An unnamed foundry supplying exhaust gas recirculation valves to an auto parts manufacturer could not fulfill the order, and that buyer needed to find another aluminum foundry to source those castings — and to qualify that supplier, fast. Thanks to some quick, effective simulation studies, Epcor Foundries in Cincinnati was awarded the business.
Epcor used ESI Group’s QuikCast casting simulation software to evaluate the initial mold design for the EGR casting. They were able to identify several areas where the simulation showed porosity would be a problem during the casting process.
The foundry’s engineers ran a series of alternative mold-design simulations, with risers added in various possible locations to feed molten metal to compensate for shrinkage in critical areas of the mold.
“We constructed a design that the simulation said would work nearly perfectly,” said Mike Maratta, plant manager for Epcor Foundries. “The result was 98% first time throughput for the initial parts, much better than you would expect to see on a complex part like this prior to simulations.”
Read the full report, "Accelerating Production Design, and Getting It Right"