In the past years, the Lost Foam process is widely used worldwide. According to the data published by Vulcan, in 1997, 460,000 tons of castings produced by this technology worldwide, with Europe having a share in 125 tons. In the USA, 40 stores foundry manufactured more than 115,000 tons of castings this method. In Europe, including France, Italy, Germany, Russia and the Ukraine, became the production volume of lost foam castings 60 thousand tons / year. The same value of 60 tons of castings also reported for Asia, including Japan and China. The fi nds Lost Foam technology various applications worldwide. According to statistical projections, published in the US, by 2007 it is expected the application of this technology to show growth of 30%. Also in China, enjoyed the Lost Foam process of growing demand. In Europe, on the other hand, especially in Germany, foundrymen seems to be rather skeptical about this technology. Examples of foundries mentioned even give up this process. For this reason, I know better the principles of using the technology today is the main thing of interest to leading research and industrial centers in various countries around the world. This process is more and more often used wear alloys, not only ferrous metals but also non-ferrous alloys and magnesium-based materials.
In life, to mention only the United States and in Germany, start foundries make intricate castings from aluminum alloys, eg for the automotive industry (cylinder heads). Summary. To produce parts ready for different industry sectors, including automotive and agricultural applications, each year the foundry industry consumes energy kJ milliards. This is why studies are done to reduce the overall cost of manufacturing solutions. The trends in the studies aimed mainly at the following goals:
• Energy consumption in foundry processes reduced through more efficient use,
• improvement of product quality,
• processes and environment friendly man.
The main trend in the current studies to new ecological technologies and introduction of energy saving to the manufacturing process solutions. Lost Foam Process, also called the evaporative pattern technology, seems to be one of the solutions. According to the data recently published in the USA, can the implementation of Lost Foam Technology to enhance energy efficiency of foundry process by 27%.