"Among other things, our project partner manufactures plain bearings for machines in the mining industry. The components, which weigh up to 1.5 tonnes, are produced in very small batches. Accordingly, the machine parameters have to be set anew for almost every part," explains Danka Katrakova-Krüger, Professor at the Institute for General Mechanical Engineering at the TH Köln. Until now, both the settings and the documentation were done manually.
According to the project partners, centrifugal casting could benefit greatly from digitalised and (partially) automated production. In the manufacturing process for rings, discs and pipes, liquid metal - in this specific case an alloy of copper, tin and lead - is filled into a mould rotating around the central axis, the so-called ingot mould. The molten metal is pressed against the mould wall by rotation and hardens there.
According to the project partners, centrifugal casting could benefit greatly from digitalised and (partially) automated production. In the manufacturing process for rings, discs and pipes, liquid metal - in this specific case an alloy of copper, tin and lead - is filled into a mould rotating around the central axis, the so-called ingot mould. The molten metal is pressed against the mould wall by rotation and hardens there.
