Ablation casting

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Ablation casting is a variation of a sand casting involving a soluble binder. The mold is dissolved and washed away, allowing rapid cooling of the casting. [1] [2]

Overview

Ablation casting is a sand casting process that uses water to wash away the mold while the metal solidifies. This process produces castings with high mechanical properties, reduced defects, and a fine microstructure.

Contents

Here are some steps in the ablation casting process:

  1. Mold preparation: A mold is made from sand particles bonded with a water-soluble binder.
  2. Filling: The mold is filled with molten metal.
  3. Ablation: While the metal is still molten, a spray of water erodes away the mold. The water allows direct contact with the metal, which eliminates the air gap that usually forms in other casting processes.

Ablation casting has several advantages, including:

Honda used ablation casting to produce the Acura NSX hybrid supercar. Honda chose ablation casting because conventional castings would have been too brittle for the car's crush zones. [3] [4]

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References

  1. Grassi, J. "The Ablation Casting Process" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
  2. Barbarias, E.; Niklas, A.; Lizarralde, I.; Garat, M.; Bakedano, A.; Fernández-Calvo, A. I. (2022-01-26). "Ablation technology applied to A356 alloys compared with conventional casting processes". Materials Science and Engineering: A. 833: 142528. doi:10.1016/j.msea.2021.142528. ISSN   0921-5093.
  3. "Ablation Casting". acura.com. Archived from the original on September 28, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2024.
  4. "Honda Pioneers Ablation Casting With NSX". www.wardsauto.com. Archived from the original on 2024-07-23. Retrieved 2024-11-24.