By using aluminium casting to replace iron casting the weight of the component is reduced upto 50%. The auto manufactures are investigating as to which parts of cast iron they could replace with aluminium parts. The 356-T6 is an alloy of low cost which is being utilized in aerospace industry.
An important characteristic of aluminium and its alloys is that the fatigue strength of aluminium keeps on going down due to increasing stress processes. Before conducting stress analyses the number of stress cycles must be fixed.
To get high quality castings many procedures are used, when you are casting it into permanent moulds. Vacuum might be used to help the flow and to reduce porosity. In one method the liquid aluminium is pumped from the bottom of die rather than being filled from top. It does not let the air to remain in the die reduces porosity and gives cleaner better quality castings. The use of such techniques enables us to get parts cast with a wall thickness of only 2.3mm. Aluminium castings are also being used to make Engine blocks and heads.
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