Cast Aluminum Housing 4

[Adrian2]

Dear Folks;

Many thanks to all those who responded to my request for a grade of cast iron.

Now I need to make casting and machining drawings for a cast aluminum pump gland cover. Could I have some advice on what grade to use ?

Regards Adrian

 

[TVP]

There are a large number of variables to consider, so I will start off with some questions:

1. Is this supposed to be the same design as the cast iron version? Specifically, are the various sections and wall thicknesses intended to be the same? Is stiffness a consideration? Aluminum is about half as stiff as cast iron, so deflection for a given section/wall thickness will be almost twice that of cast iron.

2. Are you designing around a nominal stress value? What is the likely operating temperature range? Corrosion environment? Popular grades like 356/A356 can be heat-treated to moderate strength values, but are not particularly temperature resistant (creep, etc.) Stronger grades like 319 and 390 have less ductility, and are prone to brittle failure. High strength/high toughness grades like 201 and 206/A206 have relatively poor corrosion resistance. For higher temperatures, grades like 332, 360, and 390 are more suitable.

3. Casting process to be used makes a difference. All of the grades I mentioned above, except 360, are castable, to various degrees, in sand or permanent molds (gravity or low-pressure processes). 360 is a high pressure die casting alloy. 390 is used in all processes. Do you have a casting vendor picked out yet? I would work closely with the intended supplier on alloy selection, as they will have suggestions based on processability, availability, cost, etc. I highly recommend you check out the following website for more information:

American Foundry Society -

http://www.afsinc.org/

Under this website, there are two magazines that are quite good for information: Modern Casting and Engineered Casting Solutions. There is also a Sourcing Guide for finding suppliers. Good luck.

 

[sbi]

Also 713 & 771 both are high strength with many advantages on is they do not need the added expence of heat treating

all of the above is very true

we are a small midwestern nonferiuos foundry in Nebraska

http://www.phxgrp.com

Bill L