Review of Technologies and Methods for Mold Powder Thickness Control

摘要

The crucial role of mold powders in improving the quality of the cast products through proper mold lubrication and homogeneous heat transfer is well-established. Despite these crucial benefits, mold powders are typically fed manually, causing a variable powder thickness and steel meniscus instability, which in turn have negative effects on surface quality. In order to overcome these major criticalities, dedicated technologies enabling reliable mold powder thickness control and stable powder feeding are therefore needed. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the main technologies and methods for mold powder thickness control and automated powder feeding technology, which enable to attain a reproducible casting process and an improved and constant quality of the cast products. The advantages of a new ultrasonic meniscus level sensor over traditional inductive devices are reported. A new powder diffuser with a novel built-in optical sensor is presented and the successful results of fiel -testing are commented.