Technologies to Improve Productivity and Reduce Tooling Costs in High Pressure Die Casting (HPDC)

Globalisation of supply chains for the automotive industry has made it increasingly difficult for developed economies to compete on price alone. In Australia, Nissan Casting has adopted technologies to reduce tooling costs and improve productivity of the die casting machines which use vacuum. Nissan Casting was experiencing cracking of their dies which extended into cooling lines, causing porosity outbreaks and shortened die life. CAST developed a repair technology called CASTrepair (TM) which is a relatively quick, simple and inexpensive repair technique for cracked cooling lines in HPDC dies. Also Nissan Casting is an extensive user of vacuum and a major issue was identified as unscheduled machine stoppages caused by aluminium blockages in the vacuum valves. The valves were of the mechanical shut off type and when they failed to shut off quickly enough aluminium entered the valve which then had to be changed. CAST developed CASTvac (TM) which is essentially a three dimensional chill vent with no moving parts required as a means to stop the aluminium entering the vacuum system. CASTvac (TM) has proven to be very reliable in production and has significantly reduced downtimes and toolroom maintenance at Nissan Casting. These two technologies, CASTrepair (TM) and CASTvac (TM), will be explained in detail with the latest developments in the technologies and associated benefits of their adoption.