Secret Meetings, Industry Demands Preface Copenhagen
Talks
(AMM) Contech Seeking Court OK to Sell Casting Assets
Dross Transporters and Shippers – U.S. DoT Registration
Deadline Fast Approaching
Shorter Cycle Times – One Advantage of Using Gas
Injection in High Pressure Die Casting Technology
NADCA Articles and Transactions – Free to Members
DCE - Water Jacket Thermal Fatigue Life Can Be Improved
Secret Meetings, Industry Demands Preface Copenhagen Talks
According to Environmental Leader (May 26), as nations gear
up for the next round of global climate talks — December in Copenhagen, Denmark — industry groups are making their
demands known, quite publicly. At the same time, climate negotiators for key signatories are secretly hammering out
agreements behind closed doors.
Executives at major corporations in developed nations want to see strong climate provisions for all nations, or none
at all. Without climate provisions across the board, executives at firms in the U.S., Europe and other developed
economies see downward-spiraling business prospects, with more and more commercial activity shifted to developing
countries that can afford to emit carbon, according to an article on WSJ.com.
To read the entire article,
click here.
(AMM) Contech Seeking Court OK to Sell Casting Assets
According to an article in Metal Bulletin (May 20), a metals company
run by a turnaround investor with a history of buying distressed automotive suppliers is angling to buy substantially all
of the casting assets of Contech LLC, according to documents filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District
of Michigan..
Revstone Industries LLC, an auto-centric Delaware-registered holding company headed by private investor George Hofmeister,
was the sole company to place an acceptable bid that was higher than the liquidation value of the assets, according to
court documents.
Contech's casting unit has six facilities located in Portage; Dowagiac, Mich.; Clarksville, Tenn.; Auburn, Ind.; Alma, Mich.;
and Pierceton, Ind.
To read the entire article,
click here.
Dross Transporters and Shippers – U.S. DoT Registration Deadline Fast Approaching
All Transporters and shippers of dross are required by the U.S.
Department of Transportation to register. Registered as a handler of hazardous material, businesses can complete the
U.S. DoT Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration form online by visiting the website by
clicking here and accessing the online form.
Registration deadline is June 30th, 2009. Click here to
view NADCA’s brief 2.36 minute video on registration requirements. Avoid potential legal and criminal penalties by
following DoT regulations - click here to watch additional online
video trainings about dross awareness, marking and more.
Shorter Cycle Times – One Advantage of Using Gas Injection in High Pressure Die Casting Technology
High pressure die casting is a process which combines short
cycle times and high productivity with the production of highly integrated metal parts of complex shape,
where plastic injection molding is a comparable process for the production of plastic parts, being similar
in many aspects to die casting. Gas injection is a special variation of plastic injection molding, allowing
the production of hollow structures.
The advantages of gas injection are free design of thick and thin walls in one part, local feeding pressure,
reduced sink marks and distortion as well as shorter cycle times. To read this “Best Congress Paper” in detail,
visit this month’s issue of Die Casting Engineer by clicking here.
NADCA Articles and Transactions – Free to Members
Many members are unaware of an important resource that is available
to them for free - a searchable and downloadable archive of DCE, research reports, and transaction articles. By utilizing
this search feature die casting engineers can access over a decade of innovation and success in the die casting industry.
In fact, member engineers who do know of this resource frequently search this database to answer their die casting
questions and solve problems.
NADCA members can access the archives by clicking here and going to NADCA’s homepage. Once
logged in, on the left had side under “Members” is a link labeled “Transactions”. By accessing the transactions page,
members can search for archived information, articles and abstracts as well as download reports.
Click here and log in, and see the articles and transactions available to you right now.
DCE - Water Jacket Thermal Fatigue Life Can Be Improved
The water jacket is a critical component of an engine block die
casting tooling, which costs the die caster a large portion of maintenance and tooling replacement expense. Normally,
water jackets have a limited fatigue life ranging from only several thousand shots to about 20,000 shots in a very
good case.
One of the major failure modes is the gross thermal fatigue crack found at the Siamese area. In order to prolong the
water jacket thermal fatigue life, die casters have been making every effort they can, such as, surface coating,
jet-cooling, early core pull to release the water jacket from hot casting, material selection, strictly regulated
maintenance, casting geometry modification, external spray adjustment, etc.
To read this article in its entirety, visit this month’s issue of Die Casting Engineer by
clicking here.
