CPT International 03/2021

www.cpt-international.com
WITH SUPPLIERS GUIDE
September
2021
CASTING
PLANT AND TECHNOLOGY
INTERNATIONAL
3
Setting The Standards For Highest
Efficiency In Thermal Processing
Soluons for:
-the steel industry
-the aluminum industry
-foundries and for hot dip galvanizing
www.jasper-gmbh.de
WK Know-How
by Jasper GmbH

AAGMAalener
Gießereimaschinen GmbH
>Continuous whirl mixers
for cold-resin-bonded mouldingsands
> Reclamation plants
>Moulding plants
Continuous whirl mixer 8-50t/h, double joint,
„Känguru“, height-adjustable
Technical data of the continuous whiler mixer
Version:
double joint, „Känguru“, height-adjustable
Geometry: Band conveyor 5,5m
Whirler Silica sand 3,0m
Whirler Chromite sand 2,0m
Performance:
Whirler Silica sand 20-50t/h
Whirler Chromite sand 8-25t/h
Discharge height:
variable 0,8 -3,6m
Media:
Alphaset (3 components), 3types ofsand
www.aagm.de
Optionals: Fully automatic flow control for binder,
Temperature-dependent curing agent dosing,
Dosing pressure monitoring,
Radio remote control, Remote maintenance
Gewerbehof 28
D-73441 Bopfingen
Tel.: +49 7362 956037-0
Email: info@aagm.de

EDITORIAL
Castings –produced as sustainably
aspossible
The business climate in the industrial nations has improved with the
expectation that rising vaccination rates will make lockdowns athing of
the past. In addition to digitalization and e-mobility, climate change is
high on the agenda again –and thus sustainability and the possibility of
climate neutrality in the foundry industry.
Robert Piterek
e-mail: robert.piterek@bdguss.de
The highly infectious delta variant
of Covid-19 is on the rampage in
Germany and worldwide. Governments
are therefore wary of lifting
measures combatting the spread of the
virus –also because the vaccination rate
in many countries is only rising hesitantly.
The business climate, on the
other hand, is good enough to bring
topics that were deferred by the pandemic
back to the fore again.
One ofthese topics is sustainability,
which we examine in our interview with
Clemens Küpper, Managing Director of
the iron foundry Baumgarte and President
of the German Foundry Association.
He expects that sustainability will
sooner or later become adecision criterion
for customers, and supports casting
production that is assustainable as possible.
More on this from P. 6.
Prices for input materials, particularly
metals, are another important subject
for foundries. Prof. Rüdiger Deike
of the University of Duisburg-Essen has
written adetailed background article
on this, enabling predictions on the
development of metal prices and showing
how they are influenced by the situation
in producer countries as well as
public statements (from P. 32).
Other interesting highlights in this
issue include the production ofcasting
cores using slurry-based additive manufacturing.
This enables the production
of mechanically stable, complex and filigree
cores with low surface roughness
for investment casting (from P. 18), and
an article by foundry engineers at
Gemco in the Netherlands. Using bestpractice
examples, they show how logistics
can improve foundry efficiency
(from P. 13).
Important future topics can be
found in our News Review, including
very interesting facts about the hydrogen-induced
formation of cracks in steel
components and how they can be prevented.
After all, aclimate-neutral
industry –asdemanded by the EU by
2050 at the latest –will depend on the
use of hydrogen. Moreover, the first
foundries in Germany are already
announcing climate-neutral production.
Have agood read!
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 3

CONTENTS
FEATURES
6 INTERVIEW
„Sustainability is becoming adecision criterion
for customers“
Clemens Küpper is Managing Director of aGerman
iron foundry and President of the German Foundry
Association. Atalk on aspirations and realities of
sustainability in the sector. Robert Piterek
8 COMPANY
From family-run company to lean machine
constructor
Machine constructor Wöhr is an indispensable supplier
for hand-molding foundries. The eventful history
of the company goes back 150 years.
Robert Piterek
13 FOUNDRY CONSTRUCTION
COMPANY
Wöhr‘s plant technology
and handmolding
foundries
belong together.
METALLURGY
ASK Chemicals Metallurgy
produces master
alloys and inoculants.
Logistics as basis for an optimally functioning
foundry
The efficiency of afoundry is not solely determined
by installations and production processes. Asuitable
layout and good logistics are prerequisites.
Huub van der Weiden
18 COREMAKING
Slurry-based 3-D-printing of casting cores
An alternative for manufacturing investment casting
cores. Joachim Vogt, Marina Stepanyan, Patricia
Erhard, Daniel Günther, Sebastian Schmalzl and Sven
Gläser
Cover-Photo:
JASPER Gesellschaft für Energiewirtschaft und Kybernetik
mbH, Bönninghauser Strasse 10, 59590 Geseke, Germany
info@jasper-gmbh.de
www.jasper-gmbh.de
HEAT RECOVERY
Climate neutral production
will become
more important in
the future. Sustainable
heat recovery
offers potential.
Jasper develops solutions for the aluminium and steel industry
and local authorities. The focus of activities is in industrial
furnace engineering and firing systems, energy engineering
and control systems and process control technology.
4

CONTENTS
INTERVIEW
Sustainability –lofty
wish or competitive
advantage?
24 METALLURGY
Where metallurgical additives in foundries
come from
The production facility for metallurgical products
of ASK Chemicals is located in Southern Germany,
Verena Sander
27 HEAT RECOVERY
Sustainable heating solution for magnesium
die caster
With anew heat recovery system Stihl Magnesium
Druckguss lowers CO 2
emissions, Lena Arenz
30 SIMULATION
Aring for eternity
With acasting simulation aThai jewelry caster optimized
his investment casting process, Pia Sonntag
32 METAL MARKETS
What is happening on the commodities
market –and what the future holds?
Global market analysis which provides astrategic
basis for future purchase prices, Rüdiger Deike
43 PRESSURE DIE CASTING
Bohai Trimet banks on GDK and Kseries
Die casting machine manufacturer Oskar Frech successfully
sells new series to automotive supplier,
Jürgen Lamparter
COLUMNS
SIMULATION
Aring accompanies
its wearer often for a
lifetime. Afoundry
optimized its production
by simulation.
3 EDITORIAL
48 NEWS IN BRIEF
58 SUPPLIERS GUIDE
65 FAIRS AND KONGRESSES/AD INDEX
66 PREVIEW/IMPRINT
METAL MARKETS
Metal expert Prof.
Rüdiger Deike has
analyzed the markets
and gives aglobal
overview.
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 5

INTERVIEW
6

“Castings will still be needed in future. And
things that are needed should be produced
as sustainably as possible for humanity and
the environment“
International Sustainability Ratings
„Sustainability isbecoming a
decision criterion for customers“
In Germany and Europe the generation of renewable energy is increasing, the environment
isprotected, and resources are conserved inorder to enable sustainable economic
activity. Adevelopment that also effects the foundry industry. Alongside this, sustainability
ratings such as the Ecovadis Sustainability Rating are also gaining inimportance. The
iron foundry Baumgarte, Bielefeld/Germany, has now won the Ecovadis Silver Medal.
Managing Director and German Foundry Association President Clemens Küpper about
the prize, as well asabout the aspirations and realities of sustainability in the sector.
PHOTO: EISENGIESSEREI BAUMGARTE
Mr. Küpper, congratulations on winning
the Silver Medal. How significant
is this prize for you?
While we are definitely pleased about
the new challenge, as abusiness we
have to remember that such aprize
neither improves the orders situation
nor reduces costs. We worked up the
courage and did it because amajor
customer encouraged us to do so. The
large companies have areporting and
sustainability obligation, so it is not
surprising that this aspiration is then
passed on at some point. What is clear
is that doing nothing about sustainability
would be wrong.
What does the inspection process
actually involve?
We received aquestionnaire from the
international rating agency Ecovadis
with 77 questions about, among other
things, ethical procurement. There are
other rating agencies of this type who
advise and support companies regarding
sustainability. Wemust recognize
that things like sustainability are becoming
more important on the international
market.
And the evaluation of your answers
then resulted in the Silver Medal?
Exactly. The questions included, for
example, “Does your company have
specific ethical principles and statements?”
Iticked this one, but then
realized that this was not enough
because it then said “Upload documentation”.
So one had to prove it –
with ahigh documentation standard.
This is not just aquestionnaire, but a
positioning that, for us, worked out
well with silver. Wecan now share this
assessment with our customers and
suppliers. Though Iprefer the social
media platform LinkedIn, which we
have been using for some time.
So how can afoundry achieve
sustainable procurement?
It’s clear that quality and price play a
role. We must try to integrate our suppliers
in line with Germany’s Supply
Chain Due Diligence Law. Itdoes not
help us if we all want the same thing
but then customers procure their input
materials differently than would be
required to achieve sustainability. Ido
not expect regional procurement to
become the top priority in future, but I
do believe that ultimately sustainability
will be added to the customers’
decision­making criteria along with
price, performance and quality. But we
have not yet progressed so far that a
buyer will pay five percent more for
sustainable products –but this will ultimately
be the case.
Overall, how important is sustainability
for the foundry sector?
First of all, Ibelieve that we cannot do
without foundry products and that
they cannot sensibly be replaced by
anything else. And certainly not by
something complicated. This is aprinciple
of mine: castings will still be needed
in future. And things that are needed
should be produced as sustainably as
possible for humanity and the environment.
Iask myself what company is
more sustainable than afoundry. The
consumption of raw materials is extremely
low and the electricity will also
sooner or later be obtained sustainably.
After all, energy­intensity is not
something negative. We do not waste
energy but use it sparingly.
The Interview with Clemens Küpper
was conducted by Robert Piterek.
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 7

COMPANY
8

„We are required to offer solutions here so
that foundries can position themselves as
future-oriented!“
Regeneration plant including fluid bed cooling
separator with separation screen.
150 years of Wöhr
From family-run company
to lean machine constructor
Family-run SMEs are considered the backbone of Germany’s economy. Many remain
under family control for generations, while others only retain the name and the
profitable parts of their business. This is the case at machine constructor Wöhr, whose
plants make it an indispensable supplier for hand-molding foundries.
by Robert Piterek, Düsseldorf
One cannot miss it when one
visits German hand-molding
foundries: blue and yellow
equipment bearing the resplendent
white circle on ablack background with
the Wöhr lettering. This is because the
foundry machines of the now 150-yearold
machine constructor belong in
hand-molding foundries just like mold
boxes, smelting ladles, and workers in
helmets and protective visors. Amanageable
niche for good business, one
would think, and in Germany about 100
foundries still use hand-molding production
systems, making up roughly 15
percent ofGermany’s foundry industry.
Aluminum sand foundries and steel
foundries also purchase Wöhr plants.
PHOTOS: Wöhr
Concentrating on foundry
business
Josef Preiß, in turn, is someone that one
cannot avoid meeting at relevant symposia
and conferences on the topic of
molding sand and the corresponding
plant technology. The 68-year-old Austrian
is present at every specialist convention,
where he is very well-connected
and known for his specialist
knowledge. Together with his partners
Wöhr’s leadership team in the assembly hall in Bopfingen: designer Stephan Borst, electrical
engineer Peter Wagner, and Commercial Manager Josef Preiß (left to right).
Peter Wagner and Stephan Borst, Preiß
manages the previously family-run operation.
‘Previous’ because Wöhr has not
been afamily-run company since 2004,
becoming alean machine constructor
that concentrates entirely on foundry
business.
Upswing follows downturn
“When Icame to Wöhr in1989 as a
consultant, the company fortunes
ebbed and flowed with the economy,
like many SMEs at the time. Good
money was earned when the economy
was doing well so that, when it was
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 9

COMPANY
doing badly, one could live off the
savings,” Preiß recalls. Loss-making business
fields, such as steel construction,
were maintained in order to retain the
then 270 employees. So upswing followed
downturn –there was no sustainable
solution for operating the entire
company. Preiß, Wagner and Borst
risked amanagement buy-out in 2004
and merged the Wöhr foundry division
with the previously founded AAGM
(Aalener Gießereimaschinen).
The main area of activity is now
technology for mixing cold resin-bonded
sand, also known as no-bake molding.
Wöhr’s product range includes continuous
whirl mixers, molding plants
and sand regeneration plants. Acoating
station has recently been added to the
portfolio, developed by Wöhr designer
Stephan Borst.
Assembly of whirl mixers in
the production hall.
Mobile height-adjustable
Känguru whirl mixer.
Company no longer
driven by sales
Wöhr now has aconsiderably leaner
structure than before –with avariable
number of employees, the company is
not as sales-driven as before and earns
between 5and 12 million euros ayears,
depending on the orders situation. Businessman
Preiß has considerably reduced
the risk factor for his company. Heconsiders
expansions critically. “What do you
do when your company has aworldwide
presence and then the world market
collapses by 35 percent?” he asks. The
company primarily deals within the EU
and with Turkey, with sales/service companies
and sister companies in the Czech
Republic, Poland and on the Aegean.
10

Hand-molded casting has declined
Preiß’s critical attitude to international
expansion seems justified. After all,
business is only just recovering from the
most recent global economic slump due
to the coronavirus pandemic. Moreover,
hand-molded casting, Wöhr’s main
customer base, has also declined in
recent years. In Germany alone, up to
150,000 tonnes of casting capacity has
been lost during the last six years,
according tothe German Foundry Association
(BDG). Well-known companies,
such as the iron casting of Friedrich Wilhelms-Hütte
in Mühlheim/Ruhr, the
Smart Foundry in Hasloch, and Baettr
Stade GmbH (formerly Global Castings)
have gone under. “When ahand-molding
foundry closes we have to see
where the casting work is going and
gain the new producer as acustomer,”
Preiß reveals. This helps keep business
stable up to apoint.
In the meantime, however, things
are looking up again: demand for replacement
plants is rising. And interesting
projects, such as the conversion and
renovation of older plants, are gradually
returning to the order books. These
have recently included an expansion
project with the “Känguru whirl mixer”,
which offers process advantages such as
savings on chromite sand. The plant will
be delivered to Spain at Christmas.
in the background who, with his expertise,
serves the market rapidly and
effectively. His repertoire includes
strength analyses, thermal analyses and
simulation methods. And Preiß? He is
the businessman who looks to the
future and discovers potentials in current
societal development: “At the
moment, itlooks as if there could well
be agreen German Chancellor. And this
Knock-out grid.
would actually be fitting, given that we
are living in the time of the Green Deal,
the recycling economy and CO 2
reduction.”
In this regard, Preiß is critical
about the thermal regeneration of molding
sand, demand for which is rising
due to the decreasing possibilities of
disposal at landfill sites and in decom-
Machine construction in
the time ofthe Green Deal
The plant technology from the company
from Bopfingen in Baden­Württemberg
is now state-of-the-art. Electrical
engineer Peter Wagner is the expert
for commissioning and project implementation,
and is the most visible
on-site visitor to customers. Nowadays
he also has to keep an eye on digitalization.
“Monitoring, communication
capability via PLC systems, decentralized
data transparency, and the preparation
of production-related data are current
issues whose provision is becoming
easier with time, better enabling maintenance
staff towork with the technology,”
explains Wagner. Healso had to
fulfil this requirement some time ago at
the Karl Casper Guss hand-molding
foundry in Remchingen, which is one of
the pioneers of digitalization in this
segment of the foundry industry. There
is now also remote servicing and
remote commissioning, given the restricted
travel opportunities during the
pandemic. Mechanical engineer
Stephan Borst is also the CAD designer
HISTORY OFEISENWERK GEBRÜDER WÖHR
1871: Founded by Jakob Wöhr as alocksmith in the center of Stuttgart.
1906: Sons Ernst and Philipp Wöhr continue business as a‘factory for iron constructions’.
1910–1919: Move toAalen-Unterkochen due to lack of space. Numerous highrise
structures in Stuttgart (e.g. Hindenburgbau, Zeppelinbau, Hochhaus
Breuninger). Strong alignment towards railway construction, railway platform
barriers and roofing, e.g. on the Ulm­Crailsheim line, at Friedrichshafen port
station, on bridges and at numerous factories.
1926–1927: First steel house in Germany. Show home on the works grounds in
Unterkochen –even before the world-famous Bauhaus steel houses in Dessau
and Weimar.
From 1933: Alignment on machine construction with conveyors and travelling
cranes for industry and warehouse operators. Deliveries to foundries and
paper factories.
After 1945: Reconstruction of the company focusing on cranes, steel construction,
conveyor and machine technology for foundries and paper factories, as
well as package and letter sorting equipment for German postal service.
From 1965: Enhanced activity in foundry machine segment with ‘liquid iron’
and ‘sand’, numerous patent applications and utility models.
1993–1997: Anew management team takes over amajority of the company
from the family shareholders in amanagement buy-in.
2004: The AAGM Aalener Gießereimaschinen GmbH takes over the company
in amanagement buy-out and continues to run the foundry machine business
field.
2005: Sister company Wöhr CZ s.r.o. starts operating in Brno, Czech Republic.
Since 2018: Wöhr PL sp.o.o. in Oswiece, Poland, and Wöhr Makine Mühendislik
Ticaret inlzmir, Turkey, start work as service and sales companies.
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 11

COMPANY
missioned mines. Because the high temperature
regeneration of chemically
bonded sand in hand-molding foundries
requires agreat deal of energy and
produces alot of sulphur oxide. “This
makes it difficult to cut CO 2
emissions,”
Preiß knows.
Coating station with fully automated
coating preparation plant.
Objective: regeneration
at low temperatures
So, in collaboration with universities,
Wöhr has been working for the last two
years on aregeneration process that
takes place at normal temperatures – as
in nature. “Does one really have to heat
the sand to extreme temperatures
when there are other possibilities?” he
asks. He cannot currently see any practical
innovation on the market. On the
contrary. “Inorganic solutions are being
offered to large foundries involving the
high-temperature treatment of the
sand and then also mechanical processing,”
he has observed. The entrepreneur
has apositive attitude towards the
signs of the times, referring to the considerable
public funding available for
sustainable innovations, and he thinks
that the company –asamachine producer
–has aresponsibility. “We are
required to offer solutions here so that
foundries can position themselves as
future-oriented,” he stresses.
Preiß sets high standards. The best
of prerequisites for maintaining the
company’s market position as an
important supplier to hand-molding
foundries –and thus providing asecure
future for his own company beyond the
already considerably long period of its
existence.
www.aagm.de
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FOUNDRYCONSTRUCTION
Photo: Gemco
Foundry logistics, process integration, interface design.
Factory planning
Logistics as basis for an optimally
functioning foundry
In reality, the efficiency of afoundry is not solely determined by installations and production
processes. Asuitable layout and good logistics are prerequisites. Gemco, asa
foundry planning and consulting engineering company, isinvolved in the planning of
new foundries or the modernization of existing foundries. The analysis ofthe various
„bottlenecks“ as well asthe material flows to the installations are just as important for
improvements as the installations and the process itself.
Huub van der Weiden, Eindhoven
Afoundry is acomplex system of
people and installations that
exchange energy and material.
The performance of afoundry is influenced
by the specification of the production
programme, the equipment, transport
capacity, their interruptions and
energy requirements. The concept of
casting systems, metallurgical properties,
process control of mold and cores as well
as ensuring consistent quality and punctual
deliveries are emphasized in foundries.
The installations are maintained
and the machine builders focus on the
continuous improvement of their machines,
frequently with the involvement of
the foundry customers. That is why,
when considering anew investment,
foundries and machine builders often
spend alot of time on improving the systems
from the experience of both.
Just as important for improvements,
as the installations and the process itself,
is an analysis of the various „bottlenecks“
or the material flows to the
installations. The core of Gemco‘s work
lies in the planning of new foundries or
the modernisation of existing production
installations allowing for an optimal
selection as well as the effective
interaction of systems and departments.
We are involved in the projects from
conceptualisation up to implementation.
It is essential to include logistics
inside and outside the foundry already
in the concept phase.
Buffer systems for more efficiency
Good logistics in new foundries or changes
tothe logistics in an existing layout
can already optimise the overall performance;
in existing plants, often without
affecting the capacity of the individual
system.
Gemco analyses all logistical processes,
the value stream and the essential
transportation of all semi­finished products.
We make sure that the logistics of
good parts, NOK parts and parts in quarantine
do not mix. With the installation
of matched buffer capacities, the
utilisation of installations can be optimised
and sub-processes can be better
exploited.
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 13

FOUNDRYCONSTRUCTION
Figure 1: Acapacity and bottleneck analysis was the first step towards doubling capacity at Nortrak in the USA.
Dynamic buffer systems, having products
indifferent manufacturing states
in (usually automatic,high) shelves,
reduce the overall buffer volume in the
foundry. Inaddition to lower capital
requirements (buffers are ultimately m 2
of building space), this also leads to
fewer human errors in logistics and
often tofewer forklift truck
movements, which promotes safety.
Beyond that, logistical calculations are
important to achieve good material
flow with buffers at strategic points to
optimally manage the bottlenecks so
that their maximum capacity is utilised.
Bottlenecks will always occur somewhere
and then move elsewhere
depending on which ones are resolved.
However, itisbeneficial to identify
potential hold-ups and the most common
bottlenecks in advance.
The use of different scenarios for
different products is important as bottlenecks
can be „hidden” because they
can be based on, for example, „wrong
assumptions“.
In this way, the various causes of
bottlenecks in different installations
and stages in the overall process(-sequence)
can be systematically identified.
Derived from these findings, it
becomes readily apparent which capacities
are required for which installations
and where buffers are desirable. Based
on such an analysis, it is possible to
make the right choice as to which bottlenecks
need to be eliminated and
which not. Gemco plans buffer systems
keeping bottlenecks in the value stream
in mind and always with the option of
bypassing the buffer system in the
event of amalfunction. During the
detailed planning, attention is paid to
the accessibility for maintenance, repair
and operation in order to optimise the
available uptime.
The logistics of ancillary and support
processes must also be considered. It is
important to optimise them, as these
costs are not borne by the customer.
This includes recycling material, but also
waste streams (slag, dust, scrap, used
sand, etc.). Gemco is of the opinion that
their logistical routes should not cross
each other. Arobust concept is required
for data traffic, cooling water, extraction
and supply of fresh air, compressed
air and electricity (media supply). Good
logistical planning therefore makes an
important contribution to the efficiency
(OEE) of the foundry, reduces human
error and curtails costs. This also applies
to the accessibility of the installations
for maintenance and repair work, especially
at the casting, molding and blasting
installations.
Keeping internal and external
logistics in mind
In addition to the internal processes
within the plant, care must also be
taken in advance regarding the design
of the external area and the surroundings
of the plant. The area and space
available outside the foundry are different
for each project.
Truck and forklift traffic with different
frequencies must constantly be kept in
mind, as these are often subject to restrictions
and even require permits. Points
to consider include the following:
>Domeasurements have to be carried
out before atruck enters or leaves the
works premises, such as for weighing
or radioactivity measurements?
>How are the trucks loaded and unloaded?
>Which turning circles are required for
the trucks?
>Are there regulations regarding circulation
and/or heavy traffic on and to
the site for 2 nd and 3 rd shifts?
>Are warehouses or storage areas
required outside the foundry and
where?
For this purpose, all occurring and
required movements must be taken into
consideration.
14

How and where will lighting be installed on the premises?
Al together, asafe and well­functioning logistical flow is
also required outside the foundry.
Logistic solutions from practice
Intermediate storage already included in the concept
In the (greenfield) foundry project of aScandinavian truck
manufacturer, inwhich Gemco is involved in both the concept
phase and the implementation of the project, it was
already clear in the concept phase that an intermediate
storage facility would be advantageous at different points
to ensure the effectiveness of the installations as well as
maximum flexibility in the production planning. Like many
customers today, this customer also wanted to avoid
forklift transportation for production purposes. The first
intermediate storage facility was planned between the
core and molding facilities, and it was clear from the outset
that ahigh storage would be the best solution, explicitly
considering investment costs (capex) and functionality.
The weekly production of cores is collected in the
high-bay storage and thus balances the daily core requirements
in the molding facility.
The task of the second intermediate storage is not only
to balance the production of the molding facility with partial
demand in the area of production/reworking, but also
to store parts that have not yet been released for further
processing. In the case of the high-bay storage at this point,
the question “are the parts blasted or are they parts with
adhering sand” also played arole. The third and largest
high-bay storage is located at the end of the production
chain. It serves not only as awarehouse for truck forwarding,
but also as aspace for curing/drying the primer.
All intermediate storage facilities are fully automated
and connected to the installation control system of the
foundry‘s systems-control system. In addition, all installations
are equipped with fire­extinguishing systems based
on the highest standards and optimally integrated into
the structural concept. Drawing up the specifications for
the storage and buffer systems made out only asmall part
of the planning work; the greatest challenge was the
planning of interfaces and communication with suppliers,
the building design and site management during assembly,
which was done to the satisfaction of the customer.
NORTRAK, USA
This example shows how through improved logistics, the
production capacity could be doubled within an almost
unchanged floor area by means of adjustments to the layout,
the optimisation of existing systems and the improvement
of the workflow. Abottleneck analysis was carried
out for the entire foundry to determine where and which
additional equipment/ installations would be required to
achieve the desired doubling of capacity (Figure 1).
The analysis clearly showed in which areas additional
machines were required. For example, the smelting
department required athird furnace for further expansion.
Further, the molding capacity could be doubled by
automating the transport from batch to continuous transport
and by changing the casting process from abatch to
acontinuous (and flexible) casting process. The analysis
also showed how certain existing installations can be better
utilised by changing the operating sequence (logistics)
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Enhance your sustainable performance with aconstant molding
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MaschinenfabrikGustav Eirich GmbH &CoKG
www.eirich.de

FOUNDRYCONSTRUCTION
Figure 2: Linde Material Handling: Layout/ workflow before modernization.
Figure 3: Linde Material Handling: Layout/ workflow after the modernization.
and creating buffers before and after
these installations.
Linde Material Handling, Weilbach
Gemco was awarded the contract to
support Linde Material Handling in a
number of areas, namely to improve
working conditions and handling at the
shake out area, to reduce sand entrainment
inside and outside the foundry
and toextend the cooling time in the
mold. Linde originally regarded these
areas asseparate issues with standalone
solutions from different sources
and consequently envisaged separate
projects for Gemco.
However, Gemco chose adifferent
approach and developed aholistic concept
to solve all tasks (working conditions,
emptying processes and sand
loss) around casting and mold handling.
An analysis revealed that logistical
changes would be required to effectively
address the key issues. The processes
in this part of the foundry included
the handling of the heavy and specially
dimensioned castings and of the corres-
16

pondingly large mold boxes at the shake out
area.
The molding boxes, consisting of upper
and lower boxes, are taken apart here, emptied
and transported away. These required
procedures necessitated crane and forklift
movements within arelatively narrow range
(Figure 2). These processes also affected the
air quality in the adjacent halls. In addition, a
solution had to be found for the problem of
sand entrainment in the handling areas
inside the building and in the cooling areas
outside.
Gemco proposed an integrated concept
that envisaged an automated logistics system
for the overall delivery and removal of the
molding boxes and castings in the production
hall as well as aspecially developed
manipulator to separate them. The new logistics
concept also considered various
non-standard equipment and installations
that had to be foundry-suitable and easy to
maintain to make the processes in the respective
work areas as efficient as possible.
The integrated concept allowed for improved
operating conditions and the air quality,
as well as more efficient handling and transport
of molding boxes and castings in the
shake out area. Aspecially developed lifting
and tipping table along the shake out facilitates
sand recovery and reduces the entrainment
of sand within the handling areas and
in the outer area. With this concept, the worker,
who safely controls the system from the
soundproofed and air-conditioned cabin of
the manipulator, and who has an overview
of all processes from there, is the only
employee present in the hall.
The concept also provided for anexpansion
of the cooling areas as well as significant
changes to the casting logistics. In addition,
it even offered the possibility for future
installations for forced cooling with adirect
connection to the shot blasting machine
which would eliminate the need for cooling
in the outer area (Figure 3). Abudget and
implementation plan was also drawn up for
the concept which was presented.
www.gemco.nl
Nuremberg, Germany
18 –20.1.2022
International Trade Fair for Die Casting:
Technology, Processes, Products
FUTURE
CASTING
IDEAS
Visit Europe’s
leading trade fair!
euroguss.com
Huub van der Weiden is Account Manager
for Europe und China at Gemco Engineers
B.V. ,Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Honorary sponsors
VDD Verband Deutscher
Druckgießereien, Düsseldorf
CEMAFON
The European Foundry Equipment
Suppliers Association, Frankfurt
We’ll be pleased to help you!
NürnbergMesse GmbH
T +49 9 11 86 06-49 16
visitorservice@nuernbergmesse.de

COREMAKING
Voxeljet AG
3-D-printed sand core (left) and final casted part (right).
Additive Manufacturing
Slurry-based 3-D-printing
of casting cores
Additive Manufacturing (AM) allows for the production of complex casting cores e.g.
made from sand. Especially the Binder Jetting technique enables aproduction inanefficient
way. However, the part produced generally exhibits ahigh surface roughness and
limited mechanical strength. Slurry-based AM, however, offers the potential for producing
mechanically stable, complex and filigree casting cores with alow surface roughness
for the investment casting of complex hollow shapes such as e.g. cooling channels.
By Joachim Vogt and Marina Stepanyan, Bayreuth, Patricia Erhard and
Daniel Günther, Garching, Sebastian Schmalzl, Friedberg, and Sven Gläser, Neukirchen
In the ZIM-project „Development of a
digital production process for the economical
production of systems for close-contour
printing“ funded by the German
Ministry of Economics, the whole
process chain ranging from material
development toprototype printers is
set up. Quartz slurries have been
developed asthe feedstock material.
These have been processed in self-developed
test and prototype 3-D printers
in order to produce homogeneous,
dried powder bed layers as abuilding
material. In parallel, green samples
have been produced via slip casting,
which were then analyzed concerning
sintering behavior, density, and mechanical
strength.
Introduction
Modern demands on technical constructions
are largely derived from the
energy consumption of the end products
and from environmental aspects.
The foundry technology, asaproduction
method of mass production,
accommodates this. Due to the high
possible complexity of the parts, lightweight
constructions are achievable
that can save large amounts of energy
during the use of the product. In addition,
with skillful process management,
the number of reheating of material
and components can be reduced and
thus production energy can be saved.
[1] The topology optimization, which
can essentially only be envisaged with
casting techniques in series, represents
alightweight construction stage, in
which composite components can also
be reduced in the future. This means
that foundry technology can also pro-
18

Photo: Fraunhofer Center HTL
Figure 1: Thermooptical measurement device TOM_air.
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Extremely high targeting accuracy
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Figure 2: Production of 50 µm thick slurry layers on aporous substrate with the slurry-based
3-D printer test setup at the Fraunhofer IGCV.
cess material systems that have avery
high cycle potential.
The constructions of the components
are becoming increasingly complex
in the course of this trend. Conventional
shaping in the sand molding
process using molds and cores reaches
its limits. This concerns the possible
complexity, surface quality and heat
resistance. Here, the binders on which
most systems are based, are amajor
limitation. Ceramic bonds, as in the
investment casting process, are superior
in all characteristic parameters, but the
manufacturing route in investment casting
is complex and costly. [2]
Additive Manufacturing processes
are advancing further and further into
the foundries due to their possibilities.
[3] The drivers here are complexity and
freedom of tools. The number of series
produced continues to increase.
However, there is currently no additive
process that combines the high
heat resistance of the investment casting
shells with high surface quality. The
systems that are processed using powder-based
3-D printing have comparatively
coarse grains. [4] This results in a
surface that is too rough for many
applications.
The aim of the approach presented
in this article is to process slurries containing
fine ceramic particles via 3­D
printing [5]. The 3-D printing step shall
be scalable and integrable into the
foundry process chain. Process units
that differ from conventional 3-D prin-
from
£ 440
when temperature matters

COREMAKING
Figure 3: Building chamber of the prototype slurry-based 3-D printer.
used for this, which delivers the individual
layers with high precision. In the
first step, alayer of particulate material
is applied to this building platform. In
this project, unlike conventional 3-D
printing, aceramic slip is applied, levelled
and then dried. This layer is then
selectively coated with abinder. The
last step is to lower the building platform
by one layer thickness. These steps
are repeated until alayer stack has
been created in which the desired
compo- nents are embedded.
In asecond step, this stack of layers
is returned to its liquid state in awater
bath. The printed binding agent ensures
that the component itself is not dissolved
in the water bath.
The component obtained in this way
is now inthe green state. This is followed
by athermal treatment in the furnace,
in which the binder is first burned
out and then the ceramic is sintered at
higher temperatures. After this process,
the ceramic component is many times
stronger than in the green state. At the
same time, shrinkage occurs because
the sintering closes the pore space from
the building process.
The aim of the method presented
here is to generate high green densities
in the powder bed, so that the sintering
shrinkage of the components and thus
the component distortion can be controlled
more easily. Inaddition, it is possible
to use the water-based pro- cess
for environmentally friendly manufacturing,
compared to similar state-ofthe-art
processes.
Experimental procedure
Figure 4: Flow curves of the quartz slurries presented in Table 1.
ting and aspecially developed material
system are used for this purpose.
3-D printing is based on alayer-bylayer
breakdown of amolded body into
essentially undercut-free layers. Avertically
movable construction platform is
Slurry preparation
As araw material powder, quartz powder
(Sikron SF500, 4µm, Quarzwerke
GmbH, DE) has been used. Aqueous
slurries have been prepared by dispersing
varying amounts (38.1 -43.8 vol.-
%) of the above mentioned powder in
deionized water on aroller for 12 h,
using 12 mm alumina beads and
0.5 wt.­% Dolapix CE64 (Zschimmer &
Schwarz, DE) respecting the solid content
as adispersant. To prevent the rapid
sedimentation of the quartz particles,
0.10 ­1.56 wt.­% (referred to the water
content) of aviscosity modulating
agent (VMA) was added (see be- low).
In order toprevent foaming and microbial
con- tamination, 0.05 wt.-% of a
defoamer (LP-C 22787, BYK, DE) and
Table 1: Solid content and VMA contents of the slurries used.
Slurry Solid content in vol.-% VMA content in wt.-% VMA type
QS1 43,8 0,31 sheet silicate
QS2 43,8 0,94
QS3 43,8 1,56 sheet silicate
QS4 42,5 0,1 polysaccharide
QS5 40,7 0,23 polysaccharide
QS6 38,1 0,42 polysaccharide
20

0.1 wt.-% of apreservative (Preventol ®
P301, Lanxess, DE) were added.
The slurry rheology has been characterized
via rotational measurements
using acylinder setup in arheometer
(Physica MCR301, Anton Paar, DE). The
stability of the slurries has been characterized
via Turbiscan LAB (Formulaction,
FR), in which an ampoule filled with a
liquid is sequentially scanned with alaser,
and the transmission and backscattering
signal is detected.
Analysis of sintering behavior
With the slurries, cylindrical green
samples (10 mm diameter, 10 mm
height) have been prepared via slip casting
in aplaster mold. The in-situ analysis
of the sintering behavior of the
samples has been conducted using thermooptical
measurement (TOM) devices
at Fraunhofer-Center HTL as seen in
Figure 1. [6]
Mechanical strength
Via slip-casting, rectangular bars (50 x
7.5 x4.0 mm³) have been prepared. The
samples have been casted, dried at
room temperature for at least 48 hand
then sintered in afurnace at 1200 °C
and 1300 °Cfor 1hand 5h.Density of
the samples has been measured via the
Archimedes method. The three-point
bending strength has been determined
in auniversal testing machine (Inspect
table 100 kN, Hegewald &Peschke
GmbH) with asupport spacing of
40 mm.
Slurry-based 3-D printer test setup
At Fraunhofer IGCV, atest setup for
implementing the 3-D printing process
was built, which has all the essential
functions for the process (Figure 2). A
construction platform is supported by a
high-precision axis for raising and lowering,
which, via aspindle and astepper
motor control, achieves arepeat
accuracy and resolution better than
1µm. The construction platform itself is
connected to this axis via aload cell.
This enables the monitoring of the various
process steps.
The slip coater is supported by a
long spindle axis for the movement in
horizontal direction. The spindle axis is
also controlled by astepper motor and
enables homogeneous feed speeds. The
coater itself is de- signed as atwo-part
construction. Between the two parts,
there is afluidic channel structure that
distributes the slip evenly to individual
slot nozzles of approx. 5mmwidth. The
fluid system is connected to the reservoir
by ahose. The slip is stored in this
and can be subjected to excess pressure
for metering. Likewise, the outflow
from the nozzles can be safely stopped
with negative pressure.
An infrared heat lamp is also attached
to the spindle axis to dry the layer.
The infrared system has afan that cools
the lamp and also speeds up the drying
process. Additional drying nozzles allow
drying to be further intensified.
The inkjet print head is mounted
between the slip coater and the infrared
system. It is connected to another
reservoir that contains the binder. The
mounting position of the binder reservoir
allows the setting of aback pressure
on the print head that is required
for reliable function. The print head
operates with acommercial phenolic
resin binder. For its processing, the print
head is temperature-controlled by an
electric heating cartridge.
Prototype slurry-based 3-D printer
At the Voxeljet labs, aprinter prototype
has been set up in order to upscale the
slurry-based 3-D-printing process for
industrial production of 3-D-printed
slurry-based casting cores. It is based on
aframe- work already used for abinder
jetting process. The building chamber
of the prototype printer is shown in
Figure 3. In this configuration, the slip
coater for the application of the slurry
is moveable along an axis with atraverse,
while the porous substrate is placed
on abuilding plate, which can be
lowered stepwise after each layer.
On the backside of the slip coater
traverse, aheating lamp is installed for
drying the slurry layers. An inkjet print
head for the application of the binder is
mounted on another traverse and can
be moved in two directions. Furthermore,
acleaning station for the cleaning
of the print head is available.
Based onthis, abuilding envelope with
abase area of up to 850 x450 mm² is
accessible.
Results and discussion
Rheological behavior and stability
In order to provide for the processability
via slurry- based binder jetting, the
slurries solid content, viscosity and stability
are essential. Table 1 shows the
composition ofseveral slurries investigated
concerning rheological behavior
and stability. AsVMA, asheet silicate
(Luvogel W2N, Lehvoss Group) and a
synthetical polysaccharide were used.
The flow curves of the respective
slurries are shown in Figure 4.Itcan be
seen that with increasing amount of
VMA, the viscosity and the degree of
structural viscosity increase. Ahigh viscosity
at zero stress and ahigh yield
stress counteract the sedimentation of
the quartz particles, which is important
for ahigh shelf life and an efficient
redispersibility in case of alonger storage
period. Nevertheless, the viscosity
at higher shear rates must be kept low
in order to make the slurries processable
during pumping and depositing.
This is to be achieved by ahigh degree
of structural viscosity, which is derived
from the negative slope of the flow curves
(compare Figure 4).
It can beseen that with increasing
amount of VMA and with increasing
slurry viscosity, sedimentation becomes
slower. In the case of the slurries QS3
and QS6, no considerable sedimentation
over the course of 24 hcould be
detected. In contrary, an increase of the
backscattering signal on the top of the
ampoule can be seen, which is attributed
to the drying of the slurry above
the slurry meniscus on the ampoule
wall. Figure 5shows the slurries after an
additional sedimentation of 144 h. It
can be seen that slurry QS6 shows no
signs of sedimentation, despite having a
lower mean viscosity than QS3. Furthermore,
slip cast green cylinder samples
produced with QS6 exhibited ahigher
green packing density (1.45 g/cm³ or
54.4 %) than in case of QS3 (1.37 g/cm³
or 51.2 %). Therefore, the slurry QS6
was chosen as the basic slurry material
for the following steps.
Sintering behavior
Figure 6shows the results of the analysis
of the sintering behavior of samples
prepared with slurry QS6 and amodified
slurry QS6, in which 5wt.­% of the
solid content was replaced by kaolin as
asintering additive (Kremer Pigmente
GmbH, Germany; mean particle size 2
µm). Depicted is the relative width of
the cylinder samples (standardized to
unity at the be- ginning) versus the
temperature. The arrows indicate the
course of the lines during the thermal
cycle. The heating rate was 2K/min.,
the cooling rate was 5K/min. The dwelling
times at 1300 °C were set to be 5 h,
the dwelling time at 1200 °C was 1 h.
At the beginning, rapid thermal
expansion occurs, until the quartz inversion
point is reached at about 570 °C,
where phase transition of the alpha to
beta modification takes place. From
there, thermal expansion continues to a
smaller extent until the on- set of the
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 21

COREMAKING
sintering at about 1100 °C, where compaction
ofthe cylinder occurs, until the
dwelling temperatures are reached.
During adwelling time of 5hat 1300 °C
(red and blue line), the samples begin
to inflate due to the formation of cristobalite.
However, the inflation of the
sample with kaolin as asintering additive
is significantly lower due to asuperimposition
with shrinkage related to
sintering. In case of QS6 with kaolin, at
adwelling at 1200 °C for 1h(black
line), asmall amount of sintering shrinkage
(about 0,7 %) occurs.
Upon cooling, the samples shrink
again due to thermal contraction. Altogether,
the QS6 sample sintered at
1300 °C for 5hexpanded by approx.
0.7 %, the QS6 sample with kaolin
expanded by approx. 0.3 %when sintered
at 1300 °C for 5h,while it contracted
by about 0.2 %after sintering at 1200 °C.
When comparing these values, it can be
envisioned that by finding an appropriate
composition and sintering profile, a
shrinkage-free sintering can be achieved,
which may lead to ahigh shape accuracy
of the sintered casting cores.
Density and mechanical
characterization
The density values achieved with the
QS6 slurry with and without kaolin are
shown in Table 2. Itcan be seen that at
1300 °C, density first increases due to
sintering shrinkage (at 1h), but then
decreases again with increasing dwelling
time (5 h).When using kaolin as a
sintering additive, sintered density
increases considerably. Sintering at
1200 °C shows only aslight increase in
density, when kaolin is used; in case of
pure QS6, the density remains basically
the same, which also corresponds to the
observations made above.
In Figure 7,the results of the threepoint
bending test of test bars sintered
at different temperatures and dwelling
times are depicted. It can be seen that,
despite the observations made in the
chapter “sintering behabiour”, the bending
strength is increased considerably
when sintered at 1300 °C. At 1200 °C,
no positive impact of kaolin on the
mechanical strength can be observed.
At 1300 °C however, the bending
strength of samples with 5wt.-% kaolin
is almost 70 %higher than with- out
kaolin addition, despite having alarger
standard deviation. This also indicates
an increased sintering activity upon
addition of kaolin.
The three-point bending strengths
were in arange from 1.9 to about 18
Figure 5: Sedimentation front of the different quartz slurries after 7days.
Figure 6: Results of the in-situ analysis of the thermal treatment cycle of the QS6 slurry with
and without kaolin as asintering aid. The arrows indicate the course of the lines during the
heating cycle.
22

MPa. It is worth noting that maximizing
mechanical strength is not the intended
in this project, as the manufactured sintered
casting cores are to be mechanically
removable from the cast component
after the casting process. However,
amechanical strength of at least 10
MPa is considered necessary for applications
in investment casting.
Preparation of powder beds via printer
test setup and prototype printer
At the 3-D printer test setup at the
Fraunhofer IGCV, parameters for the
homogeneous and defect-free recoating
of dried solid powder beds have
been developed. Parameters such as slip
coater geometry, layer thickness, recoating
speed, drying configuration and
substrate type have been varied. An
example for applied slurry layers is
shown in Figure 8.
Conclusion
In the ongoing project, quartz slurries
for the application in slurry-based binder
jetting have been developed. The
slurries are sedimentation-stable and
processable via aslip recoater in order
to get homogeneous powder beds. The
sintering of slip-cast samples was
connected to aslight volume expansion
at 1300 °C due to cristobalite crystallization
while being connected to asmall
sintering shrinkage at 1200 °C. The
addition of kaolin improved the sinter
ability ofthe samples at1300 °C, which
could be seen in an enhanced shrinkage
and mechanical stability.
It is concluded that by appropriate
sintering parameters and the corresponding
kaolin content, casting cores with
zero net sintering shrinkage can be produced.
This prevents distortion and
stress formation during sintering and
allows for maximum geometrical
accuracy.
The mechanical properties are adjustable
via sintering temperature and
slurry composition and range from
about 2MPa to 18 MPa. This gives acertain
scope for the CAD design of the
casting cores which are to be mechanically
removable.
A3-D printer test setup has been
constructed, and printing parameters
have been developed for the production
of homogeneous solid powder
beds, consisting of 50 µm layers. Likewise,
aprototype 3-D printer was constructed,
which is able to produce homogeneous
powder beds at alarger scale.
The next step will be the production
of green parts via the application of
Table 2: Sintered density values of slip-cast QS6-samples without and with 5
wt.-% kaolin. The green densities were 1,37 g/cm³ and 1,41 g/cm³, respectively.
sample unit QS6 g/cm³ QS6, 5wt.-% kaolin g/cm³
1200 °C, 1h 1,38 1,43
1200 °C, 5h 1,37 1,44
1300 °C, 1h 1,44
1300 °C, 5h 1,36 1,54
Figure 7: Three-point bending strength and standard deviation with 14-18 samples, each fabricated
from slurry QS6, sintered at different temperatures and dwelling times.
Figure 8: Slurry layers
applied at the
prototype printer at
Voxeljet (300 x180 x
10 mm³).
binder through inkjet print heads.
Debinding parameters will be elaborated,
and the mechanical and microstructural
properties will be analyzed.
Furthermore, casting trials with produced
parts will be conducted at NRU.
Joachim Vogt and Marina Stepanyan
(Fraunhofer-Center HTL, Bayreuth) Patricia
Erhard, Daniel Günther (Fraunhofer
IGCV, Garching) Sebastian Schmalzl
(Voxeljet AG, Friedberg) and Sven Gläser
(NRU GmbH, Neukirchen, all Germany)
www.igcv.fraunhofer.de/en
www.nru-gmbh.de/en
www.voxeljet.com
References: www.cpt-international.com
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 23

METALLURGY
24

Maintenance of the Söderberg
electrode on the low-shaft electric
reduction furnace
“Our customers are convinced that tailored
solution offer more value, than ‘off-theshelf’
products.”
Master alloys and inoculants
Where metallurgical additives
in foundries come from
Anyone who thought ASK Chemicals was apure chemicals company is mistaken.
In addition to the chemical production sites in Europe, Asia and the Americas, the riser
productions in Germany, Spain and Turkey as well as the core manufacturing site
in Fuldabrück, aproduction facility for metallurgical products located in
Hart an der Alz in Southern Germany, are also part of the company.
By Verena Sander, Hilden
More sparks fly at the ASK
Chemicals Metallurgy location
than in many foundries. At up
to 1,700 degrees Celsius, Germany’s only
ferrosilicon manufacturer produces
metallurgical products in large submerged
arc furnaces in Hart an der Alz.
These products include master alloys
and inoculants, particularly mold inoculants,
and cored wires. The high temperatures
are necessary to produce the
main raw material for the alloys,
namely liquid ferrosilicon, which is
made out of quartz sand.
Tailor-made as opposed
to off-the-shelf
By systematically adding various alloying
elements, ASK Chemicals Metallurgy
can adapt awide range of FeSibased
alloys to meet customer
specifications.
As aresult, most of the products
manufactured in Bavaria are tailored to
customer requirements. Foundries that
use and trust metallurgical products
from ASK mostly manufacture superior
and safety­relevant castings, some of
which have towithstand extreme physi-
Photos: ASK
Cold store atASK Chemicals Metallurgy.
cal strain. These parts could be found
for example in the production of various
engine and vehicle components for
the automotive sector, highly durable
parts for wind turbines and machine
construction in general.
“Our customers are very much
aware of the fact that the use of individual
metallurgical additives that are
in line with customer needs is decisive
in the manufacture of highly durable
castings,” confirms Thomas Feichtner,
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 25

METALLURGY
The new generation
of inoculants –perfect
shape, minimal
weight tolerances,
high specificity.
Quality assurance
using laser technology
ensures aconstant
filling level of
the mixed and alloy
wires.
Global Business Line Manager for the
Metallurgical Products division at ASK
Chemicals. “Our customers are convinced
that tailored solutions add more
value than ‘off­the­shelf’ products, and
we agree. It may take time to develop
these tailored solutions, but in the end,
the results are always worth it.”
Global company with
strong regional ties
The experienced team of metallurgists
at ASK Chemicals cooperate closely with
customers around the world to develop
tailor­made solutions and accompany
the introduction of these products to
the ongoing production process. In the
course ofthis, customers benefit from
the extensive experience and proven
expertise of the six team members.
ASK Chemicals Metallurgy is a
responsible manufacturer with strong
regional ties that produces in accordance
with German and European standards.
The company strives to obtain
resources and charge materials from
regional sources whenever possible.
Quartz, one of the primary charge
materials used in the company’s production,
comes from the Bavarian Forest,
for example; the barium sulphate is
sourced from the Black Forest. While
this is asign ofthe company’s ties to
the region, it is also an expression of its
social responsibility and offers tangible
advantages such as delivery security and
flexibility.
“We are able to plan our production
without long lead times and can thus
also avoid long transport routes from
Asia for example. We can respond to
market demands at short notice. This
greater flexibility allows us to handle
peaks in production without having to
retain large inventories. Advantages
that we naturally pass on to our customers.”
www.ask-chemicals.com
Interview with Berat Yavuz, ASK Chemicals Metallurgy
We are pioneers in emission reduction and
resource efficiency
Mr. Yavuz, what would you say is the
main feature that sets ASK Chemicals
Metallurgy apart from its competitors?
Iamconvinced that our global technical
service is what sets us apart, as our
metallurgical consultation, with its
depth and quality, isunique worldwide.
This is certainly due to the fact
that instead ofoffering off­the­shelf
products, we provide customer­specific
solutions that allow our customers to
manufacture superior castings.
Does ASK Chemicals have new products
in the pipeline?
In the field of mold inoculation, we are
currently introducing the next generation
of our successful Germalloy and
Optigran inoculants. These are characterized
by their perfect shape and the
resulting minimal weight tolerances
and high specificity. Inthe field of
cored wires for compacted graphite
Berat Yavuz is Head of Technical Service at
ASK Chemicals Metallurgy, Hart ander Alz,
Germany
iron, we are currently cooperating
intensively with plant manufacturers
and customers to guarantee the raw
material’s limited tolerances are met
with the utmost precision.
Environmental protection and resource
efficiency are matters that are becoming
more and more important for
foundries. How do your products contribute
to this?
In the field of metallurgy, the reduction
of emissions and resource efficiency are
not being enforced as rigidly as they
are in foundry chemistry or riser technology,
for example. We nonetheless
consider ourselves pioneers in this field
and want to do our part. To give you
an example: We are currently involved
in anumber of projects in cooperation
with renowned customers in the field
of cored wire technology. This isa
highly efficient technology that allows
targeted extraction at the plant and
reduces raw material consumption and
emissions at the same time.
26

HEATRECOVERY
Photos and graphics: KMA
Using exhaust air
KMA Ultravent system enables effective heat recovery and utilization.
Sustainable heating solution
for magnesium die caster
Europe wants to become the first climate­neutral continent by 2050 with the help of
the European Green Deal. Amajor milestone is the reduction of CO 2
emissions by
55 percent already by 2030 compared to 1990. This affects energy­intensive industries
in particular, which now have to bear the costs of CO 2
emissions in addition to rising
energy prices. The company Stihl Magnesium Die Casting saves 85 percent CO 2
with
aheat recovery system, compared to aconventional hall heating system.
By Lena Arenz, Königswinter
Magnesium is now regarded as
the construction material of
the 21st century. The light
metal is characterized by its lightness,
excellent casting properties and ease of
machining. In addition, magnesium can
be recycled almost indefinitely compared
to other materials. Stihl already
established amagnesium die casting
plant in1971 in Weinsheim in the German
province of Rhineland Palinate.
With acasting capacity of approx. 6000
tons per year, the plant is now considered
one of the largest and most modern
magnesium die casting plants in
Europe. More than 20 die casting
machines of hot and cold chamber technology
with clamping forces of up to
1000 tons are used in the fully automated
production. 790 employees create
more than 26 million components
annually for chainsaws and other power
tools ofthe parent company, but also
for external customers.
Focus on sustainability
The company is committed to environmental
protection and energy efficiency
at ahigh level and to their continuous
improvement, both in corporate processes
and in products. In line with these
principles, great emphasis was placed
on eco­efficiency when selecting anew
exhaust air filtration system.
In addition, the climatic conditions
were taken into account in the design
of the exhaust air technology. InWeins-
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 27

HEATRECOVERY
Clean air 360.000 m³/h
12 Exhaust air filtration
systems with integrated
heat recovery
Roof cooler temperature
control units
KVS
Smoke, Dust
Foundry Hall with
layer ventilation
Fresh air
360.000 m³/h
heated fresh air 18°C
cooling circuit
temperature control
devices
Heat exchanger 1
Waste heat utilization waste air
Emergency heating (in case ofproduction stoppage)
Heat exchanger 2
Waste heat utilization of temperature control unit cooling
heim the thermometer hovers around
the zero-degree mark during the winter
months. Therefore, when awarding the
project, Stihl not only attached importance
to reliable exhaust air purification,
but atthe same time to highly efficient
heat recovery. In2015, KMA Umwelttechnik
GmbH installed aunique heat
recovery system (Figure 1)that heats
the entire die casting foundry to aconstant
18 °C during the winter months
without feeding in conventional energy
sources such as electricity or gas. The
multi-stage heat recovery system is
based ontwo hydraulic circuits in which
45.6 m³ and 22.8 m³ of ethylene glycol
flow as acarrier medium every hour.
Multi-stage recovery of
valuable process waste heat
Twelve exhaust air filter systems with a
total capacity of 236,000 m³/h are installed
in aweatherproof housing on the
hall roof of the die casting foundry. In
addition to the filter elements
(Figure 2), the systems have exhaust air
heat exchangers so that the heat contained
in the exhaust air can be recovered.
The exhaust air from production,
which iscontaminated with oil smoke,
is drawn in under the hall ceiling via
fans and first flows through the exhaust
air filters. Downstream are the heat
exchanger units. Since the exhaust air
has atemperature of at least 29 °C even
in winter, ithas valuable thermal
energy that is extracted in the heat
exchanger by means of hydraulic carrier
Figure 1: Schematic of the heat
recovery system installed at Stihl
Magnesium.
Figure 2: KMA Ultravent System,
detailed view of filter inlet.
28

medium during the cold season. Each
heat exchanger has acapacity of max.
112.5 kW/h.
The heat transfer medium circuit
leads tothe basement below the
foundry hall. The central supply air system
for supplying fresh air to the
foundry is located here. Fans draw in
fresh air from outside. Via afirst heat
exchanger (Figure 3), the energy recovered
from the exhaust air is transferred
to the supply air by means of a
cycle compound system. In this way, the
supply air can be heated to at least
11 °C even on cold winter days. In order
to bring the supply air to the required
inlet temperature of 18 °C, the system
has asecond heat exchanger stage
(Figure 4). Here, the energy supply is
provided by integration into the cooling
water circuit of the casting machines.
The cooling water is normally
discharged via acooling tower. With a
temperature of approx. 30 °C, it is an
ideal carrier medium for the second
heat exchanger stage during the cold
season and thus heats the hall air to
the required 18 °C. Every hour,
236,000 m³ofheated fresh air is fed
into the hall via ventilation slots in the
hall floor.
Production independent
heating system
In parallel, another self-contained system
heats an additional 120,000 m³ of
fresh air. Four of the twelve filter systems
on the roof are not connected to
the large hydraulic circuit, but form
their own in order to protect the hall
from frost even when production is
Figure 3: The central heat exchanger unit
heats the fresh air by means of hydraulic
carrier medium.
shut down, such as during vacation
periods. Here, as well, the air flowing
in from outside is initially heated to
approx. 11 °C. But the second heat
exchanger differs from that of the larger
system. It does not run exclusively
on heated cooling water, but can also
be operated by conventionally heated
water.
Economy and ecology:
no contradiction
The foundry is operated five working
days per week with adaily operating
time of 24 hours. The heating period in
Figure 4: Second heat exchanger stage, detail
view of plate heat exchanger.
the winter months averages 12 weeks,
so the calculation is based on 1440
hours. Due to the high smoke load,
there is a13-fold hourly air exchange
in the foundry. This corresponds to an
air flow of 360,000 m³. If aconventional
gas­fired hall heating system were
used, the heating costs for these 12
weeks would amount to around
36,000 euros. In contrast, the operating
costs of the KMA Ultravent filter
and heat recovery system are only
about 5900 euros. They are made up
of the electrical energy consumption
for fans, pumps and cleaning system.
The KMA system thus saves almost 84
percent of annual heating costs in
comparison. At the same time, the
environment benefits from clean air as
the oily smoke and aerosol substances
are filtered out.
But even more impressive is the
eco-effect of the heat recovery system
used at Stihl. Whereas aconventional
heating system would result in an
annual CO 2
impact of about 363 tons
under the operating conditions mentioned,
the carbon footprint using aKMA
filter system is only 55 tons, which
means 85 percent less CO 2
emissions.
And the introduction of a CO 2
tax will
widen this gap even further, as25euros
per ton of CO 2
has been due since 2021,
rising successively to reach 55 euros by
2025.
Summary
The sustainable treatment of production
exhaust air is amajor challenge for
all players in the die casting industry.
The wide range of customer­specific
parameters and local conditions leads
to customized solutions that enable
foundries worldwide to achieve ahigh
environmental standard. KMA offers its
customers anenergy­optimized filter
system, tailored to the individual needs
of the foundry and to local conditions.
The Ultravent system includes all components
for exhaust air purification and
heat recovery. Itcombines environmental
protection and climate protection
with tangible operating cost benefits
for the foundry. The example of the
plant operated at Stihl shows that leading
die casting manufacturers have
taken measures to ensure sustainable
exhaust air purification at all their production
sites.
www.kma-filter.de
Lena Arenz, M.A., Marketing Spezialist,
KMA Umwelttechnik GmbH, Königswinter,
Germany
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 29

SIMULATION
Photos: Magmasoft
Aring for eternity
Clusters of casted rings in various designs.
Rings are often casting products made in the
investment casting process.
Ajewelry investment caster inThailand sought advice from mechanical engineers and
simulation experts on the gate and runner design ofits silver rings. The result is
impressive: The risk of shrinkage porosity has decreased, productivity and yield improved.
By Pia Sonntag, Aachen
Whose eyes do not sparkle with
joy when they think of beautiful
wristwatches, necklaces
or rings? It comes as no surprise, then,
that the jewelry industry makes billions
in sales worldwide. Many of these
valuable pieces are castings, as they can
be freely designed. However, the artisan
approach combined with the highest
quality requirements of the customers
lead to repairs, material losses of noble
metals, and unnecessary time and
energy consumption amounting to
several million dollars every day. Itis
therefore agreat challenge for jewelry
manufacturers to find agood compromise
between perfect casting quality
and cost efficiency.
ProTech is acompany that provides
innovative casting machines for the
jewelry industry in Thailand and
Southeast Asia. In ajoint project with
M5 Engineering, they demonstrated
that Magmasoft is capable of offering
the jewelry industry comprehensive
solutions for process optimization in
investment casting processes.
Figure 1: Cluster of rings with runner after
solidification. At the Thai jewelry caster, the
rings are cast in silver.
Gating optimization
The ring to be investigated was made
of the silver alloy AgCu7. After understanding
the jewelry manufacturer‘s
existing casting problems, the partners
proposed atwo-step process. In step 1,
first, the gating for one ring was to be
optimized; in step 2, then the casting
design for the entire cluster was to be
checked (Figure 1).
The aim of the gating optimization
was to explore which casting system
design for the ring ensures the best filling,
minimum porosity during solidification
as well as minimized return
material. For this purpose, four different
gating designs were analyzed with
Magmasoft autonomous engineering
and evaluated based on the objectives
defined (Figure 2).
The evaluation of the calculated
variants using acorrelation matrix in
Magmasoft revealed the best results for
design 2regarding the smooth filling of
the mold (less turbulences or splashing
during filling), while this design also
30

achieved the highest yield compared to
all other designs. Even though this
design was not predicted to have the
best porosity result, it still was within
the customer‘s acceptable criteria. For
this reason, this quality criterion was
weighted lower than the other objectives.
Therefore, this design was chosen
to be further optimized.
Improvement of casting
runner diameter
On this basis, in step 2, two clusters
with different runner diameters were
analyzed. Itwas important to maintain
agood ratio of stem to gate to casting
cross sections in the cluster to reduce
possible porosity. Anincorrectly designed
cluster could also increase the risk
of further casting defects, such as gas
inclusions, oxides or cold run.
Therefore, the casting process for
both designs was additionally analyzed
for minimizing misrun. Cold run or misrun
defects occur if, during mold filling,
the mold cavity is not completely filled
due toaninsufficient pouring temperature
or preheating of the shell as a
result of premature solidification.
The evaluation of the two designs for
all criteria clearly indicated that design
B was the better choice (Figure 3):
> Compared to design A, design B showed
alower risk for shrinkage porosity
due to better directional solidification.
> With under 4minutes, the solidification
time for design B was shorter
than for design A(>5 minutes),
resulting in ahigher productivity.
> Inaddition, the correlation matrix
revealed that design B presented
lower turbulence during filling,
lower porosity, ahigher yield and
minimum tendency for misruns
(Figure 4).
> With design B, the yield increased
from 16 %(design A) to 26 %.
Figure 2: Four different gating designs were analyzed.
Figure 3: Comparing shrinkage porosity in design A(left) and design B(right)
Subsequently both designs were cast for
validation purposes. The inspection confirmed
the results of the prior virtual
decision-making process.
By using Magmasoft, ProTech was
able to help the jewelry manufacturers
to design arobust casting design. This
means that customers can enjoy highly
durable rings that last alifetime: As
they say: forever and ever!
www.magmasoft.com
Figure 4: Predicted and real porosity defects in design B
Pia Sonntag, Magma Giessereitechnologie
GmbH, Aachen, Germany
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 31

METAL MARKETS
Scrap, ingots, alloying
elements: The
purchase prices of
metals contribute to
the success of
foundries, but are
dependent on
numerous influencing
factors.
Photo: Andreas Bednareck
Price Forecast
What is happening onthe
commodity markets –and what
the future holds?
Anyone who wants toanalyze metal prices and forecast their future development must
not ignore the social, political and economic framework conditions. The ongoing discourse
onelectromobility and climate change also has an influence, as do global population
trends and apossible structural transformation of China from anindustrial to
aservice society. Acurrent overview of the market position of various foundry­relevant
metals, which provides astrategic basis ontheir availability and future purchase prices.
By Rüdiger Deike, Duisburg
The world market structures for
non-energy raw materials on the
supply and demand sides started
changing in the mid-1990s and more so
since 2003, leading to extreme price
fluctuations at very short intervals.
These developments will become part
of the history of business and, according
to current knowledge, it can be
assumed that these changed market
structures will also largely determine
developments on global raw material
markets during the coming 20 years.
Are commodity prices
being talked up?
Unlike scientific problems –where real
facts are independent of statements
made about them –economic processes
are characterized by being shaped by
people, companies, politics and numerous
other opinion-forming institutions
whose perceptions change the rules of
social systems. Facts are consequently
influenced bystatements made about
them –sometimes very clearly, often
almost imperceptibly [1]. Areview of
developments on the global raw material
markets during the last two decades
shows how facts have been influenced
32

y statements made about them –this can be seen particularly
clearly when one examines how the prices of rare
earths have developed [2]. There were extreme fluctuations
in 2011 when, exemplary for the entire group of rare
earths, prices for cerium and lanthanum oxides rose from
20 USD/kg in 2010 to 110 USD/kg in 2011 before falling
back again to 27 USD/kg in 2012. In April 2021, prices were
at about 1.6 USD/kg [2, 3] and the review gives the impression
that these changes were brought about by what had
been said and written. These developments have led to the
destruction of theoretical equilibrium states that should
characterize markets and that determine prices from real
supplies and real demands. This is an excellent example of
how statements about expected future price movements
can directly influence current trading at preexisting prices.
By their nature, markets are unstable
This correlation between thinking and reality in business
which, according to [1], is described as “reflectivity on the
markets” leads to “markets being inherently unstable” so
that statements are only possible with acertain level of
vagueness. This plays avery special role when individual
market participants –either on the supply or the demand
side –hold adominant position. The uncertainty is many
times higher if amarket participant has adominant position
on both sides, as is definitely the case in some segments
of the global raw material markets.
Acompletely new experience is that worldwide lockdowns
can suddenly and drastically run down economic
activity in particular sectors, varying regionally and at staggered
intervals. The consequences are worldwide existential
personal and economic distress to an extent hitherto unknown.
Resulting in attempts, all over the world but highly
variable, to avoid atotal breakdown by introducing state
support measures financed with credit. The unpredictable
collapses in demand have also led to disturbances in global
delivery chains which had previously been taken for granted
and assumed to function well.
The re­booting of economic life regionally at very different
speeds in combination with the restocking of inventory
is now leading to just as drastic temporary and global
increases in demand which, however, with all their consequences,
can only be calculated with some vagueness.
Nevertheless, it is interesting to think about whether it
is indeed perhaps possible to identify signposts for developments
on the raw material markets which, despite the
vagueness, provide some indication about possible future
developments.
The world’s population continues to grow
Agrowing world population will also consume more
energy and non­energy raw materials in future. But given
that well-founded strategic social and economic decisions
can be made, it makes sense to think about whether all raw
materials will be equally affected –orwhether there are
some raw materials whose increase in consumption will be
lower or even zero, and others whose consumption will
increase far more.
Before one can do this, however, itisnecessary to examine
the question of whether it is at all possible to make
statements about how the world population will probably
develop. The trend during the last 50 years shows that as a
result of growing prosperity in the world [4 ­6], the growth
rate of the world population –which was 2.1% per year
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www.disagroup.com

METAL MARKETS
Figure 1: The five most important nations’ share ofglobal demand –byindustrial raw material in 2017, according to data from the Federal
Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) [9].
World produconofvarious metals in %(1950 =100%)
4700
4500
4300
4100
3900
3700
3500
3300
3100
2900
2700
2500
2300
2100
1900
1700
1500
1300
1100
900
700
500
300
100
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
Aluminium Copper Nickel Zinc
Figure 2: Developments in global mined production of aluminum, copper, nickel and zinc compared to production levels in 1950 (100%)
according to data from the Mineral Yearbook of the U.S. Geological Survey [12].
between 1965 and 1970 –reached its
peak during this period and almost halved
to

Figure 3: Developments in global per capita mined production of aluminum, copper, nickel and zinc according to data from the Mineral Yearbook
of the U.S. Geological Survey [12] and the World Bank [7].
In 2019, China (with 1.43 billion people)
and India (with 1.37 billion) were the
world’s two most populated countries,
representing 19 and 18 percent respectively
of the total world population [6].
As aresult of its industrial development
since the turn of the millennium, China
has become the world’s most important
market participant regarding the
consumption and production of many
raw materials (Fig. 1) and, with anominal
gross domestic product (GDP) of
14.3 billion US dollars in 2019, has
become the second­largest economy
after the USA (21.4 billion US dollars)
[7]. Compared to this, the nominal GDP
in Germany in 2019 was 3.9 billion US
dollars and in India 2.9 billion US dollars.
This shows the enormous development
potential that can be assumed for
India.
Fig. 1 clearly shows the importance
of China regarding the global consumption
of raw materials, and that –asa
result of this structure –future development
on the global raw material markets
will be determined by how China’s
economy develops during the coming
decades. In this regard, in the mid­ and
long-term, it is necessary to take into
account the fact that according to the
most recent census [8], the population
of China is falling considerably quicker
than had been assumed and will probably
reach its maximum next year –and
not in 2030 as had been believed. In an
aging society with fewer people of working
age, the trend will be towards a
growing number of pensioners –who
will have to be provided for, leading to
adecline in economic growth (the same
applies for Germany). This development
could lead to “China becoming old
before it can become rich” [8].
Before this demographic development
can have clearly noticeable effects
on economic development, it can be
assumed that China will change from an
industrial to aservice economy, like
Japan and the traditional industrial
nations of Europe did at the start of the
1970s [10, 11].
The transition from an industrial
economy toaservice economy
The structural change from an industrial
to aservice society in the affected economies
has led to declining growth
rates for raw material consumption or,
under certain circumstances, the
consumption of particular raw materials
actually falling. Thus, for example,
saturation effects can be detected in
the production of steel, as well as iron,
steel and malleable cast iron castings, in
Europe and Germany [10, 11] since the
beginning of the 1970s which –despite
intermittent strongly fluctuating production
quantities and recovery phases
during the last 50 years –show that
production quantities are no longer at
the levels seen at the start of the 1970s.
Similar trends in these logistical
growth functions –not as pronounced
as for world crude steel production –
are also recognizable in the quantities
of copper, nickel and zinc produced
worldwide (Fig. 2) during the period
from 1970 to about 1995. Aluminum
production, however, has only been
slightly affected. The saturation effects
during this period, on the other hand,
are very clearly recognizable when global
mined production of metals per
capita (Fig. 3) isconsidered. After 1995,
considerable growth rates in the production
of the metals are again clearly
seen, caused by industrial development
in China whereby, however, here too it
may bepossible to detect atrend
towards more constant raw material
consumption per capita from 2013
onwards.
The rise in nickel production (Fig. 2)
during the period from 2010 to 2013
was largely due to increased nickel production
in Indonesia and the Philippines
[12]. During this period, Indonesia was
China’s most important supplier of
nickel ores and –given an assumed
increase in global production of highalloyed
steel (particularly high­grade
stainless steel), 60% of which is produced
in China –nickel production in
Indonesia rose to about 834,000 tonnes
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 35

METAL MARKETS
Figure 4: Metal consumption in Germany between 1950 and 2017 according to data from [11].
Figure 5: Metal consumption in the USA between 1970 and 2020 according to data from [12].
36

in 2013, which represented 31% of
world production. In 2014 legislation by
the Indonesian government [13]
banned the export of nickel with the
aim ofincreasing its own real net output
ratio (production depth).
As aconsequence, there was adrastic
reduction in nickel production
(177,000 tonnes/year) though nine melting
plants were built up to 2017 and
more are planned. Annual production
was upto853,000 tonnes again in 2019.
The export ban was temporarily loosened
for ores with low nickel contents
but, after arecent revision [14], since
January 2020 it has been illegal to
export nickel ores even with lower
nickel content.
Any new future saturation limits
indicated for nickel and copper must,
however, beconsidered against the fact
that both metals play amajor role in
the development of e­mobility –and
their consumption thus depends upon
how e­mobility actually develops.
Regarding the consumption of nickel, it
should also be mentioned here that
nickel is currently also used in larger
quantities in super­alloys, from which
components are typically made for the
aerospace industry and turbine technology.
Therefore the future consumption
of nickel will also depend on how the
aerospace industry recovers and how
energy really is generated worldwide.
Metal consumption in Germany between
1950 and 2017 is shown in Fig. 4.
It can be seen that, apart from during
the economic crisis of 2008, aluminum
consumption increased almost linearly
during the period under consideration,
due toanincrease of applications in
vehicles, as well as in the building and
packaging industries. Compared to this,
copper consumption in Germany between
1970 and 1990 remained almost
constant and only rose again from 1990,
whereby this increase is probably
because of Germany’s reunification.
Further development up to the world
economic crisis in 2008 conforms to
general development of the world economy
during this period. Fig. 4also
shows that zinc consumption in Germany
remained largely unchanged for
almost 30 years, despite the fact that
zinc was increasingly used for corrosion
prevention in the automotive industry
during this period. In contrast, nickel
consumption has clearly fallen since the
turn of the millennium. As about 70%
of the nickel is currently used in the
production of alloyed steels (particularly
high­grade stainless steel), nickel
consumption mainly depends on the
production of these steel grades whereby,
inquantity terms, high­grade
stainless steel plays the greatest role –
with production in Germany of1.7 m.
tonnes in 2006 and only 1.1 m. tonnes
in 2013. With nickel contents of these
steels averaging 5­10%, this would
theoretically correspond to afall in
nickel consumption of 30,000 –60,000
tonnes. As aresult of the shutdown of
two electric arc furnaces for the production
of high­grade stainless steel (in
2014 and 2015), only 436,000 tonnes
was produced in Germany in 2017 [15]
and nickel consumption is now at about
60,000 tonnes/year.
Fig. 5 shows metal consumption in
the USA [12], the world’s largest economy
and, apart from nickel, it can be
seen that metal consumption between
1970 and 1990 remained almost constant
–except for during the world economic
crisis of 1975, which resulted
from the oil price increases between
1973 (3 US dollars/barrel) and 1974 (12
US dollars/barrel). It can be seen that
consumption rose between 1990 and
2000 and then fell again thereafter,
when the effects of the world economic
crisis in 2008
became apparent.
Regarding nickel
consumption, it
should be noted
here that Fig. 5
only shows the
consumption of
primary nickel, but
that from 1980
increasing quantities
ofsecondary
nickel were used
–sothat atotal of
217,000 tonnes of
nickel was consumed
in the USA in
2019, ofwhich
only about half
(106,000 tonnes)
consisted of primary
nickel [12].
The metal
consumptions
shown in Figs. 4&
5are asign that
GDP isgenerated
differently in a
service economy
than in an industrial
economy. With
the structural
change from an
industrial to aservice
economy there is also asocial
change because industrial jobs are lost
while increasing numbers are found
outside industry in sectors such as commerce,
social services, finance and public
administration. This means that
fewer specific raw materials and less
energy (oil equivalents) [11] are required
togenerate one unit of GDP (e.g. 1
m. US dollars). Developments in Germany,
as well as in the other traditional
industrial nations, show that GDP
growth rates are lower in service economies.
In China, the tertiary sector contributed
more to GDP than the secondary
sector for the first time in 2012. It is therefore
to be assumed that China will
develop into aservice economy during
coming years [11]. Consequently, itcan
be expected that raw material
consumption will change in the same
way as in the traditional industrial
nations since the start of the 1970s,
which would mean moderate growth of
raw material consumption on the world
markets –which will be determined in
the medium to long term by economic
developments in India and Africa. As a
result of the completely different politi-
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 37

METAL MARKETS
600
Relative changes inquarterly averages [%]
1 st Q. 2000 = 100%
500
400
300
200
100
0
Copper
Nickel
Zinc
Aluminium
-100
1.Q.2000
3.Q.2000
1.Q.2001
3.Q.2001
1.Q.2002
3.Q.2002
1.Q.2003
3.Q.2003
1.Q.2004
3.Q.2004
1.Q.2005
3.Q.2005
1.Q.2006
3.Q.2006
1.Q.2007
3.Q.2007
1.Q.2008
3.Q.2008
1.Q.2009
3.Q.2009
1.Q.2010
3.Q.2010
1.Q.2011
3.Q.2011
1.Q.2012
3.Q.2012
1.Q.2013
3.Q.2013
1.Q.2014
3.Q.2014
1.Q.2015
3.Q 2015
1.Q 2016
3.Q 2016
1.Q 2017
3.Q 2017
1.Q 2018
3.Q 2018
1.Q 2019
3.Q 2019
1.Q 2020
3.Q 2020
1.Q 2021
Figure 6: Global price developments for aluminum, copper, nickel and zinc between 2000 and 2020 according to data from [18].
Figure 7: Global price development for cobalt between 1968 and 2020 [27].
38

Table 1: Calculations of possible future annual metal requirements in 2030 assuming abattery capacity of 2TWh, and
assuming that this is made up only using NMC 111 (nickel, manganese, cobalt 1:1:1) batteries or only NMC 811 batteries
[24, 25].
Element Current metal Consumption Consumption Consumption Consumption
production of NMC 111 of NMC 811 of NMC 111 of NMC 811
acc. to [12] in kg/KWh in kg/KWh in 2030 in 2030
in tonnes/year acc. to [22,23] acc. to [22,23] in tonnes in tonnes
Lithium 77,000 0.148 0.107 296,471 214,118
Nickel 2,500,000 0.395 0.749 790,588 1,498,824
Cobalt 140,000 0.395 0.033 790,588 65,882
Manganese 16,600,000 0.371 0.091 741,176 181,176
Copper 20,400,000 0.300 0.300 600,000 600,000
cal structures in these countries, it
remains to be seen at what rates these
economies will develop.
The special aspects of
raw material markets
The price structures on the markets for
energy and non-energy raw materials
–aslong as trading is carried out at
exchanges –are very greatly influenced
by futures transactions, whereby most
of these transactions (> 98%) do not
lead to real transfers of goods and
money [16, 17]. Trading onexchanges
makes the market transparent, and
developments are largely comprehensible
for all market participants. In theory,
markets should actually be objective
–but in reality they may not be
under certain circumstances because
they are influenced by psychological
and speculative elements that have
nothing to do with the fundamental
data. In this age of wide­ranging and
rapid communication and audiovisual
reporting in today’s modern media, this
risk is many times greater than was the
case decades ago when psychological
and speculative influences spread very
much slower. But ultimately it is still the
case that markets are determined by
real supply and demand when considered
in the medium and long terms. As
raw materials are traded in US dollars,
exchange rates also tend to play arole.
The following phases can be derived
from the global price developments
shown in Fig. 6:
> Extreme price increases in amarket
driven by demand for industrial raw
materials can be seen as aconsequence
of industrial development in China from
2003 until the world economic crisis in
autumn 2008. It is interesting that
nickel and zinc prices collapsed in mid-
2007, i.e. about one year before the
economic crisis.
> Anincrease in metal prices, particularly
copper, can be seen between 2009
and 2011 which should very probably
be seen in connection with economic
packages that had been introduced
worldwide to overcome the crisis.
> While the period from 2011 to
autumn 2016 is characterized by fluctuations,
the trend is towards decreased
metal prices. In this connection (see
Fig. 1), it is necessary to take into
account the fact that average annual
economic growth was 10.8% in China
between 2003 and 2010, but only 7.3%
between 2012 and 2016. The official
rate of GDP growth for 2019 was 5.95%
[7].
> The increase in metal prices between
2016 and 2018 may be because economic
growth grew from 1.64% in 2016 to
2.9% in 2018 following the presidential
election in the USA in autumn 2016 [7].
> The decreasing prices since 2018 are
probably due to disturbances in international
trade [19] resulting from the
introduction of avariety of special
duties by the American government.
> Increased metal prices can be seen
from the second quarter of 2020,
undoubtedly due to successes in overcoming
the coronavirus crisis. At present,
it can already be seen that positive economic
development, particularly in the
USA and China, is leading to price
increases –whereby itisnot currently
recognizable to what extent these
developments have afundamental basis
or are caused by the statements about
presumed future development that are
being intensively communicated in the
media.
In the current situation, it must be
assumed that the actual development
of e­mobility will play an important role
in the future development of some
mineral raw materials. Worldwide, 2.1
m. purely battery­powered (BEVs) and
plug­in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) – of
which 1.2 m. in China alone –were
registered in 2018 [20]. Thus the global
proportion of newly registered e­vehicles
was 2.2% of total registrations in
2018. 3.4 m. vehicles were registered in
Germany in 2018, of which 1% were
BEVs and 3.8% were PHEVs. The current
growth potential of these alternative
drives can be seen from the fact that 2.9
m. vehicles were registered in Germany
in 2020, of which 6.7% were BEVs and
6.9% PHEVs [21].
As aconsequence of increasing
e­mobility, itcan be expected that the
metals listed in Table 1 and important
for the development of e­mobility will
undergo price rises. In particular, itcan
be assumed that this will bethe case for
the metals lithium, cobalt and nickel
whereby, here too, it must be expressly
pointed out that statements about markets
can only be made with some
vagueness. In this case, the uncertainty
results, firstly, from the question of
what battery type will prevail in the
long term. According to [22], batteries
with all the important electrochemical
compositions (NCA, NMC, LMO, LFP) are
currently being built, whereby it can be
assumed that –given increasing energy
density –the trend will be towards
nickel­rich high­capacity NMC materials
(NMC 811). Secondly, aglobal e­mobility
battery capacity of 2TWh [23] –
with Europe using about 1TWh [22] – is
assumed, but this could well be higher
or lower. The calculation assumed that
2TWh battery capacity would represent
the situation in 2030. Table 1shows the
quantities of raw materials that would
theoretically apply if this was to happen
using only NMC 111 batteries, or using
only NMC 811 batteries –which contain
less cobalt, but more nickel.
According to the NMC 111 scenario,
annual production quantities in 2030
would be about 3.8 times greater for
lithium and about 5.6 times greater for
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 39

METAL MARKETS
Figure 8: Global price developments for vanadium pentoxide between 1990 and 2020 [27].
Figure 9: Global price development for molybdenum between 1990 and 2020 [27].
Figure 10: Global price developments for tungsten between 1990 and 2020 [27].
cobalt than is now required. In the NMC
811 scenario, the additional cobalt
requirement for e­mobility, however,
would be significantly reduced to about
half today’s requirement. But in contrast
to this, the nickel required for
e­mobility in 2030 would rise by an
additional 1.5 m. tonnes/year, corresponding
to about 60% of current production.
Independent of the scenarios considered
above, two other studies [22, 26]
point out that raw materials such as lithium,
cobalt, nickel, graphite and platinum
are present in sufficient quantities
for rapid worldwide growth of e­mobility.
While it is correct that there are
currently no problems regarding reserves
and resources, these facts do not,
however, permit any forecasts about
how prices could increase –due to the
oligopolies and monopolies that are
sometimes found in the raw materials
sector. Itshould be pointed out here
that the nickel price in 2003 averaged
10,000 US dollars/tonne rising to 37,000
US dollar/tonne in 2007 (Fig. 6) but that
in this period nickel production only
rose from 1.37 m. tonnes in 2003 to 1.60
m. tonnes in 2007.
The purely theoretically calculated
metal costs for a30KWh NMC 111 battery
at current metal prices [9] may therefore
be somewhere in the region of
1,100 US dollars and for an NMC 811
battery about 580 US dollars. The lower
metal costs for the more nickel-rich
NMC 811 type are due to their lower
cobalt content –currently the most
expensive metal in the battery, atabout
52 US dollar/kg.
Cobalt is one of the metals that has
commonly undergone extreme price
fluctuations since the turn of the millennium.
The time series [27] for the
prices of various metals, shown in Figures
7–11,present different examples of
how price increases can appear and
disappear again very suddenly due to
the dominant positions of market participants
onboth the supply and demand
sides –incombination with corresponding
statements about the changes that
may be expected. In many cases, the
global markets for metals are characterized
by about 50 ­70% of total world
production taking place in just three
countries where the particular metals
are mined. The same distribution of 50
­70% also applies for global consumption
of these metals by the three most
important countries, though it is not
always the same countries that are
involved in the mining activities. As
40

already shown in Fig. 1, China is often
the country that both produces and
consumes the largest amounts of the
affected metals –soeconomic development
in China (on both the demand
and supply sides) has determined
developments on the global raw material
markets during the last 20 years,
and will continue to do so. The global
markets for the metals whose price
developments are shown can be characterized
as follows.
Cobalt
As previously mentioned, cobalt is currently
one of the most important metals
in the production of lithium­ion batteries.
140,000 tonnes of cobalt were
mined in 2020 [12], 61% of which came
from the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC). 50 ­60% of the world’s cobalt is
currently used in lithium­ion batteries,
whereby their market relevance is roughly
twice as great in the electronics sector
as in e­mobility. Inthe metal industry,
cobalt is used as an alloying element
in tool steels and for the production of
super­alloys [28]. The production of chemicals
containing cobalt mainly takes
place inChina, where the production of
lithium­ion batteries also takes place –
with aglobal market share of about
75%. As aresult of Chinese investments
in the DRC and other countries, China
has been able to reduce its net dependency
on imports of ores containing
cobalt and intermediate products from
97% toanestimated 68% [29]. The
price rises in 1978 were due to the USA
no longer selling cobalt from its own
stocks [30]. During the period around
1994, war in Ruanda and the flight of
hundreds of thousands of refugees to
the DRC led to almost uncontrollable
political conflicts [31], as aconsequence
of which the prices for cobalt rose. The
price rises from 2015 were probably due
to statements made about the potential
future development of e­mobility and,
here too, it turned out that prices actually
developed differently.
Vanadium
Vanadium production in 2020 amounted
to about 86,000 tonnes and the
most important producing countries
were China (62 %), Russia (21 %) and
South Africa (9 %), which together
accounted for 92 %ofthe world’s
mined production.
91 %ofvanadium is used in iron
alloys and high-strength steels, as well
as in mixtures of iron and aluminum. It
is used for catalytic converters for the
aviation and space industries, for pipelines
inthe oil and gas industry, and for
surgical equipment. 51% of vanadium is
used by China –soChina has the dominant
position on both the supply and
demand sides. The drastic price rise in
2018 (Fig. 8)was due to the Chinese
government increasing the vanadium
content in structural steels through a
change to the standards [32] to improve
their strength properties. Actual implementation
of this, however, took place
slower than originally intended [12],
and the consumption of vanadium in
the USA fell from 9,980 tonnes in 2018
to 4,800 tonnes in 2020, whereby global
production during this period rose from
71,000 tonnes/year to the above­mentioned
86,000 tonnes/year in 2020, with
the consequence that prices for vanadium
drastically crashed again.
Molybdenum
Molybdenum production was about
300,000 tonnes in 2020 and the most
important countries were China (40 %),
Chile (19 %) and Australia (16 %) [12],
which together represented 75 % of
global mined production. About 70 %
of the molybdenum is used in alloyed
steels. As almost 60 %ofthese steels
are produced in China, about 40 % of
molybdenum is consumed in China – so
China also holds the dominant position
here on both the supply and demands
sides. From 2011, molybdenum prices
(Fig. 9)developed similarly to those of
the metals described in Fig. 6.
Tungsten
About 84,000 tonnes of tungsten was
produced in 2020 and the most important
country was China, with aworld
market share of 82 %ofmined production.
Tungsten is used for products in
the transport industry (34 %), in the
mining and construction industries
(21%), and in mechanical engineering
(11 %). The worldwide supply of tungsten
is dominated by production in
China and exports from China. The Chinese
government regulated the tungsten
industry by limiting the number of
mining and export licenses, defining
quotas for production of the concentrate,
and introducing restrictions on
mining and processing. The Chinese
government wanted production of
tungsten concentrate outside China to
remain at less than 20 %ofworld production
in 2020 [12]. Again, China also
holds the dominant position for tungsten
on both the supply and the demand
sides. From 2011, tungsten prices
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METAL MARKETS
Figure 11: Price developments for tin in the period from 1990 to 2020 [27].
.
developed similarly to those of molybdenum
and the metals described in
Fig. 6.
Tin
About 270,000 tonnes of tin were produced
in2020 and the most important
countries were China (30 %), Indonesia
(24 %)and Myanmar (12 %) [12], which
together accounted for 66 %ofglobal
mined production. The refined tin produced
worldwide in 2019 [33] was
mainly used for tin solder (49 %), chemicals
(18 %) and tinplate (12 %). China
is responsible for about 45 %oftin
consumption, which is probably because
of the high proportion of electronic
products manufactured in China. So
here, too, China holds the dominant
position on both the supply and
demand sides. From 2011, tin prices
(Fig. 10) developed similarly to those of
the metals described in Fig. 6, whereby
the price rise in 2020 was considerably
greater than was the case for the other
metals. This may be due to the fact that
Myanmar, animportant producing
country, was worse hit by the Covid­19
pandemic than its neighbors [34], so
that less tin could be produced –and
the limited supply and rising demand
from China and the USA led to considerably
higher prices.
Summary
Economic processes are characterized by
being shaped by people, companies,
politics, and numerous other opinion-forming
institutions whose perceptions
change the rules of social systems.
In the social debate we find ourselves in
the middle of adiscussion whose consequences
will be profound changes –
though the real effects can only be
described with some vagueness because
facts are influenced by statements
made about them. What this means can
currently be seen very clearly in the discussion
about vaccines and their actual
effectiveness. Here, public communication
about the side­effects of the vaccines
–very strongly led by non­experts
–influences their actual acceptance,
and therefore their current sales potential.
This correlation between thinking
and reality in business leads to “markets
being inherently unstable” [1] so that
statements are only possible with acertain
degree of vagueness.
With this in mind, it can be assumed
that agrowing world population will
also consume more energy and nonenergy
raw materials, though the population
is growing at lower growth rates
and will probably reach its maximum in
around 2100 with apopulation of between
9and 12 bn.
Due to its industrial development,
especially since the turn of the millennium,
China has become the most
important global market participant
regarding the consumption and production
of many raw materials, and has
risen to the second-largest economy
behind the USA. According to the most
recent census in China, it can be assumed
that the population will contract
considerably more rapidly than previously
thought. Before this demographic
development can have clearly palpable
effects on economic development, it
can be assumed that China will have
changed from an industrial to aservice
economy, aswas the case in Japan and
the traditional industrial nations in
Europe at the start of the 1970s. The
structural change from an industrial to
aservice economy leads to lower
growth rates for raw material consumption
and, under certain circumstances, a
fall in the absolute consumption quantities
of particular raw materials, as can
be seen from the example of the
consumption of some metals in the USA
and Germany. In addition, developments
in Germany and the other traditional
industrial nations show that GDP
growth rates are also lower in service
economies.
Prices on the markets for energy and
non­energy raw materials are very greatly
influenced by futures transactions,
as long as trading takes place on exchanges.
Developments are comprehensible
for all market participants and in
theory markets should actually be
objective, though in reality under certain
circumstances they are not –when
they are influenced by psychological
and speculative elements that have
nothing to do with the fundamental
data. In today’s age of extensive and
rapid communication and audiovisual
reporting in modern media this risk is
many times greater than was the case
decades ago. Developments regarding
e­mobility are also to be considered in
this light, because they will very greatly
determine the markets for lithium, copper
and nickel in future.
Although no problems regarding
future reserves and resources are apparent,
this fact does not permit any
forecasts of price increases that may
occur –due to the oligopolies and
monopolies that exist to some extent in
the raw materials sector. Itisnot even
possible to guess with some level of
vagueness how prices will develop
when the demand for metals such as
lithium and cobalt may be three to five
times higher than today’s production
quantities.
Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Deike is Professor of
Metallurgy in Iron and Steel Production
at the University Duisburg­Essen, Germany
The author thanks the German Mineral
Resources Agency (DERA) in the Federal
Institute for Geosciences and Natural
Resources (BGR) for the time series on
the development of metal prices.
References: www.cpt-international.com
42

PRESSURE DIE CASTING
Photos: Oskar Frech
Cold chamber die casting
Bohai Trimet banks
on GDK and Kseries
More energy-efficient than the predecessor
model: the GDK 3200 cold-chamber die
casting machine comes with modular and
standardized die and media-supply connections.
Three pressure die casting machines of Oskar Frech’s Kand GDK series have recently
been commissioned atBohai Trimet Automotive, aGerman-Chinese joint venture.
This brings the total number ofcasting machines from Frech in operation atthe various
locations of the automotive subsupplier to20, with locking forces ranging between
6,400 and 44,000 kN.
By Jürgen Lamparter, Schorndorf
Oskar Frech GmbH +Co. KG and
Bohai Trimet Automotive Systems
Co., Ltd. have been cooperating
in the field of die casting technology
for many years. Bohai Trimet
Automotive Systems Co., Ltd. is ajoint
venture between Bohai Automotive
and Trimet Aluminium SE producing
modern aluminium die castings at three
locations –two in Germany, inHarzgerode
and in Sömmerda, and one in
Binzhou, China.
The joint venture provides Bohai
Automotive enhanced opportunities as
asystems supplier to global automotive
producers, while strengthening its
German production locations in Harzgerode
and Sömmerda. Bohai Automotive
is present as avalued partner of
the automotive industry in key growth
markets in Asia, especially China. Trimet
Automotive supplies manufacturing
solutions and light­weight components
to basically all well­known
automotive producers and subsuppliers.
At its German locations in Harzgerode
and Sömmerda more than
1,000 employees produce some 13 million
die castings per year, including
mechatronic components for automatic
gearboxes of the latest generation,
complex structural components, engine
blocks and gearbox housings, and, to
an increasing degree, new weight-optimized,
demanding components for
electric vehicles.
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 43

PressureDie Casting
The GDK 3200-210
casting machine
during assembly at
Oskar Frech’s Plüderhausen
facilities.
Capacity expansion in
China and Germany
In addition to production and machining
of castings, Bohai Trimet also specializes
in the development and design of
new aluminium components, including
inhouse tooling design and die making.
The cooperation between Oskar Frech
and Bohai Trimet Automotive began
with the supply of aGDK 2500 die casting
machine for the Harzgerode location.
The recently supplied cold­chamber
die casting machines of the new K
and GDK series in compact 3­plate
design provide added performance,
reliability, flexibility, sustainability and
resource efficiency.
With aview to its future strategic
alignment and the new investments
associated with the capacity increase at
Harzgerode in Germany and Binzhou in
China, Bohai Trimet Automotive ordered
three further machines from Oskar
Frech: one K640 machine with alocking
force of 6,400 kN for Binzhou, and one
K1900 (19,000 kN) and one GDK3200
(3,200 kN) for Harzgerode.
Integration into the existing
casting cell concept
The new machines were handed over to
the operator for the start of mass production
after completion of the final
acceptance of the machines, including
their integration into the peripheral die
making and casting cell equipment. A
special challenge was the installation of
the GDK3200­ 210 machine. As early as
during the tender, planning and selection
phases, the following requirements
and specifications played akey role for
the project and the purchase decision:
> Due to the available space, the new
machine had to be installed at the position
of an existing pouring station in
the casting pit. That station had originally
been intended to accommodate a
smaller casting machine with alower
locking force and amuch shorter clearance
for the protective door.
> Adaptation of the machine’s interfaces
to the die equipment (die support;
rapid die clamping; ejector coupling;
clamping and ejector design; pouring
positions; plunger rod coupling; all
media connections for electricity,
hydraulics, cooling/heating and vacuum;
protective door clearance, etc.) to
Final acceptance of
the GDK 3200-210
machine at Bohai
Trimet in Harzgerode,
Germany.
match the interfaces of the other –existing
–GDK2800 and GDK3500 machines,
in order to enable the use of the
same dies with all machines and achieve
maximum flexibility in using old and
new dies and die parts.
> Integration of the machine into the
existing casting cell concept; supply and
integration of adecentralized casting
cell control system, including the integration
into and communication with
all peripheral devices provided by the
customer and data exchange to the
master control system of the casting
machine.
> Complete assembly of the machine
at the Oskar Frech assembly facilities in
Plüderhausen; proof of all specified features
and performance data; options
and testing of all functions during continuous
operation.
44

Oskar Frech’s latest
development: the
K1900 pressure die
casting machine.
The GDK 3200-210
machine in operation.
> Delivery, erection and handing over
of the machine according to the project
schedule and in time for the planned
production start.
In line with these requirements, the
new die casting machine was completed
and ready for the production start within
six weeks from delivery.
Lower energy consumption
and smaller CO 2
-footprint
Thanks to the advanced modular
design of the new GDK generation, the
GDK 3200­210 machine meets the following
requirements: Although the new
GDK 3200 series is equipped with the
same ­extremely robust ­3Phinged
joint design of the previous machine
generation, it is still more than one
meter shorter. Its CO 2
­footprint is therefore
comparable with that of a 2P
machine design. Thanks to the use of a
drive concept based on frequency converters
and apatented hydraulic system,
an up to 50 %reduction in energy
consumption and tank volume has
been achieved.
The new casting machine provides unlimited
flexibility in terms ofthe producible
range of castings. Characteristic
performance data include control of the
speed and pressure curve in real time
(run-time 1ms), outstanding dynamic
performance of up to 11.0 m/s, acceleration
rates of up to 650 m/s 2 ,extremely
short multiple pressurization times of
up to 20 ms at 350 bar, amachine capability
index cmk of more than +/­ 4
sigma and high repeatability of the
casting process.
The machine was supplied complete
with aclearly structured, user­friendly
DataDialog control system with numerous
integrated options and a19-inch
touchscreen. RSD online diagnosis via
the Internet, animated online switch
diagrams and flow sheets, scope­function
and Industry 4.0 standard modules
provide additional transparency and the
capability of quick reaction, when
necessary.
The new machines are equipped
with technology that enables Bohai Trimet
Automotive to produce castings for
highly demanding new applications in
the e­mobility sector and for structural
applications.
www.frech.com
Jürgen Lamparter, Oskar Frech GmbH,
Schorndorf, Germany
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 45

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selection, and argon saver. New functions
include the ability to recall stored
spectra for later reevaluation/recalculation;
extended data export functions;
quick check programs for the rapid analysis
of iron and aluminum; and onsite
upgrades/additions of analytical
methods without any hardware changes.
> Hardware improvements, including
anew spark stand configuration with
easier access for automation options; a
new optic isolation concept for greater
temperature stability; UV optic (on
Spectromaxx Advanced); an ultra­robust,
high-power plasma generator
with spark frequencies up to 1000 Hz;
start/stop averaging button/spark indicator;
and on/off safety switch to control
line/mains power.
> Adapter kits offering avariety of
flexible, easy­to­use solutions to meet
the wide range of analysis requirements
of material control —from adjusting
for differing sample shapes and sizes to
optimizing positioning on the spark
stand.
The new analyzer is available in two
models, differing only in their optical
systems. The basic analyzer features
Spectro’s proven single air optic with
high-resolution CCD sensors. Its solid
design resists fluctuations due to ambient
temperature changes. It handles
elemental wavelengths from 233 nm to
670 nm. The advanced analyzer adds a
new UV optic with four high-resolution
CMOS detectors. Its extended
wavelength range covers elements from
120 nm to 235 nm. Aclosed system circulates
gas through Spectro’s UVPlus
cleaning cartridge, eliminating extra
argon consumption and contamination
risks. Both versions feature atemperature-stabilized
system that heats both
optics. Both are available as
floor­mounted units with optional PC
stands or benchtop models for aminimum
footprint.
www.spectro.com/maxx
48

RIO TINTO AND COMPTECH
Partnership for electromobility
and communication
castings
The Anglo-American mining group Rio Tinto and the Swedish
rheocasting developer Comptech are partnering to
bring anew generation of aluminium alloys to the market
for use in advanced technologies such as electric vehicles
and 5Gantennas.
RESOURCE-FRIENDLYINTO
THE FUTURE –
HWS systems for sand reclamation.
• Highly efficient, flexible process
• Customized concepts
• Automated solutions
• No environmental requirements for the
reclamation unit
• Own reclamation test center available
Photo: Comptech
Rheocasting component
with gates from
Rio Tinto’s metallurgical experts
have designed the alloys for the the die casting process.
Porosities occur
semi-solid rheocasting process
offered byComptech, to meet the far less frequently in
requirements of producing large, rheocasting than in
specialized single piece designs, die casting.
known as giga-casting.
The alloys offer high strength,
electrical and thermal conductivity
properties, while rheocasting allows fast, low cost production
of advanced lightweight designs. The products are currently
undergoing qualification with automakers in Europe.
Rio Tinto vice president Sales and Marketing Aluminium
Tolga Egrilmezer said: “Through this partnership, we are
delivering anew range of specialized alloys designed to deliver
high performance, lower cost solutions for advanced
applications like electric vehicles and 5G antennas. This is an
area of emerging demand where our industry leading
research and development capability allows us to deliver products
that meet the specific needs of manufacturers and end
customers.”
Before sand reclamation
After sand reclamation
Comptech Group CEO and owner Per Jansson said: “We are
in the capacity ramp up for the next generation of advanced
technologies across sectors such as automotive and communications,
and our customers, both foundries and OEM´s will
need the development of more advanced parts. This partnership
positions us to offer customers the combined advantages
of our casting process expertise and Rio Tinto’s technical
strength and preferred alloys suite.”
http://comptech.se
www.sinto.com
HEINRICH WAGNER SINTO
Maschinenfabrik GmbH
SINTOKOGIO GROUP
Bahnhofstr.101 ·57334 Bad Laasphe, Germany
Phone +49 2752 /907 0·Fax +49 2752 /907 280
www.wagner-sinto.de
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 49

NEWS
STRUCTURAL CASTING
Die lubricant solutions for large die casting machines
As the automotive industry strives to
meet the challenges of achanging marketplace,
production processes are
evolving to create lighter vehicles from
larger and more complex die cast parts.
Aspecific lubricant technology is supporting
the introduction of the latest
generation of large, 4,500 tonne die
casting machines.
Spray system for applying Lubrolene on the die surface.
Die casting has long been akey manufacturing
process for the automotive
industry. Traditionally used to cast parts
such as engine blocks and transmission
cases, the technique is now being used
to cast one-piece structural parts such as
shock towers and torque bars, aiding
the ultimate goals of weight reduction.
Tesla has recently announced ashift in
production methods that favors the use
of asingle piece die cast underbody
structure to replace acombination of
multiple welded and stamped components.
This requires use of the world’s
largest die casting machine able to produce
such alarge one-piece casting –a
change that could revolutionize the
automotive industry.
The benefits of die casting in the
automotive industry are well known.
With aquick and relatively economical
process, die casting offers the repeatability
required by mass production,
allowing identical parts to be produced
using one mold. Casting larger
parts stands to remove as many as 70
steps from amore traditional production
process. While the benefits are
clear tosee, the casting of larger parts
brings complexity to the die casting
process.
To avoid compromising quality and
increasing costs in the manufacture of
large, complex components, specifying
the correct die lubricant technology is
essential to ensure an adequate release
lubricant film is formed over the die
surface.
As die tools increase in size and complexity,
they become increasingly difficult
to lubricate using conventional
water based lubricant systems. It is
essential to ensure that the lubricant
reaches all parts of the complex tool to
prevent casting failure.
Lack of penetration of the lubricant
spray into areas such as ribs, coupled
with the low film forming capabilities
of water-based lubricants is areal challenge
faced by die casters. Additionally,
the spray heads used to apply
water-based lubricants are simply too
large, bulky and inflexible to deploy
lubricant to all areas of the die face
successfully.
Lubricant systems, like Lubrolene
from Quaker Houghton, Conshohocken,
USA, provide asolution combining a
high-power release agent, free from
the drawback of conventional lubricants,
coupled with acompact low
weight spray system.
WFR­EC is applied through aelectrostatic
spray gun, the lubricant spray
droplets carry an electrostatic charge
which, when coupled with agrounded
die leads to unsurpassed lubricant
deposition in all areas of the die. The
low weight and small footprint of the
spray head coupled with the control
features ofthe application system mean
that lubricant application can be readily
adjusted across the die face to give an
optimized lubricating film.
As the lubricant product is also
water free, any Leidenfrost effect is eliminated
leading to unmatched lubricant
deposition and adhesion on the
die surface. The very high adhesion performance
offered by electrostatic spray
reduces the amount of release agents
required by up to 99.9 %per cycle.
Result: Reduced spray time, increased
die life and alow reject rate.
https://home.quakerhoughton.com/
product-lines/die-casting
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Photo: Quaker Houghton
50

HWS
Molding lines for new
Turkish foundry
Atik Metal, one of the most traditional Turkish foundries, is
building abrand-new foundry near Izmir and will expand its
capacity to 100,000 tons of grey and ductile iron castings for
powertrain and agricultural machinery. Part of the ambitious
plans are two new molding lines by Heinrich Wagner Sinto
(HWS) from Bad Laasphe in Germany.
NEW
Emission-Free
Casting with
Inorganic Cores
Photo: HWS
Automatedinorganic sand 3D printing
nowavailable
Atik-owner Mehmet Atik and HWS-Managing Director Andreas Klein.
First discussions between Atik Metal and HWS about the
implementation of new molding lines into the existing
foundry were held during the GIFA exhibition 2019 in Düsseldorf.
Quite fast it became clear that the free space in the
existing foundry was not sufficient for the planned extension
of the capacity. Therefore, Atik Metal decided to build anew
foundry opposite to the existing premises. The progress of
the project became more difficult due to the Corona­crises,
however, was not stopped. During Web­meetings the project
was developed to the final stage. HWS was selected once
again as supplier for the molding lines HWS 5and 6.
Molding line HWS 5isaZFA­SD­5,5 type and has aflask
size of 1.100 mm x950 mm x350+50 mm (cope)/ 300 mm
(drag) and an output of 220 molds/h. In asecond step some
month later Atik Metal will install afurther new molding line
type EFA­SD7,5 with aflask size of 1.700 mm x1.400 mm x
550 +70mm(cope)/450 (drag) and an output of 80 molds/h.
Atik Metal was founded as Atikler Koll. Sti. in 1954 and
renamed as Akdöküm San. Tic. A.S. in 1967. The company has
constantly developed. Since the beginning of the year 2000
the business focused more and more on the European market.
Since 2008 the demand for high-quality casting products
has strongly increased, therefore the owners decided to build
anew foundry under the name Atik Metal close to the city
Izmir. The foundry is working with three tight­flask­molding
lines delivered by Heinrich Wagner Sinto (HWS). As the size of
the castings and the number of orders increased constantly,
Atik Metal decided to build afurther foundry as agreen field
project.
www.wagner-sinto.de
• Serial production through integrated automation and future
robotic expansion possibilities
• Fast production of precise,complex,and consolidatedcores
• Zero emissionsduring printing and pouring
• Higher yields with lowerrejection ratesfromgas-related
defects during casting
• Environmentally friendly processing and storage
• Easy finishing thanks to reduced sand adhesion
AUTOMATED
DESANDING STATION
reduces unpacking
time by up to 95%
LEARN MORE
exone.com/inorganicbinder

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REICHMANN CASTING FINISHING
Take over of Italian competitor
Automatic cast iron fettling with industrial
robots. Reichmann expands its position
in the area of automatic cleaning of
castings with the acquisition of Maus.
Photo: Reichmann
The mechanical engineering company
Reichmann &Sohn GmbH is now owner
of the trademark rights and intellectual
property of competitor Maus s.r.l. With
the acquisition, Reichmann has secured
valuable know-how in the field of
foundry automation. This way, Reichmann
is further expanding its position
as aworld‘s leading provider of automatic
casting finishing solutions and
opening up new growth and development
potential.
Reichmann Casting Finishing from Weißenhorn,
Germany, and Maus from
Campodarsego, Italy, are present as
leading providers of foundry automation
among the metal foundries worldwide
with an existing total machine
park of over 1000 installed machines.
“With the acquisition of the Maus brand
and all of the intellectual property, we
like to combine the technological knowhow
of both companies and enable new
developments. Our goal is to offer our
customers the best solutions for foundry
automation on the market,” says Stefan
Reichmann, Managing Director of Reichmann
&Sohn GmbH. Anew, innovative
product line for automatic casting
finishing is presented this September. In
order to reliably supply existing Maus
customers with spare parts and services,
aservice and spare parts management is
set upatthe company‘s headquarters in
Weißenhorn.
The formerly long-time market companion
Maus has over 30 years of experience
in the field of foundry automation
and vertical turning. The Maus
brand offers awide range of NC machining
centres and robot cells for the
automatic grinding of cast parts up to
10,000 kgaswell asarange of vertical
lathes for the machining of parts up to
800 mmindiameter. The Maus Foundry
Automation division offers specialized
machines for the production of foundry
cores.
Reichmann &Sohn GmbH has more
than 100 years of experience and
engineering competence in grinding
and cutting technology “Made in Germany”.
The Reichmann Casting Finishing
division offers customer-oriented
solutions for automatic cutting, deburring,
surface grinding and belt grinding
of cast parts. The systems for automatic
casting finishing and post­processing
enable positive effects on costs, productivity,
quality, health and safety in
foundries worldwide. Reichmann thus
contributes to further automation and
humanization in foundries.
www.casting-finishing.com/en
www.maus.it
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CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 53

NEWS
CO 2
-NEUTRALITY
Automotive supplier scores with
future-oriented production
The aegroup ag, headquartered in Gerstungen,
Thuringia, Germany, makes a
contribution with its production to produce
climate-friendly. This has been
CO 2
-neutral since June 2021. The automotive
supplier is thus reacting very
quickly tothe EU‘s demands on climate
change.
The annual CO 2
emissions of around
35,000 tons are compensated since
June. For comparison: The amount of
CO 2
that is no longer emitted for production
at ae corresponds to ajourney
of 390 million kilometres (or 10,000
times around the world) in acar that
will be produced in accordance with EU
guidelines from 2021. “We are standing
for sustainability”, so the group.
This makes the ae group ag one of the
first companies in Europe to achieve
this standard in the production of light
metal die castings. The automotive supplier
produces and develops die-cast
aluminum, various transmission parts
and lightweight components for interior
and exterior applications for the
automotive industry. Components for
electromobility are also increasingly
being implemented. The supplier produces
ondemand for the customers
when weight-reduced alternatives to
the use of steel are required. The focus
is on hybrid material combinations and
thus ahigh load capacity of the components
with the lowest possible use of
material and weight.
The company currently employs
1,400 people with locations in Lübeck,
Nentershausen, Gerstungen (headquarters)
and Poland, and is diligently preparing
to expand its footprint within
Europe. The two new board members,
the Belgian CEO Koen Beckers and COO
Klaus Reinbold, started their work in
2020 and want to position the group
not only for the future, but also for the
Component testing at the ae group in
Gerstungen. The aluminum foundry is
responding early to EU demands for climate
neutrality.
environment. The company decided on
acompensation project with the energy
supplier N­ERGIE AG from Nuremberg,
Germany. There you get energy from
hydropower plants, including from
India.
www.ae-group.de
Photo: Andreas Bednareck
HYDROGEN ECONOMY
Dead ends for hydrogen-induced cracks in steels
Scientists of the Max-Planck-Institut für
Eisenforschung (MPIE) in Düsseldorf,
Germany, and their colleagues from the
Tsinghua University China and the Norwegian
University of Science and Technology,
found away to stop hydrogen-induced
cracks in high-strength
steels. The researchers published their
latest findings in the journal Nature
Materials.
Hydrogen –the smallest of all atoms and
yet becoming more and more important
in terms of climate neutrality. While politics,
industry and research are heading
to use as much hydrogen as possible as a
sustainable energy carrier, hydrogen
embrittlement of high-strength alloys
has become one of the major issues
impeding the realization of the hydrogen
economy.
These materials are urgently needed
for the automotive and aerospace
industry to construct lightweight structural
components, and in all other components
used for storing and transporting
hydrogen. “Steels represent 90 %
of the global metallic alloy market and
are at the same time particularly prone
to hydrogen embrittlement. That’s why
our aim was to find an inexpensive,
scalable strategy to make steels more
resistant to hydrogen while keeping
their mechanical performance”, explains
Dr. Binhan Sun, postdoctoral
researcher, topic leader of Hydrogen
Embrittlement in High­Performance
Alloys at the MPIE and first author of
the publication. The scientists implemented
manganese-rich domains in the
steel’s microstructure to blunt cracks
and trap hydrogen inside and thus stop
54

crack propagation. “We tested our
approach with lightweight highstrength
manganese steels where we
produced an extremely high number
density (above ~2 ×1018m­3) of
manganese-rich buffer zones. These
buffer zones represent dead ends for
cracks by blunting sharp cracks. This
makes the steel twice as resistant to
hydrogen as conventional chemically
homogeneous steels, regardless of
when and how hydrogen enters the
material”, states Dr. Dirk Ponge, head
of the MPIE group “Mechanism-based
Alloy Design” who supervises the study.
The presented method can, in principle,
be applied to over 10 established
steel grades. The scientists also see possible
applications for other alloys (such
as multiphase titanium alloys), which
need to be strong, ductile and hydrogen
resistant. However, before widening the
range of alloys, the researchers are now
aiming to find different methods to
accurately produce domains of chemical
heterogeneity inside the microstructure.
These different methods could further
The exploration of chemical heterogeneity in the microstructure leads to an enhanced
resistance to hydrogen induced cracking, thus suppressing hydrogen induced premature failure
(left image). The microstructure was realized in ahigh-strength manganese-containing
steel where ahigh-number density of microscopically confined manganese-rich zones were
produced, serving to blunt and arrest hydrogen-induced microcracks (some of the manganese-rich
buffer zones are marked by elliptical frames in the right image).
enhance the crack-resistance effect and
better fit established industrial processing
routes. www.mpie.de/2281/en
Photo: MPIE
COOLING CHANNELS IN CASTINGS
Die casting inlays for temperature
control and lightweight
Energy efficiency and material savings
are central challenges for environmental
sustainability today. Efficient temperature
control is also high on everyone’s
agenda. Combicore from
Rodenbach in Germany supports these
efforts with extremely stable inlays for
realizing (cooling) channels in cast
parts, especially in high-pressure die
casting.
Customers prefer Combicore for realizing
channels and other cavities in cast
parts because these cores offer many
sustainable benefits. With the new core
technology foundries realize needed
holes in one pour as asingle cast part.
In automotive industry these channels
are often needed for cooling down
electric motors, assistant traction motor
housings, converters, batteries and
other housing components. Of course
also other applications are conceivable,
like channels for lubrication.
Combicore consist of ashaped metal
shell that is filled with aspecial material.
These casting cores are extremely
stable and resist casting pressures over
1200 bar. The technology can be used in
HPDC and all other casting processes.
In light metal casting an aluminium
casing is usually used for the core. The
metal casing remains in the cast parts
and constitutes the channel wall. The
filling is removed after the casting process.
The new technology offers many
advantages for innovative light cast
parts with great performance. The
channel follows the optimized design of
the cast part with reduced use of materials.
Lightweight components also
consume less energy later on. The flow
resistance of the cooling liquid can be
optimized thanks to the great freedom
of design.
Unlike the multi-plate solution for
battery housings seals are not used.
There is no planarity issue. Combicore
channels are leakage-free and realizable
with low cost. The company supports
customers in the core removal
process, if necessary. Separate machining
processes are not required.
The core dimension starts with 1
mm² with outer diameter up to ca.
Combicore for abattery housing. The
manufacturer ensures best performance
and heat transfer
18 mm. The largest Combicore is nearly
6000 mm long. The wall thickness
depends on the geometry of the core,
respectively the cavity. Normally it is
between 0.5 and 2mm. Each application
is individual with its separate parameters.
The function of the component
and its entire manufacturing process
are taken into account. Combicore produces
cores for automotive, electronics
and other industries for over 12 years.
www.combicore.com
Photo: Combicore
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 55

NEWS
AZTERLAN
New sand mold gas extraction system
for steel and copper casting
Anew technological development successfully
transfers the experience of
vacuum manufacturing, achieving asignificant
improvement in the quality of
the castings. It is the result of the collaboration
of Basque Azterlan Metallurgy
Research with three companies in the
Desox project.
Non­reusable casting molds (those that
are destroyed during demolding of the
parts once the metal is solidified) are
the result of the agglomeration of different
types of sand with organic and
inorganic binders. In addition to shaping
the mold, binders also provide
molds properties such as mechanical
resistance at low and high temperatures,
permeability to ensure aproper gas
exit, reduced chemical reactivity with
the molten metal and an adequate
thermal conductivity to ensure the
internal soundness of the cast components.
However, during the casting process,
these binder elements suffer degradation
and generate gases that mix with
the liquid metal. In addition to having a
negative impact on the environment
and onthe health &safety conditions,
these gases also have adirect influence
on the quality of castings, as they promote
the generation of oxides and
internal porosities in the components.
As explained by Azterlan researcher
Fernando Santos, „when the metal is
still in aliquid state, the reaction produced
bythe contact of the binders
with the most oxidizing alloying elements
of the metal generates oxides
inside the mold and on the surface of
the melt, such as slags. In addition, a
large part of the gases do not come out
of the metal during solidification and
generate pores and gas cavities that
affect the soundness of the parts”.
With the aim of addressing gas
extraction issues, different technologies
related to vacuum generation can
already befound in the market. In the
case of steel manufacturing, secondary
metallurgy integrates vacuuming to
reduce the level of gases that remain in
the final product. When it comes to
superalloys transformed by the lost wax
technology, fusion and casting are performed
by means of vacuum furnaces to
avoid generating reaction products that
would then remain as inclusions within
the components.
In order to transfer the vacuum
experience to the manufacturing of aluminum
or steel parts by means of lost
wax process and to the production of
steel parts by means of chemical sand
molding, Azterlan Technology Center
has collaborated with Ondarlan, Materiart
2015 and Castinox in the development
of apioneering gas extraction system
to improve the mold filling. Within
the Desox project these organizations
have achieved significant accomplishments,
such as manufacturing thinner
wall components or reducing the presence
of occluded gas and remnants of
reaction products and inclusions within
the parts.
„The new system consists of agas
extraction equipment, the adaptation
of the molding boxes and the incorporation
ofspecific venting systems, which
allow toextract not only the gases
Test cast within the framework of
the Desox project in an industrial
environment.
resulting from the decomposition of the
sand binder, but also the air existing
inside the mold“.
After pilot plant validations, the
new system has been successfully transferred
to industrial manufacturing conditions.
„In both environments the
results of the tests carried out have showed
a50%reduction of inclusions in
the parts manufactured“.
www.azterlan.es/en
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Photo: Azterlan
56

Mechanical sand
regeneration plant
type USR from HWS.
FILTECH
March 8–10, 2022
Cologne –Germany
The Filtration Event
www.Filtech.de
Photo: HWS
Platform
for your
success
HEINRICH WAGNER SINTO
Reclamation of used sand
instead of landfilling
In times of constantly rising costs for
the disposal of used sand, landfilling
and procurement of new sand, the
reclamation ofused sand to maintain
competitiveness is increasingly becoming
the focus of green sand foundries.
In particular, the impending shortage of
landfills and changes in landfill regulations
are making it more difficult to dispose
of the arising quantities of sand.
An alternative already exists in the
form of the reclamation of used sand.
Landfilling of used foundry sand is not
asustainable model for dealing with
the valuable resource sand. This trend
can threaten the economic viability of a
site. In many green sand foundries, the
issue of reclamation of used sand for
reuse of the sand portion and reduction
of disposal quantities has therefore
already arrived.
Foundry supplier Heinrich Wagner
Sinto (HWS) from Bad Laasphe in Germany
offers an own mechanical reclamation
process and areclamation test
center. The reclamation of used sand as
aprocess to remove additives and binders
from foundry sands is becoming
more and more apart of the daily routine
in afoundry. Atthe beginning of
the year two well-known green sand
foundries opted for asand reclamation
plant from HWS almost at the same
time, despite or perhaps because of the
current challenging situation. In the
end, reclamation in green sand foundries
closes one of the last open flanks in
the material cycle that is highly efficient
in many other respects. The reuse of
resources has always been acore competence
offoundries. In this context,
the use of used sand as arecyclable
material is away of improving economic
efficiency and conserving natural
resources. Furthermore, sustainability
can be improved by increasing the
recycling rate, reducing the volume of
transport and expanding the use of
material in the internal recycling system.
In this regard the reclamation of
used sand contributes to the long-term
safeguarding of the site.
www.wagner-sinto.de
Targeted
Solutions
for the
Casting
Industry
Your Contact: Suzanne Abetz
E-mail: info@filtech.de
Phone: +49 (0)2132 93 57 60

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1 Foundry Plants and Equipment
17 SurfaceTreatment andDrying
2
Melting Plants and Equipment for Iron and
Steel Castings and for Malleable Cast Iron
18
Plant,Transport, Stock, andHandling
Engineering
3 Melting Plants and Equipment for NFM
4 Refractories Technology
19 Pattern- andDiemaking
20 ControlSystemsand Automation
5
6
7
8
Non-metalRaw Materials and Auxiliaries for
Melting Shop
Metallic Charge Materials for Iron and Steel
Castings and for Malleable Cast Iron
Metallic Charge and Treatment Materials for
Light and Heavy Metal Castings
Plants and Machines for Moulding and
Coremaking Processes
21 TestingofMaterials
22 Analysis Techniqueand Laboratory
23 AirTechnique andEquipment
24 Environmental Protection andDisposal
9 Moulding Sands
10 Sand Conditioning and Reclamation
11 MouldingAuxiliaries
12 Gating andFeeding
13 Casting Machines andEquipment
25 Accident Prevention andErgonomics
26 OtherProducts forCasting Industry
27 Consulting andService
28 Castings
29 By-Products
14
Discharging, Cleaning, FinishingofRaw
Castings
30 Data Processing Technology
15 SurfaceTreatment
16 Weldingand Cutting
31 Foundries
32 Additivemanufacturing /3-D printing
58

03 Melting Plants and Equipment for NFM
03.02 Melting and Holding Furnaces, Electrically
Heated
▼ Aluminium Melting Furnaces 630
Refratechnik Steel GmbH
Refratechnik Casting GmbH
Am Seestern 5, 40547 Düsseldorf, Germany
+49 211 5858-0
E-Mail:
steel@refra.com
Internet:
www.refra.com
▼ Insulating Products 1130
08 Plants and Machines for Moulding and
Coremaking Processes
08.02 Moulding and Coremaking Machines
▼ Multi-Stage Vacuum Process 3223
LOI Thermoprocess GmbH
45141 Essen/Germany
+49 201 1891-1
E-Mail:
service-loi@tenova.com
Internet:
www.loi.tenova.com
▼ Remelting Furnaces 700
EIKA, S.COOP
Urresolo 47, 48277 Etxebarria, Spain
+34 946 16 77 32
E-Mail:
aagirregomezkorta@isoleika.es
Internet:
www.isoleika.es
▼ Micro Porous Insulating Materials 1220
Pfeiffer Vacuum GmbH
35614 Asslar,Germany
+49 6441 802-1190 7 +49 6441 802-1199
E-Mail:
andreas.wuerz@pfeiffer-vacuum.de
Internet:
www.pfeiffer-vacuum.de
09 Moulding Sands
09.01 Basic Moulding Sands
▼ Chromite Sands 3630
LOI Thermoprocess GmbH
45141 Essen/Germany
+49 201 1891-1
E-Mail:
service-loi@tenova.com
Internet:
www.loi.tenova.com
04 Refractories Technology
04.01 Plants, Equipment and Tools for Lining in Melting
and Casting
▼ Mixers and Chargers for RefractoryMixes 930
EIKA, S.COOP
Urresolo 47, 48277 Etxebarria, Spain
+34 946 16 77 32
E-Mail:
aagirregomezkorta@isoleika.es
Internet:
www.isoleika.es
▼ Ladle RefractoryMixes 1240
GTP Schäfer GmbH
41515 Grevenbroich, Germany
+49 2181 23394-0 7 +49 2181 23394-55
E-Mail:
info@gtp-schaefer.de
Internet:
www.gtp-schaefer.com
▼ Ceramic Sands/Chamotte Sands 3645
UELZENER Maschinen GmbH
Stahlstr.26-28, 65428 Rüsselsheim, Germany
+49 6142 177 68 0
E-Mail:
contact@uelzener-ums.de
Internet:
www.uelzener-ums.de
▼ Gunning for Relining of Cupolas 950
UELZENER Maschinen GmbH
Stahlstr.26-28, 65428 Rüsselsheim, Germany
+49 6142 177 68 0
E-Mail:
contact@uelzener-ums.de
Internet:
www.uelzener-ums.de
04.02 RefractoryMaterials (Shaped and Non Shaped)
▼ Refractories, in general 1040
UELZENER Maschinen GmbH
Stahlstr.26-28, 65428 Rüsselsheim, Germany
+49 6142 177 68 0
E-Mail:
contact@uelzener-ums.de
Internet:
www.uelzener-ums.de
04.04 RefractoryBuilding
▼ Maintenance of RefractoryLinings 1462
UELZENER Maschinen GmbH
Stahlstr.26-28, 65428 Rüsselsheim, Germany
+49 6142 177 68 0
E-Mail:
contact@uelzener-ums.de
Internet:
www.uelzener-ums.de
05 Non-metal Raw Materials and Auxiliaries for
Melting Shop
05.04 Carburization Agents
▼ Coke Breeze, Coke-Dust 1680
GTP Schäfer GmbH
41515 Grevenbroich, Germany
+49 2181 23394-0 7 +49 2181 23394-55
E-Mail:
info@gtp-schaefer.de
Internet:
www.gtp-schaefer.com
▼ Silica Sands 3720
STROBEL QUARZSAND GmbH
Freihungsand, 92271 Freihung, Germany
+49 9646 9201-0 7 +49 9646 9201-701
E-Mail:
info@strobel-quarzsand.de
Internet:
www.strobel-quarzsand.de
09.04 Mould and Core Coating
▼ Blackings, in general 4270
ARISTON Formstaub-WerkeGmbH &Co. KG
Worringerstr.255, 45289 Essen, Germany
+49 201 57761 7 +49 201 570648
Internet:
www.ariston-essen.de
EIKA,S.COOP
Urresolo 47, 48277 Etxebarria, Spain
+34 946 16 77 32
E-Mail:
aagirregomezkorta@isoleika.es
Internet:
www.isoleika.es
ARISTON Formstaub-WerkeGmbH &Co. KG
Worringerstr.255, 45289 Essen, Germany
+49 201 57761 7 +49 201 570648
Internet:
www.ariston-essen.de
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 59

SUPPLIERS GUIDE
09.06 Moulding Sands Testing
▼ Moisture Testing Equipment for Moulding Sand 4410
▼ Scales and Weighing Control 4590
▼ Exothermic Mini-Feeders 5400
Maschinenfabrik GustavEirichGmbH &CoKG
Walldürner Str.50, 74736 Hardheim, Germany
Internet:
www.eirich.de
▼ Moulding Sand Testing Equipment, in general 4420
Maschinenfabrik GustavEirichGmbH &CoKG
Walldürner Str.50, 74736 Hardheim, Germany
Internet:
www.eirich.de
10.04 Sand Reconditioning
▼ Sand Coolers 4720
GTP Schäfer GmbH
41515 Grevenbroich, Germany
+49 2181 23394-0 7 +49 2181 23394-55
E-Mail:
info@gtp-schaefer.de
Internet:
www.gtp-schaefer.com
▼ Exothermic Feeder Sleeves 5420
Maschinenfabrik GustavEirichGmbH &CoKG
Walldürner Str.50, 74736 Hardheim, Germany
Internet:
www.eirich.de
10 Sand Conditioning and Reclamation
Maschinenfabrik GustavEirichGmbH &CoKG
Walldürner Str.50, 74736 Hardheim, Germany
Internet:
www.eirich.de
12 Gating and Feeding
GTP Schäfer GmbH
41515 Grevenbroich, Germany
+49 2181 23394-0 7 +49 2181 23394-55
E-Mail:
info@gtp-schaefer.de
Internet:
www.gtp-schaefer.com
▼ Exothermic FeedingCompounds 5430
10.01 Moulding Sand Conditioning
▼ Aerators for Moulding Sand Ready-to-Use 4470
Maschinenfabrik GustavEirichGmbH &CoKG
Walldürner Str.50, 74736 Hardheim, Germany
Internet:
www.eirich.de
▼ Sand Preparation Plants and Machines 4480
▼ Covering Agents 5320
Refratechnik Steel GmbH
Refratechnik Casting GmbH
Am Seestern 5, 40547 Düsseldorf, Germany
+49 211 5858-0
E-Mail:
steel@refra.com
Internet:
www.refra.com
▼ Breaker Cores 5340
GTP Schäfer GmbH
41515 Grevenbroich, Germany
+49 2181 23394-0 7 +49 2181 23394-55
E-Mail:
info@gtp-schaefer.de
Internet:
www.gtp-schaefer.com
13 Casting Machines and Equipment
13.02 Die Casting and Accessories
▼ Diecasting Lubricants 5670
Maschinenfabrik GustavEirichGmbH &CoKG
Walldürner Str.50, 74736 Hardheim, Germany
Internet:
www.eirich.de
▼ Mixers 4520
Maschinenfabrik GustavEirichGmbH &CoKG
Walldürner Str.50, 74736 Hardheim, Germany
Internet:
www.eirich.de
▼ Sand Mixers 4550
Maschinenfabrik GustavEirichGmbH &CoKG
Walldürner Str.50, 74736 Hardheim, Germany
Internet:
www.eirich.de
▼ Aerators 4560
GTP Schäfer GmbH
41515 Grevenbroich, Germany
+49 2181 23394-0 7 +49 2181 23394-55
E-Mail:
info@gtp-schaefer.de
Internet:
www.gtp-schaefer.com
▼ Exothermic Products 5360
GTP Schäfer GmbH
41515 Grevenbroich, Germany
+49 2181 23394-0 7 +49 2181 23394-55
E-Mail:
info@gtp-schaefer.de
Internet:
www.gtp-schaefer.com
▼ Insulating Sleeves 5375
GTP Schäfer GmbH
41515 Grevenbroich, Germany
+49 2181 23394-0 7 +49 2181 23394-55
E-Mail:
info@gtp-schaefer.de
Internet:
www.gtp-schaefer.com
Chem-Trend (Deutschland) GmbH
Robert-Koch-Str.27, 22851 Norderstedt, Germany
+49 40 52955-0 7 +49 40 52955-2111
E-Mail:
service@chemtrend.de
Internet:
www.chemtrend.com
▼ Diecasting Parting Agents 5680
Chem-Trend (Deutschland) GmbH
Robert-Koch-Str.27, 22851 Norderstedt, Germany
+49 40 52955-0 7 +49 40 52955-2111
E-Mail:
service@chemtrend.de
Internet:
www.chemtrend.com
▼ Hydraulic Cylinders 5750
Maschinenfabrik GustavEirichGmbH &CoKG
Walldürner Str.50, 74736 Hardheim, Germany
Internet:
www.eirich.de
HYDROPNEU GmbH
Sudetenstr.,73760 Ostfildern, Germany
+49 711 342999-0 7 +49 711 342999-1
E-Mail:
info@hydropneu.de
Internet:
www.hydropneu.de
60

▼ Piston Lubricants 5790
▼ Ageing Furnaces 7401
▼ Hearth Bogie Type Furnaces 7525
Chem-Trend (Deutschland) GmbH
Robert-Koch-Str.27, 22851 Norderstedt, Germany
+49 40 52955-0 7 +49 40 52955-2111
E-Mail:
service@chemtrend.de
Internet:
www.chemtrend.com
▼ Parting Agents for Dies 5850
LOI Thermoprocess GmbH
45141 Essen/Germany
+49 201 1891-1
E-Mail:
service-loi@tenova.com
Internet:
www.loi.tenova.com
▼ Annealing and Hardening Furnaces 7430
LOI Thermoprocess GmbH
45141 Essen/Germany
+49 201 1891-1
E-Mail:
service-loi@tenova.com
Internet:
www.loi.tenova.com
18 Plant, Transport, Stock, and Handling
Engineering
Chem-Trend (Deutschland) GmbH
Robert-Koch-Str.27, 22851 Norderstedt, Germany
+49 40 52955-0 7 +49 40 52955-2111
E-Mail:
service@chemtrend.de
Internet:
www.chemtrend.com
▼ DryLubricants (Beads) 5865
Chem-Trend (Deutschland) GmbH
Robert-Koch-Str.27, 22851 Norderstedt, Germany
+49 40 52955-0 7 +49 40 52955-2111
E-Mail:
service@chemtrend.de
Internet:
www.chemtrend.com
▼ Multi-Stage Vacuum Process 5876
LOI Thermoprocess GmbH
45141 Essen/Germany
+49 201 1891-1
E-Mail:
service-loi@tenova.com
Internet:
www.loi.tenova.com
▼ Solution Annealing Furnaces 7455
LOI Thermoprocess GmbH
45141 Essen/Germany
+49 201 1891-1
E-Mail:
service-loi@tenova.com
Internet:
www.loi.tenova.com
▼ Annealing Furnaces 7490
18.01 Continuous Conveyors and Accessories
▼ VibratoryMotors 7980
FRIEDRICH Schwingtechnik GmbH
Am Höfgen 24, 42781 Haan, Germany
+49 2129 3790-0 7 +49 2129 3790-37
E-Mail:
info@friedrich-schwingtechnik.de
Internet:
www.friedrich-schwingtechnik.de
20 ControlSystemsand Automation
20.01 Control and Adjustment Systems
▼ Automation and Control for Sand Preparation 9030
Pfeiffer Vacuum GmbH
35614 Asslar,Germany
+49 6441 802-1190 7 +49 6441 802-1199
E-Mail:
andreas.wuerz@pfeiffer-vacuum.de
Internet:
www.pfeiffer-vacuum.de
17 Surface Treatment and Drying
LOI Thermoprocess GmbH
45141 Essen/Germany
+49 201 1891-1
E-Mail:
service-loi@tenova.com
Internet:
www.loi.tenova.com
▼ Quenching and Tempering Furnaces 7510
Maschinenfabrik GustavEirichGmbH & Co KG
Walldürner Str.50, 74736 Hardheim, Germany
Internet:
www.eirich.de
20.02 Measuring and Control Instruments
▼ Immersion Thermo Couples 9230
▼ HeatTreatment and Drying 7398
Gebr.Löcher Glüherei GmbH
Mühlenseifen 2, 57271 Hilchenbach, Germany
+49 2733 8968-0 7 +49 2733 8968-10
Internet:
www.loecher-glueherei.de
LOI Thermoprocess GmbH
45141 Essen/Germany
+49 201 1891-1
E-Mail:
service-loi@tenova.com
Internet:
www.loi.tenova.com
▼ HeatTreating Furnaces 7520
MINKON GmbH
Heinrich-Hertz-Str.30-32, 40699 Erkrath, Germany
+49 211 209908-0 7 +49 211 209908-90
E-Mail:
info@minkon.de
Internet:
www.minkon.de
▼ Laser Measurement Techniques 9310
17.01 Plants and Furnaces
▼ Tempering Furnaces 7400
LOIThermoprocess GmbH
45141 Essen/Germany
+49 201 1891-1
E-Mail:
service-loi@tenova.com
Internet:
www.loi.tenova.com
LOI Thermoprocess GmbH
45141 Essen/Germany
+49 201 1891-1
E-Mail:
service-loi@tenova.com
Internet:
www.loi.tenova.com
POLYTEC GmbH
76337 Waldbronn, Germany
+49 7243 604-0 7 +49 7243 69944
E-Mail:
Lm@polytec.de
Internet:
www.polytec.de
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 61

SUPPLIERS GUIDE
▼ Positioning Control 9345
▼ Simulation Software 9522
27 Consulting and Service
▼ Machining 11292
POLYTEC GmbH
76337 Waldbronn, Germany
+49 7243 604-0 7 +49 7243 69944
E-Mail:
Lm@polytec.de
Internet:
www.polytec.de
▼ Temperature Measurement 9380
MAGMA Giessereitechnologie GmbH
Kackertstr.11, 52072 Aachen, Germany
+49 241 88901-0 7 +49 241 88901-60
E-Mail:
info@magmasoft.de
Internet:
www.magmasoft.com
22 Analysis Techniqueand LaboratoryEquipment
▼ Sampling Systems 9970
Behringer GmbH
Maschinenfabrik und Eisengiesserei
Postfach:
1153, 74910 Kirchardt, Germany
+49 7266 207-0 7 +49 7266 207-500
Internet:
www.behringer.net
▼ Simulation Services 11310
MINKON GmbH
Heinrich-Hertz-Str.30-32, 40699 Erkrath, Germany
+49 211 209908-0 7 +49 211 209908-90
E-Mail:
info@minkon.de
Internet:
www.minkon.de
▼ Thermal Analysis Equipment 9400
MINKON GmbH
Heinrich-Hertz-Str.30-32, 40699 Erkrath, Germany
+49 211 209908-0 7 +49 211 209908-90
E-Mail:
info@minkon.de
Internet:
www.minkon.de
24 Environmental Protection and Disposal
MAGMA Giessereitechnologie GmbH
Kackertstr.11, 52072 Aachen, Germany
+49 241 88901-0 7 +49 241 88901-60
E-Mail:
info@magmasoft.de
Internet:
www.magmasoft.com
▼ HeatTreatment 11345
MINKON GmbH
Heinrich-Hertz-Str.30-32, 40699 Erkrath, Germany
+49 211 209908-0 7 +49 211 209908-90
E-Mail:
info@minkon.de
Internet:
www.minkon.de
▼ Thermo Couples 9410
MINKON GmbH
Heinrich-Hertz-Str.30-32, 40699 Erkrath, Germany
+49 211 209908-0 7 +49 211 209908-90
E-Mail:
info@minkon.de
Internet:
www.minkon.de
20.03 Data Acquisition and Processing
▼ Numerical Solidification Analysis and Process
Simulation 9500
MAGMA Giessereitechnologie GmbH
Kackertstr.11, 52072 Aachen, Germany
+49 241 88901-0 7 +49 241 88901-60
E-Mail:
info@magmasoft.de
Internet:
www.magmasoft.com
▼ Numerical Solidification Simulation and
ProcessOptimization 9502
▼ Waste Disposal, Repreparation, and Utilization 24.03
Remondis Production GmbH -LEGRAN
Brunnenstraße 138 ,44536 Lünen
+49 2306 106 8831
Internet:
Germany
E-Mail:
yannik.droste@remondis.de
Internet:
www.legran.de
26 Other Products for Casting Industry
26.02 Industrial Commodities
▼ Joints, Asbestos-free 11120
MINKON GmbH
Heinrich-Hertz-Str.30-32, 40699 Erkrath, Germany
+49 211 209908-0 7 +49 211 209908-90
E-Mail:
info@minkon.de
Internet:
www.minkon.de
▼ Sealing and Insulating Products up to 1260 øC 11125
Gebr.Löcher Glüherei GmbH
Mühlenseifen 2, 57271 Hilchenbach, Germany
+49 2733 8968-0 7 +49 2733 8968-10
Internet:
www.loecher-glueherei.de
28 Castings
▼ Aluminium Pressure Diecasting 11390
Schött Druckguß GmbH
Aluminium Die Casting
Postfach:
2766, 58687 Menden, Germany
+49 2373 1608-0 7 +49 2373 1608-110
E-Mail:
vertrieb@schoett-druckguss.de
Internet:
www.schoett-druckguss.de
▼ Rolled Wire 11489
Behringer GmbH
Maschinenfabrik und Eisengiesserei
Postfach:
1153, 74910 Kirchardt, Germany
+49 7266 207-0 7 +49 7266 207-500
Internet:
www.behringer.net
▼ Spheroidal Iron 11540
MAGMA Giessereitechnologie GmbH
Kackertstr.11, 52072 Aachen, Germany
+49 241 88901-0 7 +49 241 88901-60
E-Mail:
info@magmasoft.de
Internet:
www.magmasoft.com
MINKON GmbH
Heinrich-Hertz-Str.30-32, 40699 Erkrath, Germany
+49 211 209908-0 7 +49 211 209908-90
E-Mail:
info@minkon.de
Internet:
www.minkon.de
Behringer GmbH
Maschinenfabrik und Eisengiesserei
Postfach:
1153, 74910 Kirchardt, Germany
+49 7266 207-0 7 +49 7266 207-500
Internet:
www.behringer.net
62

30 Data Processing Technology
31 Foundries
▼ Mold Filling and Solidification Simulation 11700
31.01 Iron, Steel, and Malleable-Iron Foundries
▼ Iron Foudries 11855
MAGMA Giessereitechnologie GmbH
Kackertstr.11, 52072 Aachen, Germany
+49 241 88901-0 7 +49 241 88901-60
E-Mail:
info@magmasoft.de
Internet:
www.magmasoft.com
Behringer GmbH
Maschinenfabrik und Eisengiesserei
Postfach:
1153, 74910 Kirchardt, Germany
+49 7266 207-0 7 +49 7266 207-500
Internet:
www.behringer.net
Internet:
IndextoCompanies
Company Product Company Product
ARISTON Formstaub-Werke 1680, 4270
GmbH &Co. KG
BEHRINGER GmbH 11292, 11489, 11540, 11855
Maschinenfabrik&Eisengießerei
Chem Trend (Deutschland) GmbH 5670, 5680, 5790, 5850, 5865
Maschinenfabrik 4410, 4420, 4470, 4480, 4520,
Gustav Eirich GmbH u. Co KG 4550, 4560, 4590, 4720, 9030
Friedrich Schwingtechnik GmbH 7980
GTP Schäfer 3630, 3645, 5340, 5360, 5375,
Giesstechnische Produkte GmbH 5400, 5420, 5430
HYDROPNEU GmbH 5750
EIKA, S.COOP 1040, 1130, 1220
REMONDIS Production GmbH 24
Gebr.LöcherGlüherei 7398, 11345
GmbH
LOIThermprocess GmbH 630, 700, 7400, 7401, 7430,
7455, 7490, 7510, 7520, 7525
MAGMA Gießereitechnologie GmbH 9500, 9502, 9522, 11310, 11700
MINKON GmbH 9230, 9380, 9400, 9410, 9970,
Geschäftsleitung 11120, 11125
Pfeiffer Vacuum GmbH 3223, 5876
Polytec GmbH 9310, 9345
Refratechnik Steel GmbH 1040, 5320
Schött-Druckguß GmbH 11390
Strobel Quarzsand GmbH 3720
Uelzener Maschinen GmbH 930, 950, 1240, 1462
Click here for the product list:
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 63

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64

INTERNATIONAL FAIRS AND CONGRESSES
Fairs and Congresses
61. International Foundry Conference
September, 15-17, 2021, Portoroz, Slovenia
www.drustvo-livarjev.si/
Iron Melting Conference &Exhibition 2021
September, 28-29, 2021, Saarbrücken, Germany
ironmelting.com
Metal Expo
October, 19-21, 2021, Kielce, Poland
www.targikielce.pl/en/metal
Formnext 2021
October, 16-19, 2021, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
formnext.mesago.com/frankfurt/en.html
Euroguss 2022
January, 18-20, 2022, Nuremberg, Germany
www.euroguss.de/en
GIFA Southeast Asia 2022
February, 9-11, 2022, Bangkok, Thailand
www.gifa-southeastasia.com/
Advertisers‘ Index
AAGM Aalener Gießereimaschinen InsideBack Cover
GmbH, Bopfingen/Germany
DISA Industries A/S, Taastrup/Denmark 33
Maschinenfabrik Gustav Eirich GmbH &CoKG 15
Hardheim/Germany
ExOne GmbH, Gersthofen/Germany 51
Filtech Exhibitions Germany GmbH &Co. KG 57
Meerbusch/Germany
Hüttenes-Albertus Chemische
Back Cover
Werke GmbH, Düsseldorf/Germany
Jasper Gesellschaft für Energiewirtschaft Front Cover
und Kybernetik mbH, Geseke/Germany
KLEIN Anlagenbau AG 41
Freudenberg/Germany
NürnbergMesse GmbH 17
Nürnberg/Germany
O.M.LER S.r.l., Bra (CN)/Italy 12
Optris GmbH, Berlin/Germany 19
Heinrich Wagner Sinto Maschinenfabrik GmbH 49
Bad Laasphe/Germany
Targi Kielce S.A., Kielce/Poland 37
CASTING PLANT &TECHNOLOGY 3/2021 65

PREVIEW/IMPRINT
Investment casting process at Feinguss
Blank in Riedlingen. To create
abetter production planning, the
processes were screened and optimized
with many small improvements.
Photo: Feinguss Blank
Preview of the next issue
Selection oftopics:
M. Schmidt: More efficiency through restructuring
“A change process can only work if you pick up the employees and actively involve them,” says Peter Schäfer, Head ofInvestment
Casting Production Unit 1atthe Blank-Group in Riedlingen, Southern Germany. His company presents three approaches
of a restructuring process that has led to significant improvements and changed the process flow in the long term.
P. Sonntag: No fear of challenges
Livar in Slovenia received arequest for manufacturing aductile iron casting. To represent the geometry, the foundry decided
to produce acore segment and then overshoot it in asecond core box. But the surface of the inserted sand core was not completely
filled with sand, manually adding vents and flow paths did not help. The solution was acore shooting simulation.
N. D. Rasmussen: Sustainable production with modern molding plants
High­end domestic stove and fireplace brand and foundry Leda Werk GmbH &CoKGinLeer, Northern Germany, has commissioned
aDisamatic D5 molding line which also offers resource conservation and energy efficiency.
Imprint
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66

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THE INTERNATIONAL STEEL INDUSTRY
steel production
application technology
innovation +management
processing
READ STEEL + TECHNOLOGY REGULARLY.
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