CENTRIFUGAL CASTING METHOD AND APPARATUS

摘要

A method and apparatus for centrifugal casting, in which transfer functions are developed relating the fluidity of molten metal, for example iron of varying composition, to casting machine movement for a particular mold in order to cast objects, for example pipe, having desired and uniform characteristics, including wall thickness. Fluidity is calculated for each pour of molten metal based on the measured pour temperature and measured liquidus arrest temperature. A drive system controlled by a programmable logic controller moves the casting machine in accordance with the output of the transfer functions based on the calculated fluidity.

主权项

1. A method of developing control equations to relate the fluidity of molten metal to the volumetric requirements of a rotating mold for centrifugally casting an object from molten metal poured from a container, said molten metal having a liquidus arrest temperature and, when poured, a pour temperature, said method comprising:
(a) recording the liquidus arrest temperature of the molten metal in the container; (b) pouring the molten metal into a trough to deliver the molten metal to a rotating mold; (c) recording the pour temperature of the molten metal poured into the trough; (d) moving the rotating mold relative to the trough to dispose molten metal into the mold, wherein said movement is controlled to deliver a volume of molten metal to said mold to cast said object in accordance with predetermined specifications; (e) recording a predetermined set of parameters characterizing said movement and actual specifications of said object as cast; (f) repeating steps (a) through (e) a statistically significant number of times; (g) performing a regression analysis on said recorded parameters, recorded specifications, and fluidities calculated from said liquidus arrest temperatures and pour temperatures to produce control equations relating said parameters, specifications, and fluidities.