asGeneral Motors, Jaguar,Ford Motors and Nissan.Rico Auto refused to con-firm any tentative locationsfor the plant or that anygreenfield expansion willtake place in Haryana. Itsmajor production comesfrom Haryana, while it alsohas some new facilities inUttarakhand and Sanand –the location for Tata Motors’Nano car project.
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The Bright World of Metals
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GIFADüsseldorf, Germany 28 June – 02 July 20113rd International Trade Fair for Precision Castings
12th International Foundry Trade Fair with WFO Technical Forum
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Currently, quality controlin foundries is often assessedby manual visual inspection,which is sometimes under-taken by staff only implicitlyand alongside their proper ac-tivities in the productionprocess, for instance duringmanual deburring or palletiz-ing/packing. This manual in-spection has its well-knowndrawbacks:• Inspection quality is notuniform, i.e. test results maybe affected by the condition,time of day and inspector.Thus certain tests are forgot-ten; each inspector has hisown (subjective) criteria, andinaccurate measurementsmay happen, e.g. due to in-correct use or reading ofmeasuring equipment. There-fore, reproducible (objective)results cannot be expected.• Test results are often docu-mented only partially or notat all.
These sources of errorcan be avoided by automaticquality inspection to supplyobjective, reproducible anddocumented results. Duringthe past years, inspectoma-tion GmbH has developed
many different inspectionsystems for various inspec-tion locations and tasks.These systems have proventheir dependability duringlong-term operation in manyfoundries throughout theworld.
Cores, moulds and patterns
For cores, moulds andassociated patterns, theshadow-modulation principleoffers a low-cost qualitativeinspection solution [1]. Usingseveral directed light sourcesfrom different directions en-ables the acquisition of animage series where the sameobject regions show differentshadow patterns. These shad-ows contain valuable implicit3-D information about theshape of the object under in-vestigation, so this image se-ries carries much moreinformation than a singleimage acquired with diffuselighting, thus increasing theperformance and robustnessof the system. This techniquemay be used to monitor coreshooting systems and assem-bly of core packages as wellas horizontal and even verti-cal moulding lines [2].
Complex castingsTriangulation-based ac-
quisition of range images en-ables an almost all-overquantitative surface inspec-tion of complex castings [3].
Different faces are presentedsequentially to the vision sys-tem by a robot. The acquisi-tion unit contains alight-section sensor movingon a highly dynamic and pre-cise linear actuator. Severallasers are used on oppositesides of the camera to min-imise blind areas. Differenttriangulation angles allowtrade-offs between resolutionand measuring range. Typi-cally, each scan takes upabout 1 s and provides ap-proximately 5 million 3-Dpoints. The fault detectionand analysis is completedafter an additional second,thus allowing the in-line in-spection of 100 percent of theproduction. The attainableheight resolution clearly de-pends on diverse design pa-rameters of the setup. Atypical system achieves a ver-tical resolution of 0.1 mm ona lateral sampling grid of 0.2mm _ 0.2 mm. By the use ofa robot, this system is ex-tremely flexible: Differentproducts can be examined bythe same system, if necessaryusing different grippers. Be-yond that, the test strategycan be chosen very flexibly,selected sides can be scanned
several times in dif-ferent situations usingdifferent lasers andtriangulation angles.If the cycle time isexhausted, several in-spections can be alter-nated in auser-defined order.The check routinesare configured bymeans of a concise
graphical user interface. Allinspection results are storedin a database that can bequeried from any networkedcomputer. In particular, theworkman at the reworking
station only has to scan thedata matrix code (or anotherone-to-one tag) and immedi-ately gets images of the de-fective faces with the exactlocations of the flaws indi-cated.
High volume castingsFor high volume produc-
tion castings with specialgeometries to which theaforementioned technologycannot be applied directly,specific and customized sys-tems have been developed.For example the inspection ofventilation slots in brake discs[4], the verification of theclearance (i.e. inner diameter)of cast cylinder liners as wellas the gauging of camshaftsand crankshafts can be reli-ably conducted based on sil-houette images fromtelecentric optical set-ups.
References[1] Beyerer, J.: A vision ofquality. Cast Metal Times, No. 6, 2001, pp. 30–33.[2] vom Stein, D.; Siebecker,G.; Larsen, K.: Automatic visual inspection in verticalmoulding systems. CastingPlant & Technology, No. 4,2006, pp. 18–23.[3] vom Stein, D.: Automaticlaser visual inspection of com-plex castings. Casting Plant &Technology, No. 1, 2008, pp64–69.[4] Klawitter, Th.: Automatedinspection of ventilationslots in cast brake disks.Casting Plant & Technology,No. 2, 2006, pp. 48–51.
Mould inspection by colour multi-plexed shadow modulation.
Automatic visual inspection techniques for modern foundries
By Dipl.-Ing. Dirk vom Stein, inspectomation GmbH, Mannheim/D
Gearbox housing presented by robot to light-section sensor.
Vent inspection for brake discs.
Quality was one of thehot topics discussed duringthe recent North AmericanDie Casting Association(NADCA) annual PlantManagement Conference.The event was held 23-25September at the Hilton –Northbrook in Northbrook,Illinois, US. In addition to areception and plant tours, theconference also includedround table discussions,where attendees could voicetheir opinions and ask ques-tions. Some of the hot topicsdiscussed were productivity
improvement, controllingprocessing cost and improv-ing quality and defect track-ing. The featured speakerswere NADCA presidentDaniel L Twarog, who gaveattendees an overview ofwhere the die casting indus-try is at and the direction itis going, NADCA projectengineer Alex Monroe, whodiscussed the pressing issuesof Cap & Trade and EnergyEfficiency and professor &director of the Metals Pro-cessing Institute at Worces-ter Polytechnic InstituteDiran Apelian, who spoke onSemi-Solid Metal Process-ing.
YXLON International isgearing itself for the futurethrough further process opti-mization. Feinfocus micro-focus systems are going to beproduced alongside YXLONX-ray inspection systems onan additional 2400 squaremeters of space in a new,state-of-the-art production
hall at the Hamburg location.A relocation of all other activ-ities at the Garbsen locationin Hamburg will take place atthe same time. Substantial op-portunities for synergies aregoing to be brought to bearby consolidating the two sitesin North Germany at one pro-duction venue. This step fa-cilitates the development ofinnovative products that tran-scend platforms, thus safe-guarding the leading positionYXLON holds in the field ofX-ray inspection systems forthe non-destructive testing ofmaterials in the future.
YXLON gears itself for the future
The Modal Shop Inc. hasannounced the hiring of FrankSokolowski as the NDT FieldSales Manager for NorthAmerica. Mr Sokolowski waspreviously an Automotive
Key Account Manager for GEInspection Technologies withthe responsibility for support-ing GE's non-destructive testproducts at major automotivemanufacturing companies
like GM, Toyota, Ford, Nis-san, Magna, Chrysler andHonda. The Modal Shop pro-vides quality-testing systemsfor powder metal, cast, duc-tile iron and forged parts.
Rapid
PrototypingThe Special Focus pagein the next issue (Febru-ary) will address RapidPrototyping. If yourcompany is involved inthis sector, then why notshare your experiences?Ideas, news items, pressreleases etc are mostwelcome at: [email protected]
Quality and defecttracking
Modal Shop hires Sokolowski
8 www.castings-forgings-news.com
Magnesium
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Next Issue: ZincAre you involved in producing zinc castings or forgings? Doyou have some research work to share? Or, perhaps you are auser of zinc components? Betty would be delighted to hearyour experiences and can be reached at: [email protected]
International Magnesium Award
CAST’s Dr Mark Eastonhas been awarded the GKSSMagnesium Research Awardat the 8th International Con-ference on Magnesium Al-loys and applications. TheGKSS Research Centre inGeesthacht initiated theaward to honour innovativework by an individual re-searcher in the area of thescience and technology ofmagnesium alloys.
Magnesium is a logicallightweight alternative to tra-ditional materials, especiallyfor automotive applications.Magnesium is 33% lighterthan aluminium and 75%lighter than cast iron, has anexcellent strength to weightratio, high shock and dent re-sistance and will dampennoise and vibrations signifi-cantly more than either alu-minium or steel.
Dr Easton was selectedfrom a field of applicantsfrom Asia, Australia, Europeand North America. Accord-ing to GKSS, Dr Easton re-ceived the award because ofhis “important contributionsto the understanding of therelationship between nucleiand grain refinement formagnesium alloys.” GKSSfurther said, “Dr Easton was[also] involved in the devel-opment of new grain refinerfor wrought alloys containingZr in its most effective form.He has led teams in the de-velopment of several new al-loys, predominantly forcasting, and for a range ofother applications. Dr Easton
has provided considerableleadership in the Australianresearch community andglobally.”
According to Dr Easton,“My passion is for doing re-search that spans the gap be-tween good science and thedevelopment of real tech-nologies. Research is able tocontribute to some of the im-portant issues that face theworld and humanity. One ofthe greatest issues is how welearn to live in a resourcelimited world. I like to thinkthat my research goes someway to addressing these is-sues.”
Mark Easton is a Re-search Program Managerwith the CAST CooperativeResearch Centre based atMonash University, Mel-bourne, Australia. Dr Eatongraduated from Monash Uni-versity and obtained his PhDin Materials Engineeringfrom the University ofQueensland. In 1999, heworked at Comalco Researchand Technical Services inThomastown, Victoria, Aus-tralia. From 2000-2004, hewas a Research Engineer atMonash University with theCRC for CAST Metals Man-ufacturing (CAST). Since2005, Dr Easton has been aResearch Program Managerwith the CAST CooperativeResearch Centre based atMonash University, Mel-bourne, Australia.
☞ www.gkss.dewww.cast.org.auwww.eng.monash.edu.au
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Starting this issue, CFNwill include pages de-voted to specific materi-als. We will present aselection of the very lat-est technical develop-ments, updates oncompany and product in-formation, reviews of rel-evant associations andalso provide links forfurther reading. Pleasehelp us to make thesepages as informative aspossible by sending yourown materials informa-tion to CFN editor Betty Hammond at: [email protected]
Annual MgConferenceThe next instalment of theAnnual World MagnesiumConference is scheduled forMay 16-18, 2010 at theKowloon Shangri-La Hotelin Hong Kong. The show isorganised by the Interna-tional Magnesium Associa-tion, who state it is a uniquegathering which successfullyblends association business,technical presentations, net-working opportunities, socialactivities and more.
☞Info: www.intlmag.org/conference.html
Automobile manufac-turers are facing pressurefrom two developmenttrends. Increasing costs dueto global competition forcesthese companies to takecomprehensive measures toadjust their cost structure.At the same time, this in-dustry sector is trying tomeet environmental protec-tion targets. According to anautomotive expert, Prof.Ferdinand Dudenhöfer, allmanufacturers still signifi-cantly exceed the upperlimits of values for carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions.An obstacle to drastically
reducing CO2 emissions isthat cars are still veryheavy, which is why inno-vations in the field of lightvehicle construction thatfocus on new materials andimproved production tech-nologies are particularlycritical.
Increased production rate
‘Time to market’ is theslogan which is currentlydriving activities in the au-tomobile industry. In orderto accelerate the time tomarket, many manufactur-ers resort to continuousstreamlining of their manu-facturing processes, thus re-ducing the time required tobring new products to themarketplace. Increasingly,outsourced divisions arebeing retransferred. A SouthGerman automobile manu-facturer reintegrated shotblasting of transmissionhousings back into the com-pany after the material theyare constructed of waschanged from aluminium tomagnesium die castings.This automobile manufac-turer asked Rösler Ober-flächentechnik to develop ahighly efficient processing
system for deburring andsurface finishing the cas-ings and internal surfaces oftransmission housings.Rösler developed a custom-built RROB 800/1200-6Roboblaster which was de-signed with a special em-phasis on cost-effectivenessand quality. To achieve therequired cycle time of 26seconds per component, therobot is equipped with adouble gripper which canaccommodate two compo-nents at the same time. Therobot places the transmis-sion housings in the blastchamber, and then rotatesthem. This rotation causesthe patented interlockingseal on the gripper's collarto immediately and securelyseal the blast chamber. Inthe shot blast chamber, thehousings are shot blastedfor 20 seconds by six high-performance blast wheels,of which, two are mountedon to the back wall of thechamber to guarantee thatthe inside area is shotblasted thoroughly. A sys-tem especially developedfor the Roboblaster subse-quently removes the shotblast media from the com-ponents.
Rösler developed this highly efficientprocessing system for an automobilemanufacturer to deburr and surfacefinish magnesium transmissionhousings.
Squeezed between costand innovation
Multi-slide, hot-chamber innovation
A company which im-mediately springs to mindwhen discussing magne-sium is Dynacast. The com-pany website is quite clearabout the advantages thismetal has to offer: “Magne-sium is the ideal materialfor applications whereweight saving is a priority,having the lowest densityof all structural metals. Al-most as light in weight asplastic, magnesium has theadvantage of greaterstrength and rigidity alongwith inherent EMI/RFIshielding, durability, heat-dissipation and full recycla-bility.”
Dynacast is clearly atthe forefront of innovationwhen it comes to castingmagnesium. In fact, theirwebsite gives a goodoverview of their so-called“multi-slide, hot-chamber”
casting process. They write,“Multi-slide tooling is de-signed to use 4 perpendicu-lar slides in the tool toenable very complex andaccurate castings to be pro-duced. In some cases, up to6 slides can be used, whichmay be at angles other than90 degrees. The process isused principally for smallzinc components but alsoDynacast has developed amulti-slide machine for diecasting magnesium parts.”
Tip: On the home page,www.dynacast.com,
select the “Mg - Magne-sium” button. Then click"ManufacturingProcesses”, found on theright-hand side.Then just under it click“Multi-Slide Hot-Cham-ber”.
A mine of informationA resource that comes
highly recommended is theInternational Magnesium As-sociation (IMA) website.This provides access to infor-mation about IMA members,programs and events, data-bases, conference proceed-ings, publications and videos.In short, the site contains awealth of resource informa-tion about magnesium, whichthe IMA rightly notes is “oneof the earth's most versatilemetals.” Founded in 1943, themission of the InternationalMagnesium Association(IMA) is to promote the useof the metal magnesium inmaterial selection and encour-age innovative applications.IMA's members consist of pri-mary producers, recyclers,foundries, fabricators, end-users and suppliers. IMA
serves the industry and themembership through its An-nual World Magnesium Con-ference, seminars, statisticalprograms, research and publi-cations. Through IMA's ef-forts, manufacturers andconsumers are increasinglyaware of the numerous op-tions and benefits the metalmagnesium provides. TheIMA website also includessome compelling applicationsfor magnesium. For example,they state that thanks to itslightweight properties, mag-nesium alloys are being usedincreasingly in the automotiveindustry as a means of reduc-ing weight, increasing fuel ef-ficiency and reducinggreenhouse gas emissions.
Further reading:www.intlmag.org
Magnesium resourcesThe Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory(PNNL) website offers visi-tors an extensive overviewof technical papers aboutmagnesium and other met-als. PNNL is one of theU.S. Department of En-ergy's (DOE's) ten nationallaboratories, managed byDOE's Office of Science.PNNL also performs re-search for other DOE of-fices as well as governmentagencies, universities, andindustry to deliver break-through science and tech-nology.
The PNNL’s extensiveresource for magnesium pa-pers is intended to informreaders about the “who andwhere” of the latest re-search and development onmagnesium. Although the
site does not include the ac-tual papers themselves, theinformation providedshould be sufficient to en-able readers to readily ac-cess the articles of interest.
To say the informationis extensive is an under-statement. The “castingprocesses and properties”link alone brought up closeon 200 articles on magne-sium, covering the past tenyears or so. These paperscover research efforts fromquite literally around theglobe. There are also sec-tions on related topics, suchas “alloy development”,“corrosion” and “primaryproduction”. In short, thesite provides links to a mas-sive amount of data.
www.pnl.govwww.magnesium.pnl.gov
Magnesium Technologysymposium 2010
A very interesting eventto be held early in 2010(February 14-18, Seattle,USA) is the yearly Magne-sium Technology sympo-sium, said to be one of thelargest gatherings of magne-sium specialists in theworld. Papers are presentedon all aspects of magne-sium, from primary produc-tion to applications andrecycling. In 2010, the sym-posium will cover the fol-lowing topics: primaryproduction, recycling, cast-ing, casting and wrought al-loys and properties, wroughtproducts and processing(rolling, extrusion, forging),forming, corrosion and sur-face finishing, joining,
structural applications (au-tomotive, aerospace, etc.),emerging applications (bio-medical, battery, H-storage,etc.). In short, this could bea most informative show forpeople interested in castingsand forgings made frommagnesium.
To see abstracts of thedozens of approved presen-tations, please go to:www.tms.org
Tip:enter “magnesium2010” in the search
field. The abstracts arelisted under the “program-master” section of the web-site.
Show Preview
www.castings-forgings-news.com 9Visit NEWCAST 2011
www.newcast.com
Euroguss 2010:
Euroguss 2010, 10th In-ternational Trade Fair forDie Casting: Technology,Processes, Products, will beheld January 19-21, 2010 atthe Exhibition CentreNuremberg. EUROGUSSis the central forum for ex-perts from the pressure diecasting foundries and theassociated industries. As aleading international tradefair for pressure die casting,this highly specializedevent offers the setting for
the international exchangeof knowledge, know-howand dedicated information.The exhibition will hostsome 300 exhibitors. Run-ning parallel to the exhibi-tions the 10th InternationalDie Casting Congress willoffer an extensive programof lectures with 22 presen-tation on “tools and ma-chinery” and “aluminium,magnesium and zinc diecasting” for the expected6,000 trade attendees.NurembergMesse has or-ganized the event in cooper-ation with the GermanAssociation of Pressure DieCasting Foundries (VDD)
and with the Federation ofGerman Foundry Special-ists (VDG).
For optimal preparationprior to visiting the fair,www.ask-euroguss.de hasbeen made available. Here,all exhibitors are repre-sented with comprehensiveinformation about theircompanies, products andcontacts.
METEF & Foundeq 2010Metef – 8th International
Aluminium Exhibition andFoundeq Europe - FoundryEquipment Exhibition forFerrous and non-Ferrousmetals will be held in con-junction April 14-17, 2010at the Garda ExhibitionCentre in Montichiari, Bres-cia, Italy. Distinguishing it-self as the opportunity parexcellence to have a close-up view of industry devel-opments in machinery,plant, equipment, productsand aluminium applications,Metef is a meeting point forlarge and small scale enter-prises in the industry pro-viding qualified experts inthe field of die casting, ex-trusion, foundry, rolling,surface treatments and com-
plementary technologies,with innovative and techno-logically advanced solutionsto cope with the most de-manding production re-quirements. One can not
talk of Metef without men-tioning Foundeq, now in its5th edition, Italy’s one andonly exhibition of foundrymachines, equipment andproducts.
7th Biennial Valve World Conference & Expo
Düsseldorf, Germany 30 Nov - 02 Dec 2010
Turn it on!
w w w . v a l v e w o r l d e x p o . c o m
Now get all the congress and trade fair information daily on your mobile!Simply use the QR-Code Reader of your camera phone.
Düsseldorf turns it on!
Sponsored by:
Supported by:
Valve World’sfirst time inDusseldorf
Theleadinginterna-tionaltradefair forvalves
and valve accessories,Voalve World Expo, will beheld for the first time in2010 at its new location inDusseldorf. A total of 400exhibitors from 35 countriesand approximately 7,000visitors come together tofocus on technical innova-tions in faucets, valves com-ponents, related fittings andpipeline products. Coincid-ing with the exhibition is theKCI-organized Valve WorldConference.
The next METAV: Inter-national Fair for Manufac-turing Technology andAutomation will take placeFebruary 23-27, 2010 at theDüsseldorf Trade Fair Cen-tre. Thus METAV is the firstinternational metalworkingfair in the new year and theideal platform for exhibitorsto gather information on thelatest developments and so-lutions for production rightat the start of 2010. The ex-
hibition will cover a widescope of state-of-the-artmanufacturing technologiesfor the metalworking indus-try – from machine tools,precision tools, automationtechnology to complete sys-tems made to customers’specification. Trade visitorsare offered ideal opportuni-ties for gaining an overviewof the goods and servicesavailable and can make theirinvestment decisions at the
beginning ofthe year on asure and well-informedfooting.
☞ Formore
informationplease visitwww.metav.de.
METAV 2010
10 www.castings-forgings-news.com
Calendar & Appointments
Vice President – Public and Government AffairsDaniel Cruise will joinAlcoa as Vice Presidentfor Public and Govern-ment Affairs. He willoversee all global, na-tional, state and localgovernmental and regu-latory affairs and otherpublic matters for thecompany. Mr Cruisecomes to Alcoa from theAlbright StonebridgeGroup where, as a Man-aging Director, he ranthe firm’s New York of-fice. At Albright Stone-bridge, Mr. Cruiseadvised global busi-nesses as they enterednew markets and ad-justed to local govern-ment and regulatoryframeworks. Mr. Cruisealso served in PresidentClinton’s White Houseas Director for PublicAffairs for the NationalSecurity Council.
Chief People & Communications OfficerNovelis Inc. announcedthat Eric Drummond hasbeen named Chief Peo-ple and CommunicationsOfficer. He will be amember of both the Ex-ecutive Committee andthe Executive HumanResources Committeeand will be responsiblefor the Corporate Com-munications. Mr Drum-mond was previouslyVice President, GlobalHuman Resources forthe National BasketballAssociation. Drum-mond started his careerat Ingersoll-Rand takingon progressively moresenior roles in human re-sources within the manu-facturing arena. He laterworked in variousHuman Resources rolesat PepsiCo, Coors Brew-ing, RJ Reynolds/JapanTobacco and LindeGases. Drummond holdsa B.S. degree in Em-ployment and Interna-tional Relations as wellas a Masters degree inLabor and Industrial Re-lations, both earned atMichigan State Univer-sity.
Appointments
Visit NEWCAST 2011
www.gifa.com
Most employers onlytend to get involved in therecruitment process whenthey are looking for newpersonnel. Likewise, mostpeople only begin studyingthe jobs market when theyare looking for a new posi-tion. So it is probably quitefair to state that such em-ployers or candidates are byno means experts in thiscomplex and often compli-cated field. Therefore,whether you are looking tosource new personnel orwhether you want to findthat ‘dream job’, a specialistrecruitment company can re-ally make the difference be-tween success and failure.
A piece of advice we al-ways give to companies orcandidates is to get to knowthe other people involvedpersonally. Don’t make de-cisions on hearsay or forthat matter on informationyou glean from the Internet.
Get facts AND feelingHere is a real-life and
very timely example. For arecent commission, we wereasked to find an experiencedindustry specialist by a com-pany that is quite literally
located on the other side ofthe world. An excellent can-didate was found and ameeting arranged with theclient company, who wereplanning to visit Europe toconduct interviews.
In the meantime, how-ever, the candidate decidedto do some research of hisown on the Internet. Fromwhat he saw he decided hedidn’t want to proceed withhis application.
That was a big mistake!Whilst he got facts from theInternet, he didn’t get anyfeeling. He could not assessthe personality of the com-pany and its people. We,however, thanks to our ownpersonal experience, wereable to reassure him of theirquality and reputation bothas a company and as em-ployers. Not only that, wewere also able to informhim that they were sendingtwo senior executives overto meet him – one a nationalof the country where thecompany is based and theother being someone whohad previously done exactlythe journey they were ask-ing our candidate to con-sider.
After listening to theadvice our candidate haschanged his mind and hasagreed to the meeting, towhich incidentally his wifeis also invited to attend.After all, everyone realisesthat the spouse should bepart of any decision-makingof this magnitude. Now allparties will be able to dis-cuss the job, the companyand the career prospects;but, they can also talk aboutthe country, its lifestyle andall the other considerationsof going to live on the otherside of the world.
You can’t beat face-to-faceWe would always ad-
vise employers and candi-dates to meet face-to-facebefore they make any deci-sions. It is often said thatbody language tells you asmuch as the spoken word.And in our opinion, that iscertainly true.
The best piece of ad-vice? Do not underestimatethe recruitment process. Finda specialist recruitment com-pany that works within yourown market sectors for aclose and personal viewpointon the best way forward.
Getting up close and personalIt’s not just what you know, it’s also who you know
About Philip de Belder
Philip de Belderis Managing Directorof de Belder Associ-ates Ltd, a globallybased search and se-lection organisationthat specialises in thefoundry, castings andmetals industries.Philip writes regularcolumns for CFN,with advice on suc-cessful recruitment.
www.debelder.co.uk
D E B E L D E R C O L U M NJanuary 7 - 9, 2010 7th Everything About
Water Expo
Chennai (India)
January 11 - 15, 2010 AOV / MOV
Joint Conference
San Antonio (USA)
January 19 - 20, 2010 1st Middle East North
Africa Water Resource
Dubai (United Arab
Emirates)
January 19 - 21, 2010Euroguss 2010
Nuremberg
(Germany)
February 5 - 7, 2010IFEX 2010
Ahmedabad (India)
February 10 - 12, 2010Metallurgy India 2010
Mumbai (India)
February 23 - 27, 2009METAV 2010
Düsseldorf (Germany)
February 25 - 27, 2010 Aluminium India 2010
Mumbai (India)
March 10 - 20, 2010Dongguan Int Expo
on Foundry &
Die Casting 2010
Dongguan (China)
March 20 - 23, 2010CastExpo 2010
Orlando (USA)
April 12 - 16, 2010wire & tube 2010
Düsseldorf (Germany)
April 14 - 17, 2010Metef 2010
Brescia (Italy)
May 11, 2010Asia Foundry
Forum 2010
Beijing (China)
May 11 - 13, 2010International Casting
Sourcing Fair 2010
Beijing (China)
May 11 - 14, 2010Casting China
International 2010
The 10th InternationalFoundry, Metalforming& Industrial FurnacesExhibitionThe 12th China Interna-tional Metallurgical In-dustry ExpoBeijing (China)
June 2 - 4, 20105th International
ROSMOULD
Exhibition
Moscow (Russia)
June 10 - 11, 2010Deutscher
Gießereitag 2010
Dresden (Germany)
Calendar
Aluminium India 2010,India's largest professionalconference and exhibitionon aluminium, in its 2nd edi-tion, is set to be held Febru-ary 25-27, 2010 at theBombay Exhibition Centre,Mumbai, India. AluminiumIndia 2010 offers the alu-minium industry an interna-tional B2B platform thatwill showcase and foster theexchange of ideas on the lat-
est technology, products andnew business opportunitiesto visitors from a wide spec-trum of decision makers,manufactures, producers,users, policy makers, gov-ernment officials, academ-ics, and technologydevelopers. Alcastek 2010conference, held concur-rently, will continue its pres-ent role by providing a highstandard technical forum onnew developments ad-dressed by invited worldclass experts.
IFEX 2010 -India’s Foundry
Industrytrade fair
IFEX 2010, the 6th In-ternational Exhibition onFoundry Technology,Equipment and Supplies,will be held February 5-7,2010, at the Gujarat Uni-versity Exhibition Hall,Ahmedabad, India. Thefair runs concurrent to CastIndia Expo and will be anexcellent platform for In-dian as well as overseascompanies to showcasetheir state-of-the-art tech-nologies and servicesbeing offered to this vi-brant industry and for ex-posure to new businessopportunities. The event isa cooperative effort of theKoelnmesse and the Insti-tute of Indian Foundrymen.
Aluminium India 2010
April 12-16, 2010, Dus-seldorf Messe will host Wire2010, international wire andcable trade fair in conjunc-tion with Tube 2010, interna-tional wire and pipe tradefair,. Wire 2010 & Tube 2010will bring exhibitors and vis-itors together to highlight thewire, pipe and cable indus-tries. At Tube 2010, plasticpipes, profiles, profile tech-
nology and OCTG technol-ogy will be the hub of activi-ties. Wire 2010 will focus onthe latest technologies inwire, cable, and fibre opticequipment, as well as spring
production and metal form-ing. Wire 2010 can be foundin halls 9 to 12 and halls 15to 17, while exhibitions forTube 2010 can be found inHalls 1 to 7.
Tube & Wire 2010 Dusseldorf
China Foundry Associa-tion will host the Interna-tional Casting Sourcing Fair2010, May 11-13, 2010 at theNew China InternationalCentre in Beijing, China.With 1, 869 members whosecasting output accounts for72% of the total output ofcastings in China, this fairoffers a unique opportunityfor overseas purchasers tofind business partners and
see the latest industry devel-opment in China.
International CastingSourcing Fair 2010
Ms. Daisy LiuChina Foundry
AssociationTel: +86 10 68418899
(Ext.635 ) Fax: +86 10 [email protected]
☞ Contact:
Appointments,Anniversaries,Celebrations!
CFN is interested in yourcompanies or organisati-on’s appointments and ce-lebrations. Tell us aboutthe people making it allhappen. Contributionsare welcome from allsides of the industry:foundries, forges, equip-ment suppliers, universi-ties, research institutions,end users, etc. Selecteditems will be placed asspace allows and, ofcourse, free of charge.Please send items [email protected]
Think India and youmay form a picture of afoundry sector still domi-nated by smaller-sized com-panies turning outcommodity castings. Whilstsuch companies are withoutdoubt still in the majorityother, more organized enter-prises are slowly emerging,according to Mr Natarajan,the Managing Director ofSanmar Metals Corporation.“Like in any other country, inIndia there are also foundrieswhich specialize in specificend-user industries. For ex-
ample, some of the foundriesfocus on automotive parts,some in valves and some inconstruction and mining typecastings. Many buyers aresurprised that Indianfoundries are often able to docomplex parts with demand-ing specifications. Whilesourcing from India, my ad-vice would be to seek sup-plies of machined castingssince that would reduce thepotential quality issues.”
Sanmar is one of themore developed foundries inIndia and, indeed, at itsTrichy facility boasts one ofthe world’s largest single lo-cations for steel castings witha capacity of 25,000 tonnesper annum. The same loca-tion also has an investmentfoundry and well-equippedCNC machine shop. MrNatarajan states, “The San-mar Metals business consistsof two distinct and independ-ent sectors, namely the ironand steel foundries. In boththese businesses we have op-
erations in India as well asoverseas. The iron businessis largely focused on the au-tomotive segment particu-larly for the turbo chargerapplications. Our Eisen-werke Erla foundry in Ger-many specializes inNi-Resist (D5S) alloys forhighly cored complex partsused in turbo charger appli-cations. We have recentlystarted a Greenfield IronFoundry in Chennai (India)to complement the Germanyfoundry. The steel foundrybusiness, on the other hand,is very different. Here theapplications are largely inflow products like valves, forthe construction and miningsegment and rail / transit ap-plications. Our foundries arelocated in US, Mexico andIndia, but we service cus-tomers on a worldwide basis.Another difference is that insteel we make a wide range
of castings from very smallto large size and in a widerange of metallurgies fromcarbon steel to super high al-loys.”
Asked about Sanmar’sstrengths, Mr Natarajancomments that the com-pany’s technical capability ishighly rated. “The clientbase for both the businessesincludes industry leadersand these tend to be themost demanding in terms ofquality and service levels.
We pride ourselves for ourhighly professional ap-proach to the business andare setting high standards interms of health, safety andenvironmental issues.Thanks to our experiencedteam and sharing of prac-tices across the locations, wecan offer a wide range ofcasting solutions and todayare also in a position to offerlarge capacity from a lowcost country like India,” hesays.
www.castings-forgings-news.com
India is seen by manyprocurement managers as theemerging global destinationfor forgings and castings.They claim that Indian com-panies can offer significantadvantages such as cost-ef-fective skilled labour, engi-neering skills, low cost inputmaterial of select grades andalso proven abilities in han-dling complex engineeringproducts.
A company that is help-ing to shape India’s future isBay Forge Limited based inChennai. Since 1996, Bay-Forge has been a leader in thearea of open die forgings andlarge seamless rings. Accord-ing to Mr Ravishankar,VP Sales & Marketing,Bay-Forge is a well rec-ognized name in Indiaand abroad for the sup-ply of large forgingslike shafts and compo-nents for steam and gasturbine rotors, sealhousing and barrel cas-ings for compressorsand pumps, dished ends,shells, tube sheets andcovers for pressure ves-sels, pinions, gears andshafts for gear boxes,wind turbine shafts andflanges. With this prod-uct range it serves criti-cal sectors of the economysuch as, power generation,nuclear, wind, oil and gas, ce-ment machinery, steel plantsand general engineering sec-tors. Bay Forge plays an ex-clusive role in the aerospacesector supplying aluminiumand titanium rings as well assteel components for thesatellite launch vehicles, toIndian Space Research Or-ganization (ISRO).
Bay-Forge boasts exten-sive facilities covering 65acres. The plant is equippedwith a 2000-tonne press with
integrated manipulator dedi-cated to open die forgings anda 3500-tonne press (soon tobe fitted with an integratedmanipulator) used for largerforgings and rings. The ringrolling mill canroll out rings of5.5 meters indiameter and 20tonnes inweight – one ofthe most power-ful in the world.
The plant iscurrentlyequipped with
twelve gas and oil fired fur-naces (20 to 100 tonne capac-ity) along with four electricfurnaces for aluminium, tita-nium and special alloys and astate-of-the art machine shop.In 2009 alone, new invest-ments at Bay Forge includedthe installation of six new fur-naces, plus additional quenchtank and machining facilities,delivering additional capacityand capabilities.
Of course, manufacturersare more than just the sum oftheir facilities. Bay Forge’skey strengths are quality and
innovation. Virtues whichhave been recognised by theIndian Space Research Or-ganization, which singled outBay Forge for their require-ments of seamless rings and
critical forgings in specialgrade of aluminium, titaniumand exotic steel. Mr Ravis-hankar concluded, “As a sub-sidiary of the Italian FOMASGroup, Bay-Forge has accessto world-class technology andprocess details. Bay-Forge istherefore on a technologicalpar with FOMAS. Moreover,Bay-Forge is one of the fewcompanies with experience inhandling such a wide range offerrous and non-ferrous mate-rials with exotic chemistry fora diverse range of sectors ofthe economy. This has helpedBay Forge to emerge as aone-stop-shop for any buyerlooking for wide variety offorgings and rings.”
Country Focus India
11Visit NEWCAST 2011
www.newcast.com
www.castings-forgings-news.com
Specialist foundries slowly emergingBy David Sear
Steel foundry commissioned
Karmen Castmetals (adivision of Karmen Interna-tional Pvt. Ltd.) is pleasedto announce the commis-sioning of its state–of–the–art steel and alloy steelfoundry in Chennai, India.The plant is equipped withfully automatic Fast LoopNo-Bake moulding line sup-plied by IMF, Italy withmould size of 1800 x 1400.The plant can handle singlepiece weight of 550 kgs andhas a total capacity of 500tonnes/month. The newfoundry has been certifiedto ISO 9001 and PED by
TUV Nord. Karmen Cast-metals has full NDT capa-bility with ASNT Level IIIcertified personnel.
With a full range of car-bon steel, alloy steel, lowtemperature steels, stainlesssteels including duplexgrades, Karmen Castmetalsintends to focus on the valveand pump industry and cansupply fully machined cast-ings and precision compo-nents through itsEngineering Division whichis equipped with latest CNChorizontal and vertical ma-chining centers.
Pioneer Alloy Castings has
chalked out an INR 400
crore plan to augment ca-
pacity. The company,
which has two foundries at
Gummidipundi in Tamil
Nadu and Renigunta in
Andhra Pradesh, India,
has an existing casting ca-
pacity of 40,000tn. Pioneer
is expected to begin work
on Phase I expansion in Ja-
nuary 2010 that involves
importing a high pressure
casting line. When commis-
sioned, it is likely to triple
casting capacity to
120,000tns/month.
Expansion plan
Prices for steel castings in India are generally lower due to the high labour
content. The price differential for iron castings is not as significant.
In recent years Mr Natarajan (MDof Sanmar Metals Corporation) hasseen many noteworthy developmentsincluding the acquisition of MatrixMetals foundries in North America,expansion at the Trichy foundry andthe winning of several top-notchcustomers.
View of the Sanmar Foundry Steel Foundry complex consisting of a sandfoundry with a capacity of 25,000 MT per annum, an investment foundry witha capacity of 1200 MT per annum and a well equipped CNC machine shop.
Karmen Castmetals has commissioned a state-of-the-art steel and alloy steelfoundry in Chennai.
A “leading light” in India, Bay Forge is set-ting standards for others to follow. Bay Forgeis an ISO 9001: 2008 certified company. BayForge has also been recommended to receiveISO 14001-2004 Environmental certificationin December 2009 by European DNV.
A global destination for castings and forgings
Set up in 1950 and reg-istered as a society in WestBengal under the SocietiesRegistration Act XXI of1860, the Institute of IndianFoundrymen (IIF) had mod-est beginnings. Today it hasan enviable national spreadof four regional branchesand twenty seven chapters.Its current membershipnumbers over 3,200 inclu-sive of Fellows, Members,Life Members and Com-pany Members.
From providing educa-tion, research and trainingpertaining to metal casting,to publishing the monthlyIndian Foundry Journal, inaddition to hosting the an-nual Indian Foundry Con-gress and being the nodalpoint of information, plusbeing the one point refer-ence for the Governmentand participating in thepreparation of standards forfoundry materials and prod-ucts . . . IIF is multi-dimen-sional in its sphere ofactivities.
Headquartered in Cal-cutta, in a four storey build-ing, it is equipped with alibrary aimed at keeping thefoundrymen technicallyabreast of global develop-ments.
The IIF is affiliatedwith the Confederation ofIndian Industry (CII), NewDelhi and the WorldFoundrymen Organisation(WFO), U.K.
☞ Info:
www.indianfoundry.com
Active institute
for foundriesin India