SinterCast AB reported it has licensed its process control technology for compacted graphite iron production to an unnamed heavy-truck manufacturer in northern Europe, in connection with that customer’s production of a new 13-liter engine platform at its own foundry. The developer added its engineers have been working with the foundry to define “a robust series-production process for the CGI cylinder block of the new engine platform.”

Several European commercial truck manufacturers produce CGI using the SinterCast process technology, including Volvo Trucks, which also has announced it is introducing a 13-liter engine to match vehicle-emissions regulations and reduce fuel costs. The Volvo foundry in Skövde, Sweden, casts CGI powertrain components using the SinterCast process.

Compacted graphite iron (CGI) is a lightweight cast iron that offers greater tensile strength, stiffness, and fatigue strength than gray iron or aluminum. SinterCast developed and licenses the most widely adopted process technology for refining CGI.

A SinterCast System 4000 Plus automated process control system will be installed at the foundry this month and commissioned prior to the start of 2027.

The supplier noted that at full volume, the amount of CGI to be produced at the new installation will increase SinterCast’s current series production by more than 20%

“The captive foundry team and the SinterCast team have worked closely over recent months to develop and validate a bespoke, world-class process control solution for the CGI cylinder block of the new 13-litre engine platform,” explained president and CEO Dr. Vitor Anjos. “The technology license agreement and the order for the System 4000 Plus represent the successful outcome of this collaboration and provides a strong foundation for the start of series production.”

Anjos detailed that the System 4000 Plus system will work together with the foundry’s existing SinterCast Ladle Tracker^® technology - which uses a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags affixed to each ladle and RFID reader antennae placed at critical locations throughout the foundry, such as furnace tapping, treatment stations and pouring - to achieve CGI process control and improve traceability.

“This new volume, combined with previously announced volumes at other SinterCast-licensed foundries for the same global engine program, represents more than 20% growth in our current series production, to be phased in during 2027 and 2028,” the president and CEO stated. “This is an important contribution to our target to reach the eight million engine equivalents (editor’s note: 400,000 metric tons/year) by 2031.”