Design and development of a centrifugal casting machine for pistons production
This presentation concerns to the development of a centrifugal casting equipment to produce engine pistons with gradient of properties. Pistons require different properties in different areas of their body, such as high thermal fatigue resistance in the top, high wear resistance in the pin-bore area and low weight in the skirt. Reliable processing techniques for that purpose have not been established yet, and results obtained so far reveal sharp and undesirable interfaces. 
A possible solution might be a well controlled sequential pouring technique of different materials that lead to a smooth gradient of composition/properties between different piston functional areas, using centrifugal casting. For this purpose a special design of a vertical axis centrifugal casting machine was developed. A detailed study of the centrifugal pouring process and the inherent fluid dynamics was performed to develop a conceptual design and operation parameters and input/output system variables were established. A sketch of the equipment was developed and established the main components and interconnections. Finally, the design and selection of the system�s components was done accordingly to the main goals of this work. This paper analyses and discusses all of the referred design phases, including selection and prototype implementation of the necessary actuators.
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