High-pressure die casting (HPDC) is a well-established manufacturing process used in the automotive sector to make high-precision components. The necessity to reduce fuel consumption increases the use of low-density components in the automotive industry. Corrosion induced by molten metal is one of many failure modes for dies, changing the die's geometry and surface roughness. All combined wear changes the dimensional precision of the manufactured parts but also the surface quality of the components. Many additive deposition methods are applied to decrease wear and recover the surface. Thermally sprayed coatings can improve the surface properties and recover the geometry of the die caused by the aluminum attack. The main objective of this work is to observe the behavior of the H13, Cr3C2-25NiCr, and WC10Co4Cr coatings deposited by HVOF and HVAF, tested against Aluminum corrosion and Die-soldering tests. After dissolution, the chromium carbide reacts with the aluminum, creating a tough intermetallic interface, and raising the extraction tensile stress. After Aluminum corrosion tests, it was observed that the WC 10Co 4Cr HVAF coating presented low adhesion to the aluminum with no observed coating failure due to the formation of intermetallic. Die soldering tests indicated that the WC 10Co 4Cr protects the substrate, resulting in lower extraction tensile stress than H13 base material and other HVOF coatings. It was possible to observe that WC 10Co 4Cr HVAF coating showed results comparable to AlCrN PVD coating.

The demand for energy reduction increases every year. In general, reducing the weight of mechanical components is a direct and efficient way to reduce the energy consumption. Therefore, the automotive industry has been growing its use of low-density alloys, as the cases of aluminum and magnesium. High production rate and dimensional precision are need, which narrows the manufacturing techniques suitable. Among the manufacturing processes, high pressure die casting (HPDC) has shown a viable solution. Nonetheless, every process has gaps for improvement. In the case of HPDC tooling is one of the major costs, being responsible for a significant ratio of the final product price. Whereas many articles are focused on the improvement by the development of new materials and thin coatings for HPDC, there is a lack of thermal spray coatings as solution for the wear problems over HPDC. This paper has the focus on showing the use of Cr 3 C 2 25 NiCr as a coating for the components used for HPDC, mainly the ones submitted to direct contact to the metal in fluid state. The idea is to compare the coating with the substrate regarding to thermal fatigue and verify whether it is a viable solution or not.

In metal die casting as well as plastic injection molding, controlling the heat balance during the injection and solidification process can lead to fewer defects and a better component quality. An appropriate cooling channel design for the mold can help to control the solidification to a certain extent. But the heat control achievable by cooling channels is limited due to the high effective thermal mass, and therefore near-cavity energy input is of interest. In this paper, a simulation study is performed demonstrating the use of plasma sprayed ceramic coating as a heating coating at the cavity of the mold. The goal is to apply heat faster and locally focused during the solidification process in metal die casting as well as before the injection phase in plastic injection molding. The heat generation of these ceramic coatings is modelled using experimentally measured values and the effects of this approach on defects such as distortion and hot tearing is discussed.

Aluminum castings have limited strength and stiffness and tend to exhibit brittle fracture behavior under fatigue loading. These properties can be significantly improved, however, as this study shows, by reinforcing cast aluminum parts with magnesium metal-matrix composite structures. In order to obtain a bond between the cast Al and fiber-reinforced Mg composite surfaces, Al alloy (Al 99 and AlSi 12 ) layers were deposited on the Mg structures by thermal spraying. The mechanical properties of the bonding were assessed via single-lap shear and adhesive tensile tests along with optical microsection analysis. Hybrid aluminum alloy AlSi 10 Mg castings incorporating coated Mg-MMC inserts were also produced and examined, validating the general approach, while revealing that heat input to the MMC structure must be reduced through design or process adaptations.

Coatings applied on steel molds used for casting aluminum parts have two main purposes: avoid mold metal reaction and control thermal transfer to obtain directional solidification. The coatings widely known to foundry operators are water-based sodium-silicate bonded ceramic suspensions; they are air sprayed and cured on mold surfaces and typically last for 100 casting cycles. Although thermal sprayed coatings have been shown to last more than 5000 casting cycles, they are not yet the preferred mold protection method. This study addresses the issue by developing a knowledge base of thermal transfer properties that can be achieved with air plasma sprayed magnesium zirconate powders. The properties are assessed on an instrumented mold using the inverse technique for different coating compositions.

In the world, automobile rim production is carried out in a repeatable quality with low pressure die casting process. Traditional die coatings used to separate molds on casting mold surfaces cause significant losses in production due to their weak strength. The applicability of an alternative mold coating application with thermal sprayings has been examined in this study. MgO-ZrO 2 based ceramic thermal barrier coatings are deposited on the mold surfaces by flexicord spray method.

Be it to save the environment or to save money, engineers everywhere attempt to use materials which can’t normally withstand the surface stress they will be exposed to on their own. This is one of the reasons for the constant interest in new and innovative coating technologies. One such innovation is the transplantation of thermal sprayed coatings. In the transplantation process the coating is integrated into a high-pressure die casting process. In contrast to the conventional process chain, the coating is not directly applied to the work piece, but to a mold insert. During the pressure casting the melt infiltrates the coating and thus creates a join. This way the coating is indirectly applied to the die-cast work piece after removal from the mold. Additionally, depending on the materials involved, a material bonding connection similar to brazing is possible and results in an increased adhesion of the coating. A potentially very interesting trait of the transplantation process is, turning an internal coating process into an external coating process. This allows the coating of inside diameters well below the usual limit of an internal spray gun. Due to the high geometric accuracy of the process this can be potentially done without any need for additional finishing steps.

Manufacturing a die-cast workpiece with a thermal spray coating usually requires multiple steps. An alternative approach demonstrated in this study integrates the spray process into a high-pressure die casting step, eliminating the need for surface preparation and post processing of the coating. To achieve this, the coating is applied to a mold insert rather than the workpiece. During pressure casting, the melt infiltrates the coating and thus creates a joint. Depending on the coating and substrate, a bonding connection similar to brazing is possible. The ability to manufacture coatings this way makes it possible to coat inside diameters well below the limit of an internal spray gun.

Molten metals are extremely corrosive against steel-made molds. In addition to alternating thermal loads and erosion by hard particles the lifetime of molds in the permanent-mold casting industry is rather short. Tungsten-based pseudoalloys are able to increase the lifetime of these molds significantly, but, by now, their use is limited to sintered inlays at the mostly stressed parts of the mold. Coating the whole mold with these materials offers an increase of the lifetime and at the same time a reduction of the amount of deployed feedstock. Within this research project it was possible to increase the lifetime of a kernel in used in casting brass by a factor of 20 by cladding it with tungsten-based pseudoalloys. The metallurgical behaviour of the tungsten-based pseudoalloys is quite complex. By modifying the coating process different shapes and amounts of tungsten precipitations in the nickel-iron-binder can be realized. The different microstructure within the coating does strongly affect the mechanical and anti-corrosion properties of the coating.

The application of ceramic die coatings on tool steel dies in the casting industry has been common practice for many decades. The main function of these coatings is to provide a thermal barrier to prevent premature solidification during die filling, and protect the tool steel die from the effects of molten metal during casting with aluminium alloys. Although these coatings provide good insulation they are fragile and require on-going in-situ maintenance by machine operators. These inherent poor qualities makes the die casting process difficult to control and to maintain cast product quality because the solidification pattern and porosity changes and leads to increased cast product rejects. To overcome the limitations a novel die coat has been developed for the light metal casting industry utilising thermal spraying of co-deposited MgZrO 2 and polymer particles. The coating is then thermally treated to reveal a fine network of porosity that has been found by heat transfer coefficient testing to enhance the thermal properties and overall coating durability during casting. This paper describes the porosity control system which was used to tailor the heat transfer coefficient of co-deposited MgZrO 2 and polymer coatings and compare them with the heat transfer coefficient of commercially available die coats. The inherent porosity and the overall coating thickness were found to have a large effect on the heat transfer coefficient. Results of industrial trials are also presented and show that co-deposited MgZrO 2 and polymer coatings provide considerable improvements to productivity and enhanced coating life in Gravity and Low Pressure Die casting of aluminium alloys.

The increasing use of magnesium alloys in many engineering applications is mainly limited by their unsatisfying surface properties, especially the poor tribological properties and the poor corrosion resistance. Therefore an effective and well designed coating technology has to be adapted to allow a successful implementation of magnesium alloys under tribological load and in an corrosive environment. This presentation gives an overview of the performance of different functional metallurgical and ceramic coatings on magnesium diecastings which are applied by atmospheric plasma spraying (APS) and high velocity oxygen fuel spraying (HVOF).