The permanent mold aluminum casting process is a combination of the characteristics of the die casting and sand casting processes. The permanent mold casting process requires permanent steel or cast-iron dies. But molten metal is poured into the cavity using gravity which is similar to sand casting.
For this reason, this process is also called the gravity casting process. So, when we use aluminum in this process it is known as permanent mold aluminum casting. This process has the following steps:
- Firstly, manufacturers prepare the mold by heating it to 150-260o This preheating makes metal flow easier.
- Then, the manufacturers pour the liquid metal using a ladle into the mold cavity.
- While pouring, the liquid metal enters the mold through a sprue and flows through a runner into the cavity.
- Then, the cooling process solidifies the metal.
- After that, the manufacturers open the mold to separate the metal part.
- Finally, several machining processes are carried out to make the part smoother.
Types of Permanent Mold Casting
There are different types of permanent mold aluminum casting. For example,
Slush Casting
The general permanent mold aluminum casting process uses cores to make hollow sections in a part. But in slush casting, there are no cores. Here, the manufacturers pour the liquid metal and wait for the metal to solidify for a certain thickness. Then they remove the remaining liquid metal to make hollow sections.
Low-Pressure Casting
In this process, the liquid metal enters the cavity with the help of air pressure instead of gravity. This process helps to reduce shrinkage.
Vacuum Casting
In this process, the liquid metal enters the cavity with the help of a vacuum. This process helps to achieve thinner walls for the parts.
Sunrise Metal – One of the Top Chinese Die Casting Parts Manufacturers
The permanent mold aluminum casting process is not good for making complex or large parts. In this case, the aluminum die casting process is always a better choice. Sunrise Metal provides services for manufacturing various aluminum die casting parts for different industries such as:
- Medical Industry: medical bracket, hand shank, medical scroll compressor parts, etc.
- Marine Industry: pedal component, radar housing, heat sink, display frame, etc.
- Automotive Industry: engine housing, filter housing, battery cover, intake tube, etc.
- Telecommunication Industry: heat sink, camera cover, radar base plate, etc.
We have been providing this service to our clients all over the world for over a decade. For the aluminum die casting process, we have long experienced workers and engineers in our team. We also have advanced technologies and machinery that we use for manufacturing parts with aluminum die casting. Our capabilities for aluminum die casting are:
Rapid Prototyping
The rapid prototyping service is for making demo parts for testing so that our clients can examine a product before we start mass production.
Die Casting Tooling
For Die Casting Tooling manufacturing we have experienced engineers who are experts in flow simulation and other software such as Anycasting, CREO, etc.
Aluminum Die Casting
We have 4 facilities and more than 182 professionals for aluminum die casting. We are also ISO 9001, ISO 13485, and IATF 16949 certified which shows our capability.
CNC Machining
We perform CNC machining processes using the latest CNC machines so our manufactured parts have better accuracy and precision.
Surface Finishing
We also provide different surface finishing services such as powder coating, anodizing, silk screening, shot blasting, etc.
What Are the Applications of Permanent Mold Aluminum Casting?
Manufacturers around the world use the permanent mold aluminum casting process to make different aluminum parts in different industries. For example,
Automobile Industry
In the automobile industry manufacturing of various parts such as fuel injection housings, engine pistons, suspensions, gears, etc. requires the permanent mold aluminum casting process.
Aerospace Industry
The permanent mold aluminum casting is used to make aluminum ingots and many aerospace structural components in the aerospace industry.
Others
There are many other aluminum components such as fan blades, blowers, ventilation components, pump components, valve bodies, break castings, electronic housings, etc. Which are made using the permanent mold aluminum casting process.
What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Permanent Mold Aluminum Casting?
There are many advantages and disadvantages of the permanent mold aluminum casting or gravity casting process. The advantages of this process are:
- Permanent mold casting parts are denser than regular casting parts. For this reason, they are stronger and sturdier.
- The parts can achieve high dimensional precision by this casting process.
- Gravity casting allows low dimensional tolerances (i.e. 1 mm).
- The parts made by this process have excellent grain structures. For this reason, the surface finish of the parts is very smooth.
- If parts are produced using this process, there are very low scraps which saves a lot of capital.
- Permanent mold aluminum casting parts have low gas porosity and the parts shrink less than other processes.
- The mechanical properties of the casting parts are better than regular casting parts.
The disadvantages of this process are:
- The process is limited to making only parts with simple exterior designs. It is difficult to produce complex parts with this process.
- Manufacturers cannot use this casting process to produce casting parts with metals that have a very high melting point.
- The cost of tools is very high so it is necessary to go for mass production.
What Are the Differences Between Die Casting and Permanent Mold Casting?
The prime differences between the die-casting and the permanent mold casting processes are:
| Permanent Mold Casting | Die Casting |
| In this casting process, gravity helps the liquid metal to spread inside the die cavity. | In die casting the liquid metal is forced into the die cavity. |
| Generally, no external force is necessary to supply the liquid metal. | An external force is necessary to supply the liquid metal. |
| Permanent mold casting parts have less porosity than die casting parts. | Die casting parts have more porosity than permanent mold casting parts. |
| Parts have higher strength than die casting parts. | Parts have lower strength than permanent mold casting parts. |
| Not good for low quantity parts production. | Good for both low and high quantity parts production. |
| Tooling cost is higher than die casting. | Tooling cost is lower than permanent mold casting. |