Design and Automation of Low Pressure Die Casting Machine

Abstract

Low pressure die casting (LPDC) is capable of making high quality casting, low- turbulence and good melting especially for aluminium alloy components such as yer,

ange and aerospace casting. The costing for this process is very low as compared to other casting process. Die casting industry is under erce competition with plas- tics and composite materials industries. In order to survive and become competitive, manufacturers are forced to streamline and optimize individual manufacturing pro- cesses. The costing of LPDC process is mainly related to labour oriented. The main focus of the dissertation is to reduce the labour cost and process lead time. In this dissertation, an attempt has been made towards automation. The hy- draulic systems are designed for controlling the reverse and forward movement of holding furnace and release and tting of core/punch to the die. Vertical column has been designed for supporting of plates and punch to achieve better accuracy. The newly designed system and automation can be applied for long term usages and also would reduce the production time and labour cost. The system not only reduce the time, but also improve quality due to repeatability in the casting process and minimal resource utilization in term of space. 3D Modelling of various components of the hydraulic system and ejection system, namely structure of LPDC machine, column support, hydraulic cylinder, plate support have been carried out using Creo parametric 2.0. Finite Element Analysis of critical components have been carried out using ANSYS 14.5. Static analysis results for total deformation and equivalent von-Mises stresses are compared with analytical values. Buckling analysis for long vertical column has been carried out to determine crippling load and also compared with analytical result. Thermo structural analysis has been also carried out for col- umn support due to a temperature between die machine components.