Thixomoulding
Semi-solid metal casting (SSM) is a near net shape variant of die casting. The process is used today with non-ferrous metals, such as aluminium, copper,Young, p. 1. and magnesium, but also can work with higher temperature alloys for which no currently suitable die materials are available. The process combines the advantages of casting and forging. The process is named after the fluid property thixotropy, which is the phenomenon that allows this process to work. Simply, thixotropic fluids flow when sheared, but thicken when standing. The potential for this type of process was first recognized in the early 1970s.. There are three different processes: ''thixocasting'', ''rheocasting'', ''thixomolding''. ''SIMA'' refers to a specialized process to prepare aluminum alloys for thixocasting using hot and cold working . SSM is done at a temperature that puts the metal between its liquidus and solidus temperature. Ideally, the metal should be 30 to 65% solid. The semi-solid mixture must ha ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Thixotropy
Thixotropy is a time-dependent shear thinning property. Certain gels or fluids that are thick or viscous under static conditions will flow (become thinner, less viscous) over time when shaken, agitated, shear-stressed, or otherwise stressed ( time-dependent viscosity). They then take a fixed time to return to a more viscous state. Some non-Newtonian pseudoplastic fluids show a time-dependent change in viscosity; the longer the fluid undergoes shear stress, the lower its viscosity. A thixotropic fluid is a fluid which takes a finite time to attain equilibrium viscosity when introduced to a steep change in shear rate. Some thixotropic fluids return to a gel state almost instantly, such as ketchup, and are called pseudoplastic fluids. Others such as yogurt take much longer and can become nearly solid. Many gels and colloids are thixotropic materials, exhibiting a stable form at rest but becoming fluid when agitated. Thixotropy arises because particles or structured solutes re ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Near Net Shape
Near-net-shape is an industrial manufacturing technique. As the name implies, the initial production of the item is very close to the final, or ''net'', shape. This reduces the need for surface finishing. By minimizing the use of finishing methods like machining or grinding, near-net-shape production eliminates more than two-thirds of the production costs in some industries. Processes The following are various near-net-shape processes categorized by material. Ceramics * Gelcasting * Ceramic injection molding *Spray forming *Structural ceramic production Composites * Lanxide process Plastics *Injection moulding *Rapid prototyping Metals *Casting **Permanent mold casting *Powder metallurgy * Linear friction welding *Friction welding *Metal injection molding *Rapid prototyping *Spray forming * Superplastic forming *Cold forming *Semi-solid metal casting *Photochemical machining Photochemical machining (PCM), also known as photochemical milling or photo etching, is a chemical m ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Die Casting
Die casting is a metal casting process that is characterized by forcing molten metal under high pressure into a mold cavity. The mold cavity is created using two hardened tool steel dies which have been machined into shape and work similarly to an injection mold during the process. Most die castings are made from non-ferrous metals, specifically zinc, copper, aluminium, magnesium, lead, pewter, and tin-based alloys. Depending on the type of metal being cast, a hot- or cold-chamber machine is used. The casting equipment and the metal dies represent large capital costs and this tends to limit the process to high-volume production. Manufacture of parts using die casting is relatively simple, involving only four main steps, which keeps the incremental cost per item low. It is especially suited for a large quantity of small- to medium-sized castings, which is why die casting produces more castings than any other casting process. Die castings are characterized by a very good surfac ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Casting
Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a ''casting'', which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process. Casting materials are usually metals or various ''time setting'' materials that cure after mixing two or more components together; examples are epoxy, concrete, plaster and clay. Casting is most often used for making complex shapes that would be otherwise difficult or uneconomical to make by other methods. Heavy equipment like machine tool beds, ships' propellers, etc. can be cast easily in the required size, rather than fabricating by joining several small pieces. Casting is a 7,000-year-old process. The oldest surviving casting is a copper frog from 3200 BC. History Throughout history, metal casting has been used to make tools, weapons, and religious objects. Metal casting history and de ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Forging
Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die. Forging is often classified according to the temperature at which it is performed: cold forging (a type of cold working), warm forging, or hot forging (a type of hot working). For the latter two, the metal is heated, usually in a forge. Forged parts can range in weight from less than a kilogram to hundreds of metric tons.Degarmo, p. 389 Forging has been done by smiths for millennia; the traditional products were kitchenware, hardware, hand tools, edged weapons, cymbals, and jewellery. Since the Industrial Revolution, forged parts are widely used in mechanisms and machines wherever a component requires high strength; such forgings usually require further processing (such as machining) to achieve a finished part. Today, forging is a major worldwide industry. History Forging is one of the oldest known me ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Liquidus
The liquidus temperature, TL or Tliq, specifies the temperature above which a material is completely liquid, and the maximum temperature at which crystals can co-exist with the melt in thermodynamic equilibrium. It is mostly used for impure substances (mixtures) such as glasses, alloys and rocks. Above the liquidus temperature the material is homogeneous and liquid at equilibrium. Below the liquidus temperature, more and more crystals will form in the melt if one waits a sufficiently long time, depending on the material. Alternately, homogeneous glasses can be obtained through sufficiently fast cooling, i.e., through kinetic inhibition of the crystallization process. The crystal phase that crystallizes first on cooling a substance to its liquidus temperature is termed primary crystalline phase or primary phase. The composition range within which the primary phase remains constant is known as primary crystalline phase field. The liquidus temperature is important in the glass ind ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Solidus (chemistry)
In chemistry, materials science, and physics, the solidus is the locus of temperatures (a curve on a phase diagram) below which a given substance is completely solid (crystallized). The solidus temperature, TS or Tsol, specifies the temperature below which a material is completely solid, and the minimum temperature at which a melt can co-exist with crystals in thermodynamic equilibrium. The solidus is applied, among other materials, to metal alloys, ceramics, and natural rocks and minerals. The solidus quantifies the temperature at which melting of a substance ''begins'', but the substance is not necessarily melted ''completely'', i.e., the solidus is not necessarily a melting point. For this distinction, the solidus may be contrasted to the liquidus. The solidus is always less than or equal to the liquidus, but they need not coincide. If a gap exists between the solidus and liquidus it is called the freezing range, and within that gap, the substance consists of a mixture of so ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Screw Conveyor
A screw conveyor or auger conveyor is a mechanism that uses a rotating helical screw blade, called a "''flighting''", usually within a tube, to move liquid or granular materials. They are used in many bulk handling industries. Screw conveyors in modern industry are often used horizontally or at a slight incline as an efficient way to move semi-solid materials, including food waste, wood chips, aggregates, cereal grains, animal feed, boiler ash, meat, and bone meal, municipal solid waste, and many others. The first type of screw conveyor was the Archimedes' screw, used since ancient times to pump irrigation water. They usually consist of a trough or tube containing either a spiral blade coiled around a shaft, driven at one end and held at the other, or a "''shaftless spiral''", driven at one end and free at the other. The rate of volume transfer is proportional to the rotation rate of the shaft. In industrial control applications, the device is often used as a variable rate f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tool Steel
Tool steel is any of various carbon steels and alloy steels that are particularly well-suited to be made into tools and tooling, including cutting tools, dies, hand tools, knives, and others. Their suitability comes from their distinctive hardness, resistance to abrasion and deformation, and their ability to hold a cutting edge at elevated temperatures. As a result, tool steels are suited for use in the shaping of other materials, as for example in cutting, machining, stamping, or forging. With a carbon content between 0.5% and 1.5%, tool steels are manufactured under carefully controlled conditions to produce the required quality. The presence of carbides in their matrix plays the dominant role in the qualities of tool steel. The four major alloying elements that form carbides in tool steel are: tungsten, chromium, vanadium and molybdenum. The rate of dissolution of the different carbides into the austenite form of the iron determines the high-temperature performance of st ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Stellite
Stellite is a range of cobalt-chromium alloys designed for wear resistance. The alloys may also contain tungsten or molybdenum and a small, but important, amount of carbon. History Stellite is a trademarked name of Kennametal Inc. Prior to that it was owned by Union Carbide, Stellite Division. Invented by Elwood Haynes in the early 1900s as a material for making cutlery that wouldn't stain or require constant cleaning. Composition Stellite alloys are a range of cobalt-based alloys, with significant proportions of chromium (up to 33%) and tungsten (up to 18%). Some of the alloys also contain nickel or molybdenum. Most of them are fairly high carbon content when compared to carbon steels, though they contain less than 3% iron, and in the stellite alloys the carbon is primarily associated with the chromium to form hard chromium carbide particles which are dispersed in the cobalt-based matrix. Properties Stellite is a family of completely non-magnetic and corrosion-resistant co ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shrinkage (casting)
In metalworking and jewelry making, casting is a process in which a liquid metal is delivered into a mold (usually by a crucible) that contains a negative impression (i.e., a three-dimensional negative image) of the intended shape. The metal is poured into the mold through a hollow channel called a sprue. The metal and mold are then cooled, and the metal part (the ''casting'') is extracted. Casting is most often used for making complex shapes that would be difficult or uneconomical to make by other methods. Casting processes have been known for thousands of years, and have been widely used for sculpture (especially in bronze), jewelry in precious metals, and weapons and tools. Highly engineered castings are found in 90 percent of durable goods, including cars, trucks, aerospace, trains, mining and construction equipment, oil wells, appliances, pipes, hydrants, wind turbines, nuclear plants, medical devices, defense products, toys, and more. Traditional techniques include lost ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rheology
Rheology (; ) is the study of the flow of matter, primarily in a fluid ( liquid or gas) state, but also as "soft solids" or solids under conditions in which they respond with plastic flow rather than deforming elastically in response to an applied force. Rheology is a branch of physics, and it is the science that deals with the deformation and flow of materials, both solids and liquids.W. R. Schowalter (1978) Mechanics of Non-Newtonian Fluids Pergamon The term ''rheology'' was coined by Eugene C. Bingham, a professor at Lafayette College, in 1920, from a suggestion by a colleague, Markus Reiner.The Deborah Number The term was inspired by the of [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |