Material Properties for Aluminum Alloy Die Castings

[njh404]

First post, so please let me know if there is a more appropriate forum for this question.

I'm designing a component that will be die cast out of an aluminum alloy and need to specify the material to be used along with a variety of properties expected of the cast material.

Through conversations with a supplier (based in India), I've decided on ADC12 (a JIS standard name?) which appears to be equivalent to 383.0 (an ASTM name). I'd like to specify what mechanical properties I want to see in separately cast test specimens (tensile, yield, elongation, hardness) along with chemical composition to verify the material when we get first samples. IS there a standard where I can find this information for the ADC12 material? I've looked at JIS H 5302 which pertains to 'aluminium' alloy castings but this only contains chemical properties.

Is this even the sort of information I should include on the print?

Thanks in advance.

 

[ctopher]

You can check MatWeb. Link

Chris, CSWP
SolidWorks
ctophers home

 

[EdStainless]

You need to find the specification that covers castings in this alloy.
That will list the required properties, and any other special things such as tolerances, HT, and NDT.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed

 

[Tmoose]

"I'm designing a (die cast) component"

Has the foundry seen the part yet?
We deal mostly in sand castings, but I'm starting to think a successful casting design is about 60% mold optimization details.

https://cwmdiecast.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Die-Casting-Prod-Design-NADCA-min.pdfs.

https://www.kineticdiecasting.com/NADCA-Product-Standards-for-Die-Casting.pdf

https://www.sunrise-metal.com/aluminum-die-casting-design-guide/

 

[swall]

Mechanical properties for aluminum die castings are based on separately cast test bars. It is a stretch to correlate those properties to the actual properties of the component. You need to establish some critical property like a burst test or load test of the actual part. The use of properties from cast test bars then just becomes a quality control for monitoring the die cast vendor. It is a totally different world than mech properties for sand cast or permanent mold cast parts.

 

[drawoh]

njh404,

How are you going to test this thing?

I have not yet run into this problem. If I specify a die-casting alloy and this all matters to me, I plan to specify Vickers hardness on the drawing. The people who actually order the aluminium will understand that Vickers hardness is fairly easy and cheap, and that I mean it.

How critical is your application? If this stuff is nasty and safety critical, maybe it is time to find a vendor who is within an hour's drive of your establishment. If there are problems, they know you will be physically at their doorstep.

--
JHG

 

[rothers]

You could used the guidance given in the Annex of JIS H 5302 if you want to specify mechanical properties of the test specimens.

 

[njh404]

Thank you all for taking the time to respond. This component is an aluminum end bell for an electric motor: it is important that the part does not allow water to pass through after machining so it sounds like some kind of burst test would be helpful?

@Tmoose: yes, the foundry has seen the part and recommended this material since they were already using it in high volume. Seems like using the same material means they wouldn't have to be constantly cleaning the furnaces when switching between materials. FEA indicates this material should be sufficient for the part.

@swall: thank you for this clarification. If you have a moment, would you be willing to clarify how this is so different than mech properties for sand cast or permanent mold parts? Forgive my ignorance.

 

[swall]

With sand or pm cast, you have the option of machining test bars from castings, given sufficient section size. This is not feasible with die castings because of the inherent porosity.