The foundry research arm of China’s First Automobile Works is to use the SinterCast process to make compacted graphite iron for engine blocks, with the aim of developing the technology across the FAW group.
FAW Foundry Co has bought the first of the third-generation SinterCast Mini-System 3000s to be sold worldwide. It will install it at its research and development foundry at Changchun, China. The research group is to develop applications across the range of FAW businesses, including cars, light and heavy trucks, and buses.
Steve Dawson, president and CEO of the Swedish SinterCast company, said: “As the largest vehicle manufacturer in China, FAW has taken the initiative to become the first Chinese OEM to adopt the SinterCast technology as part of its overall strategy to develop and produce state-of-the-art engines that meet the stringent Euro-style emissions legislation that has been adopted in China.”
SinterCast has had systems working in China on exhaust components since 2007.
The Mini-System 3000 process control system is a scaled-down hardware version of SinterCast’s new System 3000 package, which was introduced earlier this month. The System 3000 uses solid-state hard-drive computing for foundry shopfloor robustness and has a new version of the sampling cup to evaluate the properties of the molten iron in real-time.
CGI offers increases of at least 75 per cent in strength and 45 per cent in stiffness compared with conventional grey cast iron. It enables engines to be built at lower weight and noise and helps reduce emissions. Many major engine manufacturers have been developing CGI engines in recent years.
© PE Publishing Ltd, 2010
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