The article contains basic information associated with the impact of the FSW process parameters on the forming of a weld while friction

welding of aluminium casting alloys. Research was conducted using specially made samples containing a rod of casting alloy mounted in

the wrought alloy in the selected area of FSW tool acting. Research has thrown light on the process of joining materials of significantly

dissimilar physical properties, such as casting alloys and wrought alloys. Metallographic testing of a weld area has revealed the big impact

of welding conditions, especially tool rotational speed, on the degree of metal stirring, grain refinement and shape factor of a weld. As the

result of research it has been stated that at the high tool rotational speed, the metals stirring in a weld is significantly greater than in case of

welding at low rotational speeds, however this fails to influence the strength of a weld. Plastic strain occurring while welding causes very

high refinement of particles in the tested area and changing of their shape towards particles being more equiaxial. In the properly selected

welding conditions it is possible to obtain joints of correct and repeatable structure, however in the case of the accumulation of cavities in

the casting alloy the FSW process not always eliminates them.

Production processes at KGHM are complex and require from customers products of constantly higher quality at relatively lowest prices. Such situation results in an increase of the importance of optimisation of processes. As products and technologies change rapidly, technologists at the plant in Głogów have less time to achieve optimisation basing on own experiences. Analysing a particular process, we can e.g. detect occurring disturbances, find factors having an influence on quality problems, select optimal settings or compare various production procedures. Analysis of the course of production process is the basis of process optimisation. One optimisation in case of the process of decopperisation of flash slag can be a change of a technological additive to a less energy-consuming one, and its final result can be an improvement of the productivity index, a change of the relation between final effects and born expenditures, as well as optimisation of production costs.

The last decade has seen growing interest in professional public about applications of porous metallic materials. Porous metals represent a new type of materials with low densities, large specific surface, and novel physical and mechanical properties, characterized by low density and large specific surface. They are very suitable for specific applications due to good combination of physical and mechanical properties such as high specific strength and high energy absorption capability. Since the discovery of metal foams have been developed many methods and techniques of production in liquid, solid and gas phases. Condition for the use of metal foams - advanced materials with unique usability features, are inexpensive ways to manage their production. Mastering of production of metallic foams with defined structure and properties using gravity casting into sand or metallic foundry moulds will contribute to an expansion of the assortment produced in foundries by completely new type of material, which has unique service properties thanks to its structure, and which fulfils the current demanding ecological requirements. The aim of research conducted at the department of metallurgy and foundry of VSB-Technical University Ostrava is to verify the possibilities of production of metallic foams by conventional foundry processes, to study the process conditions and physical and mechanical properties of metal foam produced. Two procedures are used to create porous metal structures: Infiltration of liquid metal into the mold cavity filled with precursors or preforms and two stage investment casting.

Relatively cold die material comes into contact with the substantially higher temperature melt during the casting cycle, causing high thermal fluctuations resulting into the cyclic change of thermal field. The presented contribution is devoted to the assessment of the impact of temperature distribution on individual zones in the die volume. The evaluated parameter is the die temperature. It was monitored at two selected locations with the 1 mm, 2 mm, 5 mm, 10 mm and 20 mm spacing from the die cavity surface to the volume of cover die and ejector die. As a comparative parameter, the melt temperature in the middle of the runner above the measuring point and the melt temperature close to the die face were monitored. Overall, the temperature was monitored in 26 evaluation points. The measurement was performed using the Magmasoft simulation software. The input settings of the casting cycle in the simulation were identical to those in real operation. It was found, that the most heavily stressed die zones by temperature were within the 20 mm from the die face. Above this distance, the heat supplied by the melt passes gradually into the entire die mass without significant temperature fluctuations. To verify the impact of the die cooling on the thermal field, a tempering system was designed to ensure different heat dissipation conditions in individual locations. At the end of the contribution, the measures proposals to reduce the high change of thermal field of dies resulting from the design of the tempering channel are presented. These proposals will be experimentally verified in the following research work.

With increasing technology development, an increasing emphasis is placed on the precision of products, but cannot be guaranteed without a stable production process. To ensure the stability of the production process, it is necessary to monitor it in detail, find its critical locations and eliminate or at least control it. With such a precise manufacturing method as investment casting, such a process is a must. This paper therefore deals with monitoring the production process of wax models of large turbine blades using infrared thermography. The aim was to evaluate the critical locations of this production and to propose recommendations for their elimination or, at the very least, significant mitigation of their impact on the final quality of the large turbine blade casting.

Development of salt cores prepared by high-pressure squeezing and shooting with inorganic binders has shown a high potential of the

given technology even for high-pressure casting of castings. Strength, surface quality of achieved castings, and solubility in water become

a decisive criterion. The shape and quality of grain surface particularly of NaCl – cooking salts that can be well applied without anticaking

additives has shown to be an important criterion. Thus the salt cores technology can cover increasingly growing demands for casting

complexity especially for the automobile industry.

The suspension of copper droplets in the slag is considered. The copper/slug suspension is delivered as the product from the direct-toblister

process which is applied in the KGHM – Polska Miedź (Polish Copper) S.A. factory. The droplets / slag suspension was treated by

a special set of reagents (patented by the authors) to improve the coagulation process. On the other hand, the observations are made to

estimate if the melting / reduction process in the furnace is sufficiently effective to avoid a remaining of carbon in the copper droplets.

The coagulation process was carried out in the crucible (laboratory scale). However, conditions imposed to the coagulation / solidification

process in the laboratory scale were to some extent similar to those applied usually in the industry when the suspension is subjected to the

analogous treatment in the electric arc-furnace. Some suggestions are formulated how to improve the industrial direct-to-blister process.

Production of spheroidal graphite cast iron is today quite mastered technology. There are many methods achieving the nodular graphite morphology. Each of these methods have specific characteristics and requirements to technical support, properties and the type of applied modifier. Selection of the spheroidization method is dependent on foundry disposition, production character, economic balance, quality requirements, etc. In case of centrifugally casting the core, which fills body and neck of the roll, is created by ductile iron. Considering the sophisticated production of centrifugally cast rolls for hot rolling mills it is necessary to ensure a high reproducibility and reliability of ductile cast iron production quality in the bulk range of 9-18 t per tapping. These conditions are in the Roll Foundry in Vítkovicke Slevarny, spol. s r.o. provided and verified mastered overpour method and the newly injection of cored wire in the melt.

The goal of this contribution is summary of physical – chemistry properties of usually used foundry silica and no – silica sands in Czech foundries. With the help of dilatometry analysis theoretical assumptions of influence of grain shape and size on dilatation value of sands were confirmed. Determined was the possibility of dilatometry analysis employment for preparing special (hybrid) sands with lower and/or more linear character of dilatation.

Increasing demands on the utility properties of materials used for castings have led to the production of cast iron with a modified shape of graphite, where the required properties are achieved by a change in graphite shape, its size and layout, and a change in the basic structure of the metal. This paper is focused on the continuous method of producing spheroidal graphite FLOTRET. In the introductory section is summarized the theoretical foundations of the secondary treatment of cast irons, especially the FLOTRET flow method, describes the advantages and disadvantages of the method. The practical part is divided into laboratory and operational tests. Laboratory experiments were conducted on a laboratory-type modifier FLOTRET chamber, which was designed and hydraulically optimized. Experiments were focused on the effects of pressure altitude and amount of modifier on the residual values of magnesium, as conditions for a successful modification. The method was tested in two foundries under operating conditions and in one of them was observed a long-term modification process.

Final quality of casts produced in a die casting process represents a correlation of setting of technological parameters of die casting cycle, properties of alloy, construction of a die and structure of gating and of bleeding systems. Suitable structure of a gating system with an appertaining bleeding system of the die can significantly influence mechanical and structural properties of a cast. The submitted paper focuses on influence of position of outfall of an gate into the cast on its selected quality properties. Layout of the test casts in the die was designed to provide filling of a shaping cavity by the melt with diverse character of flowing. Setting of input technological parameters during experiment remained on a constant level. The only variable was the position of the gate. Homogeneity represented by porosity f and ultimate strength Rm were selected to be the assessed representative quality properties of the cast. The tests of the influence upon monitored parameters were realized in two stages. The test gating system was primarily subjected to numerical tests with the utilization of a simulation program NovaFlow&Solid. Consequently, the results were verified by the experimental tests carried out with the physical casts produced during operation. It was proved that diverse placement of the gate in relation to the cast influences the mode of the melt flowing through the shaping cavity which is reflected in the porosity of the casts. The experimental test proved correlation of porosity f of the cast with its ultimate strength Rm. At the end of the paper, the interaction dependencies between the gate position, the mode of filling the die cavity, porosity f and ultimate strength Rm.

The article presents the results of research on the finishing of M63 Z4 brass by vibratory machining. Brass alloy was used for the research due to the common use of ammunition elements, cartridge case and good cold forming properties on the construction. Until now, the authors have not met with the results of research to determine the impact of abrasive pastes in container processing. It was found that the additive for container abrasive treatment of abrasive paste causes larger mass losses and faster surface smoothing effects. The treatment was carried out in two stages: in the first stage, the workpieces were deburred and then polished. Considerations were given to the impact of mass of workpieces, machining time and its type on mass loss and changes in the geometric structure of the surface. The surface roughness of machining samples was measured with the Talysurf CCI Lite optical profiler. The suggestions for future research may be to carry out tests using abrasive pastes with a larger granulation of abrasive grains, and to carry out tests for longer processing times and to determine the time after which the parameters of SGP change is unnoticeable.

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.

Ensuring the required quality of castings is an important part of the production process. The quality control should be carried out in a fast

and accurate way. These requirements can be met by the use of an optical measuring system installed on the arm of an industrial robot. In

the article a methodology for assessing the quality of robotic measurement system to control certain feature of the casting, based on the

analysis of repeatability and reproducibility is presented. It was shown that industrial robots equipped with optical measuring systems have

the accuracy allowing their use in the process of dimensional control of castings manufactured by lost-wax process, permanent-mould

casting, and pressure die-casting.