Aluminum casting begins with an idea, an
idea for a new aluminum product. The person who has visualized the
product, one that can be made from aluminum, must share his or her
idea. The idea creator develops a sample product or a drawing, one that
makes clear his or her conceptualized product.
Yet before any factory begins to make aluminum castings, the
conceptualized product must be evaluated. Does it meet the quality
standards recognized by the aluminum industry? Can it be manufactured
using available technology? What tools and machines are needed to make
the conceptualized product?
After an evaluation of the conceptualized product, industry experts
might offer some suggestions. They might propose changes that would
facilitate manufacture of the conceived product. They might point out
ways that the proposed product could be made more functional. They
might suggest changes that could lower production costs.
Before moving on to the next step, the idea creator and the
evaluators put their heads together. They introduce into future plans
whatever changes all see as necessary. Each of those changes is then
introduced into a software program.
In the 21st Century, those who take part in the aluminum casting
process rely on information obtained by using an iron mold. That mold
is made through dependence on computerized numeric control (CNC). A CNC
program guides the machinery that makes the iron mold.
Iron, a stable and long, lasting metal, holds the aluminum used in
the first casting. Following that casting the customer examines the
product obtained from the mold. If the customer approves of the sample
coming from the first casting, then, full-scale aluminum casting is
ready to commence.
Factory workers pour a coating into the iron mold. That coating
reduces the wear on the mold. The coating prepares the mold for a long
sequence of aluminum casting.
Each round in the long sequence of aluminum castings initiates with
the melting of an aluminum alloy. The alloy is exposed to temperatures
of 1300 degrees Fahrenheit. The alloy melts, and workers ladle the
molten metal into the iron mold.
After the iron mold can hold no more liquid, the molten metal is
allowed to cool. Once the metal and mold have cooled, the iron cast is
removed. At that point, finishing work on the caste aluminum commences.
Sometimes, the product of an aluminum casting must undergo
debarring. Sometimes it must undergo sanding or grinding. Sometimes the
caste aluminum becomes the focus of plating or powder coating.
In the end, the aluminum casting serves as the key step in the
formation of a usable product. It is a product that began in the mind
of a free-thinking man or woman. It is a product that has the qualities
industry experts viewed as fundamental to the product’s function.
Because the aluminum product was caste from an iron mold, it can be
re-caste again and again. The desirable features in the finished
product can be enjoyed by many. Those features can be reproduced over
and over, using the aluminum casting process.
