O’Fallon Casting wins ICI “2014 Aerospace Casting of the Year”

For the third time in six years, O’Fallon Casting was recognized in 2014 by the Investment Casting Institute with their “Aerospace Casting of the Year” award.  Receiving this award is special award as it is granted by industry peers to honor an outstanding example of the capabilities of the Investment Casting process.

This year’s ICI Casting Contest Winner is unique among other award winners as it is an aluminum alloy prototype that was manufactured from the CAD solid model of a Dip Braze design.  As such the appearance of the part so resembles a “Sheet Metal” housing that many who see the part are at first unable to distinguish it as a casting.  This reaction shows the brilliance of this entry and why it was selected as the winner by the Judges of Casting Competition.

As you observe this casting you will notice that it is comprised of numerous thin (.05”) flat members.  Consequently this 18” x 8” x 5.5” structure is very lightweight, weighing less than one pound.  As the part is not designed to be manufactured as a casting the solid model does not contain any of the fillet radii that are so essential in good casting design.

Although these obstacles will be overcome in a redesign of the part for the casting process the existing configuration presents a significant challenge to the manufacture of a cast prototype. Despite the inherent challenges O’Fallon Casting’s Investment Casting process was successful in producing two castings from two SLA Patterns.

The one-piece prototype casting is structurally more rigid and dimensionally more accurate than the Dip Brazed assembly currently in use by the Customer and well demonstrates that Investment Casting offers significant advantages and is a better design and manufacturing alternative.  A one-piece Investment Casting design will reduce the part count and enhance the manufacturability of an engineered product.

The Sales Engineers at O’Fallon Casting are skilled at Concurrent Engineering and will be pleased to assist our Customers to develop parts as good casting designs.

A20X / 205 / AMS4471 Aluminum Alloy

The 200-Series of Aluminum-Copper alloys, such as A201-T7, are well known for very high strength; nearly double that of the more common 300-Series of Aluminum-Silicon alloys. Although O’Fallon Casting does cast A201, the propensity of the Aluminum-Copper alloys to “Hot Tear” during solidification has limited their widespread use. The Investment Casting industry in general considers these 200-Series alloys to be “un-castable”. 

Aeromet International PLC has overcome this obstacle with development of a truly castable 200-Series alloy, A20X, widely regarded as the strongest commercially available cast aluminum alloy in the market today. The FAA added 205-T7 to the MMPDS in 2013. SAE International has issued specification AMS 4471A for the Investment Casting of 205-T7 alloy with minimum physical properties that exceed those of cast alloys A201-T7 (AMS 4229), E357-T6 (AMS 4288) and A357 (AMS 4219). OFC has tested 205-T7 and has substantiated the physical properties of AMS 4471A.

O’Fallon Casting has been licensed by Aeromet International PLC to manufacture castings from their patented A20X / 205 aluminum alloy (AMS 4471A).

In addition to its high ambient temperature properties, A20X also has outstanding Elevated Temperature Strength, Fatigue Strength and Corrosion Resistance.

The 205-T7 will challenge alloys such as D357 & E357 for use in “Structural Casting” applications. The high properties of 205-T7 will also serve as an alternative to wrought alloys for configurations that are difficult or impossible to machine.

Although it is unlikely to replace an industry standard such as A356 in “everyday applications”, 205-T7 should be considered for use in products where the strength vs. weight ratio is a crucial consideration such as in Aerospace & Transportation.

Potential Customers will want to “Qualify” 205-T7 for use in their products and O’Fallon Casting is interested in working with partners to help develop new designs for the alloy.

For further information, contact O’Fallon Casting.

Customer Quality Cross Training

The Sales Engineering team at O’Fallon Casting acts as the primary point of contact between the business and its customers. Because of this, it is critical that all of the technical and quality requirements of customer products are understood by each Sales Engineer. Additionally, the Sales Engineer is responsible for verifying the contract requirements and ensuring that they are met. They essentially, acts as the program manager for the customer at the foundry. This past February 11^th-13th, O’Fallon Casting had the opportunity to send one of its Sales Engineers to take part in a three day quality training course hosted by one of its aerospace customers.  Typically, this course is only open to Quality Engineers or Quality Assurance representatives. O’Fallon Casting, however, requested that their Sales Engineer be allowed to take part in the training in an effort to promote cross training. OFC felt that this training course offered a superb opportunity for its Sales Engineer to be exposed to its customer’s quality organization and quality requirements.

               The three day training session took place in Anaheim, CA. The sessions are typically offered once a month in varying locations. About thirty five Quality Representatives from various suppliers were in attendance. Each day lasted eight hours and was comprised of a combination of lectures, question and answer sessions, and assignments. Coursework covered a wide array of topics including First Article Inspections, Part Marking, Product Safety, and Special Processes. Each topic covered customer specific instructions and preferences for each process. There was even an opportunity to prepare an entire mock First Article Inspection package using the customer’s procedure. This provided vital insight into how this customer accepts inspection data. In turn, this training will enable streamlined qualification of new castings to our customer. Now that the Sales Engineer is more familiar with their processes, design and inspection data can be better communicated to their engineering and purchasing teams. Individualized customer training in inspection and part qualification is important as each company has a different qualification process to follow. O’Fallon Casting encourages other companies to provide similar training.

               Now that the Sales Engineer is course certified, he can act as a better liaison between OFC’s Sales and Quality departments. Furthermore, the way our customer handles and resolves quality issues can be better understood. This is extremely beneficial for communication between OFC and its customers. This valuable experience demonstrates the need to expand these classes to supplier employees outside of the quality organization. Contract officers, manufacturing engineers, and other critical employees all act in the production of customer product and can benefit from this exposure.  This training experience demonstrates O’Fallon Casting’s commitment and dedication to our customer’s and their requirements. We are willing to go the extra mile and put forth every effort in meeting your product’s needs.

The High Cost of Part Count

One sometimes overlooked aspect of part design is the High Cost of Part Count, that unintended cost for NOT combining the assembled features of a system into a single piece structure. One of the strengths of the casting processes, and in particular that of Investment Casting, is the ability to combine multiple features into one consolidated design that reduces the Part Count and enhances both the affordability and reliability of a system.

 

Simply stated, Part Count is “the total number of separate parts in an engineered system” and there are numerous articles and abstracts available concerning the subject. Many businesses do utilize Part Count as a design-to-cost factor, but I am also surprised to find that some do not.

  

If you consider the “Cost Stream” for any single part in a system, the accumulated cost for procurement can be staggering. Here’s a short list of downstream costs for each new part design:

• Design Approval, Data & Control and the Make / Buy Decisions 
• Production Planning, Purchasing Requisitions and Purchasing
• Tooling Construction and Proofing
• Manufacturing, Inspection and Testing
• Shipping, Receiving, Inspection and Inventory
• Part Assembly and Testing  

When you consider the duplicative costs that are absorbed for each individual part in a system, it is easy to understand the value of a lower Part Count. Even in an instance where the per-unit-price of a complex part might be greater than the total of multiple simplified pieces, there is still inherent value in designing them into a single cast structure.

 

Furthermore, every assembly point in a system does carry some risk of system failure that impacts warranty costs. A lower Part Count, which is the result of fewer assembly operations, should also improve system reliability.

Often Part Count reduction only becomes a consideration once a system is in the field. At this late point, however, the costs for redesign, additional tooling and testing will often discourage effective action. Part Count reduction, therefore, is most effective if implemented early in the design process at the point where the System Assembly points are identified. Concurrent Engineering input from a foundry can be invaluable at this point.

Generally speaking a lower Part Count can enhance both the affordability and reliability of a designed system. Castings are an effective design option to eliminate assembly operations and reduce a system’s Part Count. 

Casting design does, however, require some specialized expertise. To that point O’Fallon Casting provides its customers with Concurrent Engineering Services to assist them in reducing the Part Count of their systems. OFC also offers its Investment Casting-101 class to teach the basics for good casting design. 

If you have any questions, contact your O’FallonCasting Sales Engineer.