Metal casting is the manufacturing process where molten metal is poured into a mold and allowed to cool and solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is broken or ejected out of the mold to complete the process. Casting is most often used for making complex shapes that would be difficult or uneconomical to make by other methods. Below we discuss why quality castings are important and how the process is used by metal casting companies like Patriot Foundry in the military, packaging, and gear casting industries.
The Importance of Metal Casting:
All major metals can be cast. The most common casting alloys are aluminum, steel, iron, magnesium, zinc, and copper-based. The versatile process of metal casting offers exceptional freedom in forming intricate components, due to the metal flowing into every small section in the molten cavity, hence complex shapes can be produced. It is basically free from the restrictions of the size, thickness, and shape of an item.
Metal casting is often the least expensive and most direct way of producing a shape with certain desired mechanical properties. The overall material and energy consumption is less expensive than other metal forming methods. Not only is it less expensive, it can be more accurate as well, as metal castings yield a more precise forming size as opposed to welding and other methods. As a metal casting company, this allows Patriot Foundry to produce a wide variety of reliable parts and components that are crucial to the manufacturing process in a number of important industries.
Department of Defense
Metal casting is commonly used over a wide range of different applications, but approximately 10% of all castings produced in the US are solely for military applications. Rare, precious, and specialized metals and alloys are widely used in the defense industry, not only in weaponry and defense equipment, but also for communications equipment and infrastructure. Military contractors require metal products for these and related applications which include aircraft and vehicle components, electronics housings, control handles, and communication components.
In addition to rare, precious and specialized metals and alloys, the defense industry also has an ongoing need for aluminum and bronze. These metals are widely used in the construction of military equipment, particularly in vehicle parts like transmissions and engines.
Gear Manufacturing
Metal casting is also used by companies in gear manufacturing. Bronze sand castings are widely used for the manufacture of gears due to this alloy’s excellent wearing properties, and ease of producing complicated shapes. A variety of metal casting methods are also used for making the components for industrial and residential pumps and valves. One form is prototype casting, which enables manufacturers to ensure a part has the proper dimensions before beginning large-scale production. While Patriot Foundry casts gears of a variety of shapes and sizes for a variety of applications; our ingenuity has enabled us to develop methods to cast bi-metal or co-cast gears for use in explosive and corrosive environments. In these applications, Patriot Foundry casts manganese or nickel-aluminum bronze onto or around cast iron to produce a gear that is economical and meets the mechanical requirements of the end use.
Textile and Packaging Applications
Casting is also used in the textile and packaging industries. Complicated pieces, traditionally obtained by the union of several components for welding, can be more easily obtained with the use of vacuum “casting” fiberboard or cardboard onto aluminum and bronze dies. These dies are cast by Patriot Foundry and are used by the packaging industry to make ice cream containers and lids, yogurt cups, beverage carriers, soda cups, disposable serving trays, aerosol can tops, meat and fruit and egg trays, all of which are made using a special vacuum forming die.
Metal casting companies play an important role in the manufacturing of an astonishing array of products and components thanks to the cost-effectiveness and versatility of metal casting. With 20 years of engineering consulting experience and industry knowledge, see how Patriot Foundry and Castings can better serve your casting needs today.
