Improving resilience, productivity and sustainability
In an unstable global economy, relying on imported large-scale metal components introduces immense risk and friction to UK manufacturing. It’s never been more important for the UK to be able to draw on homegrown capabilities.
At the same time, the castings industry faces a critical knowledge gap as an aging workforce retires, taking decades of specialised casting expertise with them. And this is all while machining firms of all sizes are looking for more sustainable ways to manufacture — both to meet national and international targets for reducing carbon emissions, and to protect against the forthcoming economic impact of global carbon taxes.
Shifting from risk to resilience
Castings have a lower carbon footprint than other methods of manufacture, using less raw material by using a near-net shape casting process.
At the AMRC, we’re using technology to improve processes and make castings even more sustainable. Through digital simulation and monitoring we can optimise the whole manufacturing process — reducing lead times, improving quality and saving money.
We’re working to introduce hydrogen to decarbonise natural gas processes, a government priority set to be rolled out throughout UK industry. And we’re using new castings techniques to reduce waste, increase reliability and improve sustainability in the aerospace industry.
Making castings work for you
In all our work in castings, we never lose focus on the needs of your end product.
- Diversifying your products: We can help you make products with more complexity or different properties.
- Support for foundries: We work with foundries to design improved processes and then roll them out into their own facilities and across the supply chain.
- Sustainability at our core: Casting is the most sustainable way to manufacture a component. From waste reduction to cost savings, we’ll help you reap the rewards.
Key capabilities
Sustainability runs through all of our work. We collaborate with the vast range of expertise in the AMRC, to research new hybrid manufacturing processes like cast forging or cast additive manufacturing.
We conduct life cycle assessments of different manufacturing processes to find the most sustainable way to make things. We are installing technology to decarbonise natural gas and introduce hydrogen for use in industrial processes — a government priority that companies need to know about for the future. And we’re using our melting capabilities to research how best to recycle different alloys.
We have two complete foundries — one for ferrous and one for non-ferrous materials. They cover the full process from design to inspection, so we can try new ideas at any part of the casting process. We have the capability to melt up to 2.5 tons in weight.
We have expertise and facilities for sand and investment gravity and counter-gravity casting. We improve quality by reducing turbulence during the casting process, eliminating defects in your product. This is especially useful in aerospace.
We have one of the largest titanium casting furnaces in the world, capable of melting up to 1.2 tons of titanium liquid. It means we can cast intricate parts like aero engine inter-cases at sizes up to a 2m3 space envelope.
We are conducting research and development to develop UK capabilities in aero applications for nickel-based alloys. The high temperature and corrosion resistance is especially useful for combustion parts in engines and the oil and gas sector.
We’re using digital technology to achieve real-time process monitoring, leading to reduced variation and higher consistency in mould manufacture, casting and heat treatment. This in turn leads to greater quality and repeatability of the castings produced.
Using the latest software we can simulate the casting process and heat treatment, studying how liquid metal flows into mould cavities, how it solidifies, and predicting where defects may occur and how casting residual stress and distortion may evolve. Digital trials can replace costly experimentation, saving you hundreds of thousands of pounds. At the end you have a provable process with a shorter lead time, that produces parts that are right first time.
Make castings work for your business
At the beating heart of the castings industry are the small and medium-sized businesses found all along the supply chain. We work with foundries and related companies to solve their problems and introduce the latest technology and techniques to optimise processes.
We’re proud to be unbiased, open and transparent. Work with us and we’ll take you on the journey with us — because if you understand these new techniques you can use them to solve other challenges in the future.
From generating complex components more efficiently to installing sensors in real-world foundry environments, we’re passionate about finding ways to keep this vital foundation industry strong and resilient.
Discover what castings can do for you
Speak to our experts about using sustainable and digital technologies to improve your processes.
