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Vertical high pressure die casting

Updated Thursday, 2 November 2017
Molten metal is poured slowly into a shot chamber situated at the top of a drive cylinder that’s slightly tilted off vertical. The drive cylinder is moved back to vertical, and raised to a position at the base of the die. Pressure is applied to the shot piston so that the molten metal is forced vertically into the die cavity, and left to solidify, producing a high density casting.

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1. Drive cylinder mechanism is tilted to a slight angle from the vertical. Molten metal is automatically ladled into the shot chamber.

Diagram to demonstrate molten metal being poured slowly into a shot chamber situated at the top of a drive cylinder that’s slightly tilted off vertical.

2. Drive cylinder is adjusted back to the vertical position.

Diagram to demonstrate molten metal being poured slowly into a shot chamber situated at the top of a drive cylinder that’s slightly tilted off vertical.

3. Shot chamber is raised to the lower die position.

Diagram to demonstrate molten metal being poured slowly into a shot chamber situated at the top of a drive cylinder that’s slightly tilted off vertical.

4. Pressure is applied to inject the molten metal into the die cavity.

Diagram to demonstrate molten metal being poured slowly into a shot chamber situated at the top of a drive cylinder that’s slightly tilted off vertical.

Manufacture:

  1. Vertical high pressure die casting is an alternative to high pressure die casting in a horizontal mode.
  2. Molten metal is automatically ladled into the shot chamber, which is attached to a drive cylinder in the vertical plane.
  3. The drive cylinder is adjusted back to the vertical position and the shot chamber is raised to the lower die position.
  4. Pressure is increased to force the molten metal into the die cavity in a vertical manner.
  5. Dies are designed with large in-gates compared with conventional die casting, which has narrow in-gates.
  6. High capital investment is required, in excess of £1 million.

Materials:

  1. Similar to range of materials that are die cast on conventional high pressure die casting machines.
  2. Range of materials include:
    aluminium alloys (castable)
    zinc alloys
    magnesium alloys.
  3. The quality of casting is improved compared with the conventional technique. Vertical casting through large in-gates reduces porosity problems due to air entrapment and prevents spray injection into the die cavity.

Design:

  1. Used for similar applications to those used for conventional high pressure die casting.
  2. The major application is for automobile wheel rims in aluminium alloys.

See Also: High pressure die casting, Low pressure die casting, Low pressure sand casting and CLA – Hitchiner Process.

This article is a part of Manupedia, a collection of information about some of the processes used to convert materials into useful objects.

 

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