Denso Corporation

Other

Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd.

Tomoyuki Hatano

Hiromi Takagi

Takeshi Nagasaka

Ikuo Ozawa

Sumi Yoshikawa

Yasushi Hibi

Norihisa Sasano

Toshiki Sugiyama

Hiroshi Horikawa

Noriaki Maeda

Kazuaki Kafuku

Akio Hashimoto

Harumi Okai

Shunji Mochizuki

Kouji Yamada

Isao Uenaka

Susumu Miyakawa

Yasuhiko Itou

Shunji Moohizuki

Tadao Okura

Minoru Furuhata

Koji Tsuboe

A high strength aluminum alloy casting obtained by casting an aluminum alloy comprised of 7.5 to 11.5 wt % of Si, 3.8 to 4.8 wt % of Cu, 0.45 to 0.65 wt % of Mg, 0.4 to 0.7 wt % of Fe, 0.35 to 0.45 wt % of Mn, and the balance of Al and not more than 0.2 wt % of unavoidable impurities, wherein this aluminum alloy has 0.1 to 0.3 wt % of Ag added to it or contains 0.1 to 1.0 wt % of at least one element selected from the group of second additive elements comprised of Rb, K, Ba, Sr, Zr, Nb, Ta, V, and Pd and rare earth elements, and a method of production of a high strength aluminum alloy casting comprising the steps of filling a melt of an aluminum alloy in a mold to obtain a casting, taking out the aluminum alloy casting from the mold, solubilizing the high strength aluminum alloy casting by heating in a temperature range of 495 to 505&#xb0; C. for 2 to 6 hours, quenching the high strength aluminum alloy casting after the solubilization, and age hardening the high strength aluminum alloy casting by heating in a temperature range of 160 to 220&#xb0; C. for 2 to 6 hours after quenching.

High strength aluminum alloy casting and method of production of same

A casting method and casting mold able produce a casting having an island and connecting portion is disclosed. A casting having a body, an opening provided so as to pass through the body, an island arranged separated from the body in the opening, and a connecting portion joining the island and body is cast using a casting mold. The casting mold is provided with a body gate connected to a body cavity for forming the body and an opening gate connected to an island/connecting portion cavity for forming the island and the connecting portion. The body gate and opening gate are connected to a runner through body pin gates and opening pin gates; in addition, a die casting mold able to suitably change between a three-part mold structure and a two-part mold structure to cast a die casting is disclosed. The three-part mold structure die casting mold, a movable mold, a first cavity, a connection sleeve, a first runner, a pin gate, and an extension sleeve. When forming the two-part mold structure die casting mold, the fixed mold is removed, the extension sleeve insert inserted in the extension sleeve is removed, and the pin gate is filled by a pin gate insert. Further, the intermediate mold insert and the movable mold insert are replaced to form the two-part mold structure die casting mold forming the second cavity and second runner moving the movable mold with respect to the intermediate mold.

Casting method and casting mold

A front-end structure comprising a panel body ( ) to which a center member ( ), being fixed to a body of a vehicle at a front end of the vehicle and supporting, at least, a driving engine (E/G), is joined, wherein the panel body ( ) is molded out of aluminum by die-casting and a joining section ( ) of the panel body ( ) to which the center member ( ) is joined has a mechanical strength higher than that of any other sections of the panel body ( ) near the joining section ( ) except the joining section ( ).

Front-end structure of a vehicle

A molten metal vessel includes a first chamber for containing molten metal such as molten aluminum therein, a filtration chamber in which impurities contained in the molten metal are removed, and a second chamber for reserving clean molten metal to be supplied to a casting die. The molten metal flows from the first chamber to the second chamber through the filtration chamber. A pair of filters, preferably a pair of cylindrical filters, are disposed in the filtration chamber, so that the impurities contained in the molten metal can be filtered twice. The filters are attached to the bottom of the filtration chamber where molten metal oxides hardly develop, so that the filters are easily replaced with new ones for the maintenance purpose. A rod-shaped heater may be disposed in the cylindrical filters to keep the molten metal temperature in a strictly controlled range. Thus, the impurities are effectively removed from the molten metal through the filters which are easily replaceable.

Molten metal vessel for filtering impurities

Die release lubricant is made from powder solid lubricant, adhesion enhancer made of organic or inorganic compound and volatile solvent. Before melted metal is injected into a die for casting, the die release lubricant is sprayed to an inside surface of the die. The die release lubricant is in a liquid state and is uniformly applied to the inside surface of the die. As a result, application efficiency of the die release lubricant is improved while an amount of thermal decomposition gas generated during casting is reduced.

Die release lubricant

Growing community of inventors

Nagoya, Japan

Tomoyuki Hatano