High Pressure Casting in Sanitaryware

High Pressure Casting Machine Overview, Steps involved, Parameters, Technologies, Advantages & limitation.

I have worked in high-pressure casting and I have learned how to handle it. So now i going to share some of the information that you need to know about it.

Overview:

High-pressure casting machines are advanced casting machine that is used in the sanitary ware manufacturing industry. High-pressure casting also is known as HPCM. Nowadays the number of companies produce these high-pressure casting machines. It is good to go with reputed companies to avoid maintenance cost. trust me maintaining a high-pressure casting machine is not easy as maintaining any other machinery or equipment in the sanitary ware industry. Because it works with very high pressure and speed. A lot of technologies are used in high-pressure casting machine to finish a cycle in 20 minutes speed. Imagine a bench casting will take around 8 hours to finish a cycle and an HPCM machine will take 25 minutes to finish a cycle. So the percentage of the speed increased is = 480/25*100 = 1920%. so around 2000% increase in production cycle time. Anybody will say ‘wow’ for this much improvement in technology.

One cycle can produce around 4 to 6 Water closets or around 36 pedestals or around 24 to 30 mix of washbasins and pedestals or even around 44 pieces of Orissa Pan.One Cycle time of high-pressure casting will be between 20 minutes to 45 minutes depends upon the sanitary ware model produced by that machine.

Process involved in high pressure casting machine

It the same process as all other casting methods in sanitary ware. The difference is a lot of processes are carried out automatically. For example, in battery casting moulds have to clamp manually but in HPCM the moulds will be clamped by the automatic program itself. Same like this for pipe cleaning, mould cleaning, mould opening, slip filling, unloading, and demoulding. Same like battery casting a separate tank will be connected to each machine. The moulds that are used in high-pressure casting machine are resin moulds, not ordinary plaster moulds. The slip is heated to 45-degree Celsius to get high casting rate during layer formation time.A hot water circulation is given for the slip tank. So now we will see the process step involved in the Casting. Casting process steps are carried out by PLC program and these process steps are known as technologies. Time of the Every is set manually as per required.

Main stages of Technologies

• Moulds closure: This technology is used to clamp the moulds.
• Filling: Slip filling into the moulds from slip tank.
• Layer formation (10 to 13 bars HP): Thickness formation time. High pressure is give to form the casting layer in quick time. Normally it is around 3 to 6 minutes. It varies according to the slip properties and model casted.
• Decompression: Pressure reduction inside the mould.
• Drainage: Process of Unloading the slip from mould. Air is used to unload the excess slip.
• Hardening: Drying of the ware to give the handling strength to the product. it also carried out using air.
• Decompression: Making mould to the normal atmospheric air by opening the vent.
• Moulds opening: the process of opening the mould. clamp will be released.
• Demoulding: water to mould is given to demould the green wares from the moulds.
• Air to moulds: Removing the excess water from the mould after casting or demoulding or for cleaning purpose.
• Water to moulds: Keeping the required moisture content in the mould. And also used in demoulding times.
• Vacuum to moulds: Give vacuum to the mould when there is excess water in it. And also used in Clorox or acid cleaning.
• Flushing & cleaning of pipes and moulds: The name indicates the purpose.
• The last four technologies are used for Post-condition and Pre-conditioning of moulds.

Parameters

Parameters are required to maintain in High-pressure machine are, Pressure required: 10 to 13 bar pressure. Slip temperature: 45º centigrade to 47º centigrade. Litter weight: 1900 to 1920. Fluidity: 320 +or- 5. One minute Thixotropic: 40+or-5.

Advantages of high-pressure casting machine

Continuous production is possible. You don’t have to stop casting for during the mould. The manpower required for production is very less compared to the number of items produced by a person.

Space required by a high-pressure casting machine is much lesser than a battery casting machine.

Worker or operator skill required is low compared to other casting techniques. Product finishing is excellent for the machine itself.

limitations

Initial set up cost is very high.

Maintenance cost is very high compared to other casting techniques.

Producing complex product like one piece toilet is not possible.

Conclusion

High-pressure casting machine is great like a flight, it is fast and more comfortable but you need to pay the price. It is Suitable for where manpower cost is very high. If Manpower cost is cheap I don’t think it is a choice.

If you want to ask anything about high-pressure casting machine please leave your comment below i will answer soon. If you are a supplier of this sanitaryware casting machine please leave your company details below in the comment section.

See also sanitaryware Glazed by dipping method.