Evaluation of as cast aluminium alloy tubes fabricated by using horizontal true centrifugal casting technique

Abstract

This research was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of in-house design for horizontal true centrifugal casting machine of aluminium alloy. Various G (ranging from 50G to 100G) were investigated to produce cylinder tube with 30 mm in outer diameter, 15 mm in inner diameter and 100 mm in length. The machine was analyzed and calculated according to theoretical requirements to ensure the efficiency of casting performance. The cylinder mild steel mould with cantilever support was designed to receive the molten metal under the controlled speed of rotation. The melted aluminium casting alloy (LM6) at 750 °C was poured to preheated mould under differences centrifugal force until completed solidification via air cooling. The physical and hardness properties of the casting were characterized and analyzed after the casting process to verify the effect of G factors under the different centrifugal force. The results showed that the horizontal true centrifugal casting machine has potential to cast small dimensional cylinder tubes and exhibit a good physical dimension and hardness properties of the casting. Different rotation has shown a significant impact in physical dimension and mechanical property of cast tubes.