Finishing
Heat Treating
Heat treating is a critical process for modifying the mechanical properties of aluminum castings to achieve exact specifications. Heat treatment can enhance strength, ductility, hardness, and resistance to wear and corrosion when dealing with aluminum sand castings.
Purpose of Heat Treating Aluminum Castings at Epcor:
- Mechanical Enhancement: Heat treating elevates the inherent properties of aluminum, amplifying its strength and flexibility.
- Stress Relief: Our process effectively counters internal stresses that may arise during casting, ensuring longevity and consistent performance.
- Augmented Wear Resistance: Heat-treated aluminum castings from Epcor resist wear more effectively, ensuring durability even in challenging conditions.
Heat Treating Considerations:
- Optimal Aging: At Epcor Foundry, we fine-tune aging time and temperature based on the specific aluminum alloy and the end application, ensuring optimal results every time.
- Alloy Selection: Our experts provide guidance on choosing the right aluminum alloy for heat treatment, ensuring that your castings receive the most beneficial treatment possible.
Inspection and Quality Control: Our commitment doesn’t end with the heat-treating process. Epcor Foundry employs rigorous inspection methods to verify the properties of treated castings. Using precision equipment and expert oversight, we make sure every casting adheres to or surpasses the set specifications.
CNC Processing
Advantages of CNC Finishing for Aluminum
Sand Castings
- Complex Geometries: With the advanced capabilities of 5-axis machining, the intricate geometries of aluminum sand castings can be easily realized. The process ensures that the unique shapes are manufactured with high precision, reducing the chance of errors.
- Shorter Lead Times: Efficiency is key. Given the reduced need for multiple setups, production cycles can be significantly faster.
Vibratory Finishing
Vibratory finishing stands out as an integral part of our finishing services, ensuring every casting we produce meets the highest standards. Vibratory finishing is a specialized mass-finishing process. Parts are placed in a vibratory bowl or tub alongside media, water, and finishing compounds. When the equipment is activated, it vibrates vigorously, prompting the media and parts to rub against one another. This rigorous motion polishes, cleans, deburrs, and smoothens the parts, ensuring they’re ready for any subsequent applications or directly for the end-user.
Tumble blasting aluminum castings offers several significant benefits:
- Surface Cleaning: Tumble blasting effectively removes surface contaminants such as scale, and remnants of molding sand. This results in a cleaner surface, which is essential for subsequent processes like coating or painting.
- Surface Preparation: The process creates a uniform surface texture, which improves the adhesion of coatings and paints. This is particularly beneficial for applications requiring strong bonding of surface treatments.
- Deburring and Deflashing: Tumble blasting helps in removing sharp edges, burrs, and flash from the casting process. This enhances the safety, functionality, and aesthetics of the final product.
- Improved Mechanical Properties: The process can improve the fatigue resistance of aluminum castings by creating a compressive stress layer on the surface. This can enhance the overall durability and lifespan of the parts.
- Efficiency and Consistency: Tumble blasting is an automated and consistent process that can handle large batches of parts simultaneously. This improves production efficiency and ensures uniform treatment of all parts, leading to consistent quality.
- Cost-Effectiveness: By integrating tumble blasting into the manufacturing process, we can reduce manual labor costs and increase throughput, ultimately lowering the overall production costs.
Overall, tumble blasting is a versatile and effective method for enhancing the quality and performance of our aluminum castings.
Plating and Painting
By enhancing the appearance, wear resistance, and functionality of cast parts, plating ensures that the finished products meet and exceed industry standards.
Purpose of Plating on Aluminum Sand Castings
- Aesthetic Appeal: A brilliant finish is imperative to make the first impression count. Through plating, castings take on an attractive gleam, elevating their visual appeal.
- Corrosion Resistance: While aluminum’s natural oxide layer offers some resistance, certain applications and environments necessitate heightened protection. Through specialized plating, we ensure that the casting remains untarnished for longer durations.
- Wear Resistance: By incorporating hard-wearing materials in the plating process, we increase the lifespan and durability of the casting, ensuring that it can withstand regular usage without degradation.
- Electrical Conductivity: Depending on the application, modifying the conductivity of a casting might be essential. Our plating services make sure your product has the desired electrical properties.
- Adhesion: A plated layer can provide the ideal base for other finishes, ensuring they stick correctly and last longer.