If you want to reduce the component weight by half, you should certainly try aluminum rather than iron in the casting process. This is primarily the reason why a lot of car manufacturers are searching for ways to replace the iron with aluminum parts. A lot of these companies actually prefer aluminum alloys most especially the mixture of silicon and magnesium known as the A300 series.
The silicon found in these aluminum parts gives a certain fluidity in the casting procedure, therefore provides a way for thinner parts to be cast. On the other hand, magnesium provides strength through the heat treatment. One great factor that aluminum has against other materials is that it has ferrous alloys that will show countless fatigue strength. This fatigue strength basically goes down as the number of stress cycles increase and this needs to be considered especially when designing parts.
There are a variety of processes that you can follow when you want to get some high quality castings. You need to take precautions when casting permanent molds and also observe the correct flow and decrease porosity through applying vacuum pressure. The good thing with aluminum is that can be cast by any process unlike some other metals.
You can find a lot of aluminum alloys being used in die casting compared to other allows of metals. Over 2.5 billion dollars in the USA alone is used for acquiring aluminum alloy for die casting by most manufacturing companies each year. You can definitely produce smaller parts through aluminum die casting. Also, when produced on a large scale, you can definitely save on costs and that is very beneficial for any manufacturing firm.
Die casting is basically done by injecting the molten aluminum into the molds also called as dies. This will then be placed under high pressure. If you want a fine grain surface, you should quickly inject and solidify under extreme pressure to have the best fatigue and wear properties. More often than not, aluminum die castings do not undergo heat treatment so this means that aluminum parts cannot be welded.
Meanwhile, there is another form of die casting known as the gravity die casting or permanent die casting. This is basically suitable if you are producing on a large scale. The maximum weight for this is 10 kilograms. However, the weight can go up to 50 kilograms if heavy and expensive machines as well as tools are used in production. In permanent casting, you have a low pouring rate, however, the metal molds can solidify quickly. Heat treatment is applied to achieve better results.
The good thing with aluminum parts is that it is more resistant to corrosion compare to other metal alloys. Aside from it being light weight, it is easy to maintain and it definitely lasts longer. It is also very versatile and you can find it being used in most die castings used for several purposes. Auto parts, sink faucets, toys and some tools are the products produced through these aluminum parts.