Permanent mold casting of Mg alloys

[YYS]

For those who have tried to use Low Preseure permanent mold or other form of permanent molds to cast magnesium alloys, could you please share with us your experience with castability of alloys AZ91, AM60, AM50 and etc.? Thanks. YY

 

[Goahead]

An article on Production of Magnesium Alloy Castings in ASM Metals Handbook Vol. 5 (1970) explains shape and design limitations for Permanent Mold Casting due to "relatively poor feeding characteristics".

http://www.welding-advisers.com/

 

[EdStainless]

This is why thixotropic or slush-casting of Mg alloys has been such a large area of research.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Rust never sleeps
Neither should your protection

http://www.trent-tube.com/contact/Tech_Assist.cfm

 

[YYS]

Thank Goahead and Edstainless for your responses. The Mg alloys mentioned earlier are good die casting alloys. However, if used for permanent mold casting, they are not so good. Hot tears, non fills and shrinkages are quite bad. My impressions are that AM50 and AM60 have even worse castability than AZ91. Not sure if this is also experienced by you, and if you did, how did you do to improve the castability? Improved die coating?

 

[CoryPad]

There is a current research project by USAMP:

http://www.uscar.org/consortia&teams/consortiahomepages/con-usamp.htm

regarding Mg parts produced with no/low pressure die casting. Eck Industries is involved, and has published recently on this same subject. You may want to contact David Weiss, their Vice President of Engineering.

http://www.eckindustries.com/contact_us2.htm

Regards,

Cory

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.