Plasma Treatment Casting (PTC) process for aluminum Gravity Die Casting (GDC)

1. Plasma Treatment Casting (PTC) process for aluminum Gravity Die Casting (GDC)

2. Plasma Treatment Casting (PTC) process for aluminum Gravity Die Casting (GDC) • The PTC is an add-on patented technology, and does not change the end product • The PTC is commercial as of 2007 • The PTC reduces risers’ mass by 70-80% • The PTC increases casting productivity by 20-25% • The PTC improves the casting quality • The PTC reduces casting process defectsby 50%

3. Plasma Treatment Casting (PTC) PTC System Electrodes PTC advantages Saving 30% of aluminum casting Increasing 20% of casting productivity Saving 35% of sand and binders Aluminum saving Sand and Binders saving

4. The PTC Process The PTC process applies plasma arc during solidification processThe rotating plasma arc movesalong a prescribed path, defined bya special electrode Confidential

5. PTC multi plasma arcs system for complex casting shapes Parallel plasma arcs on top of the risers

6. Plasma stirring Creates changing current density flow in the molten metal Induces electric and magnetic fields in the molten metal Creates enormous shear forces by very effective stirring Breaks the growing dendrites and creates a new nucleation center on each fracture Creates smaller uniform dendrites and reduces significantly porosity and segregation levels

7. Saving 10kg of the riser’s mass Reducing casting weight 31kg 21kg.

8. Saving 10kg of the riser’s mass Risers height reduction Reducing casting weight 31kg 21kg.

9. Saving 10kg of the riser’s mass. Reducing casting weight 31kg 21kg.

10. Saving 13kg of the riser’s mass Reducing casting weight 42kg 29kg.

11. Reduction of risers mass by 17kg Reducing casting weight 54kg 37kg

12. The PTC system includes • An electrodes gripper which can be adopted for each type of casting die • A multi DC channel power sources • A control cabinet • A consumable electrodes • The PTC system is a flexible add-on device for existing casting cells • The PTC applies the plasma arcs after pouring and during solidification

13. PTC Quality Improvement

14. 8 kg casting weight reduction 31 Kg23 Kg70 sec solidification time reduction240 sec170 sec Normal casting NP casting

15. Bottom of the casting Column

16. Bottom of the casting Column

17. Mechanical properties in the bottom of the casting 1 2 3 4

18. Mechanical properties in the column area Column

19. Higher casting quality in addition to casting weight reduction by 30-40%. Solidification cycle time reduction by 30-35%. Mechanical properties Improvement by the PTC Elongation percentage (A% ) significant improvement: Form 3.48% to 5.70%, increase of 146% in the bottom From 2.62% to 5.95%, increase of 224% in the column (top) Porosity percentage significant improvement : From 0.012% to 0.0095%, reduction of 20% in the bottom From 0.08% to 0.027%, reduction of 66% in the column (top). Quality Conclusion

20. PTC’s Competitive Advantages in Aluminum gravity die-casting of GDC cylinder head. • Production cost reduction of GDC cylinder head by 20%-25% • Riser's mass reduction by 70% -90% and thus casting weight reduction by 35% • Sand mass core reduction by 40% • Foundry yield increase from 50% to over 80% • Foundry productivity increase by 20%- 25% • Melting and holding furnaces efficiency increase by 50% • Foundry sand reclamation reduction by 30%-40% • Environmental emission reduction by 35% • Metal feeding improvement • Defects ratio reduction • Shrinkage and porosity elimination • Mechanical properties improvement • Microstructure refinement