Problems of lost foam casting process in China

1 The core casting equipment technology has been stagnated for a long time in China

(1) The performance of the preformed foam machine is poor, and it is difficult to control the preformed density.

(2) The production efficiency of the molding machine is generally low and the requirements for steam, circulating water and other media are high, and the energy consumption of a single white mold product is large.

(3) The automatic hot glue bonding equipment is basically in the blind area, and the integrated design parts and components glue line can not meet the requirements, so it is unable to produce complex structure products with high added value. Only simple structure products are considered to be glued with cold glue, but the products that are easy to deform cannot be corrected.

(4) The technology of shaking table in China is not mature, and the shaking capacity of cylinder head, cylinder block, exhaust manifold, new energy water-cooled motor shell and other products is far from enough, but the EPC process is a sharp tool for producing such products.

(5) The equipment of sand treatment system is huge and bulky, the efficiency and effect of dry sand cooling and sand treatment are not satisfactory, but the equipment technology has not been greatly improved.

2 Problems in introducing foreign advanced equipment

First of all, we have to admit that there is a gap between us and foreign manufacturers in lost foam casting equipment, and we may not catch up with this gap in the short term, but we should recognize the gap, learn from, digest, absorb and innovate good equipment technology as soon as possible. Then foreign equipment is not sacred, and has its disadvantages in terms of equipment.

In the aspect of equipment manufacturing, most foreign equipment pursues once and for all. Many key parts adopt integrated design. Although the technical content is high, the maintenance is also difficult. When replacing parts, the price is too high or even in a monopoly situation.

After fixed investment, the cost of equipment maintenance and use is relatively high, and the requirements for maintenance personnel are also relatively high, so there are many bottlenecks in technology digestion and absorption. When the personnel of relevant manufacturers are invited for service, the time is usually delayed and the service fee is relatively high.

There are some problems that foreign equipment can not adapt to the domestic production environment. For example, many equipment have relatively high requirements for compressed air, circulating water and other working media, and a little carelessness may cause greater equipment damage.

It is not only for passenger cars to reduce the configuration of lost foam casting equipment imported from abroad to China, such as some necessary safety protection, simple and effective environmental protection measures, etc.

“Foreign doctors” sometimes do not agree with the local conditions. As we all know, the price of foreign equipment is generally high. Because of this, domestic manufacturers try to buy core equipment. Then other auxiliary equipment in the production line will naturally be purchased from China, so there will be contradictions or wrangles in the connection of software and hardware.

Compared with many years ago, the technology of foreign equipment must be improved, but the reliability of the equipment is not necessarily increased.

3 Problems in Foundry Technology

In China, lost foam casting enterprises do not pay enough attention to the process recognition and lack of basic research institutions. If the selected products are not suitable for lost foam casting process, the possibility of success is low, even if they can barely produce will not have an advantage.

At present, the traditional casting process is considered in product design in China, and there is no casting design considered for lost foam casting process. If the casting process suitable for lost foam casting process is considered from product design, the advantages of lost foam casting process will be brought into full play, and other processes cannot be replaced, For example, in lightweight, integration, compounding and so on.

Each casting process has its unique advantages. If a complex product is to be produced by any process in a new foreign project, the characteristics of the process will be considered at the source of product design, and the product and process characteristics will be fully combined to give full play to the advantages of the process. Therefore, it is not difficult to see that the structure of lost foam casting casting abroad is highly complex, the design of parts and components is integrated, and the product wall thickness and gap continue to explore the bottom line of technology. This shows that the lost foam casting process in foreign countries is recognized by customers. Otherwise, at the beginning of design, customers will not agree to redesign the new products and implant the technological advantages. It also shows that the premise of lost foam casting process in foreign countries is the incomparable advantages of products. Otherwise, the high-end and complex products have multiple gluing lines, In return, the market must be shut out.

In contrast, in the development of new products in China, there are few customers who will consider the lost foam casting process, some of them are just sand casting or high-pressure casting process and other casting processes, which fully shows that the lost foam casting process is not recognized enough in the domestic market and the status of the process is not enough, and also reflects the gap between domestic and foreign counterparts when the process produces products.

4 Market recognition

Some time ago, I visited the auto parts market carefully to get some information from the customers. Because some big domestic auto manufacturers had contacted the products of lost foam casting process earlier, but because the equipment, process technology, production management and process control were not in place, all ended in disappointment.

So how to eliminate the burden in the customer’s heart has become the difficulty and focus. The lack of a correct understanding of the concept of structural design and integration, the inability to establish cooperation and trust on the basis of the casting process product advantages can not be reflected, let alone the effective convergence of product design stage. There are few high value-added products produced by lost foam casting process in the domestic market, and the market share is also small. It is difficult to eliminate the concerns of customers without several years of market validation.

Scroll to Top