World's fifth largest producer and converter of aluminium buys one-off testing solution to examine the strength characteristics of aluminium during casting
Lloyd Instruments has been chosen by Pechiney, the world's fifth largest producer and converter of aluminium, for a pioneering testing solution to examine the strength characteristics of aluminium during casting.
For this unique application, Lloyd Instruments has designed its first ever horizontal LR30KPlus testing machine, and special software drivers for seamless control of its Nexygen test software in a Labview industry platform.
Pechiney specialises in aluminium converting for transport, industrial, construction, household appliances and packaging markets.
Research and development at Pechiney CRV is investigating how mechanical properties of molten aluminium change during casting and ultimately affect product quality.
This involves measuring the rheological and rupture properties during solidification - a process that normally takes only ten minutes to complete.
Lloyd Instruments engineers designed a special 30kN LR30KPlus twin column testing machine to operate in a horizontal direction.
This enabled Pechiney to fit a special bone-shaped mould, with a built-in cooling system, for testing aluminium soon after it is poured.
The machine's 1000Hz data sampling rate offers the level of accuracy required for this rapid testing application.
On each sample, Pechiney conducts standard peak force and displacement at rupture.
Two stages are involved.
As the sample solidifies, the machine applies a very low force to compensate for material contraction and shrinkage.
At a given temperature, which is measured live, a tensile pull to break is applied.
The software automatically triggers the tensile tests as the temperature is read.
Lloyd Instruments developed special Labview software drivers so all the necessary test and analysis functions, from the company's Nexygen control software, could be incorporated into the customer's very own Labview industry platform.
Previously, Pechiney used a standard 2kN tensile testing system for routine analysis.
This new testing capability is now helping the company assess the quality of its products and casting on a scale much greater than before.
This is of huge benefit to product development programmes in the automotive, aerospace and other industry areas where critical analysis of metals casting is essential.
