Semi-Solid Casting of Aluminium from an Industrial Point of View

Abstract

Company SAG (Salzburger Aluminium AG) is a supplier of fuel tanks, LNG and hydraulic tanks, air reservoirs and structural applications for the commercial vehicle and automotive industry. The company’s expertise is welding but SAG also has a 25 years history in Semi-Solid casting starting in 1993 when the first Thixocasting cell was installed in Lend/Austria. Since then SAG is participating on the diverse casting market and competes with other processes looking for applications for which Semi-Solid processing has a unique selling proposition. This contribution gives examples of industrialized components and will outline their significant characteristics and advantages in comparison to conventional casting processes. Furthermore the development of Semi-Solid cast components, the production process chain as well as commercial aspects will be outlined. The bottom line is that usually it is not a single advantage of Semi-Solid casting that will make a product attractive for the customer but a combination of several of them. Moreover it is not just the casting process itself but the efficiency of the whole production process chain that will result in a commercially successful product.