Material Sciences

Infinite System Design is regional partner and actively involved in the development of a new invention for the metal casting industry, ACME (Axial Centrifugal Metal Expeller),  designed to refine microstructure and distribute particles and various phases for enhanced mechanical and chemical properties.

Overview:

The ACME device is a new versatile patented technology and a Greener solution for the energy intensive metal casting sector. Operating similarly to an axial compressor it  produces shear and turbulence to refine grain structure, disperse agents and deliver material for shaping. Working within the semisolid band the technology offers a reduction in energy use through reducing the temperature at which the material is processed and shorter process times. This leads to a significant reduction in cost of manufacturing components and represents a step change in carbon footprint reduction across the sector.

How it works:

The ACME device is made up of a series of rotors and stators in a conical shape with a baffle plate to eliminate air ingress. The melt is passed through the device where the rotors move to induce shear and turbulence to mechanically break down the melt reducing grain size.

Results:

The increase in nucleation sites seen in the micro sections for the sub liquidus pouring temperatures demonstrate that the processing of the liquid metal in the semi solid state breaks up the dendrite arms and increases the effective nucleation sites leading to a stronger material. Research projects with universities have quantified the improvement in mechanical properties with the increase in maximum tensile strength of treated over non-treated samples of Aluminium 6061 at several temperatures being shown in the graph below.

Benefits:

The ACME device delivers semisolid material ready for shaping operations. The formable semisolid material allows one-step liquid to near net-shape production. This may be used advantageously to eliminate some of the subsequent thermomechanical processing steps. Advantages over solid-state forming include reduced forming force, high formability and shortened manufacturing time. Compared to melt casting it offers reduced porosity and shrinkage along with benefits from non-dendritic and homogeneous microstructure.

Further benefits include:

No air ingress
Non wearing parts
Easy maintenance
Easily scalable
Reduced cavitation
Process control built into design

This leads into higher cost savings per unit produced, increased competitive advantages and greater profitability.

Please contact Infinite System Design to discuss how ACME can benefit your project / business.

Metal Casting

• Usable with all polycrystalline metal alloy systems including Copper, Steel, Aluminium and Magnesium alloys
• Produces a highly refined cast structure without the use of chemical grain refiners
• Reduced operating temperatures and manufacturing costs
• Working with semisolid metal reduces wear on equipment
• Can be used stand alone, in line or submerged in a reservoir
• Capable of adapting to one step shaping operations (Extrusion, Rolling, etc.) to eliminate entire process steps like continuous casting or casting of feedstock billets
• Auxiliary attachment to on-going casting operations such as die casting, sand casting, investment casting etc.

High end engineering materials: MMRCS & Metal foams

• Effective means to produce highly desirable Metal Matrix Reinforced Composites (MMRC) & Metal Foams by precise injection of reinforcement particles or gasses through the machine
• MMRCs are increasingly finding uses in all sectors in engineering but are most commonly used for Tank armour, drill bits & landing gear.
• Lightweight metal foam finds several uses in aerospace & automotive applications

Recycling & Other Foundry Applications

• The technology is particularly suitable for recycling as preliminary studies show that oxide films & clusters that are sufficiently dispersed can further refine the grain size by providing suitable points for nucleation

Z. Cassinath and A.K. Prasada Rao 2016 IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng. 114 012042

Z. Cassinath, Z. Li, S. Sridhar, A. Das & H. R. Kotadia (2019): Microstructural modification of Sn–Bi and Sn–Bi–Al immiscible alloys by shearing, Materials Science and Technology.