Anthony Lindert
Aluminum Division Chair
Oshkosh Corporation

Anthony Lindert
Aluminum Division Chair
Oshkosh Corporation

David Weiss
Vision Materials

Our industry is based on a combination of tradition, innovation and collaboration and is arguably one of the most important industries on the planet. As competitive and complementary technologies continue to advance, we need to gear up to meet the challenges and opportunities, while at the same time staying profitable and improving sustainability. This presentation will explore the arc of progress, from the earliest production castings made from aluminum to today’s current trends and research. As we move beyond “sand and hope”, using the tools of advanced materials science, digital transformation and exploding paradigms can accelerate our progress.
 

Jim Onders
Ohio Aluminum Industries Inc.

Frank Peters
Iowa State University 

There are many challenges for a foundry when trying to optimize the surface finish of a casting, especially those made utilizing 3D printed cores. In 3DPS, orientation of the core in the print box is the 1st step in trying to minimize the layer steps in the final product before even starting the print job. Other factors that are important in the printing process include media type and size, layer thickness, grey scale printing, etc. Different methods of applying paint/talc to either blown or the printed cores has shown promise in improving the surface finish but does add another layer of variability to the casting process. Consistent measurement of the surface finish is also a challenge when trying to develop the best process and gain acceptance from end customer.

Inspection of casting surfaces has many sources of measurement error that limits is effectiveness. Current research is developing a digital standard to assess the casting surface. The method requires a 3D scan of the surface, but is agnostic to the type of scanner. This work is leading to a low cost scanner, integration into existing scanning systems used for dimensional inspections, and a new ASTM standard.

Brian Began
American Foundry Society, Inc. 

A significant hurdle in solving casting defects is diagnosing them correctly. Too often, foundries implement ineffective solutions to resolve defects because of an incorrect defect diagnosis. For example, micro-shrinkage defects are often misdiagnosed as hydrogen porosity, so a foundry may misguidedly focus on degassing to solve the issue instead of optimizing grain refinement. which is far more likely to resolve the issue. Many production hours can be wasted working on the incorrect solution and the problem is only expected to exacerbate as those experienced foundry personnel and industrial subject matter experts (SME) who typically resolve these issues retire from the industry. Accordingly, a project was undertaken in hopes of creating a “ defect app” to harness the capabilities of Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automate the diagnosis of defects using camera images and optical micrographs commonly available to foundries. The project plan, scope, timeline, specifics, and status update will be presented and demonstrated. This Research is funded through the American Foundry Society, as part of the Aluminum Casting Performance Initiative, Emergent Metal Casting Solutions (EMCS) program, sponsored by the Defense Logistics Agency Information Operations, J68, Research & Development, Ft. Belvoir, VA and the DLA Troop Support, Philadelphia, PA.

Nicholas E. Nanninga
Secat, Inc. 

The integrity of structural aluminum castings is highly dependent on the quality of the molten metal prior to casting. Two key features critical to producing high quality castings are low distributions of inclusions and the management of hydrogen concentrations. It has been noted that some of the tools and testing methods used to characterize these parameters in the wrought aluminum casting industry are far less commonly used by shape casting foundries. This presentation will discuss the equipment options, metal assessments options and services available to foundries for measuring hydrogen and inclusions, both at aluminum molten metal stage and in the examination solid castings.

This panel will feature all of the conference speakers from the day so the audience can ask questions that may have been missed during the individual presentations or ask speakers to answer questions considering content covered in other presentations.  This panel will also allow questions to subject matter experts that are not directly on a particular presentation topic.

(Drinks & Appetizers) 

Qigui Wang
General Motors 

Aluminum shape castings have been increasingly used in critical structures that require more reliable and quantifiable performance. Mechanical properties of aluminum castings strongly depend upon multiscale microstructure and casting defects that are determined by alloy and particularly complex casting process. To produce high integrity aluminum castings, comprehensive through-process modeling is vital for process optimization and casting quality assurance as computer simulations enable a better understanding of the physical phenomena involved during mold filling and solidification. Process modelling also offers opportunities to uncover some quality issues and quantities that are difficult or impossible to measure experimentally. This talk will review the latest development in aluminum casting process modeling and discuss requirements needed for more accurate prediction.

Session Chair:
Luke Schimmel
Fairbanks Morse Defense

Brian Began
American Foundry Society, Inc. 

Casting alloys differ in their intrinsic requirements for melt treatment and measurement. Molten aluminum alloys are notorious for having hydrogen go into solution at typical holding temperatures that come out during solidification, potentially causing casting issues. Molten aluminum alloys are also notorious because oxygen more readily reacts with the surface of molten aluminum to form deleterious oxides, relative to most other casting alloys. This interactive discussion will review disciplines for oxide control and management. Moreover, strategies will be discussed for controlling hydrogen gas while discussing the detriments and the benefits that hydrogen can yield. The presentation will also review recently published AFS Standards for improved aluminum melt treatment and include a discussion on common missteps and oft-missed details. Finally, related molten bath treatments such as alloying, eutectic modification, and grain refinement will also be reviewed for their place in proper melt treatment, while also reviewing new developments and techniques being adapted into the aluminum foundry.

Dave Palmer
Twin Disc Incorporated 

Many small and mid-sized foundries consider an in-house metallurgical laboratory to be an expensive luxury that is out of reach. However, even modest laboratory capabilities can provide a tremendous amount of insight into casting issues. This talk will discuss simple lab techniques for evaluation of grain size, eutectic modification, and other metallurgical characteristics that can help your foundry troubleshoot defects, solve quality issues, and ultimately produce cost savings that will outweigh the cost of laboratory equipment. It will provide "hacks" to allow your foundry to gain valuable insight into metal quality at a reasonable cost.

Dan Hoefert
Eck Industries, Inc. 

A broad-brush overview of gating fundamentals for gravity-pour systems. Presentation will answer the questions: How do you control filling velocities to avoid turbulence? How do you establish control solidification to avoid shrinkage porosity. And how do you design it all to be removable in the cleaning room.

David Weiss
Vision Materials 

In-process weld rework of castings is often technically misunderstood by foundry customers and sometimes by the foundries themselves. Guidelines for welding castings of various alloys will be reviewed. To facilitate effective discussions about weld repair, it is beneficial to use a combination of internal and external data resources-many available in the AFS Library. These resources support conversations within the organization, at the foundry, and with the eventual customers of the castings. Grounding discussions in reliable data leads to improved casting outcomes and greater acceptance of the products as premium quality.

Session Chair:
Travis Bodick
Carley Foundry, Inc.

Orlando Rios
Ce-Ri-SS Materials

David Palmer
Twin Disc Incorporated 

It has been known since at least the 1930s that small additions of Ti and B can reduce the grain size of aluminum castings. Today, grain refinement with Al-Ti-B master alloys is a common practice in aluminum foundries. Very roughly, it can be said that these master alloys contain microscopic particles of TiB2 and TiAl3, which act as "seeds" for new grains. However, the exact mechanisms by which TiB2 and TiAl3 refine the grain size of aluminum foundry alloys continue to be a topic of controversy, and many "unsolved mysteries" remain. This lack of fundamental understanding has slowed the pace of advancement in grain refinement practice. Density functional theory (DFT) is a quantum mechanical modeling method based on first principles that can be used to calculate the electronic structure of materials. From there, quantities such as surface energies, interfacial energies, strain energies, elastic modulii, etc. can be determined. This presentation will show how DFT simulations can shed light into the mechanism of grain refinement of aluminum casting alloys, and help answer the question: "What makes a good grain refiner?"

Session Chair:
Hideki Gebken
Standard Manufacturers Services Limited

Jerrod Etienne
Bodycote 

The negative impacts of porosity in aluminum castings is well understood. This presentation will explain how hot isostatic pressing or HIP eliminates porosity and the scenarios under which it should be considered as a regular step in the manufacturing process. Specific examples of HIP’s impact will be shared, and HIP’s pros and cons will be discussed. Listeners will learn how to decide if HIP is right for their specific applications.

Bob Braun
Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry Co.

The need for pressure tight aluminum castings continues to grow. Porosity in aluminum castings is the primary failure mode which results in castings not meeting this requirement. This presentation will explain how impregnation fills porosity voids and yields a pressure tight casting. Details on the Impregnation process will be shared along with discussing the pros and cons of this process. Specific applications will be shared including the reasons why impregnation should be considered as a regular step in the manufacturing process. Specific examples of impregnation’s impact will be presented. Attendees will be given the tools to decide how impregnation may fit their application.

David Weiss
Vision Materials 

The nearly abandoned ASTM B26, B108, B618 and B686 standards were recently revamped to be more applicable and useful to industry. In addition to updating a few specifics of the standards, additional tempers properties data for both designers and foundries were registered with both the Aluminum Association and ASTM as part of the update. In order to make the data more applicable, advanced Weibull statistics and changes in classifying the static properties of non-separately test cast bars were introduced and approved. This presentation will delve into the new statistics used, the new nomenclature for non-separately test cast bars, and the implication of the updates to both casting users and foundries.

Jason Oldenski
Harmony Castings 

The 21st century foundry is rife with opportunity to evolve from the 20th century human-resource dependent, brute force process into a new, modern manufacturing facility that embraces the strengths of Industry 4.0. The journey from leveraging red-muscle tissue to gray matter can be daunting, exciting, frustrating and rewarding. This presentation examines an aluminum foundry's journey to evolve. It explores the real-life application of robotics, IOT, additive manufacturing, simulation and even Artificial Intelligence into a foundry environment. We examine the challenges, thought processes, and execution of projects with a focus on ROI.

Kevin Morasch
Mercury Marine

Kevin Clark
Oshkosh

The preparation and coating of aluminum substrates are foundational to achieving long-term durability and corrosion resistance in demanding service environments. This panel will explore two complementary approaches to aluminum surface treatment: chemical pretreatment and anodizing. Kevin Clark will focus on cleaning, pretreating, and painting processes, emphasizing how these steps establish a robust coating system. Proper surface preparation enhances adhesion and corrosion protection, with standardized methods—such as those defined in MIL-SPECs—ensuring consistent quality across applications.

Kevin Morasch will delve into anodizing, an electrochemical process that transforms the aluminum surface into a hard, wear-resistant, and corrosion-protective layer. While the anodized coating is inherently porous, its performance is critically dependent on post-treatment sealing. Effective sealing prevents staining and degradation, ensuring the coating meets both functional and aesthetic goals. Together, these perspectives provide a comprehensive view of aluminum surface engineering, highlighting best practices and innovations that drive reliability and performance.

David Weiss
Vision Materials 

This panel will feature all of the conference speakers from the day so the audience can ask questions that may have been missed during the individual presentations or ask speakers to answer questions considering content covered in other presentations. This panel will also allow questions to subject matter experts that are not directly on a particular presentation topic.

Attendance is limited.

Morris Bean & Company 
777 E. Hyde Road
Yellow Springs, OH 45387

• Special PPE:
  • Safety Glasses
  • Hearing Protection
  • Closed toe shoes