CPT International 04/2017

www.cpt-international.com 

December 

2017 

CASTING 

PLANT AND TECHNOLOGY 

INTERNATIONAL 

4 

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EDITORIAL 

Light-metal casting 

is also possible with iron! 

Ahead of the international EUROGUSS die-casting trade fair in Nuremberg, 

Germany – from 16 - 18 January 2018 – CP+T is presenting a range of trailblazing 

light-metal-related topics. These not only include the classic die-casting 

light metals, however, but also light-metal casting with iron. The Fritz Winter 

iron foundry (in Stadtallendorf, Germany) has developed its EcoCasting process 

for producing thin-walled iron castings, and it most definitely measures 

up against casting processes with other materials. Find out more from P. 26. 

While the light-metal potentials of aluminum and magnesium are well-known, 

there is still a need for more information on the light metal zinc. Zinc is heavier 

than aluminum but can be cast with very low wall thicknesses, as die-casting 

plant producer Oskar Frech (in Schorndorf, Germany) shows in a specialist 

article (from P. 18). Zinc is also used in a wide range of applications and is 

particularly suitable for medical technology products of all sorts. Find out more 

about this on P. 14. 

The future of foundry technology is again a major topic in this final issue of 

2017: in this issue’s interview, Franz Josef Wöstmann and Christoph Pille from 

Fraunhofer IFAM (in Bremen, Germany) reveal how they were able to embed 

RFID chips into castings and the advantages that this technology can offer 

foundries (from P. 6). In addition, the essay by Mark Lewis, from the British 

foundry machine producer Omega Foundry Machinery (in Peterborough, the 

U.K.), examines the question of how much influence the fourth industrial 

revolution, digitalization, is having on the foundry industry (from P. 10). 

Our coverage also highlights the Swiss company Christenguss that is aiming 

to become an Industry 4.0 foundry over the next 20 years – company head 

Florian Christen has already worked out a detailed plan for this, which he 

explains to CP+T (from P. 30). 

Have a good read! 

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! 

Robert Piterek 

e-mail: robert.piterek@bdguss.de 

Casting Plant & Technology 4 / 2017 3

FEATURES 

INTERVIEW 

Wöstmann, Franz-Josef; Pille, Christoph 

 

 

 

Cover-Photo: 

AGTOS Gesellschaft für technische 

 

Gutenbergstrasse 14 

 

Tel.: +49 2572 96026-200 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- 

 

 

 

 

Read more on AGTOS in our news column! 

ESSAY 

Lewis, Mark 

 

PRESSURE DIE CASTING 

Grund, Sabina 

 

 

Vollrath, Klaus 

 

 

3-D-PRINTING 

Kramer, Matthias 

 

 

 

 

 

6 18 

Interview with Franz-Josef Wöstmann and Christoph Pille 

from Fraunhofer IFAM in Bremen on embedding RFID chips 

into die castings (Photo: Fraunhofer IFAM) 

ties. 

With Hot-chamber die-casting high-quality components 

for many applications can be realized (Photo: K. Vollrath)

CASTING 

4 | 2017 


INTERNATIONAL 

SIMULATION 

Kotthoff, Tristan 

 

 

 

LIGHT-WEIGHT CONSTRUCTION 

Lange, Edgar 

 

 

COMPANY 

Piterek, Robert 

 

 

 

Editorial 3 

News in brief 37 

Brochures 44 

Fairs and congresses/Advertisers´ index 46 

Preview / Imprint 47 

30 

Increasing digitalization has led to changes in the foundry industry that have altered the 5,000-year-old production technology. 

The Swiss foundry Christenguss is aiming to become an Industry 4.0-foundry over the next 20 years. Florian Christen, head of 

the company, has worked out a detailed plan with four phases to implement the necessary changes (Photo: Andreas Bednareck)

INTERVIEW 

Embedded RFID Chip – 

interface between casting 

and process control 

The traceability of components is a key step towards the factory of the future. The Fraunhofer 

Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM has now succeeded in 

embedding RFID chips into castings under serial production conditions. The road to full transparency 

in manufacturing lies ahead 

Castings with embedded RFID chips 

can be clearly identified, their component-specific 

process parameters can 

be stored, and potential causes of failure 

can be directly understood. With 

a chip embedded in the casting, the 

ever-present routing slip, as commonly 

used in foundries, can soon be a 

thing of the past, as all the production 

data can be stored on the chip or centrally 

deposited and assigned using an 

individual component code. An interesting 

side effect is that the embedded 

chip increases copy-protection. Fraunhofer 

IFAM in Bremen, Germany, now 

has for the first time successfully embedded 

RFID chips under serial-like 

conditions within the framework of 

an EU project at Audi. Its conclusion: 

the process is market-ready. Franz-Josef 

Wöstmann, head of the Department 

of Casting Technology at Fraunhofer 

IFAM and his deputy, Christoph 

Pille, explain the new technology to 

CP+T. 

How exactly can we imagine the embedding 

of RFID chips in castings? 

Pille: The first thing to be analyzed is 

whether a suitable place for an RFID 

chip (commonly also referred to as a 

“transponder”) either on or in the casting 

; this is in the case where the existing 

geometry must not be changed 

substantially. Likewise, neither component 

nor process safety may be affected. 

It is simpler for newer geo metries, 

as here the placement of the chips has 

been considered in the design from 

the beginning. Furthermore, an RFID 

trans ponder must be chosen that is 

suitable for both the geo metry and the 

demands of the customer, while at the 

same time also able to function on or 

in metal. 

6 Casting Plant & Technology 4 / 2017

An essential task, however, is the design 

of a protective capsule that is suitable 

for both the casting process and 

the component. This protects the chip 

from the high temperatures of the molten 

metal as well as from the high densification 

pressures of the die casting 

until the casting has solidified. 

What potential is there for RFID chips 

in castings? 

Wöstmann: The state of technology 

for the identification of castings comprise 

barcodes and data matrix coding 

(DMC). These are applied to the surface 

of the casting and are optically read to 

identify the component. Should there 

be any contamination or damage, 

however, this type of coding is no longer 

identifiable. Processing or painting 

the surface also affects the readability, 

such as with laser coding, as do the aging 

of e.g. adhesive labels or the corrosion 

of engraved DMC codes. RFID 

technology is based on wireless technology 

and thus escapes the disadvantages 

of optical coding. The chip can, 

similar to barcodes and DMC, be applied 

to the surface. If the RFID chip 

is directly embedded, then this offers 

the advantage of coding at the earliest 

possible point, as early as manufacture; 

thus, from creation to destruction 

the component is individually marked. 

The greatest potential to add value lies 

in the so-called “tracking and tracing” 

of the castings throughout the production 

steps. Through the individual 

identification of each single component, 

all production data are assigned 

at all times, which is the fundamental 

basis of Industry 4.0. Furthermore, also 

retroactively, for example in the event 

of a complaint, all data are available for 

each individual component and thus 

a retrospective quality control can be 

conducted. In addition, any component 

recalls will be limited to the parts 

actually affected and will not apply to 

entire batches, as is necessary using 

current identification methods. 

Aluminum die casting involves high 

temperatures. How can the embedded 

chip withstand the casting process? 

Wöstmann: It won’t by itself! We 

therefore developed a protective encapsulation 

which enables the transponder 

to withstand the temperature 

peak. The geometry of the protective 

capsule also enables simple and automatic 

handling and positioning into 

the high pressure die. At our current 

state of technology, we have already 

developed a simple and robust blank 

in which the transponder, the protective 

capsule, and a positioning aid are 

included. 

Do all the chips withstand the process? 

Wöstmann: A 100 % read rate is mandatory, 

as each non-readable part is 

automatically rejected. Therefore, the 

careful selection of the “right” transponder, 

in combination with the protective 

capsule design, is of equal importance. 

Within the framework of an 

EU project, we conducted a test run 

in conjunction with Audi in which 

all embedded transponders without 

exception survived the die casting 

process.This means we were able to 

achieve a 100 % read rate under serial 

conditions. 

Where did the test run take place and 

what exactly did it look like? 

Pille: The test run took place at Audi Ingolstadt’s 

experimental foundry. The 

aim was to test inline the RFID chips 

selected by Fraunhofer IFAM, the protective 

capsule developed for the Audi 

demonstrator, and the read/write 

hardware under serial-like conditions. 

In addition, a special gripping arm was 

developed and tested, which automatically 

grasped the RFID capsules and inserted 

them into the tool. 

What challenges needed to be overcome? 

Pille: Certainly the greatest challenge 

was precisely the “serial-like conditions”. 

The demonstrator, a shock 

tower, had an existing geometry for 

which we needed to design the RFID 

chip and protective capsule. In addition, 

the casting did not occur in a 

laboratory setting, where the capsules 

could have been manually inserted 

and locked; rather, it was necessary 

to ensure that the operation was both 

processsafe and automated. 

Is the process suitable for all materials? 

And if not, are further developments 

planned? 

Wöstmann: Regarding the process, we 

have optimized the system for high 

pressure die casting applications, as 

these involve relatively short temperature 

effects. However, we have already 

started working on solutions for low 

pressure die casting and gravity die casting. 

Also, we intend to venture further 

into higher temperate ranges, such as 

in copper, iron and steel casting, in order 

to be able to offer an identical solution 

for all casting applications. As for 

further development,we have in parallel 

expanded our activities to include 

the direct embedding of sensors, e.g. in 

order to detect the occurrence of overloading 

or misapplied loads in the casting. 

Such sensors can naturally be combined 

with transponder technology in 

order to transmit the data wirelessly 

from the casting. 

Following the casting process, many 

castings undergo further comprehensive 

processing. Are the embedded chips 

not destroyed during these work steps? 

Pille: The embedded chips have shown 

themselves to be extremely robust; and 

precisely this was the original intention 

of the technology, namely integrating 

the identification into the component 

itself in order to achieve a more robust 

labelling that can also withstand mechanical 

damage to the casting surface, 

that is not affected by corrosion or other 

environmental influences, and that 

has no adhesive labels which would be 

released by the cooling lubricant. However, 

one challenge remains: a subsequent 

heat treatment where the temperatures 

last for a longer period and 

thus make the protective capsule ineffective. 

T5 heat treatments can – depending 

on the transponder – be overcome, 

however T6 heat treatments will 

cause the protective capsule to fail and 

the transponder to be destroyed. 

What effects on quality and productivity 

in foundries do you expect 

through the implementation of embedded 

RFID chips? 

Wöstmann: Regarding productivity, 

I expect no direct increase stemming 


INTERVIEW 

from the use of embedded chips over 

current conventional identification 

methods. The essential effect lies in 

functional integration and improved 

quality assurance through a consistent 

tracking of individual components all 

the way to the component’s application 

in the whole system. In particular, 

their use in quality assurance can deliver 

entirely new possibilities of storing 

process, customer, or quality-related 

data as these can be stored directly 

within the casting or linked using the 

code and archived. Hereby, the integration 

of a transponder – which we have 

labeled “casttronics” – ensures the maximum 

protection against product piracy 

while offering a broad range of additional 

functions for the customer – for 

example regarding component logistics, 

assembly, and service. This can generate 

added value for the customer, possibly 

as far as creating new business models. 

Currently, the casting industry is seeing 

a trend towards Foundry 4.0. How 

 

strategy for a “smart foundry”? 

Pille: Initially, at its core the main 

thrust of the embedding of RFID transponders 

was in a different direction 

than has typically been discussed under 

the title of “Foundry 4.0”, which 

is generally in regards to the consistency 

and networking of individual 

processes. However, with the embedding 

of RFID chips we primarily aim at 

the ability to clearly identify individual 

components within a series – and 

thus at specific traceability as well as 

continuous tracking and tracing within 

the concept of intralogistics. We understand 

a casting with an integrated 

chip as an “enabler” in order to implement 

the concepts of Industry 4.0 into 

the production of a particular casting 

and to realize an interface between 

the casting and process management. 

Although the castings will not yet be 

able to “speak”, they will nevertheless 

possess a great deal more intelligence 

than previously. In the future, we aim 

to include integrated sensor technology 

into such concepts; these will be 

able to provide information about the 

condition of the casting. For example, 

the casting will be able to record the 

heat treatment process, report on it, 

and halt the process when the desired 

values have been reached. 

The process was developed in the 

framework of a project called MUSIC. 

What was that about? Were there further 

project partners? 

Pille: The acronym “MUSIC” stands 

for “Multi-layers control and cognitive 

system to drive metal and plastic 

production lines for injected components”. 

In other words, the aim was 

an autonomous in-line quality control 

for aluminum high pressure die 

casting and plastic injection molding. 

This included not only being able to 

predict the quality of the casting, but 

also, with the help of cognitive calculations 

such as comprehensive system 

sensor technology, to enable the high 

pressure casting machine to determine 

and evaluate casting errors autonomously, 

recognize the necessary adjusting 

screws in the process, and conduct 

a new parameterization in order 

to reduce the number of casting errors 

or even to completely eliminate these. 

The project, which ended in 2016, involved 

a total of 16 partners from various 

EU countries, including the foundry 

colleagues from Hochschule Aalen, 

Audi and RDS as casting manufacturers, 

the equipment manufacturers 

Frech and RegloPlas, the sensor suppliers 

Electronics and Motul, and the 

simulation partner MAGMA. 

For which foundries is the Cast tronics 

process, i.e. embedding RFID chips, 

suitable? 

Pille: The technology is applicable for 

any foundry that intends to take advantage 

of RFID technology, as well as 

where there is customer demand for added 

value of the product. Economically, 

the process is likely to be of use for castings 

that already have high added value 

and where individual identification as 

well as the possibility for data and information 

storage directly onto the casting 

would increase added value. However, 

we do already have partners where the 

customer has already demanded RFID 

technology and has also proportionally 

carried the additional costs. 

In addition to the introduction of 

Casttronics technology, are further 

large-scale facility adaptations necessary 

in order to utilize the full potential 

of embedded RFID chips? 

Pille: No. The installation of the read/ 

write systems and the accompanying 


Nuremberg, Germany 

16 –18.1.2018 

antennae is quite simple. Of course, 

the casting tool must be adapted to ensure 

that an area is formed into which 

the protective capsule can be inserted 

prior to the casting process. Ideally, 

this would be a simple interchangeable 

insert. The most elaborate component 

would probably be the handling unit, 

some sort of robot that grasps the transponder 

capsule and transports it to 

the tool for insertion. In the MUSIC 

project, we solved this by fixing a special 

handling unit directly to the arm 

of the release agent robot. Thus we 

were able to double-use the existing 

release agent robot. 

Can the investments be predicted 

which foundries might incur for the 

implementation of the process? 

Wöstmann: Compared to conventional 

methods like barcodes and 

DMC, capital expenditure is significantly 

lower. This is because with 

RFID, the devices for reading and 

writing are usually contained in one 

unit, which would ideally have multiple 

antennae and thus be able to 

serve multiple stations simultaneously. 

Furthermore, the technical equipment 

for read/write units and antennae 

is, compared to needle or laser 

engraving systems, generally not only 

cheaper but also more robust and has 

a longer lifetime in a foundry environment. 

Further investment is required 

for the handling system that moves 

the RFID chip to the casting tool and 

positions it there. Here it would be 

possible to consider a direct combination 

with the release agent spraying 

unit. However the costs at the individual 

product level still need to be 

assessed, as each individual coding requires 

a transponder as well as material 

for the protective capsule. These 

dominate the price of identification 

per product and are determined individually 

according to the transponder 

type and mass/geometry of the protective 

capsule. The insertion itself is – 

assuming there is a suitable handling 

unit – almost cost neutral, as long as 

the cycle time is maintained. 

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ESSAY 

Mark Lewis, Omega Foundry Machinery Ltd, Peterborough, U. K. 

Industry 4.0 and what it means 

to the Foundry Industry 

Mark Lewis of Omega Foundry Machinery Ltd gives CP+T an insight into the impact the fourth 

industrial revolution will have for the cast metals industry 

The first thing to understand about 

Industry 4.0 is it is not one technology 

but a combination of modern technologies 

combined to create a ‘Smart 

factory’. The 4.0 stands for the fourth 

industrial revolution which at first 

sounds extreme but when you start to 

look at the possibilities it is easy to see 

how these technologies can become 

real game-changers. 

Industry 4.0 is the brainchild of the 

German government, and the train of 

thought is to create smarter, more efficient 

manufacturing through the use 

of Smart factories in the not too distant 

future. This will be achieved by 

various technologies communicating 

in a way that allows autonomous running 

of the facility and processes. 

The big question is how can we utilize 

these new technologies within the foundry 

industry and what are the benefits? 

Introduction 

In our everyday lives we are becoming 

increasingly reliant on technology, 

with smarter cars keeping us safe 

through to smart phones keeping us 

connected. If you consider the things 

we take for granted in our daily lives like 

streaming music or films, saving documents 

to the cloud, or remotely connecting 

to the office, these are all using 

state-of-the-art technology with one 

important link – the Internet. The high 

speed internet of today is allowing a lot 

more data to be transferred remotely 

and giving us much more control over 

various aspects of our lives, and this is 

where industry will start to see massive 

leaps forward in the workplace. 

Businesses are starting to utilize this 

connectivity in many ways, from automatic 

material ordering through 

to cloud-based software control. The 

premise behind Industry 4.0 is to take 

this one step further by connecting not 

just one machine but also the whole factory 

so it communicates as one entity. 

To achieve this there is one more key 

element needed – the Industrial Internet 

of Things – and this boils down to 

creating smart devices/machines that 

communicate with each other and the 

outside world. 

Smart factory: by integrating smarter open technologies now it will make foundries 

easier to upgrade in the future to the Industry 4.0 ethos! 


First Industrial Revolution 1780’s Second Industrial Revolution 1870’s 

First Industrial Revolution 1780’s: Automatic loom, water and 

steam power 

Second Industrial Revolution 1870’s: First production line. Mass 

production with the use of electrical energy 

Foundry applications 

Let us take these technologies and look 

at how they can be utilized in a foundry. 

The example we shall consider is one 

using silica sand monitored by a smart 

system. When the sand drops below the 

re-order level the Smart factory automatically 

places an order on the sand supplier 

for the required quantity of sand. So 

far this is simple, but it is reactive not proactive. 

Taking it to the next level, if that 

same system was tied into the production 

control system within the foundry 

and used data from material consumptions 

it could predict the sand, chemical, 

and consumable requirements for 

the coming week or month and could 

therefore have orders placed with suppliers 

for when they are needed. Of course 

whilst all this is happening the relevant 

person within the organisation is kept 

informed via notifications and can easily 

see what is happening via any device 

with a web browser and internet connection 

from anywhere in the world. This is 

a very simple example of what could 

easily be achieved and if the rest of the 

foundry was automated and connected 

we start to get an understanding of how 

far reaching Industry 4.0 can truly be. 

Today’s foundry 

We may be some years away from a truly 

automated foundry but the technology 

is already available to achieve a lot 

of the benefits we will see in the future. 

As an example, machinery in a foundry 

can already be monitored remotely 

via cloud-based control systems giving 

complete access to the data on the machine 

and if needed remote control of 

certain elements is possible. Also using 

technologies like RFID (radio frequency 

identification) we are able to automate 

control of various machines. For 

example, on sand mixers it is possible to 

deliver the exact sand recipe and quantity 

along with fully automatic filling 

sequence – this level of control can reduce 

waste and improve overall casting 

quality. As this process is automated it 

becomes easier to record production information 

and material usage because 

it is automatically collated and stored. 

Add the ability to then access this 

data remotely on a PC, tablet or phone 

from anywhere in the world and we can 

see the future foundry is not so far away. 

 

future advantages 

With less time spent doing the mundane 

work and by removing the guesswork 

from the equation it is easy to 

Third Industrial Revolution 1969 

Third Industrial Revolution 1969: First programmable logic controller 

(PLC). Use of electronic systems and IT for further automation 

see the efficiency gains that are possible. 

In Germany industry is talking 

about average productivity gains of 5-8 

% with some sectors seeing up to 20 % 

and the potential of Industry 4.0 adding 

over 14 billion US dollars (11,75 Billion 

euros) to the global economy in 

the next 15 years. 

Foundries of the future will need 

to be reactive to the changing market 

place and by investing in Industry 

4.0 they will have a competitive edge. 

Those adopting the concept will be 

more efficient and improve productivity 

but at the same time will be able to 

be more reactive to customer needs because 

these systems will give huge flexibility 

allowing more affordable short 

production runs. 

Pitfalls and cybersecurity 

Obviously there are disadvantages to 

any system and Industry 4.0 doesn’t 

come without its issues. Firstly the sys- 


ESSAY 

Fourth Industrial Revolution – today ! 

Fourth Industrial Revolution – Now: Based on cyber-physical systems (networking of real things with information processing/virtual 

objects via information networks, such as the Internet) 

tems are very dependent on connectivity 

and the Internet, if the factory were 

to lose its internet connection it would 

have no means of communicating with 

the outside world. Secondly, the risk of 

cybercrime and hacking become even 

more of a threat when the whole plant 

is connected to the Internet. 

However, these issues are easily overcome 

with clear planning and preparation. 

The plant must be able to continue 

operating if connectively is lost and 

the systems also need to have robust security 

and protection. When undertaking 

the task of installing a Smart foundry 

it is important to understand all the 

limitations and minimise their impact. 

Another point worth considering is 

the supply chain around the foundry - 

there is no point creating an automated 

process if the current supply chain 

is not on board or capable of working 

with Industry 4.0. There is nothing 

stopping foundries implementing 

Industry 4.0 in small sections of 

the business as this gives a clear and 

steady path to implementation, but 

again planning is the key element and 

choosing the correct partners to work 

with will be paramount. 

What’s next? 

It will be many years before Smart foundries 

become commonplace but that does 

not mean that it isn’t important to understand 

now what the benefits are and 

what can be done to prepare for the future. 

It is possible to retrofit Smart technology 

to old plant so we don’t have to 

wait for new factories and equipment to 

take advantage of the Industrial Internet 

of Things. As devices and equipment 

in our factories get smarter, we must also 

get smarter on how we use the connectivity 

made available to us. The possibilities 

are endless and by simply integrating 

smarter open technologies now it 

will make foundries easier to upgrade 

in the future to the Industry 4.0 ethos. 

Final goal 

The final goal is a foundry where customer 

orders are placed via a centralized 

control system and by using integrated 

MRP/ERP systems the foundry 

manages its supply chain and production 

needs automatically. Machines 

communicate with each other and 

the supply chain placing orders for 

raw materials and planning production 

needs to meet lead times. The 

equipment then works together in the 

most efficient manner to achieve the 

customer’s requirements. This doesn’t 

mean the end of human involvement 

but it does necessitate a different skill 

set, so it is important to have a workforce 

able to understand and cope with 

this advance in technology. As technology 

has changed our everyday lives 

away from work it is now time to see 

how it can improve our working environments 

too. We all need to get a 

better understanding of what can and 

can’t be done with Industry 4.0 so we 

can make the transition as smooth as 

possible. 

This article is based on a paper given by 

Mark Lewis at the World Foundry Congress 

in Nagoya, Japan, in May 2016 and 

nal 

in issue January/February 2017. 

www.ofml.net 


www.giesserei.eu 

CASTING 


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Sabina Grund, Initiative Zink, Düsseldorf 

Where precision counts: 

die-cast zinc in medical and 

hospital technology 

No compromises are permitted when human health is involved. Much depends on the medical 

specialists and their training and competence. But what really matters is that all the technical 

equipment used for maintaining and restoring health operates reliably and consistently over 

long periods. This naturally applies everywhere and at all times. Cutting-edge technology made 

- 

nomically 

attractive price. Die-cast zinc is often the ‘hidden champion’ in precision instruments 

 

What does die-cast zinc offer? 

Die-cast zinc alloys are designer materials 

characterized by a combination 

of high mechanical strength, toughness 

and rigidity, and thus high performance 

and long service lives, as well 

as a very good cost-benefit ratio. Their 

mechanical properties, and the many 

possibilities of surface treatment, 

make zinc alloys an effective construction 

material – in terms of both time 

and cost. Whether switches, handles, 

moldings, panels or elements with a 

technical function – zinc alloys can 

not only be cast with near-net accuracy 

in almost any desired shape, but 

additional precise surface structures 

and properties can also be integrated 

during casting, reproducibly adjusting 

the look, feel and functionality of the 

product in a defined and targeted manner. 

Die-cast zinc also offers excellent 

prerequisites for surface treatments, 

e.g. galvanic coatings [1], [2], [4]. 

In terms of accuracy, zinc alloys are 

almost unbeatable for casting even 

complex filigree components without 

machining. In the case of small 

parts, a reproducible dimensional tolerance 

of less than 0.03 mm [3] can be 

maintained – an order of magnitude 

achieved with modern machines and 

computer-controlled casting simulations. 

There are very few processes with 

which parts can be produced this reliably 

and this accurately, often making 

mechanical machining unnecessary. 

Net shape and zero machining 

are very great advantages offered by 

die-cast zinc. 

Requirements of medical 

technology 

The mentioned precision with which 

medical devices must always function 

is undoubtedly one of the outstanding 

properties that qualify a material for 

medical technology. There are, how- 

Blood pressure measurement device. A typical device that must feel good in the hand, 

is used under demanding hygienic conditions, and must feel comfortable both for patients 

and for doctors (Photo: Kurhan - Fotolia) 


ever, other properties that also characterize 

this special field. 

Hygiene regulations demand that 

components that come into contact 

with humans and their surroundings 

(i.e. are not located within a machine) 

must withstand the regular use of detergents 

and disinfectants without impairing 

functionality or appearance. 

The wide range of surfaces that can 

be achieved with die-cast zinc means 

that a suitable solution can always be 

found, even in highly demanding environments. 

Whenever die-cast zinc 

parts are used in an aggressive environment, 

or are intended to meet 

maximum optical requirements (aesthetics), 

a wide range and quality of 

conversion layers, organic coatings or 

electroplating (e.g. nickel, satinizing 

and bright chrome-plating) can easily 

and reliably be used in any desired area 

of the surface of a die-cast zinc part. 

High-quality casting is a basic prerequisite 

for achieving excellent surfaces. 

Economical mass processes such as 

barrel finishing can be used for further 

decorating the surfaces of zinc parts in 

their as-cast condition. Extraordinarily 

smooth surfaces can be achieved with 

buffing or chemical polishing before 

surface treatment. The high fluidity 

of zinc alloys allows particular areas or 

complete castings to be given defined 

surface textures in the as-cast state. In 

addition, writing or logos can be directly 

molded onto parts. 

Medical devices include those that 

a doctor picks up and manually operates. 

Examples include dental came ras 

(Figure 1) that doctors move around 

the patient’s oral cavity, or optical devices 

used for measuring the human 

eye in direct proximity (Figure 2). In 

such cases it is also vital that the device 

is well balanced, and thus feels good in 

the hand. It must feel exactly as if the 

doctor can use it comfortably and thus 

reliably. Whereby what matters is the 

weight, balance and feel. 

As a result of their high density, and 

the capability of casting extremely thin 

walls, die-cast zinc alloys offer designers 

a high level of freedom, permitting 

them to deliberately influence the perception 

of the user regarding weight, 

balance, quality and inertia. Thus, for 

Figure 1: Camera housing for dental work: developments in die-cast zinc alloys permit 

thing 

must be right for this dental camera with a surface-treated die-cast zinc housing 

(Photos: Initiative Zink) 

Figure 2: Frame part and lid for carrier and transmission of functions of a slit lamp 

used by ophthalmologists for routine examinations 

Overview of the technical properties of die-cast zinc 

» High economic efficiency through very short cycle times, low melting 

temperature (380 - 390 °C), minimum draught angles, near-net-shape 

production and long mold lives. 

» Good casting properties: tightest tolerances of raw castings (up to about 

IT 8), excellent flow behavior (thin-wall casting), electrical and electromagnetic 

screening. 

» Mechanical material characteristics (e.g. for ZP0410: tensile strength 300 - 

340 MPa, yield strength (0.2 %) 290 – 330 MPa, e-module 85 GPa). 

» Excellent prerequisites for surface treatment. 

» Screening against electrical and electromagnetic radiation (EMC protection). 

» 100 % recyclability. 



example, the ‘cool touch’ (i.e. the typically 

cold feel of metals) and other sensual 

impressions are factors appreciated 

by many users of die-cast zinc. At 

the same time, however, die-cast zinc 

parts can, if necessary, also be provided 

with a warm feel. Whereby ‘warm 

feel’ coatings or plastic layers are options 

with which the designer can deliberately 

influence the feel. 

Protection against radiation is an important 

property whenever radiation is 

present, e.g. while sensitive electronic 

devices are being operated. This may 

involve protecting humans against radiation, 

such as x-rays. It is also often 

necessary to prevent the functionality 

of a sensitive device from being influenced 

by the electrical or electromagnetic 

radiation of other devices. Zinc’s 

screening properties represent a desirable 

additional benefit for such sensitive 

situations. 

Even in medical technology some 

technical products are manufactured 

in high unit numbers. Examples include 

hospital beds and bedside cabinets 

(Figure 3). In such cases – in addition 

to the technical properties of the 

material – the cost-benefit ratio, i.e. 

economic efficiency, is of decisive importance. 

Figure 3: 

 

perties offered by the structural material zinc (Photo: UPIXA - Fotolia) 

Where is die-cast zinc used in 

medical technology? 

Die-cast zinc is found everywhere in 

doctors’ practices and hospitals. As 

die-cast zinc is either installed within 

a device (Figure 4) (and has a technical 

function) or has an electroplated 

surface it is often difficult to recognize 

die-cast zinc as such. Examples of use 

include: 

» Defibrillators 

» Blood pressure monitors 

» Stethoscopes (Figure 5) 

» Bedside cabinets 

» Hospital beds 

» Infusion stands 

» Infusion pumps 

» Inhalers 

» Devices for artificial respiration 

» Ionization units 

» Air purifiers 

» Portable oxygen supplies 

» Pumps for artificial feeding 

Figure 4: Central carrier unit for attachment of all optical, electrical and mechanical components 

for imaging plate technology in use in dental medicine (Photo: Initiative Zink) 


Figure 5: Stethoscope. A typical device that must feel good in the hand, is used under 

demanding hygienic conditions, and must feel comfortable both for patients and for 

doctors (Photo: Robert666 - Fotolia) 

» Seat lifts 

» Monitoring devices 

» Wheelchairs 

» Crutches and other aids 

» Height-adjustable toilet seats 

What developments can be 

expected [6], [7]? 

New alloys: The product range for die-cast 

zinc will increase further in coming years 

because the material enables the implementation 

of complex geo metries with 

thin walls whilst maintaining high reproducibility 

within tight tolerances and retaining 

its high strength. Flow-filling and 

mold-filling capacities have been optimized 

by adapting alloy compositions using 

grain-refining elements, among other 

methods, so that maximum quality 

can be achieved – particularly with very 

thin-walled components (serially down 

to 0.3 mm thickness) or high surface demands. 

Optimized alloys for thin-walled 

castings and intelligent designs permit 

weight savings of up to 30 % [1], [2], [4]. 

New casting techniques: New developments, 

both in casting technology and 

in surface treatment, show that by no 

means all the possibilities of zinc have 

been exhausted: 

» Sprue-free and low-sprue techniques 

increase the resource- and energy-efficiency 

of the process. The first serial 

parts are now being cast with these 

new casting techniques [5]. 

» A more than 50 % reduction in the 

material required (and thus weight) 

can be achieved by casting zinc foam 

using the zinc die-casting process. 

Although the inside of the casting 

contains desirable pores, the part has 

an exterior with a closed surface that 

can be polished and electroplated. 

Prospects for die-cast zinc in 

medical technology 

Forecasts indicate that the use of diecast 

zinc in the medical sector will increase 

in coming years. People are living 

ever-longer, particularly in the 

western world. 28 % of the population 

in Germany will be 65 or older 

by 2030. That is four million people 

more than today. This development 

will bring about increased mobile 

monitoring of health, and greater use 

of mobile individual measurement 

and treatment devices. Blood pressure 

measuring devices and breathing 

assistance are already widespread 

today. In future, many other devices 

are conceivable. Die-cast zinc is the 

material of choice whenever these devices 

need to function accurately and 

have long service lives [8], [9], [10]. 

References: 

www.cpt-international.com 

www.zink.de 

Temperature Control. 

Smart. Reliable. 

Proven quality 

& Swiss precision 

Reliable Swiss quality, in use successfully 

for 50 years. The temperature 

control units from REGLOPLAS are 

convincing because of their precision, 

long service life and compatibility. 

www.regloplas.com


Klaus Vollrath, Aarwangen, Switzerland 

Die-cast zinc: enormous savings 

potentials regarding wall 

thickness, weight and costs 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“We have more precisely examined 

the housing of a current smartphone,” 

says Martin Schlotterbeck, Manager 

of Training and Process Consulting at 

Oskar Frech GmbH + Co. KG in 

Schorndorf, Germany. We found, 

for example, that the complex structure 

of the smartphone lower shell – 

with dimensions of about 60 x 120 x 

5 mm³ – was produced from a single 

piece of aluminum. All internal structures 

were created by cutting from an 

entire piece of metal; the remaining 

wall thickness was only approximately 

0.65 - 0.69 mm (Figure 1). The inner 

structure is highly demanding, with 

numerous smaller and larger projections, 

threaded blind holes, contact 

surfaces, openings, consoles and undercuts 

on the side walls. The volume 

cut away is about 85 %, with rigorous 

accuracy demands. High surface quality 

is required for the visible processed 

surfaces. Numerous different milling 

and drilling tools must have been used 

for production, involving frequent tool 

changes and correspondingly long 

processing times. Compared with the 

possibilities of a precision forming process 

such as die-casting, such a production 

method inherently results in exorbitantly 

high costs. Major cutting 

processes like this are thus mostly only 

Thin-walled die-cast zinc can be used in such electronic devices instead of aluminum. 

(Photo: Klaus Vollrath) 


used for products that are particularly 

expensive and required in comparatively 

low unit numbers, e.g. in motor 

racing or in aerospace technology. 

Comparative criteria: costs, 

appearance… 

“Compared with this complicated 

milling from an entire piece, the 

hot-chamber die-casting of zinc is an 

extremely economical process,” he 

adds. In die-casting the highest cost 

factors include the permanent molds 

made of tempered heat-resistant steel, 

whose production costs can only be 

recovered with sufficiently high production 

numbers. This is, however, 

anyway guaranteed with mass products 

such as smartphones or other IT 

housings. As a result of the low melting 

temperatures of current zinc alloys 

(ZL5 approx. 420 - 430 °C) the molds 

are hardly stressed, and often achieve 

service lives of several million casting 

operations. The excellent flow properties 

of zinc enable an outstanding level 

of detail in the forming of even very 

filigree structures, and the desired dimensions 

can be maintained with very 

tight tolerances. Therefore very little 

machining is required for die-cast zinc 

parts, and this is often restricted to removing 

burrs and adding threaded 

holes. Zinc also offers other important 

advantages: it is impermeable to high 

frequencies, i.e. it provides an excellent 

screen against radio interference, 

and most conventional processes can 

be used for painting, structuring or 

electroplating – so that numerous stylistic 

options are available to designers 

for a refined decorative product with a 

high-quality appearance. On balance, 

die-cast zinc thus represents a considerably 

more economical alternative 

to cutting aluminum from a solid piece 

of metal. 

…and weight 

“Zinc, however, must overcome one 

handicap if it wants to succeed in the 

marketplace,” Schlotterbeck reveals. 

This is the weight aspect. While aluminum 

is one of the light metals, with 

a density of only 2.7 kg/dm 3 , components 

made of zinc weigh about 2.6 

times as much for the same volume. A 

Figure 1: The complex structure of the lower shell of this smartphone was produced by 

milling a solid block of aluminum. The wall thickness of the lower edge is between 

about 0.65 – 0.69 mm. (Photo: Frech) 

Figure 2: The fully equipped Frech W80ZnRC hot-chamber die-casting plant used for 

the experiments at the Frech Technical Center in Schorndorf. (Photos: Klaus Vollrath) 

low device weight, however, is a decisive 

aspect, particularly for ‘mobile’ applications. 

Zinc die-casters must therefore 

design their components with 

considerably thinner walls in order to 

offset the weight disadvantage. In the 

concrete case of the smartphone housing, 

this would correspond to a wall 

thickness of only about 0.25 - 0.27 mm. 

The limit value, however, when using 

conventional zinc alloys and casting 

technologies, has up to now been considered 

to be about 0.6 mm. Lower wall 

thicknesses of down to about 0.4 mm 

can mostly only be achieved with great 

effort and non-standardized ‘high-fluidity 

alloys’, so that this remains largely 

restricted to niche applications. But 

is this really the achievable minimum? 

In view of the large market volumes involved 

with modern IT applications, 

Frech decided to examine the question 

of what minimum wall thicknesses can 

actually be achieved under which prerequisites. 

What can be achieved with 

conventional casting equipment? 

“We were not interested in setting academic 

records, but in practical results, 

i.e. the question of what foundries 



with conventional equipment could 

achieve,” Schlotterbeck points out. 

The desired target was a wall thickness 

of 0.15 mm. The main focus, however, 

was the question of how far one 

could approach this level with the 

conventional possibilities of a normal 

die-casting foundry. For this reason, 

a standard high-tech W80 Zn-RC 

hot-chamber machine was used for the 

casting experiments at the Frech Technical 

Center (Figure 2). This had the 

complete standard equipment without 

any special accessories. The alloy 

used for the experiments was commercially 

available ZL 5, and HF alloy was 

also used for comparative purposes. No 

vacuum support was used. Instead, a 

passive venting system with a double 

‘scrubbing board’ – made of steel and 

not CuBe – was selected. A 15-year-old 

modular training mold was used for 

the experiments, with wall thicknesses 

of 0.28 mm, 0.2 mm and 0.15 mm. 

With appropriate operation it was possible 

to achieve different wall thicknesses 

with this whilst also testing the 

effects of different casting channel and 

gating systems, cross-sections and ventilation. 

The mold’s tempering channels were 

designed according to conventional 

calculation rules. A heating/cooling 

Figure 3: Bright chromium-plated dish made of die-cast zinc alloy ZL 5 with a wall 

thickness of just 0.2 mm. 

system for magnesium that could attain 

media temperatures of up to 300 °C 

was used in order to be able to achieve 

higher mold temperatures for particular 

experiments. A variety of mold inserts 

was used or ‘readjusted’ for the 

various wall thicknesses. Due to positional 

tolerances, the limit was already 

reached at 0.2 mm with this mold: values 

of between 0.13 and 0.22 mm were 

measured during the experiments with 

this casting wall thickness. These differences 

in wall thickness were adapted 

using subsequent machining. 

Results 

“A total of 25 series of experiments 

were carried out with this equipment,” 

Schlotterbeck explains. The main process 

parameters – such as pressure, pis- 

Figure 4: Comparison between two dishes made of zinc alloys ZL 5 and HF alloy, 

 

HF alloy 

Figure 5: The mold: The double ‘scrubbing 

board’ for passive venting is at the 

top. The insert for a fan-shaped gate is 

below. 


ton velocity, starting points, prefilling, 

deceleration, mold temperatures, 

spraying methods, releasing agents, 

running systems, gating systems and 

venting systems – were varied. Castings 

that appeared complete and free 

of external defects were examined in 

detail. In addition to the casting process 

itself, the main criteria looked at 

here were the dimensional stability of 

the casting, the density and porosity, 

as well as the surface quality both in 

the raw state and after electroplating. 

With this experimental equipment 

it is possible to produce large zinc components 

made of ZL5 down to a wall 

thickness of 0.2 mm with sufficient 

process reliability. No special machine 

is necessary, though special equipment 

would be advisable for certain processes, 

e.g. mold spraying. Particular attention 

should be given to the skills of the 

operating personnel. They should have 

good process expertise and be able 

to precisely balance the main parameters 

and hold them within narrow 

limits. The use of HF alloy is only advantageous 

with wall thicknesses of 

0.15 mm whereby, however, poorer 

mechanical properties, surface problems 

and cracking must be accepted. 

A very interesting market 

“To summarize: it is possible to use 

die-cast zinc to produce parts that 

have much thinner walls than before 

and thus open up very interesting 

new market segments with high 

unit numbers,” Schlotterbeck assesses 

(). These include almost 

the entire bandwidth of mobile electronic 

systems such as smartphones, 

tablets, cameras or connectors, as well 

as scien tific equipment and measurement 

instruments. These wide-ranging 

experiments have now provided the 

necessary knowledge. This knowledge 

can be passed on to customers during 

consulting and training activities. 

www.frech.com 

Raw casting with wall thickness 

of 0.2 mm made of ZL 5 zink alloy – 

complete with sprue, gate and passive 

venting 

Competence in 

Shot Blast Technology 

We offer a complete service in surface preparation technology, 

not just as machine designers and manufacturers. 

Our emphasis is on providing reliable service on: 

• Wear and Spare Parts 

• Repair and (remote) maintenance 

• Inspection and process advice 

• Machine upgrades and performance 

enhancement 

• Upgraded used machines 

AGTOS 

Gesellschaft für technische Oberflächensysteme mbH 

Gutenbergstraße 14 · D-48282 Emsdetten 

Tel. +49(0)2572 96026-0 · info@agtos.de 

www.agtos.com 

156-11/13-4c-GB 


3-D-PRINTING 

Matthias Kramer, voxeljet AG, Friedberg 

3-D-printing helps to return 

a silverback gorilla back to life 

How the lifelike image of a gorilla is created using high-tech 

There are several cases where modelers, 

designers, artists and restorers come to 

certain limits when creating a piece of 

work. Particularly when it comes to the 

creation of bigger, complex and detailed 

pieces of art. Traditional methods 

are proving not only to be more 

time intensive but often times also 

very cost intensive. Through a combination 

of new 3-D printing technology 

and traditional artwork, designers have 

the possibility “to create efficiencies 

and help artists render their concepts, 

from start to finish”, says Rop Arps. 

Rop Arps is the founder and CEO of 

Form 3D Foundry, a full-service sculpting 

studio and 3-D workshop, offering 

scanning, sculpting, and 3-D printing 

technologies for the creative industry. 

One of the collaborating projects of 

Form 3D Foundry was to immortalize a 

silverback gorilla named Ivan, by creating 

a memorial statue of him. The casting 

pieces for the statue were printed 

on a VX1000 3-D printer. The chronicle 

of Ivan the gorilla is a story that has 

involved many people in so many ways 

to ensure he had a trouble-free life. 

 

A Gorilla’s journey 

Ivan was born in the Democratic Republic 

of Congo in 1962 and after his 

parents were killed by poachers, Ivan 

was brought to the United States of 

America. At the beginning, Ivan stayed 

with the Johnston family, who owned 

a pet store, where he got to know his 

best and lifelong friend, Larry Johnston, 

who as a teenager shared a home 

with young Ivan for almost four years. 

Weighing in at 60 pounds (approx. 

28 kg), Ivan has grown big and strong, 

it was decided that living in the home 

of the Johnston family wasn’t suitable 

anymore. 

 

 

 

In 1967, Ivan was brought into an enclosure 

at the B&I shopping center in 

Tacoma, Washington. Ron Irwin, the 

owner of the B&I store said “he was 

like a kid, always watching people. 

He loved to scare them. But there was 

something more. When you looked in 

 

Ivans ashes were incorporated in every 

bronze piece 


one-to-one scale 

 

 

his eyes, he was looking back at you. He 

understood what was going on” 

Although many visitors of the B&I 

store loved Ivan, there were others unhappy 

with his ‘imprisonment’ and 

made efforts to “free” Ivan from the 

store into a better environment. The 

action to free Ivan intensified after 

National Geographic featured him in 

one of their magazines and pop-star 

Michael Jackson offered to take Ivan 

to his Neverland-Ranch. The B&I store 

was forced in bankruptcy and Ivan was 

court-ordered to live in a zoo, where he 

was then moved to Atlanta, Georgia. 

While Ivan lived in the zoo, he 

gained an extensive crowd of fans and 

supporters where people from all over 

the world came to visit him. Thousands 

of people turned out for his memorial 

service when he died in in 2012 

at the grand old age of 50, which makes 

him the oldest gorilla in captivity. 

Creation of Ivan’s memorial 

Despite Ivan’s passing, his legend lives 

on. Earl Borgert, whose grandfather 

owned the B&I store, claimed the ashes 

of Ivan and pitched the idea to the 

Board of Commissioners – Tacoma 

metro park, to build a memorial for 

Ivan. The board approved the idea under 

the condition that the family fund 

and manage the project. After extensive 

research, the family chose an artist 

named Douglas Granum to design 

the statue in Ivan’s honor. 

Since Ivan played an important role 

in the childhood of the CEO, Rob Arps, 

Form 3D Labs were very keen to get involved. 

Rob said: “I grew up with Ivan 

as my parents used to work at the B&I. 

Years later, I’d tell people about it and 

they would stare at me in disbelief. 

When Doug came to me a few years ago 

about this I was really excited”. “This 

is Ivan, it´s my childhood friend” says 

Arps, “[and] he meant a lot to me”. 

The first challenge in the process 

of creating the statue was to generate 

a 3-D digital model of Ivan. Since gorillas 

have very unique and distinct 

looks, just like humans, hundreds of 

pictures had to be gathered to capture 

every detail of him. The artist decided 

to use an iconic image of Ivan holding 

a flower captured by the media for his 

inspiration. 

According to Arps, 3-D printing and 

digital sculpting played a huge part in 

creating the statue. He says that “when 

sculpting with clay, the artist is limited 

in what kind of changes can be 

made. With digital sculpting, changes 

can be made without affecting the 

overall project. We can solve a series of 

problems very quickly, where before it 

would have taken months”. “This project 

is at the front end of a huge change 

in the process of making art” 

The printing process 

Creating the digital file of Ivan took 

three years, this was to ensure every 

single feature of the gorilla was captured. 

Due to the size of the sculpture, 

the digital file of Ivan was separated 

into several individual pieces which 

were then printed in PMMA poweder 

on voxeljet´s VX1000 3-D-Printer. 

Once all the parts were dipped in wax, 

they were used to produce a ceramic 

shell for investment casting. The parts 

were then cast in bronze before they 

were finally welded and assembled together 

to the full-sized statue. During 

the molding process, a small amount 

of Ivan’s ashes were integrated into 

each piece of bronze that made up the 

final sculpture. The finished statue is 

approximately 6 feet tall (~ 183 cm) 

and weights about 600 pounds (~ 

280 kg). As Ron Irwin said, “Ivan really 

impacted two cities” and this statue 

really helps to tell his unique and 

touching story. 

www.voxeljet.com 


SIMULATION 

 

 

 

Tristan Kotthoff, MAGMAacademy, Aachen 

Process and tooling design 

in die casting based on systematic 

virtual tests 

 

In designing technologically sophisticated 

tooling for aluminium and 

magnesium die casting, two things 

have to be ensured at the same time: 

the process has to be able to reliably 

produce castings of the specified quality, 

and aspects of cost and resource 

efficiency have to be taken into due 

account. 

What makes the design process most 

challenging is the fact that the quality 

requirements and efficiency considerations 

often call for process conditions 

that do not go together with the objective 

of minimizing tool wear. During 

the casting process, the tools are subjected 

to extreme local thermal stresses. 

These stresses can be evaluated and 

optimized by a quantified heat balance 

of the casting die. 

The overall cycle time is determined, 

among others, by the die 

locking time. The die locking time 

largely depends on the time the biscuit 

needs to solidify. Reducing the 

overall cycle time provides additional 

machine capacity and, consequently, 

great potential for an increase 

in economic efficiency (Figure 

above). 

With the objective of reducing the die 

locking time, different cooling concepts 

were systematically tested on a 

die cast aluminium casting as an example. 

The systematic employment of 

casting process simulation according 

to the MAGMA principle shows how 

the local solidification condition in 

the biscuit can be optimized by specific 

tool cooling strategies. 

The optimization is intended to reduce 

the biscuit solidification time 


(economic efficiency) while avoiding 

excessive tool wear due to alternating 

thermal stress within the casting cycle 

(robustness). 

Systematic virtual process tests were 

performed with 22 different cooling 

geometries in the anvil (tool geometry) 

and two different flow rates (6 l/ 

min and 12 l/min) (process parameters) 

as degrees of freedom (variables) 

(Figure 1). 

The virtual test sequence, which has 

been specified beforehand, is performed 

fully automatically. Once the 

sequence has been completed, all tested 

variants are evaluated using quantitative 

methods. The results are reliable 

as they are derived from objective criteria 

by statistical evaluation techniques. 

In the example, two of the tested 

cooling geometries lead to a reduction 

in biscuit solidification time by almost 

3 s, or 15 %. However, those two cooling 

geometries react to the flow rates of 

6 and 12 l/min (process variation) with 

different sensitivity. 

A more specific evaluation of the 

process conditions explains why the 

cooling geometries exhibit different 

sensitivity to the flow rates: Due 

to the great pressure loss in the complex 

spiral-type cooling system, this 

system requires a minimum pressure 

of 10 bars to achieve the flow rate of 

12 l/min. Contrary to this, cooling 

tubes of very simple shapes already react 

to the flow rates tested with solidification 

time variations of almost a second 

( ). 

Only when all involved in the tooling 

design process – from the tool designer, 

the responsible production 

manager to the quality manager in 

the workshop – have profound process 

know-how can the thermal layout of 

the die cooling system and the process 

itself be optimally designed. For this, it 

is necessary to know which parameters 

have decisive influence on the quality 

of the casting and on the efficiency of 

 

 

 

Test 1/2 Test 3/4 Test 9/10 

Test 11/12 Test 13/14 Test 19/20 Test 21/22 

Variable process parameters 

6 l/min 

and 

 

- 

 

the process. Systematic process analyses 

and virtual experiments are powerful 

and efficient methods to obtain 

such knowledge. 

Quality criteria 

 

 

 

in the anvil 

 

www.magmasoft.com 



Edgar Lange, Düsseldorf 

Iron foundry banks on thin-wall 

casting with EcoCasting process 

Reducing the weight of engine components is a future-oriented strategy to save fuel and cut CO 2 

emissions. To this end, the German iron foundry Fritz Winter Eisengießerei, based in Stadtallendorf, 

uses a thin-wall casting process and the recycling material grey cast iron to make components 

such as engine blocks, the biggest and heaviest of all combustion engine components. The 

thus produced castings are extremely low in weight. With this innovative process, branded 

 

Founded in 1951 as a family-owned 

company, Fritz Winter iron foundry today 

is the biggest independent jobbing 

foundry in Europe. It employs 3,700 

people and serves approx. 400 customers. 

The foundry, based in the German 

town of Stadtallendorf, casted its first 

engine blocks as early as in 1959. 

Against the backdrop of the need 

to minimize CO 2 

and other hazardous 

emissions, competing drive concepts 

for vehicles were a much discussed 

topic at the 29th International 

Conference “Engine & Environment”, 

held in Graz, Austria, at the end of May 

2017. The conference was organized by 

the Austrian company AVL. AVL is the 

world’s biggest independent company 

specialized in the development of 

drive systems based on combustion 

technology. “Electric motor versus 

combustion engine” was a key topic on 

the conference agenda. According to 

Helmut List, CEO of AVL, the combustion 

engine is far from being thrown 

on the scrap heap: “The development 

of advanced combustion engine concepts 

has already led to a constant reduction 

in hazardous emissions and 

we can expect more technological advances 

to come,” emphasizes List. 

Grey cast iron versus 

aluminium 

People attending the conference in 

Graz showed great interest in the new 

environment-friendly EcoCasting process 

presented by iron foundry Fritz 

An ecological and economic alternative to aluminium: thin-wall cast four-cylinder 

crankcase with wall thicknesses down to 2.5 mm at tolerances of only 0.5 mm 

(Photos: Fritz Winter) 

Winter Eisengießerei GmbH & Co. 

KG, Europe’s largest independent jobbing 

foundry and supplier and partner 

to international passenger car and 

utility vehicle makers as well as the hydraulics 

industry. The foundry is a typical 

tier 1 supplier to the big players of 

the automotive industry – from A as in 

Audi to Z as in ZF-Friedrichshafen. You 

are likely to come across an iron casting 

made by Fritz Winter in everything 

that moves. EcoCasting is Fritz Winter’s 

new weight-saving brand, which 

is to trigger a rethinking in engine construction. 

The innovative iron casting 

process behind this brand makes 

it possible, for example, to cast lightweight 

crankcases for passenger cars as 

a competitive alternative to crankcases 

made of aluminium. 


Revolution in iron casting 

“We love to make heavy things light“ is 

the iron foundry’s mission. Cast iron and 

light-weight construction – two things 

that do not seem to go together well. 

How is that going to work? What makes 

the thin-wall cast four-cylinder crankcases 

so special versus conventional iron 

castings is the fact that the new process 

developed by Fritz Winter is sandless. 

This provides exciting results: extremely 

thin walls of only 2.5 mm can be 

achieved at tolerances as low as 0.5 mm. 

What is more, making a motor block 

from cast iron involves 28 % less costs 

than producing an aluminium motor 

block by high-pressure die casting. Relative 

to aluminium gravity die casting the 

cost benefit is even greater. These comparisons 

are based on a 1.6 litre four-cylinder 

Otto engine as benchmark. 

To achieve this, the Fritz Winter engineers 

have come up with a number of 

smart ideas: a highly compact engine design, 

an overall shorter engine length as 

a result of smaller distances between the 

cylinders, an optimized crankshaft main 

bearing and, above all, the unique casting 

technique which Fritz Winter for 

the first time in the world uses to make 

cast iron crankcases for passenger cars. 

“When we pour the molten iron, it is as 

fluid as water, allowing it to fill the smallest 

cavities, unlike aluminium, which behaves 

similar to a semi-fluid,” explains 

Richard Pausch, Director Sales of the 

Fritz Winter foundry. This is one reason 

why the new motor block has such a filigree 

design. Another positive effect is the 

high dimensional accuracy. The maximum 

weight deviation between the CAD 

model and the finished casting is below 

100 grams. According to the foundry experts 

of Fritz Winter, it would be possible 

to cast wall thicknesses even smaller 

than 2 mm. However, this would get 

close to the feasibility limits as the casting 

still has to be suitable for fettling and 

shot-blasting. Even with the current cast 

wall thickness, the difference in weight 

between a cast iron engine and an aluminium 

engine has shrunk to just 1.5 %. 

EcoCasting engine blocks are 

in great demand 

Fritz Winter regards EcoCasting as a 

new branding within their light-weight 

The concept of light-weight crankcases made of grey cast iron was a much discussed topic 

Steel scrap, as used in this piece of art, is also the raw material of EcoCasting products 

product portfolio. “Eco” stands for both 

“economic” and “ecological”, hence 

sustainability. Already the production 

of light-weight EcoCasting components 

requires significantly fewer resources 

than conventional iron castings 

or comparable parts made of aluminium, 

especially because the raw material 

iron scrap is a genuine recycling product. 

“Therefore we see ourselves as ‘true 

recyclers’,” adds Pausch. He takes pride 

in the fact that the raw material of grey 

cast iron is 100 % steel scrap. What becomes 

a motor block or a brake disc, 

may have been a railway track or a bicycle 

before. In contrast, primary aluminium, 

a ton of which currently costs 

about 1,900 US dollars, requires ten 

times more energy during production 

than cast iron. “Therefore, we chose ‘Aluminium 

was yesterday’ as one of our 

slogans at this year’s Vienna Engine 

Symposium, and actually caused some 

chuckling among the attending guests,” 

recalls Sebastian Hahn, Director Marketing 

of the Fritz Winter iron foundry. 

The light-weight components made 

by Fritz Winter are in great demand 

by its automotive customers. Already 

about 800,000 EcoCasting crankcases 

have been shipped to customers so far. 

Fritz Winter is striving to offer the market 

a genuine alternative to aluminium 

and keep the foundry fit to respond 

to the future challenges of automotive 

light-weight engineering. According 

to Sales Director Pausch, iron castings 

will remain unbeatable in terms 

of cost efficiency and have a great future 

potential. Richard Pausch is confident 

that iron is a material far from 

dying out. 



“EcoCasting, 

the eco-friendliest 

casting process of all” 

In an interview with CP+T, Richard Pausch, Director Sales of Fritz 

Winter iron foundry based in Stadtallendorf, Germany, talks 

about the branding of the EcoCasting process, about iron as recycling 

material, the market for thin-wall iron castings and the 

prospects of EcoCasting products with respect to electro mobility 

You have developed the EcoCasting 

process and established it as a brand. 

What was the motivation behind this? 

Our intention was to establish Eco- 

Casting as a branding. “Eco” encompasses 

both economy and ecology, 

forming a symbiosis of both. For a jobbing 

foundry as we are it is not easy to 

establish an own branding, because we 

do not offer standardized products on 

the marketplace – as, let’s say, mobile 

phone manufacturers do. 

What is your brand strategy? 

One objective of our brand strategy is 

to replace the term grey cast iron, as 

the word “grey” does not prompt very 

positive feelings. We also plan to combine 

all our future light-weight activities 

under the EcoCasting label. 

Which role does the recycling material 

iron play in this context? 

A key element of our EcoCasting strategy 

is to highlight the fact that iron is an 

excellent recycling material. And that is 

what will be associated with this brand. 

casting process of all. We are of course 

aware that no automotive customer 

will be willing to rely on a monopoly 

sourcing situation for thin-wall castings 

in the long run. Therefore it is essential 

for us not to lie back but always 

stay at the leading edge of technology. 

With a competitive alternative to aluminium 

crankcases in the portfolio, 

Fritz Winter is heading towards becoming 

a global supplier. 

How is Fritz Winter preparing for a future 

market characterized by a declining 

share of combustion engine-propelled 

vehicles and a growing number 

of electric vehicles on the roads? 

Also in a world of growing electro mobility, 

we see market opportunities for 

Fritz Winter and much potential for 

new products based on thin-wall iron 

casting – for example, cases for batteries 

and electric motors and of course 

brake discs, which Fritz Winter has already 

been selling in great numbers, 

actually about 20 million a year. Also 

here we strongly believe in a business 

success based on cost-efficiency and 

sustainability achieved through smart 

concepts of light-weight iron casting. 

As we have been convinced of the success 

of our new and highly innovative 

EcoCasting process from the beginning, 

we have invested more than 

50 million euros in the implementation 

of a production line. Actually, 

the overall investment volume of a 

thin-wall casting line is slightly small- 

How has the market been accepting 

your innovative thin-wall castings? 

There has been a lively demand for 

our products. The market currently demands 

small wall thicknesses, for example 

in crankcases, to be able to design 

components of lower weight. This 

is a fact no supplier of cast products 

wanting to survive in the market in the 

long run should deny. Our EcoCasting 

process is currently the eco-friendliest 

“Aluminium was yesterday” – Fritz Winter sees great future potential for grey cast iron 


These beverage cans caused some chuckling at the 29th International Conference “Engine 

& Environment” held in Graz, Austria 

22. International Fair 

of Technologies for Foundry 

25-27 

September 

2018 

Kielce, Poland 

er than in case of a conventional flaskbased 

foundry, among others because 

no flasks and sand preparation facilities 

are needed. 

Do you believe that the current discussion 

about weight-saving automotive 

engineering with a strong focus 

on aluminium is heading towards the 

right end? 

Only 10 % of the global CO 2 

emissions 

is accounted for by automotive traffic. 

However, this fact is not always put in 

the right perspective in the media and 

in political discussions. Also the fact 

that cars with aluminium crankcases 

would have to be operated much longer 

than their average lifetime in order 

to achieve the same CO 2 

balance 

as EcoCasting crankcases is often disregarded. 

What has to be considered 

are the life cycle values. And here cast 

iron, with 1,783 kg of CO 2 

per ton of 

material produced clearly outperforms 

primary aluminium, which based on 

the world energy mix emits approx. 

6,174 kg of CO 2 

per ton produced. Also 

political decision-makers should place 

greater emphasis on this aspect. 

So, this means that you see good 

long-term prospects for your com- 

 

weight cast iron products such as the 

engine block? 

Absolutely. What concerns me a bit is 

the risk that we may be losing expert 

know-how in this traditional field of 

technology. If in the years to come nobody 

was really interested in the further 

development of combustion engines 

any longer, we would be running 

short of qualified engineers in this 

field. This would be a great pity. 

www.fritzwinter.de/en 

The 73rd World Foundry 

 

23-27 

September 

2018 

Krakow, Poland 

 

 

Global Media Partner: 

Contact: 

Piotr Odziemek 

+48 41 365 13 34 

odziemek.piotr@targikielce.pl

XXL core package printed with a 3-D printer at Christenguss foundry in the Swiss town of Bergdietikon (Photos: Andreas 

Bednareck) 

Robert Piterek, German Foundry Association, Düsseldorf 

Progress through technology 

Increasing digitalization has led to changes in the foundry industry that have altered the 

5,000-year-old production technology from the bottom up. The mostly bleak works halls, in 

which casters carry out back-breaking physical labor, will sooner or later metamorphose into 

high-tech production sites that are in step with the rapid developments of our time. And it will 

not only be the big players in the sector that will survive the change. The opportunities for the 

SMEs that make up the majority of German foundries are also good – as a visit to Industry 4.0 

pioneer Christenguss in Switzerland shows 

Terms like 3-D printing and Industry 

4.0 are still billowing around in our 

heads without any particularly precise 

understanding. People need tangible 

examples, and the visionaries to implement 

them, to form a clear-cut picture 

of new technologies. One such visionary 

is Florian Christen, Managing Director 

of Christenguss in the Swiss town 

of Bergdietikon and an avowed fan of 

Elon Musk. One might think that Tesla 

founder Musk does not have an awful 

lot to do with Industry 4.0 – but his 

e-cars, the Space X rocket program, and 

his ideas on energy-independent housing 

and the supersonic Hyperloop metro 

fascinate millions of people, and his 

fan base is growing by the day. 

Multi-million investments in 

Industry 4.0 

Musk’s ideas inspired Christen to consider 

his own foundry works with a visionary’s 

eyes. And Musk’s courage in 


Florian Christen with castings in front of the roller gate to the 3-D printer. The family 

business operator wants to achieve a completely networked Industry 4.0 foundry within 

20 years 

converting visions into reality has given 

Christen the energy to turn his 17- 

man operation into a pioneer of Industry 

4.0. But he has also had to find good 

economic reasons to justify investing 

millions in converting his works. And 

there are a wealth of these in today’s 

Switzerland because industrial conditions 

have got worse and worse in recent 

years: the currency is extremely 

strong, wages are high, and there are 

no funding programs like those of the 

EU. Initially, the Swiss central bank 

supported the exchange rate against 

the euro artificially – it gave up doing 

this in early 2015. “It became clear to 

me that we would not make any progress 

with standard production,” explains 

the 33-year-old Florian Christen. 

There is, however, one economic 

ray of hope in Switzerland – the low 

price of energy. The country profits 

from the fact that its neighbor Germany 

produces large amounts of renewable 

energy that it cannot use itself, 

and therefore sells cheaply to Switzerland 

and other neighboring countries. 

Good conditions for the use of a 3-D 

printer – a fundamental component of 

the sand foundry of the future. Christenguss 

installed a plant from ExOne 

(in Gersthofen) in late 2015 and commissioned 

it in early 2016. Including 

the periphery and installation it cost 

Christenguss about 1.5 million Swiss 

francs (around 1,3 million euros). 

Focus on essential parts 

“In order to be able to continue producing 

competitively in Switzerland 

everything is going in the direction 

of high-end production,” Christen 

summarizes and adds: “Otherwise it 

is impossible to keep up with the prices.” 

Business is therefore increasingly 

based on the ‘speed’ sector nowadays, 

in other words components that 

have unexpectedly failed, or been forgotten 

about, and now urgently need 

to be produced and delivered. Christen 

calls these particularly important 

castings for plant operation ‘essential 

parts’, and companies sometimes only 

require one unit. “In the high-voltage 

current sector, for example, plant 

downtimes cost about 250,000 euros 

a day – then it is irrelevant if the finished 

component costs ten, twenty or 

thirty thousand euros to produce over 

the weekend,” emphasizes the family 

business operator. The speed sector already 

makes up 50 - 60 % of his business. 

The rest of the roughly 7 million 

euros in annual sales is made up 

of orders with a time horizon of 2 - 3 

months. The product range consists 

of components made of sand-cast aluminum 

and copper alloys for the construction 

of special machines, for the 

high-voltage current sector, pump assembly, 

conveying systems for liquid 

nitrogen, defense technology, and agricultural 

equipment. The more than 

300 customers include Hilti, ABB, General 

Electric, Siemens Verkehrstechnik, 


COMPANY 

3-D printers can print the most complex 

structures. Here a skull made of molding 

sand 

Swiss art print: This art print from Christenguss has 1.35 billion individual surfaces and 

is currently being exhibited at the Pompidou Centre in Paris 

Bombardier, Rheinmetall, General Dynamics 

and numerous so-called ‘hidden 

champions’ from Switzerland, i.e. 

SMEs who are world leaders in their 

business fields. The production quantities 

are very modest: 120 tonnes of aluminum 

castings and about 40 tonnes 

of copper castings leave the works every 

year. The average batch size is just 

15 units. 

Ideas for achieving capacity 

utilization of the 3-D printer 

Speed in a foundry demands maximum 

flexibility. And this is precisely 

what the new 3-D printer offers– entire 

molds with integrated cores or core 

packages can be printed overnight. In 

the meanwhile, Christen and his team 

are also trialing the printing of pattern 

plates – with great success, because the 

plant prints out structures of all kinds 

to an accuracy of one-tenth of a millimeter. 

In order to make money with the 

high-tech machine, however, the printer 

must run 24/7 all year round despite 

the low energy price in Switzerland. 

Capacity utilization at Christenguss is 

still below this, at about 70 %, but the 

high value creation of the works largely 

offsets this: based on drawings, CAD 

data or the reverse engineering of components, 

the company can deliver finished 

cast, machined and surface-treated 

parts within an average of 3 - 4 weeks. 

And the quality demands are high: 

“The products have to look perfect and 

cannot have a single pore,” according 

to the Managing Director. Christen has 

sought out another business field with 

good potential in order to achieve higher 

utilization of the printer: art printing 

– which is, however, still in its initial 

stages. Still, one can now see an 

impressive work of art from the molding 

sand of his 3-D printer at the Pompidou 

Center in Paris, a hub for art and 

culture. Just 156 gigabytes of data resulted 

in a 3.5 meter tall, 3.1 meter wide 

and 2 meter deep work of art made up 

of an astonishing 1.35 billion individual 

surfaces. This piece shows what is 

technically possible with the current 

state-of-the-art, and contains the most 

complex of structures that would be impossible 

to achieve without a 3-D printer. 

Florian Christen is also playing with 

the idea of using the printer to produce 

higher-priced designer furniture in the 

medium-term. 


Classic aluminum and copper alloys are 

still cast in the works halls of Christenguss. 

The employees will have to cope 

with numerous changes in the coming 

years and decades 

From hand molding to fully 

automated production 

The 3-D printer is just one component 

in Christen’s concept of creating an ‘intelligent’ 

foundry in the tranquil hill 

country of Bergdietikon, near Zürich. 

If everything goes according to plan, 

a foundry the like of which has never 

been seen will be created here in four 

phases during the coming 20 years. 

Christen intends to invest one to oneand-a-half 

million euros every four to 

five years and thus initiate a permanent 

process of change – in accordance with 

the motto of his father, Theo Christen: 

“Stagnation is regression”. Then in the 

works halls – where hand formers still 

hammer down sand in the molding 

boxes; and molding plants, blasting 

machines and core shooters noisily do 

their jobs – autonomous transport systems 

with robots could be driving from 

station to station, and all the processes 

could be networked by linking machines 

and sensors with artificial intelligence. 

The enormous quantity of 

Molding line with a maximum box size of 650 X 500 X 500 mm³. Parts weighing between 

0.1 - 150 kg can be cast here. The melt is supplied by induction furnaces from 

Inductotherm 

data could then automatically flow 

into optimizing processes, every point 

in the production chain could be precisely 

documented enormously improving 

planning security, also with a 

view to the future orders to be expected. 

The consequence: maximum transparency 

of all production steps for producer 

and customers – with numerous 

benefits and savings potentials. 

Phase 1: the transparent 

factory 

The transformation of the works is currently 

in full swing. The aim is to automate 

all peripheral work. “The workers 

should only be creating value, also 

because our batch sizes are so small,” 

stresses Christen. For this purpose, in 

a first phase, the fettling shop, administration, 

and feedback from process 

steps are to be automated. 

The automated administration is already 

reality: invoices are scanned in, 

compared with customer data and automatically 

booked. “My bookkeeping 

costs have halved as a result,” says a 

satisfied Christen, a qualified business 

economist. Balance sheets and income 

statements are now available daily in real-time. 

Because one thing is important 

for the Swiss entrepreneur: “We want to 

act and not react. Only then can one so 

optimize the single percentages that 

one can remain competitive, even in a 

high-wage country like Switzerland.” 

The feedback from the work steps, 

currently still handled manually, 

should in future be take place using 

tablets: “The worker can then call up 

photos, production data, CAD data 

and documentation via the mobile 

computer and input the start and end 

times of all process steps,” enthuses 

Christen. It would then become clear 

how much time could be saved by 

changes to production parameters. 

Christenguss is collaborating with 

Prof. Markus Krack’s Foundry Institute 

at the University of Applied Sciences 

and Arts Northwestern Switzerland 

(FHNW) on automation of the fettling 

shop by 2019. The Faculty of Digital Architecture 

at ETH Zürich is another research 

partner. The hardware costs will 

be almost 1 million euros. The additional 

software costs have not yet been 

quantified. A special algorithm is being 

developed at FHNW to massively simplify 

programming of the robots. 


COMPANY 

An employee sprays a core with a release 

agent 

straightaway prepares the tools (such 

as separation and saw attachments, 

grinders and millers) required for the 

job.” 

Automation of the fettling shop 

is receiving particular attention because 

of the enormous wage costs in 

Switzerland. One fettler at Christenguss 

earns about 5,000 Swiss francs a 

month, roughly the same amount in 

euros. Less than 250 kilometers further 

south in Italy the fettler would be 

paid just 1,000 euros for the same job. 

Switzerland thus has no chance in an 

international comparison. “The job 

is back-breaking work. It would make 

sense if, in future, employees were responsible 

for equipping a fettling robot. 

With all due respect to the work 

our fettlers do, the robots can do the 

job longer and with consistent quality,” 

Florian Christen is convinced, 

and explains how the fettling process 

should work in future: “We have the 

component with the gating system 

and it needs cleaning. It is clamped, 

scanned and compared with the CAD 

data in a target/actual comparison. 

The metal colleague thus finds out 

what it should cut away from where. 

The movements are worked out by the 

so-called cyber-physical system on 

the basis of existing programs, and it 

Phase 2: the reactive factory 

The first processes will be interlinked 

with the help of a dynamic Manufacturing 

Execution System (MES) in 

Phase 2. If data in a dynamic MES is altered, 

it automatically leads to changes 

in other systems. The data from the 

automated fettling shop (CAD data) 

include, for example, a perfect dimensional 

inspection that can be used for 

equipping the machining plants – 

leading to considerable time savings. 

This interlinking of processes should 

in future also be extended to the molding 

shop and shake-out plant. In addition 

to time savings, this would provide 

another advantage: customers 

could track the progress of their order 

on a website (as offered by online retailers 

such as Amazon). In order to be 

able to implement this step in reality, 

however, an identification system via 

a code in the sand molds and on the 

casting itself would be necessary. 

Phase 3: the self-regulating 

factory 

Things come to a head in Phase 3: now 

the peripheral work, such as equipping 

and box provision will be automated 

– though without cutting any 

jobs, as Florian Christen stresses. The 

range of activities of the workforce is 

to be adapted with training. After implementation 

of this phase, robots 

will equip the filter and insulation 

sleeves and collect the material from 

the shelves autonomously. Driverless 

transport systems, like those already 

active in the new Industry 4.0 foundry 

of Kurtz Ersa in Hasloch, could also be 

introduced for this purpose. Christen: 

“The robots can work 24/7 and could 

The wages for fettlers are considerably higher in Switzerland than in other countries. 

But there are still not enough skilled fettlers in Swiss foundries 


make the necessary preparations for 

the next day’s work in advance.” 

The automatic commercial platform 

should also be implemented during 

this phase. According to Christen’s 

plan, it should be possible for customers 

to upload CAD data onto an online 

platform and immediately receive 

a price for their order – once all the 

work steps and the preparation of all 

the process information has been automated 

in Phase 3. “Then, of course, the 

casting system with cores and mold 

separation must also be visualized,” 

admits Christen. “But when I see what 

the ETH Zürich has already developed 

in the way of algorithms with automation 

functions I have to say that we are 

no longer so far away from this goal,” 

he adds confidently. 

Phase 4: the functionally networked 

factory 

After completion of this massive company 

restructuring, Christenguss will 

not only be a lean, automated and, in 

all regards, optimized foundry, but will 

also have the possibility of being an 

“integral part of the customer’s product 

life-cycle”. The foundry remains an 

independent supplier but is in a position 

– thanks to its enormous production 

flexibility and speed – to take over 

a customer’s complete cast spare parts 

business. Why? At present this business 

is enormously wasteful and expensive 

for companies because parts must 

be stored in order to be able to deliver 

them on-demand. Rent has to be paid 

and one must order in advance. Outsourcing 

to foundries is therefore more 

satisfactory, as all the types of castings 

can be rapidly delivered in any numbers 

required. “One day, the spare parts 

business for the high-voltage current 

industry will be possible for us; we have 

transformer stations that are 40 or 50 

years old. Some of the parts don’t even 

have drawings available – production is 

then only possible with the help of reverse 

engineering,” explains Christen. 

Daqri, a so-called ‘augmented reality’ 

helmet for industry, which can enormously 

expand human capabilities, 

should also be integrated in the process 

chain at some time during this change 

Removing sand at the 3-D printer: air vortices are created, potentially damaging the 

molds, cores and core packages 

process. “Even amateurs can service an 

aircraft engine with Daqri,” enthuses 

Christen. Camera-supported glasses 

monitor every hand movement made 

by a worker, and the helmet tells them 

about any mistakes. Christen: “Then the 

machines and plant will set the rhythm 

– people will have to follow it.” A vision 

of the future? No, the Daqri industrial 

helmet is already being used at the German 

company Bosch, for example. 

The pitfalls of the young 3-D 

printing technology 

Back in the present, however, Industry 

4.0 pioneer Christenguss is still grappling 

with the vagaries of the young 

3-D printing technology. “Many have 

missed the boat regarding Industry 

4.0. We also started from the bottom 

up. One can only try out things 

when one actually has the technology 

in the works,” Florian Christen has 

learnt. The 3-D printer is hidden away 

at Christenguss behind a smart yellow 

roller gate. The molds, cores and art 

works are printed in a 1,800 X 1,000 

X 700 mm³ box layer-by-layer with 

molding sand – sometimes they manage 

seven boxes a week, sometimes 

only two. Just now, the sand is being 

removed from a core (about one me- 


COMPANY 

Collection of molds and cores printed on the 3-D printer. They are ready for further processing 

ter tall, one meter wide and two meters 

long) with a kind of vacuum cleaner. 

“Our biggest problem is that the removal 

of sand generates sand-carrying 

air vortices. Then it only takes a 

few seconds for a few millimeters of 

the molding sand of the printed part 

to be removed, because these air vortices 

can be extremely abrasive,” Christen 

points out. The result: if the removal 

of the sand does not work out, a 

core package must be separately printed 

again and glued into the mold. The 

advantage of the printer – being able 

to generate the most complex of structures 

– cannot then be fully exploited. 

And the 3-D printer producer’s readiness 

to help solve this problem has its 

limits. Christen is also critical about 

their sales policy: raw materials and 

other consumables must be purchased 

directly from the producer – giving it a 

monopoly and thus a lot of additional 

business. “This is not a free-market 

economy,” complains Christen. In addition, 

the printer sand is still offered 

with furan binders instead of with environmentally 

neutral inorganic binding 

agents. “The chemistry involved 

must become more environmentally 

friendly – but please, not by means 

of a new plant but with an upgrade,” 

hopes the father of two children, aged 

one-and-a-half and three-and-a-half. 

The manager believes that production 

should be as sustainable and environmentally 

friendly as possible – 

not just because he is thinking about 

his children’s future. Although he does 

admit that certain emissions are inevitable 

when casting, due to the incineration 

process. “But if one can succeed 

in increasing the hit rate per produced 

part to approaching 100 % (so that one 

does not have to make anything twice 

and thus does not waste resources unnecessarily) 

that is sustainable production 

in my opinion,” he explains his 

attitude, and adds: “until one day, perhaps, 

a revolution will also take place 

in the melting process.” 

High-tech leads to change in 

image 

With his wealth of ideas, Florian Christen 

fits in well with the overall image 

of an intact, innovative and future-enabled 

Switzerland – despite all its problems. 

Like Germany Switzerland has 

meanwhile also decided on its own energy 

transition with an approval rate 

of 58 %. According to Christen, numerous 

new innovative start-ups are under 

starter’s orders in the field of renewable 

energies, and are ready to expand the 

country’s energy industry. Switzerland’s 

direct form of democracy (with 

many referendums) also has its drawbacks, 

as the referendum to restrict the 

free movement of foreigners showed. 

The consequence: the shortage of engineers 

that is also a problem in Switzerland 

will simply worsen. 

The vision of a high-tech foundry of 

a completely new kind, which Christen 

is working to achieve, also fits well 

into the picture of modern Switzerland. 

But the external image must be 

right, which is why Florian Christen 

is simultaneously working with the 

award-winning Rheintal-based Agentur 

am Flughafen to improve the company’s 

image. “One needs the right image 

if one wants to do high-tech,” he 

is convinced. The reaction of his employees 

shows that the concept works: 

“They enjoy the technology and it 

blows away the cliché of foundries as 

a dirty old industry,” Works Manager 

Milot Shala has observed. Increasing 

automation in the foundry sector thus 

kills two birds with one stone, improving 

both competitiveness and image! 

www.christenguss.ch 


NEWS 

AGTOS 

Economical blasting technology for high demands 

More and more emphasis is placed on 

surfaces. Economic concepts for the 

blasting of heavily stressed surfaces are 

required. AGTOS presented its technology 

for the first time at the trade 

fair Agritechnica in November 2017 in 

Hanover, Germany. 

The manufacturer from Emsdetten, 

Germany, provides almost all types of 

shot blasting machines. The robust design 

with good maintenance possibilities 

characterizes the machines. In addition, 

used blasting machines are offered, 

which can be modernized in a technically 

perfect condition and tailored to 

customer requirements. A comprehensive 

service program completes the service 

spectrum. 

As an exhibit, an AGTOS high-performance 

turbine was on display. It stood 

as an example for a whole series of 

smaller and larger sizes and versions. Interested 

visitors were shown the advantages 

of the tried and tested AGTOS shot 

blasting machines. High performance, 

economical operation and good accessibility 

in the event of maintenance are 

the most important criteria here. 

www.agtos.de 

AGTOS-Continuous overhead rail shot 

blast machine for the blasting of welded 

construction before the powder coating 

(Photo: AGTOS) 

Demonstrate your expertise with professional reprints 

Take advantage of the excellent reputation of CP+T 

Casting, Plant and Technology International 

Please contact us for further information 

Gabriele Wald 

Phone: +49 211 6707- 527 

gabriele.wald@stahleisen.de 


Sohnstraße 65 · 40237 Düsseldorf, Germany · www.cpt-international.com 


NEWS 

600 exhibitors and 12,000 trade visitors are expected at EUROGUSS 2018. The three exhibition halls are now fully booked 

(Photo: NürnbergMesse) 

EUROGUSS 

International die casting trade fair is fully booked 

EUROGUSS will take place at the 

Exhibition Centre Nuremberg, Germany, 

from 16 to 18 January 2018. With 

around 600 exhibitors and more than 

12,000 visitors expected, it’s the leading 

trade fair for the entire die casting 

supply chain, from raw materials 

through technologies and processes to 

finished products. An attractive supporting 

programme featuring the International 

German Die Casting Congress, 

a finishing technology pavilion, 

practical workshops and awards ceremonies 

for die-casting competitions 

for aluminium, zinc, and for the first 

time, magnesium, make EUROGUSS 

the No. 1 gathering for the European 

ConviTec 

Vibration machines and conveying technology 

Project planning – Manufacturing - Service 

www.convitec.net · 069 / 84 84 89 7- 0 

die casting industry. The Nuremberg 

trade fair experts are also involved in 

other die casting events worldwide in 

2018: at China Diecasting from 18 to 

20 July in Shanghai, China, at Fundiexpo 

in Guadalajara, Mexico, for the 

first time from 24 to 26 October, and 

at Alucast in Delhi, India, from 6 to 8 

December. 

“The preparations for EUROGUSS 

are going really well,’’ says a delighted 

Christopher Boss, Exhibition Director 

at NürnbergMesse.”Around 600 exhibitors 

– more than ever before – have 

registered for the event. Many exhibitors 

have chosen to have larger stands 

than they did at the last event. Naturally, 

all the market leaders will be out 

in force again, but we also have new exhibitors 

on board. Every last square 

metre of the three exhibition halls has 

been booked, so we are absolutely full. 

This shows just how important die 

casting is for lightweight construction.” 

More than half of EUROGUSS exhibitors 

are international. After Germany, 

the biggest exhibiting nation is Italy, 

followed by Turkey, Switzerland, 

Austria and Spain. Around 38 % of the 

exhibitors are die casting foundries. 

The remaining exhibitors will be showcasing 

die casting technology like machines, 

peripheral equipment, furnaces, 

molds, metals, alloys, release agents 

and operating materials. There will 

also be displays covering the after-treatment 

of castings, hardening 

and surface technology, quality management, 

control and drive technology, 

rapid prototyping and software. 

www.euroguss.de/en 


IECI 

New opening in Ulm 

Since 1972, the international company 

IECI Srl, headquartered in Brescia, Italy, 

has been manufacturing machines and 

systems for mold thermoregulation. 

With its new branch, “IECI GmbH” 

in Ulm, Germany, IECI is now able to 

offer its products and services directly 

to the German die-casting industry. 

The new premises of the branch offer 

optimal accessibility and a fast on-site 

service all over Germany. Here, qualified 

technicians, spare parts, machines 

for prompt delivery, as well as a workshop 

for maintenance work and repairs, 

are available to the customers. 

The company IECI is specialized in 

the production of pressurized water 

and oil thermoregulators, multizone 

water distribution systems, quenching 

tanks with indirect heat exchange, tailor-made 

insulated systems for the 

connection of thermoregulator and 

die-casting molds, systems for rapid 

mold exchange and stations for the 

preheating of molds even with the application 

of high temperature pressurized 

water. 

An important innovation is the remote 

monitoring system (IIOT), which 

can check the correct functioning of 

the thermoregulator and perform a 

predictive diagnosis of possible anomalies 

via Wi-Fi. In case of implementation 

of this technology, the customer 

is guaranteed an extension of the warranty 

period to 4 years. 

IECI is an innovative company constantly 

looking for solutions to improve 

the performance of its products. 

Particularly noteworthy is the flow 

control by means of an inverter on the 

circulating pump. The software detects 

the difference in temperature between 

the supply and the return from the 

mold and varies the speed of the pump 

in order to keep the temperature difference 

within a predetermined temperature 

interval. This ensures the best possible 

performance and trouble-free 

operation of the pump. The system is 

called “adaptive”, because it automatically 

adapts itself to all types of systems 

and molds. 

IECI Srl, which manufactures 

its temperature 

control equipment in 

Breschia, Italy, now also 

operates in Ulm with a 

workshop, a spare parts 

 

technicians (Photo: IECI) 

Additional important features of 

IECI’s high temperature water themoregulators 

are: the forced pressurization 

circuit controlled by expansion 

vases with air cushions, the heating 

system with PID controller, the externally 

mounted heating elements 

(IHCS, IECI patent) without contact 

with the water, the proportional 

3-way cooling system and the innovative 

software. 

www.iecionline.com 


NEWS 

CASTINGS TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 

 

PTC has created the new facility at its Advanced Manufacturing Technology Centre in 

Lucknow (Photo: Cti) 

Castings Technology International (Cti) 

has helped pioneering Indian foundry 

group, PTC Industries, Lucknow, India, 

launch the Asian subcontinent’s first 

ever Titanium casting facility. 

PTC has created the new facility at its 

Advanced Manufacturing Technology 

Centre in Lucknow in response to demand 

from customers at home and 

abroad and with backing from the Indian 

government’s ‘Make in India’ 

campaign. The development is the latest 

fruits of a long-standing relationship 

with Cti which operates its European 

centre of excellence providing 

independent R&D, technical support 

and consultancy services to the castings 

and metal related industries. 

PTC’s managing director, Sachin Agarwal, 

said: “Our company has been 

growing at an extraordinary pace and 

is determined to meet the future needs 

of a rapidly evolving global industry as 

well as the growing Indian economy. 

“With Cti’s help we are building on our 

existing technological strengths and 

have been able to rapidly adapt and respond 

to the demand for the Titanium 

castings which our clients require.” 

Cti, based on the Advanced Manufacturing 

Park at Catcliffe, near Sheffield, 

helped PTC design and equip its 

Titanium facility, which will produce 

high integrity castings for safety critical 

applications, including valves for 

the US and European oil and gas sector. 

Cti foundry process consultant James 

Collins, who recently returned from 

assisting with PTC’s first Titanium cast, 

said: “We have been delighted to be 

able to use our expertise in designing 

new foundries, Titanium casting and 

providing on-site support to help a 

technically advanced client like PTC to 

add an important new capability.” 

Cti advised on the acquisition and 

installation of PTC’s consumable electrode 

VAR Titanium melting furnace, 

which has the capacity to deliver just 

over 60 kg, both statically and centrifugally. 

The organisation helped PTC 

overcome the challenge of converting 

the furnace, originally designed to run 

on a US mains supply, to Indian specifications 

with the capability to be powered 

by a generator. Cti also advised on 

pre and post-cast operations, provided 

training and commissioning services, 

made sample parts and carried out trials 

of Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIPping) 

equipment, which is essential for processing 

Titanium castings. As a result, 

PTC has not only become the first Indian 

foundry to make a Titanium casting, 

it also has India’s sole HIPping facility, 

with the capability to process 

castings up to 1.2 m in diameter, far 

larger than those it can currently make 

using its furnace. 

As much as half the cost of a Titanium 

casting can be in the finishing, so 

PTC could acquire larger castings for 

the Indian market from suppliers such 

as Cti and add significant value to 

them in country. 

http://castingstechnology.com 

KÜTTNER AUTOMATION 

Plant modernization in the metal industry 

“Virtual commissioning” provides the 

possibility of testing and verifying the 

perfect functioning of automation systems 

and optimizing controls and process 

steps before the “real” commissioning 

takes place in the metal industry. Various 

successfully accomplished projects at the 

Gienanth iron foundry in Eisenberg, Germany, 

have demonstrated that commissioning 

times can be markedly reduced by 

simulating the equipment and functions 

beforehand – in a “digital factory”. 

In modernization or rebuilding projects, 

every single day counts. Once a 

plant has been taken out of operation 

for a rebuilding measure, everything 

possible is done to bring it back on 

stream as fast and smoothly as possible. 

One is frequently presented with the 

situation that the time left for commissioning 

the electrical equipment is only 


When production is restarted, many processes and sequences have already been tested 

(Photo: Küttner) 

very short due to unforeseeable delays 

occurring during the installation of the 

mechanical equipment. Against this 

backdrop, the success of a revamping 

project largely depends on how quickly 

and reliably the hardware and control 

software can be tested and optimized. 

In numerous projects, Küttner Automation 

– the company within the 

Küttner group specialized in automation 

systems – has made it possible to 

reduce commissioning times and accelerate 

ramp-ups by applying the approach 

of “virtual commissioning”. 

The process is based on the creation of 

a testing environment in which all mechanical, 

hydraulic, pneumatic and electrical 

components of the control systems 

are connected into a “digital factory”. 

This simulation scenario allows processes 

to be optimized and faults in the functional 

sequence to be identified and corrected 

beforehand, i.e. prior to the 

installation on site. The result: all automation 

sequences have been tested and 

approved before the new plant goes live. 

The control equipment is commissioned 

in a virtual environment at a 

very early stage of the project – in parallel 

with the manufacture and assembly 

of the machinery. This means no 

testing and fine-tuning of the control 

software under time pressure as is very 

often the case when these activities 

take place during the “real” commissioning. 

Therefore the commissioning 

activities on site can concentrate on 

the signal and field level. Moreover, 

the virtual approach often results in a 

shorter ramp-up phase, as there will be 

fewer failures and plant standstills. 

Friedhelm Bösche, Head of Software 

Development at Küttner Automation in 

Trier, always offers virtual commissioning 

as an option for modernization projects. 

“Simulating the preliminary commissioning 

involves some effort in the 

beginning. But this pays off later on in 

the form of major time savings. We 

know from a great number of projects 

that the time needed to commission the 

real systems can be cut by up to 75 % 

when the software has been pre-tested 

in a virtual commissioning scenario.” 

Küttner has recently revamped various 

facilities at the Gienanth foundry in 

Eisenberg, Germany, among others a 

sand preparation plant. For this project, 

Küttner Automation supplied the automation 

systems, including pre-testing in 

a virtual commissioning environment. 

Roland Walter, Project Manager at 

Gienanth, summarizes the project: “We 

met all deadlines, although we only had 

two weeks’ time for the commissioning. 

The virtual commissioning had made us 

confident at a very early stage of the project 

that the processes would run as desired. 

Our production staff were given the opportunity 

to give their input and test the sequences 

beforehand. This has greatly contributed 

to a fast commissioning process.” 

www.kuettner-trier.de 

Visit us at 

EUROGUSS 2018 

Hall 7, Booth 336

NEWS 

ENEMAC 

Power clamping nut ESB - simple, fast clamping of consistently large parts 

Often when clamping, 

there is not enough space 

to put on a long lever, thus 

there has to be bought expensive 

special tools, often 

only for single cases. A simpler 

and cheaper solution 

for such cases has come up 

with the German company 

Enemac, Kleinwallstadt. 

The power clamping nut 

ESB, with its integrated 

planetary gear that can be 

The power clamping nuts can 

be used at any time, whether 

as original part or as a retro- 

 

driven by a small nut outside 

the housing, easily and without 

much effort, so that the 

internal thread is a bit retracted, 

thus the counterpart is 

tightened. The principle is 

simple, the effect is very large, 

because by this concept a 

force of 6-20 t can manually 

be achieved by each worker. 

Screw the power clamping 

nut on the existing bolt, then 

rotate at the top mounted nut 

with a standard torque wrench, 

in individual cases even with a 

normal socket wrench, until 

the specified tightening torque 

and the power clamping nut 

securely and fast tightens your 

work piece or tool. 

The series ESB is intended 

for consistently large work 

pieces or tools, since the depth 

of screw is limited by the blind 

hole. The model obtainable 

for thread of M12 to M64, also 

available with special threads 

on request. For power clamping 

nuts that are exposed to 

extreme heat, there is a high 

temperature version available, 

which can be used for example 

in foundries or ceramics manufacture. 

www.enemac.org 

EIRICH 

Molding material preparation for Turkish foundry 

In recent years, Eirich, Hardheim, Germany, 

has been able to deliver several 

molding material preparation systems 

to Turkey. As well as improving 

the quality of the cast parts, this also 

helps to increase plant availability 

thanks to the comparatively low wear 

on the mixing tools. Kutes Metal Sanayi 

ve Tic. A.S. has now also decided 

to opt for an Eirich molding material 

preparation system for its new production 

line in Çorlu. 

Clay-bonded molding material is 

used primarily in the production of 

cast parts. There are a large number of 

parameters that impact on its suitability 

for use, including compactability, 

gas permeability and green strength. 

Only the use of optimized molding 

material can ensure fault-free cast 

parts. This means that the preparation 

of the molding material plays a central 

role in the process. 

In this preparation process, sand (return 

sand and new sand) is mixed with 

bonding clay (such as bentonite), additives 

(such as coal dust, pitch or bitumen 

products) and water. Through the 

addition of water, the bentonite swells 

up and exhibits adhesive strength. The 

water content has a large impact on the 

plasticity and therefore the compactability; 

it is absolutely essential that uniform 

water distribution is achieved 

throughout the molding material. This 

is why the molding material mixer 

plays such a crucial role in determining 

the quality of the preparation process. 

In recent decades, the Eirich mixer, 

which is available in different sizes, 

has established itself as the best unit 

for this purpose; thanks to the design 

and properties of the system, it is ensured 

that optimum quality of the mix 

is achieved every time, thus ensuring a 

reproducible molding material quality 

that meets the highest quality demands. 

Another advantage is the fact 

that Eirich offers complete molding 

sand preparation systems for foundries 

of all sizes – small, medium and large, 

and no matter whether for the production 

of just 5 t/h or more than 500 t/h. 

Molding materials consist largely of 

natural raw materials. The properties 

of these materials can fluctuate, and 

likewise the return sand from the caster 

is not generally uniform. This is why 

Eirich sand mixer type RV24 with a volume 

of 3000 l for 78 m3 molding sand 

per hour (Photo: Eirich) 

Eirich has developed an online tester 

for production control and monitoring. 

This device, which is called the 

QualiMaster AT1, automatically takes 

samples from every mixture of molding 

sand and then determines the controlled 

variables ‘compactability’ and 

‘shear strength’ for each sample. The 

values are supplied to the process control 

system, which then adjusts the addition 

of additives and water as required. 

This ensures that the required 

molding material properties are very 

uniform and reproducible. 


The scope of delivery for Kutes Metal includes the molding 

sand mixer, scales for weighing return sand, additives and 

water, as well as a molding sand aerator, which ensures better 

sand distribution in the molding box, higher compactability 

on the molding machine and, as a result, improved 

casting quality with reduced aftertreatment costs. The control 

technology for the system will also be supplied by Eirich. 

www.eirich.de 

AGTOS 

Economical Surface Technology 

At the EUROGUSS exhibition, which takes place in Nuremberg, 

Germany, from 16 to 18 January 2018, AGTOS, Emsdetten, 

Germany, will be showing how aluminum work pieces 

are deburred and provided with the right surface finish. 

The focus is on process-reliable and economical operations. 

Visitors will see a rubber belt tumble blast machine, type 

MG 0090. 

The surface treatment of aluminum workpieces is becoming 

increasingly demanding. Therefore, it is a focal point in 

the development of new blast machines at AGTOS. For example, 

special wire mesh conveyor shot blast machines have 

been developed for processing sensitive (die-cast) parts. 

There are also new solutions for other aluminum workpieces, 

including special blasting machines that use aluminum 

as a blasting abrasive. 

An important topic when investing in shot blast machines 

is, in addition to the acquisition costs, the operating costs. 

They are heavily influenced by the spare and wear parts. On 

the one hand, material variations and quality play a role here. 

Costs can be saved in this area. In addition, the accessibility 

to the machine and the ease of installation are decisively. 

Service starts at AGTOS during consultation and does not 

end for maintenance and repair work. Exhibition visitors are 

invited to convince themselves in personal discussions or in 

advance on the company’s 

website. 

Increasing the performance 

of existing blasting 

machines, which is 

achieved for example 

by retrofitting with better 

turbines, is also part 

of the performance program 

of AGTOS. 

Maximize 

your profit 

with 3D printed 

cores & molds. 

Our experts 

will be pleased 

to advise you! 

www.agtos.com 

The exhibit: AGTOS-Rubber 

belt tumble blast 

machine (Photo: AGTOS) 

Daimlerstr. 22 • 86368 Gersthofen 

+49 (0) 821 650 630 

ExOne.com • europe@exone.com

BROCHURES 

Ceramic products 

4 pages, English 

An outline of the range of products and activities of hofmann CERAMIC. The company 

 

including made-to-measure solutions, and provides specialist consulting to foundries. 

www.hofmann-ceramic.de 

Molten metal transfer 


This brochure provides an overview of ladle lining and metal transfer solutions offered 

by Foseco. It sets out the range of high-technology lining systems, including preformed 

ladle lining, castable lining material, refractory bricks and mouldable or rammed refrac- 

 

www.foseco.com 

Rotary drum furnace 


A fact sheet about the rotary drum furnace, type DKO, offered by Jasper. This tiltable 

sample-melting furnace has a capacity of 1,000 kg of liquid aluminium. It provides precise 

analyses of the scrap composition and the aluminium content in the scrap. 

www.jasper-gmbh.de 

 

8 pages, English, German 

 

pounds, 

single solutions and mixtures. Also organic custom mixtures can be conveniently 

ordered on the web shop platform. 

www.labmix24.com 


Refractory gunning systems 

20 pages, English, German 

A brochure describing the range of refractory gunning systems supplied by Velco, such 

as general-purpose gunning machines and pressure vessel gunning machines, ladle 

gunning installations, gunning manipulators, spraying machines, centrifugal machines, 

mixing and pressure conveying machines. 

www.velco.de 

Three-platen die casting machines 

8 pages, English and seven other languages 

A product brochure featuring the IPR series of three-platen die casting machines 

offered by Italpresse Industrie. All key technical data of the various models are given 

in tabular form. In addition, detailed descriptions and illustrations are provided of the 

platens, the closing end and the shot end. 

www.italpresse.it 

Vibration conveyors 


A brochure summarizing the technical features of vibration conveying machines supplied 

by JML. Key technical data are provided of the VRMA magnetic vibrating feeder 

 

dust-free conveying tasks. 

www.jml-industrie.com 

Engineered valves 


A comprehensive brochure setting out the range of high-integrity valves for critical 

applications engineered by IMI TH Jansen. Valve types include hot blast valves, goggle 

 

special customized designs. 

www.imi-critical.com 


INTERNATIONAL FAIRS AND CONGRESSES 

Fairs and Congresses 

IFEX 2018 

January, 10-12, 2018, Ahmedabad/India 

www.ifexindia.com 

EUROGUSS 2018 

January, 16-18, 2018, Nuremberg/Germany 

www.euroguss.de 

18th International German Die Casting Congress 

January, 16-18, 2018, Nuremberg/Germany 

www.euroguss.de/en/programme/die-casting-congress 

3rd Int. VDI Congress „Casting Chassis and Bodywork” 

February, 21-22, 2018, Esslingen/Germany 

http://bit.ly/2ATLx3m 

NADCA’S Die Casting Executive Conference 

February, 25-28, 2018, Key West/USA 

www.diecasting.org 

Asiamold 

March, 4-6, 2018, Guangzhou/China 

www.asiamold-china.com 

Advertisers´ Index 

AGTOS Ges. für technische 

 

 

Bühler AG - Die Casting 2 

 

 

43 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regloplas AG 17 

 

 


PREVIEW / IMPRINT 

Preview of the next issue 

Publication date: March 2018 

Clay Guillory (center), CEO of Titan 

Robotics, Colorado Springs, USA, 

with NFL engineers and staff 

(Photo: Titan Robotics) 

Selection of topics: 

Maddie Garrett: Titan Robotics brings large-format 3-D printing to foundry in West Africa 

One of the largest foundries in West Africa is driving innovation and economic growth in the region by utilizing a Titan 

Robotics’ large-format 3-D printer, the Atlas. The application is using 3-D printing to create patterns for metal casting. 

 

Evaluation of intralogistic energy saving measures with a material flow simulator and an included thermodynamic 

model of the melting furnaces. 

 

Using computational fluid dynamics to evaluate filter print designs and thereby determining best practice application 

techniques for the iron foundry industry. 

Imprint 

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ISSN 0935-7262

CPT International 04/2017

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