Method of casting aluminum or aluminum alloy

Abstract

A unit sand mold is produced within a mold making chamber in the casting line. The unit sand mold has cavities on the front and rear faces in the line direction. A plurality of unit sand molds thus produced are connected by joining the front face of one unit sand mold to the rear face of the preceding unit sand mold to form a train of connected sand molds. Molten aluminum or aluminum alloy is injected into the cavity through an injection port provided at the boundary between the joined faces. The train of connected sand molds is then divided by cutting at a substantially central portion of each unit sand mold or of every nth unit sand mold (n is an integer of two or more) and the unit sand mold(s) is / are dipped in water to be cooled. The sand mold is then dismantled, and sand thus obtained is dried and supplied to the mold making chamber for reuse.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a method of casting aluminum or aluminum alloy to produce castings such as automobile aluminum wheels or the like. [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art [0004] Aluminum or aluminum alloy castings such as aluminum wheels have been conventionally manufactured by casting methods using a metal mold, for example by the metal mold casting technique. For casting iron, on the other hand, casting methods employing a mold formed from green sand (sand mold) are also employed. This is because, when casting iron, slow cooling will not impose any problem in terms of the casting quality, and also because metal molds are difficult to use for casing iron due to its high melting temperature. [0005] In addition to these prior arts, a casting method has been proposed that employs a green sand mold while taking its cooling speed into account (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-307158)....

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides a method of casting aluminum or aluminum alloy using sand molds, which results in high-quality castings with improved productivity. The method involves injecting molten aluminum or aluminum alloy into the sand mold, cooling the casting with water or liquid coolant, and disassembling the sand mold. The use of sand molds allows for faster production and higher efficiency compared to metal mold casting methods. Additionally, the invention provides a method of improving the quality of the castings by drying the sand obtained from disassembling the sand mold and reusing it in subsequent castings."

Problems solved by technology

This is because, when casting iron, slow cooling will not impose any problem in terms of the casting quality, and also because metal molds are difficult to use for casing iron due to its high melting temperature.

Conventionally, no method has been practiced that is capable of casting aluminum or aluminum alloy using a mold made from green sand, and the above-mentioned patent publication does not disclose such method either.

Otherwise, fine cast structure cannot be obtained and the quality of castings thus produced will be poor.

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