A hermetically sealed disc drive comprising at least one aluminum alloy housing component manufactured with a thermally directed die casting press subassembly is disclosed. In one embodiment, the thermally directed die casting press subassembly comprises a thermally directed funnel gate that is skewed to sample molten material from an off-center portion of the shot sleeve. Disc drive housing components can be manufactured by injecting an aluminum alloy slurry from the shot sleeve through the thermally directed funnel gate and the injection nozzle into the die cavity. The aluminum alloy slurry may be a thixotropic slurry comprising a uniform primary aluminum particle size in the range of approximately 50 to 80 microns. The primary aluminum particles of cast products produced according to the methodology of the present disclosure, with the aforementioned particle size distribution, are free of encapsulated eutectic at the micron scale.

A method for a die casting with a casting device which includes a casting valve with a valve piston and a post-compression piston configured to provide a post-compression. The method includes providing a casting valve in a closed position and a mold cavity which is cleaned and prepared for a mold filling process, opening the casting valve for a casting, filling the casting valve with a melt, closing the casting valve after the filling with the melt, cooling the casting valve and the melt, and removing a cast part. A post-compression is provided to the melt during the cooling by the post-compression piston.

A hermetically sealed disc drive comprising at least one aluminum alloy housing component manufactured with a thermally directed die casting press subassembly is disclosed. In one embodiment, the thermally directed die casting press subassembly comprises a thermally directed funnel gate that is skewed to sample molten material from an off-center portion of the shot sleeve. Disc drive housing components can be manufactured by injecting an aluminum alloy slurry from the shot sleeve through the thermally directed funnel gate and the injection nozzle into the die cavity. The aluminum alloy slurry may be a thixotropic slurry comprising a uniform primary aluminum particle size in the range of approximately 50 to 80 microns. The primary aluminum particles of cast products produced according to the methodology of the present disclosure, with the aforementioned particle size distribution, are free of encapsulated eutectic at the micron scale.

A plant and a process are disclosed for producing components made of an aluminum alloy for vehicles and white goods, through the steps of: providing thixotropic billets made of an aluminum alloy; sizing the billets depending on a ratio between weight and size of the component to be produced, thereby obtaining crop ends of material; heating the crop ends in a range of temperatures during which both a solid phase and a liquid phase coexist with a prevalence in the solid phase (more than 50%) in heating means (5); loading, through loading means (9), the crop ends in an injecting vessel made of non-magnetic steel for further workings; removing, through scalping devices, an external part of the crop ends that has become cooled when passing from the heating means (5) to the loading means (9); firstly injecting the crop ends through a press; secondly injecting the crop ends through the press in 18 milliseconds by using a closed-loop control system and increasing the injection unit power with respect to a closing unit of the press; thirdly injecting the crop ends by coining the finished part in order to remove all porosities; extracting the molding through extracting means (13); depositing the molding onto a conveyor belt (15); and controlling a quality of the obtained molding, the molding being then sent to downstream mechanical workings and/or an heat treatment.

A system and method of preparing a metal object for machining, wherein the metal object comprises at least two working portions that are to be machined and that are connected to remote sides or ends of an intermediate portion of the metal object, the method comprising: inserting the intermediate portion into a casting mold, such that the at least two working portions protrude from the casting mold; pouring a liquid metal material into the casting mold so as to cover the intermediate portion; allowing the liquid metal to cool, thereby forming a cast bulk surrounding the intermediate portion of the metal object; and removing the casting mold, whereby the cast bulk enables machining of the at least two working portions to be carried out while the second cast segment is being held.

A needle for a warp knitting machine, manufactured by means of an amorphous alloy injection molding process and comprising the following components: in parts by weight, 57.5-65.5 parts of zirconium, 11-16 parts of copper, 7-13 parts of nickel, 5-10 parts of titanium, 1-7 parts of aluminum, 1-7 parts of beryllium and 0.3-2 parts of yttrium. A method for manufacturing a needle for a warp knitting machine by means of an amorphous alloy injection molding process, comprising the following steps: (1) material mixing and smelting for manufacture into small blocks; (2) injection molding; (3) alloy opening removal; (4) thickness machining; (5) slotting; (6) polishing; and (7) electroplating. Beryllium and yttrium are added into amorphous alloy zirconium-based metal; beryllium can improve the toughness of a latch needle product, and has high fatigue limit and high wear resistance; yttrium powder can improve the strength, toughness and wear resistance of a latch needle blank.