CASTING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR USING SAME

Abstract

A casting device having a casting mold and a core for producing a helical casting is described. The may have an expendable core that can be dissolved after the casting process. Advantageous effects of the device and process can be achieved by virtue of the fact that the female mold for accommodating the helical casting during the casting process is formed completely within the outer contour of the core, the female mold being delimited by the core and, at the peripheral boundary surfaces of the female mold, by the casting mold.

Claims

1-25. (canceled)

26. A casting device with a casting mould and with a core for the manufacture of a spiral-shaped casting, wherein the core is designed as a lost core which can be disintegrated after the casting, wherein a female mould for receiving the spiral-shaped casting on casting is formed completely within the outer contour of the core, wherein the female mould on the one hand is delimited by the core as well as on the other hand at its peripheral-side delimitation surfaces by the casting mould.

27. The casting device according to claim 26, wherein the core defines the radially inner-lying contour of one or more windings of the spiral-shaped casting as well as the contour of one or more or all windings up to their radially outer delimitations.

28. The casting device according to claim 26, wherein the core comprises a ceramic material, including silicon nitride, silicon carbide, boron nitride or boron carbide.

29. The casting device according to claim 26, wherein the core as a whole consists of a continuous part.

30. The casting device according to claim 26, wherein the core comprises at least one part which is manufactured by sintering.

31. The casting device according to claim 26, wherein the core is comprised of several parts which define, as a female mould for one or more castings, two spiral-shaped cavities which are offset to one another in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the spiral.

32. The casting device according to claim 26, wherein the casting mould in at least one first region forms a peripheral-side delimitation surface of the female mould for the spiral of the casting and in the regions which are directly adjacent to the first region bears on the core.

33. The casting device according to claim 26, wherein the casting mould bears on the core directly along at least one surface which runs spirally about the axis of the female mould of the spiral-shaped casting.

34. The casting device according to claim 26, wherein the casting mould is designed as a hollow body, including as a hollow cylinder, hollow cone, hollow pyramid, hollow prism or hollow cuboid, which on operation surrounds a longitudinal axis of the female mould of the spiral-shaped casting to be cast.

35. The casting device according to claim 26, wherein the casting mould is designed as a hollow body and comprises a cavity for receiving the core, wherein the cavity is designed in a cylindrical, cone-shaped, pyramid-shaped, prism-shaped or cuboid manner and surrounds a longitudinal axis of the female mould of the spiral-shaped casting.

36. The casting device according to claim 26, wherein the inner wall/inner walls of the casting mould, at least in the region/the regions in which it/they form a peripheral-side delimitation surface of the female mould for the spiral-shaped casting, have a cylindrical, conical, pyramid-shaped, cuboid or polyhedral, in particular smooth shape.

37. The casting device according to claim 26, wherein the casting mould is comprised of a metal or of a metal alloy, including steel.

38. The casting device according to claim 26, wherein the casting mould comprises a mould part which is inserted into an outer part or into a permanent mould consisting of metal, including steel, and which can be disintegrated after the casting.

39. The casting device according to claim to 26, wherein the mould part comprises the same material as the core.

40. The casting device according to claim 26, wherein the casting mould is configured for aluminium die casting, wherein the casting mould comprises, in the casting mould, at least one casting channel for 3 turns at a time of the spiral which is to be cast, including at least one casting channel for 2 turns at a time, including one casting channel for each turn of the spiral to be cast, wherein the casting channels are distributed along the longitudinal axis of the spiral to be cast, including in a uniform manner, including in an equidistant manner along the longitudinal axis of the spiral.

41. The casting device according to claim 40, wherein at least one, including several of the casting channels within the casting mould comprise an extension space or are connected to an extension space which serves for compensating and damping pressure peaks.

42. The casting device according to claim 41, wherein the core is composed of several parts which each define different longitudinal sections of the spiral to be cast and which have different pitches of the spiral.

43. A method for the use of a casting device, comprising: providing a core designed as a lost core which can be disintegrated after the casting, wherein a female mould for receiving the spiral-shaped casting on casting is formed completely within the outer contour of the core, wherein the female mould on the one hand is delimited by the core as well as on the other hand at its peripheral-side delimitation surfaces by the casting mould, wherein the core is expanded or contracted by way of temperature change in a manner such that it is adapted to the size of the casting mould in an exactly fitting manner.

44. The method according to claim 43, wherein after the casting of the casting, it is removed from the casting mould along with a core and is post-machined, and the core is subsequently removed.

45. The method according to claim 44, wherein the core is inserted into the casting mould and aluminium or an aluminium alloy is subsequently brought into the casting device at an overpressure at a temperature of more than 690 C. including less than 800 C.

46. The method according to claim 45, wherein a post-compression pressure of at least 500 bar, including at least 1000 bar, including at least 1200 bar is applied.

47. The method according to claim 43, wherein a melt of copper or of a copper alloy is introduced for manufacturing a casting.

48. The method according to claim 43, wherein one or more regions are filled with the casting material in the cavity between the disintegrable core and the casting mould before the casting of the casting in a manner such that the core is supported in this region/these regions after the solidifying of the casting material.

49. The method according to claim 43, wherein the core is formed and sintered from a sinter material, including silicon nitride, silicon carbide, boron nitride or boron carbide, wherein the sintering procedure is terminated before reaching the greatest possible mechanical stability of the sintered body, including on reaching the lowest possible stability which ensures cohesion of the sintered body given a subsequent metal casting procedure.

50. The method according to claim 43, wherein a body is firstly formed from a sinter material by way of freeze gelation or injecting a ceramic feedstock and this body is subsequently at least partly sintered.

Description

[0059] In the drawings:

[0060] FIG. 1 shows, in a perspective representation, a spiral-shaped casting as can be manufactured with the casting device according to the invention,

[0061] FIG. 2 shows a core for insertion in a casting device,

[0062] FIG. 3 shows a cylindrical casting device in a perspective view,

[0063] FIG. 4 shows a casting device with a core which is inserted directly into a casting mould in the form of a permanent mould, as well as

[0064] FIG. 5 shows a longitudinal section through a casting device with a salt core and with a mould part which surrounds the salt core.

[0065] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a spiral-shaped cast body 1 which can represent an electrical coil or an elastic spring of metal. The individual turns or windings 3, 4, 5 of the spiral wind around a longitudinal axis 2. In this example, the spiralled, strand-like body has a roughly rectangular cross section with rounded corners. This can be useful, for example, with the application as an electrical coil in order to avoid field distortions and discharge peaks and to provide a large as possible conductive cross section. Other possible spiral-shaped cast bodies can consist of strand-like, spiralled bodies which for example comprise round or oval or also differently profiled cross sections.

[0066] FIG. 2 in a perspective view schematically shows a pressed salt core 6 whose front side is represented in a hatched manner for a better overview and which comprises a spiral-shaped cavity in its inside. This forms the female mould of the spiral-shaped casting which is to be manufactured. The cavity is indicated at 7 in FIG. 2. The salt core 6 for example can be designed as a pressed or compacted salt core. It can be collapsible after use, for example by way of applying mechanical impulses, or be able to be disintegrated in another manner, for example by way of a solvent.

[0067] Apart from salt cores, other lost cores can also be applied in this context.

[0068] FIG. 3, in a perspective view, shows a casting mould 8, for example of a tool steel, which is designed as a hollow cylinder. A round core 9 with a spiral-shaped cavity, which defines the shape of the spiral-shaped cast body, is shown thereabove. The core 9 along its axis 10 comprises a cylindrical cavity 11. The mass of the core can be reduced by way of this and its collapse after use can be simplified.

[0069] Casting channels 12, 13, 14, 15 are arranged on the periphery of the casting mould 8 and serve for pressing the metal melt into the cavities of the core 9 as uniformly as possible and with a large speed. Venting openings which are not shown and which permit the escape of air from the cavities of the core 9 are also provided on the casting mould 8. One can also envisage providing an air suction device which permits the preparation of the casting device by way of evacuation.

[0070] In this example, the channels 12, 13, 14, 15 are distanced to one another along the axis 10 of the casting core and of the casting mould 8 in order to permit a uniform subjection of the individual turns of the spiral-shaped cavity in the core 9 to the metal melt at a high pressure. By way of this, the forces upon the individual regions of the core 9 which can be relatively thin-walled are smoothed out and minimised.

[0071] A casting mould 16 which comprises an outer wall 17 having the shape of a truncated cone as well as base plate 18 and a cover plate 19 is shown in a longitudinal section in FIG. 4. The interior which is encompassed by the casting mould likewise has the shape of a truncated cone. A core 20 which has the shape of a truncated cone in its outer contour is inserted into the casting mould 16, said core comprising a cavity 21 which is peripheral in a spiral-shaped manner and which completely defines the female mould of the casting to be manufactured. The outer sides of the cavity 21 are each formed by tangentially bearing regions of the wall 17 of the casting mould 16.

[0072] The casting channels 22, 23, 24, through which the metal melt is pressed out of a pressure chamber 24 into the casting device, are shown on the right side of the casting mould 16.

[0073] The core 20 is preheated in a manner such that it fits into the cavity of the casting mould 16 in an exactly fitting manner. The flow length of the metal melt in the cavity 21 of the core 20 can be optimised by way of the preheating.

[0074] A configuration of the casting device with a casting mould 16 and a mould part 26 which is inserted into this is shown in FIG. 5. The core 20 is surrounded by the mould part 26 within the casting mould 16. The mould part 26 surrounds a truncated-cone-shaped interior and can itself be designed in a single-part or multi-part manner. The mould part 26 can advantageously be dissolvable and consist for example of the same material as the core 20.

[0075] The use of a mould part 26 has the advantage that the core 20 can be supported on the stable casting mould 16 which consists for example of tool steel, by way of the mould part 26, but that the casting mould 16 itself does not come into contact with the metal melt. After the manufacture of the casting in the female mould 27 which is provided in the core 20 in a spiral-shaped manner, the core 20 as well as the mould part 26 can be removed, i.e. disintegrated, for example.

[0076] The core 20 can be applied directly onto the casting mould 16 in the region of the base 28, but an additional mould part which is not represented in FIG. 5 can also be provided in this region, between the core and the casting mould 16. An additional mould part 26 is represented on the upper side of the core 20 and terminates the core 20 to the top with respect to the casting mould 16 and for its part is supported with respect to the casting mould 16 by support bodies 29. Casting channels 30 can be provided on the upper side of the casting mould 16 and of the mould part 26, 26 as well as in the region of the lateral surface of the casting mould 16 and of the mould part 26, as is basically already shown in FIG. 4. A plurality of casting channels can also pass through the mould part 26 in the region of its lateral surface.

[0077] The casting cores which are represented in the figures are each represented as single-part casting cores with a continuous spiral. However, instead of this, combinations of several cores which are joined together in the axial direction, for example with pitches of a spiral which are different in sections, can also be used. The individual cores can be joined together with common joining techniques. At least 90%, in particular at least 95% of the surface of the casting to be manufactured is covered by material of the respective core in the casting process by way of the positioning of the female mould 7, 21 of the casting in the core 6, 20 and the interaction with the casting mould 8, 16, 16 or a mould part 26. Only a very small part of the surface of the casting is therefore covered by metallic material of the casting mould 8, 16, 16 during the casting procedure. By way of this, the region in which the metal melt comes into contact with the casting mould is minimised. The channels for leading the metal melt which pass through the casting mould are less critical since they have no influence on the shaping of the casting or of further castings which are to be manufactured later with the same mould. The regions of the casting mould which are repeatedly cast off are easily accessible and can be machined in a simple manner, in order to eliminate any damage due to fracture formation or the formation of roughness.

[0078] In order to remove the core after the casting procedure, the salt core can either be dissolved in the water bath or using a high-pressure water jet, or it can be subjected to an abrupt pressure action. This can be effected in the closed casting mould in a final phase of the casting procedure after completion of the mould filling and solidification procedure. In the process, an abrupt pressure in the mould cavity can be effected by way of introducing a gas, or mechanically via a piston. The core can then flow off as a fluid solution or as a flowable granulate through the core marks, or be removed on opening the casting mould. However, the casting together with the core can also be removed from the mould after the casting process and be processed further, in order for example to remove the gating system by way of punching. In particular, this can be useful with the use of pure aluminium as a metal melt in order to minimise the mechanical loading of the casting on removing the gating system.

[0079] It is possible to manufacture coils, spirals, helices and mechanical springs, for example of pure aluminium or aluminium alloy, with the die casting methods in series production in an inexpensive manner with a constant quality by way of the invention. Copper coils for example can be replaced in this manner. A reduction of the wall thickness of the castings in comparison to conventional die casting with steel permanent moulds can be achieved by way of a thermally insulating effect of applied salt cores, so that for example wall thicknesses of less than 1 mm with flow lengths between 10 mm and 100 mm or even up to 500 mm can be realised. Different spirals with variable winding numbers, winding thicknesses and winding widths can be manufactured in the same casting mould by way of the flexible use of disintegrable cores, so that a variant design is possible in a simple manner. The geometric shape of the metallic casting mould is kept simple, so that this can be manufactured in a simple and inexpensive manner as well as easily post-machined.