The high pressure die casting technology allows the production of complex casts with good mechanical properties, with high production repeatability within narrow tolerance limits. However, the casts are somewhat porous, which may reduce their mechanical properties. There are several recommendations for reducing the porosity of casts, which are aimed at setting the technological parameters of the casting cycle. One of the primary and important ways to reduce the porosity and air entrapment in the melt is a suitable gating system design. Submitted contribution is devoted to assessing the influence of the runner branching geometry on the air entrapment within the cast volume during the filling phase of the casting cycle. Four variants of the gating system for a particular cast are compared with different design of main runner branching. The initial design is based on a real gating system where the secondary runner is connected to the main runner at an angle of 90 °. The modified designs are provided with a continuous transition of the main runner into the secondary ones, with the change in the branching runner radius r1 = 15 mm, r2 = 25 mm and r3 = 35 mm. The air entrapment in the melt is assessed within the cast volume behind the cores, which have been evaluated as a critical points with respect to further mechanical treatment. When designing the structural modification of geometry it was assumed that by branch changing using the radius value r3 = 35 mm, the melt flows fluently, and thus the value of the entrapped air in the volume of the cast will be the lowest. This assumption was disproved. The lowest values of entrapped air in the melt were found in the casts with runner transition designed with radius r1 = 15 mm. The conclusion of the contribution explains the causes of this phenomenon and from a designing point of view it presents proposal for measures to reduce the entrapment of the air in casts.

In contemporary high-pressure die casting foundries, the mastery of each sequence in the production cycle is more and more important. In the paper, an example of virtual analysis of gearbox casting from Al alloy will be presented. It includes a large variety of parameters, as follows: choosing of appropriate foundry technology, calculation of computer simulation of casting process which takes into account the filling process of cold chamber and filling of cavity, model description of three phases in high-pressure die casting, flow of molten metal, solidification, formation of stress and deformations. Additionally, the optimization of cooling and heating systems will be compared with calculated volume defects, dimensions of castings and their deformations with experimentally obtained values.

In earlier works were described trends in the production of tools for die casting (hot work). Almost the entire set of issues dealt with may seem insignificant when incompletely assembled acceptance of the material and the associated risks of processing a material with an inappropriate structure, leading to a very early defect of the die. Therefore, further work will focus particularly on identifying the causes of thermal cracks and preventing a suitable choice of acceptance criteria conditions and heat treatment.

Magnesium alloys are one of the lightest of all the structural materials. Because of their excellent physical and mechanical properties the

alloys have been used more and more often in various branches of industry. They are cast mainly (over 90%) on cold and hot chamber die

casting machines. One of the byproducts of casting processes is process scrap which amounts to about 40 to 60% of the total weight of a

casting. The process scrap incorporates all the elements of gating systems and fault castings. Proper management of the process scrap is

one of the necessities in term of economic and environmental aspects.

Most foundries use the process scrap, which involves adding it to a melting furnace, in a haphazard way, without any control of its content

in the melt. It can lead to many disadvantageous effects, e.g. the formation of a hard buildup at the bottom of the crucible, which in time

makes casting impossible due to the loss of the alloy rheological properties. The research was undertaken to determine the effect of an

addition of the process scrap on the mechanical properties of AZ91 and AM50 alloys. It has been ascertained that the addition of a specific

amount of process scrap to the melt increases the mechanical properties of the elements cast from AZ91 and AM50 alloys.

The increase in the mechanical properties is caused mainly by compounds which can work as nuclei of crystallization and are introduced

into the scrap from lubricants and anti-adhesive agents. Furthermore carbon, which was detected in the process scrap by means of SEM

examination, is a potent grain modifier in Mg alloys [1-3].

The optimal addition of the process scrap to the melt was determined based on the statistical analysis of the results of studies of the effect

of different process scrap additions on the mean grain size and mechanical properties of the cast parts.

The paper describes existing requirements for tool materials. In the light of experience with these supplied materials, we have

demonstrated their considerable influence on the life of molds for die casting technology. From this research came the evaluation

methodology of these tool materials which has been used for directing the development of a new material. Based on the new regulation of

the chemical composition a sample was casted and forged after that. Then was determined the process of heat treatment and from a block

of this material a mold insert was produced. This insert is now being tested in production.

The paper deals with problem of optimal used automatic workplace for HPDC technology - mainly from aspects of operations sequence, efficiency of work cycle and planning of using and servicing of HPDC casting machine. Presented are possible ways to analyse automatic units for HPDC. The experimental part was focused on the rationalization of the current work cycle time for die casting of aluminium alloy. The working place was described in detail in the project. The measurements were carried out in detail with the help of charts and graphs mapped cycle of casting workplace. Other parameters and settings have been identified. The proposals for improvements were made after the first measurements and these improvements were subsequently verified. The main actions were mainly software modifications of casting center. It is for the reason that today's sophisticated workplaces have the option of a relatively wide range of modifications without any physical harm to machines themselves. It is possible to change settings or unlock some unsatisfactory parameters.