THE IMPORTANCE OF PROCESS CONTROL IN ALUMINIUM

FOUNDRIES
A.W.Moores, International Marketing Manager
Non-Ferrous Foundries, Foseco International Limited, Tamworth, UK.
andy.moores@foseco.com

ABSTRACT
Historically the casting process has often been considered to be a black art where control of some of the
key process parameters has been down to the experience of the foundryman rather than precise scientific
measurements. This situation is changing rapidly because to be competitive in todays market, foundries
must be able to achieve the required quality at the lowest cost and to do this they must have a much
greater control over the process that they operate.
One of the guiding principles of process control is that in order to control a process there must first be the
ability to measure and then adjust the key process parameters. This paper will briefly review the process
steps in the aluminium foundry and then focus on the influence of metal quality. The techniques available
to first measure and then control the key elements of metal quality will be described together with the
benefits that can accrue from effective process control in terms of higher quality, improved consistency
and reduced costs.

apply are pertinent, to a greater or lesser extent

to each individual process.

THE ALUMINIUM FOUNDRY

PROCESS
There are of course many processes used for
the production of aluminium castings which are
fundamentally different from each other. To
discuss each of these processes in detail is
beyond the scope of this paper. However, it is
possible to divide all casting processes into three
essential generic steps and then to look into
each step in some detail to identify the key
influences that can affect the overall
performance of every casting process.

The first step of metal preparation is arguably

the key to the whole process. The quality of the
molten metal entering the process is
fundamental to the quality of the casting that
exits the process.

PREPARATION OF MOLTEN METAL

If we can assume that the metal ingot being
purchased by the foundry is of the correct
specification then the next critical point is the
melting furnace. There are many different types
of melting furnace each with their own relative
merits. However, for operating foundries these
tend to be a given in that they will be existing
installations. The key point to mention here with
respect to metal quality is the selection and
maintenance of the refractory linings and/or
crucibles. Molten aluminium has a strong
tendency to oxidise and if these oxides are left
for any length of time in a hot environment they
will tend to transform into hard and discrete

The aluminium foundry casting process can be

divided into three essential and generic process
steps. These are;
1) Preparation of the molten metal
2) Transfer of the molten metal from the
melt preparation stage to the ingate of
the mould
3) Casting
Each step can be very different for individual
casting processes but the guiding principles that

particles of aluminium oxide. These particles can

rapidly grow into large agglomerations which
both reduce the thermal efficiency of a furnace
and provide a ready source of inclusions that are
seeded into the melt and sent on their way down
the foundry process at each and every charge. It
is therefore critically important that melting and
holding furnaces are kept clean through regular
and planned maintenance. Generally speaking,
graphite based crucibles are much easier to
keep clean than refractory castable linings.

hydrogen. These tests rely on solidifying a

sample of liquid metal under a vacuum and then
using a qualitative assessment of the level of
hydrogen present (Figures 1 and 2)

Metal Treatment
Metal Treatment is arguably the key step in the
casting process. Metal of an optimum metal
quality is
fundamental for any given
process/casting to the quality of the finished
casting. Any metal quality deficiencies at this
stage will be extremely difficult to recover in the
later casting stage and even first class casting
equipment will struggle to produce castings of
the desired quality.

Figure 1- Reduced Pressure Test (RPT)

There are two principle impurities in molten

aluminium, dissolved hydrogen and inclusions.
The impact of these impurities on casting quality
is well documented however the relative
importance of hydrogen and inclusions will vary
according to the casting being produced. The
key aspect of metal quality is to determine the
quality level necessary to produce the desired
casting and then to put in place the practices,
procedures and controls necessary to ensure to
ensure that this level of quality is produced
consistently.

Figure 2 - RPT Samples

Reduced pressure tests are very practical but
are qualitative or semi quantitative at best.
These test are also very operator dependant as
they rely on a consistent application of a
prescribed vacuum level. RPT is also heavily
influenced by the presence of inclusions as they
will help nucleate gas bubbles thus for a given
level of dissolved hydrogen there will tend to be
more gas bubbles formed the more inclusions
the melt contains.

Melt Quality Measurement Tools

As mentioned previously, the two major
impurities present in aluminium are dissolved
hydrogen and inclusions. There are several well
established foundry techniques for assessing
dissolved hydrogen but the industry is still
relatively weak when it comes to practical tools
for assessing inclusion levels.

New quantitative techniques for measuring

hydrogen concentration are now gaining
acceptance in the industry. These instruments
are capable of the rapid and real time

Reduced pressure tests of one form or another

have been the standard test for dissolved

measurement of hydrogen and are fully portable

so can be used at various points of the casting
process. Figure 3 shows the ALSPEK H Mini
device for hydrogen measurement.

Melt Quality Audit

It is possible to combine the most user friendly
and informative tools into a suite of tests that can
be used to perform a melt quality audit. Fosecos
MeltMap does just this by combining ALSPEK H,
K Mould and the proprietary VMet analytical
service. The VMet analysis generates data on
inclusion chemistry and morphology. A typical
output is given in Table 1 which shows the
inclusions found to be present in an as melted
sample before metal treatment

Figure 3 - ALSPEK H Mini

Table 1 Typical VMet Analysis Output

Unfortunately the situation is not so good when it

comes to assessing or measuring the presence
of inclusions. The established techniques most
adapted to foundries are those based on forcing
metal through a fine filter. An assessment of the
presence of inclusions is then made by
determining the length of time the metal takes to
pass through the filter. A semi quantitative
assessment of the types of inclusions present is
then made by a post mortem examination of the
filter. These techniques tend to be cumbersome
and require a skilled person to interpret the data
correctly.

By Chemistry
Pore

Count
Voids and porosity

3122

Dross (Al2O3)

Aluminium Oxide
Inclusions

479

Alloy Dross
(MgO)

Oxide of Alloying
elements

38

Inclusions By
Size

Other techniques exist which either can give a

very rapid but rather general indication of the
presence of large inclusions (the K Mould test
Figure 4) or image analysis systems that are
after the even but that can give very detailed
inclusion counts by size, morphology and
composition.

K-Mould

0.50 2.50 m

Defect size
insignificant in
castings

720

2.50 5.00 m

Defects size little

significance in
castings

1064

5.00 15.0 m

Defects size
concern in castings

1403

15.0 30.0 m

Defects size
concern in castings

371

30.0 75.0 m

Defects size
concern in castings

81

> 75.0 m

Defects size
concern in castings

Cluster Count

Figure 4 - K Mould Test

Count

Inclusions which
could be much larger

272

of the metal treatment process and the ability to

provide a metal of consistent quality with respect
to dissolved hydrogen and inclusions to the front
end of the casting process.

Sampling can be done at any point in the

process where there is access to molten metal
thus providing a complete analysis of metal
quality at any stage from the melting furnace to
casting machine. A MeltMap audit can be used
to identify problem areas in the process with
respect to dissolved hydrogen and/or inclusions.
This forms the first stage of an improved
understanding of the process which in turn can
lead to the identification of any necessary
remedial actions to improve quality for a given
casting.

DEGASSING AND CLEANING

With dissolved hydrogen and inclusions being
the two major impurities present in aluminium,
an effective and efficient degassing and cleaning
treatment becomes essential to the production of
good quality castings. This is made even more
necessary by the fact that the concentrations of
both dissolved hydrogen can vary due to day to
day variations in process parameters. Overlaid
on this are seasonal variations in ambient
atmospheric conditions, particularly temperature
and humidity which can have an enormous effect
on the equilibrium level of hydrogen in a given
melt. These variations can be so great that the
historic manual treatments were often totally
unable to reach the required level of metal
quality in periods of high ambient temperature
and humidity.

Figure 5 - MTS 1500 Metal Treatment Unit

The introduction of mechanical rotary degassing

units was a great advance in both process
efficiency and stability. These degassing units
provided both the means of removing the human
element and all the process inconsistencies that
can introduce and a more efficient process that
effectively negated many of the day to day
variations in process parameters.

Figure 6 - MTS 1500 Treatment Process

More recent developments have effectively

combined both rotary degasing and fluxing
treatments into a single metal treatment unit thus
allowing both degassing and melt cleaning to be
automated into a single process step. Figures 5
and 6. This has further improved the robustness

Degassing Process Control

The quality requirements placed on castings by
the end user, particularly the automotive
segment, continues to rise. To keep pace with

this trend foundry processes must also improve

in both ultimate performance and arguably more
important, consistency of performance. With the
development of the ALSPEK H real time
hydrogen measurement there is an opportunity
to combine this technology with rotary degassing
and metal treatment units to establish a
controlled process.

This can have a significant effect on both the

consistency of metal quality with resulting
reductions in scrap levels and also reduced
treatment times with resulting reductions in
operating costs. An example of what can be
achieved in a foundry remelting high levels of
machining turnings is illustrated in Table 2.

Rotary degassing and Metal Treatment units are

normally set up with the key operating
parameters fixed. These parameters are
generally determined during installation and are
set for the prevailing atmospheric conditions at
the time of commissioning. Most foundries
recognise the effect of seasonal changes on
degassing performance and can have two or
three machines settings with generally different
lengths of degassing times. However, the
switching from one setting to another is again a
manual process that is not guaranteed to provide
an optimum degassing performance at all times.

Table 2 ALSPEK H PC Case Study

By integrating ALSPEK H into a degassing or

metal treatment unit (Figure 7) it is possible to
control the degassing process. The desired
hydrogen level can be set as a constant and
then the degassing unit will operate until this
desired hydrogen level has been reached.

FDU

ALSPEK H
PC

Average
Treatment Time

12 minutes

8 minutes

Summer Scrap
Level

8%

1.5%

Winter Scrap
Level
Winter
Productivity

2%

1.5%

7 ladles
per day

9 ladles
per day

CONCLUSION
The importance of controlling the foundry
process is becoming more and more critical as
quality demands on castings increases. A key
aspect of controlling the process is to fully
characterise the process as a whole and then to
split it into the basic component steps that can
be controlled individually.
This is particularly true of the metal treatment
process step which can have a significant effect
on finished casting quality. Technologies now
exist which mean that the degassing process
can now be effectively controlled.

Figure 7 ALSPEK H integrated into control

panel of a degassing unit
5