Die Casting
Die casting is a process for production of metal alloy parts. Die
casting is usually done with metals with low melting temperatures,
such as aluminum alloy, zinc alloy, and brass. In die casting molten
alloy is injected into a steel mold under high pressure to form the
metal parts. Finishing processes such as polishing, anodizing, and
powder coating may be applied afterwards to improve surface
appearance.
Relative to many other casting methods, such as sand casting, die
casting forms cleaner, higher tolerance parts that require less post
machining and have lower porosity. However, die casting can only be used
with metals with a relatively low melting point.
Design Guidelines
When designing your die cast part abide by the following
guidelines where possible:
- Keep wall thickness uniform throughout the
part.
- Use a wall thickness not too thick or too thin for the kind of
metal alloy used. Consider the shrink factor of the material and
cooling time.
- Use rounded corners instead of sharp corners. Sharp acute
angle corners may not fill completely.
- Add plenty of draft to surfaces parallel to the direction of
part ejection. This will ease part ejection.
- Limit the use of undercuts to reduce the required
number of slides in the mold.
- Avoid long, thin holes. Increase hole ID or decrease
hole length.
|