Low pressure die casting - Past, present, and future

Low pressure die casting is now a well established technology which can trace its origins back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This paper will follow the evolution of low pressure die casting and show how it has developed into a major manufacturing process for the production of high integrity cast aluminium road wheels, cylinder heads and engine blocks. Although now well established there are some aspects of the process which are still operator dependent and are more akin to an art than a science. Current research is aimed at eliminating this operator dependency and at the same time achieving significant gains in productivity and quality. Recent work in Australia demonstrated that a 25% reduction in process cycle time could be achieved while continuing to produce the highest quality product. Despite this there is still scope for further process improvement and some suggestions will be made as to the future directions this work should take.