MEETINGS - BUSINESS
MEETINGS
The Ductile Iron Society 2005 Fall Meeting will be held on October 25-26, 2005 in Cleveland, Ohio.
BUSINESS
Ashland and SinterCast Announce Global Alliance
DUBLIN, Ohio (USA) and STOCKHOLM (Sweden) - Ashland Casting Solutions, a business group within Ashland Specialty Chemical, a division of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH), and SinterCast AB (publ) (Stockholmsbörsen O-List:SINT) have agreed to a global marketing and technical alliance.
Through their technical alliance, Ashland and SinterCast will collaborate to develop novel mold coatings, binders, resins and core materials to optimize the structure and properties of Compacted Graphite Iron (CGI) at the immediate mold/metal interface. The combined efforts will also be designed to strategically alter the thermal balance within the mold to optimize castability. The collaboration is designed to further improve the thinwall design flexibility of CGI in complex lightweight castings and expand the overall market potential of CGI.
Under the global marketing alliance, the parties will combine their products, services, engineering know-how and contact lists to introduce reliable CGI production technology to new markets and to deliver complete CGI production solutions to the world foundry industry.
Ashland’s technology strengths in mold/metal interactions, and SinterCast’s knowledge of CGI, will be brought together at Ashland’s advanced facilities for research and development studies in Dublin.
“This alliance creates an industry leading initiative to expand CGI into other casting markets,” said Mike Swartzlander, vice president, Ashland Specialty Chemical, and general manager, Ashland Casting Solutions. “With the unified expertise and innovation power of Ashland and SinterCast, we are confident that we can further improve our industry’s capabilities to make the most of CGI’s outstanding mechanical properties and true potential.”
“SinterCast is enthusiastic about the technical and commercial possibilities presented by this alliance,” said Steve Dawson, president and chief executive officer, SinterCast. “Working together with Ashland will help us grow the overall CGI market potential and also provides us with an established and respected partner as we bring the SinterCast process control technology to new products and new geographical markets.”
For more information about this alliance, contact Ashland Casting Solutions at (800) 848-7485 or SinterCast at +44 20 8891 8900.
About SinterCast
SinterCast AB (publ) is the world’s leading supplier of online process control technology for the reliable high volume production of Compacted Graphite Iron. SinterCast’s production agreements encompass a total of 25 foundries in 14 different countries that account for approximately 40 percent of the world production capacity for cast iron cylinder blocks and heads. SinterCast’s foundry customers also produce a variety of other automotive and non-automotive components that range from 8 kg to 17 tons. To learn more about SinterCast, visit www.sintercast.com
About Ashland
Ashland Casting Solutions, a business group of Ashland Specialty Chemical, is a leader in supplying products, processes and technologies to the global metal casting marketplace. The group has operations (including licensees and joint ventures) in 21 countries.
Ashland Specialty Chemical, a division of Ashland Inc., is a leading, worldwide supplier of specialty chemicals serving industries including adhesives, automotive, composites, metal casting, merchant marine, paint, paper, plastics, watercraft and water treatment. Visit www.ashspec.com to learn more about these operations.
Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) is a Fortune 500 transportation construction, chemicals and petroleum company providing products, services and customer solutions throughout the world. To learn more about Ashland, visit www.ashland.com.
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Ashland builds strong Arena-flow™ software technology user base in key geographies
Dublin, Ohio (USA) -- Ashland Casting Solutions, a business group of Ashland Specialty Chemical, a division of Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH), recently added three companies to the list of licensed clients now using Arena-flow computer-aided engineering software. Ashland is the exclusive worldwide sales, marketing and service supplier for Arena-flow software in the sand casting industry.
Mazda Motor Corp., Toyota Motor Corp. and Yonetani Die & Mold Co. have all agreed to license the Arena-flow software from Ashland. Representatives from these companies recently completed a four-day training session held at the Arena LLC headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Arena-flow software offers an intuitive, easy-to-use graphical interface for tooling and core-making process design in the metal casting industry. The software delivers a complete picture of the entire core-making process including the blowing, gassing and purging cycles, as well as the capability to analyze the virtual cores before investing significant time, money and material in the core-making process. Arena-flow software also allows tooling manufacturers to validate optimum designs in virtual space to ensure that cold box tooling is optimized the first time.
Arena-flow technology was developed by Arena LLC of Albuquerque, N.M., in conjunction with General Motors, NASA, the Department of Energy and most recently, Ashland Casting Solutions. Arena-flow computer-aided engineering software technology can be accessed by software license agreements as well as contract engineering projects conducted in Ashland Casting Solution’s Design Services Center.
“The addition of these valued customers to our user list is quite significant,” said Mike Swartzlander, vice president, Ashland Specialty Chemical, and general manager, Ashland Casting Solutions. “We now have a strong user base in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Additionally, our license agreements and engineering contracts now span all segments of the metal casting market including large automotive original equipment manufacturers, Tier I and II metal casting suppliers and strategic tooling manufacturers,” added Swartzlander.
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Ashland’s PEP SET QUANTUM™ binder provides a quantum leap in no-bake performance
DUBLIN Ohio – Foundry mold and core making performance is being raised to a new level with the newly introduced PEP SET QUANTUM resin binder technology from Ashland Casting Solutions, a business group of Ashland Specialty Chemical, a division of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH).
Designed to provide superior performance in a variety of ambient weather conditions, PEP SET QUANTUM binder provides more operational consistency in mold and core making. The resin also is lower in viscosity, thus increasing sand flowability and improving casting surface finish. Other benefits include an increase in strength and odor reduction.
PEP SET® resin binders were introduced in 1970 and are considered by many as the industry standard for no-bake technology. With the PEP SET QUANTUM technology innovation, Ashland Casting Solutions continues to drive performance gains for the metal casting industry.
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Ashland QUICKPADTM technology boosts casting industry productivity
DUBLIN, Ohio – QUICKPAD™ release and wear films, an innovative yet simple solution to excessive tooling wear and core-making productivity losses, are the latest innovation from Ashland Casting Solutions, a business group of Ashland Specialty Chemical, a division of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH).
For many years the casting industry has suffered from excessive wear, resin build-up and “core stickers” caused by the abrasive nature of sand as it is blown into cold box tooling. This ongoing problem results in excessive down time and operator safety issues due to cleaning, as well as extensive tooling repair costs. Ashland’s QUICKPAD release and wear films are focused on solving those problems.
QUICKPAD release and wear films are made from a unique polymer film and feature a pressure sensitive adhesive that allows it to be applied to the area of the tooling requiring the most wear protection and core release properties. Wear protection and release properties can last for up to eight hours of production depending on process conditions and film thickness.
QUICKPAD films are customizable to allow for unusual shape production conforming to unique tool geometries and contours. Ashland’s QUICKPAD release and wear films range in size equivalent to a penny to about a silver dollar or larger. QUICKPAD film material is also available in 8.5” X 11” sheets for custom cut applications. Die-cut QUICKPAD films are sized to cover only the critical areas on a tool to achieve optimum protection from the abrasive nature of blown sand.
Originally designed to be applied to cold box tooling, their use has expanded to greensand molding patterns, wooden or synthetic patterns for conventional no-bake sand molding, and even to the inside of hoppers and mixers where large sheets of film can be applied to minimize cleaning.
“We are very excited about this product,” said Mark Adamovits, Ashland senior product manager. “It is a simple solution, but sometimes the simple solutions are the best.”
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Ashland’s sand additive technology puts control into casting
DUBLIN, Ohio – Adding control to the sand casting process is the idea behind EXACTHERM® sand additive technology introduced by Ashland Casting Solutions, a business group of Ashland Specialty Chemical, a division of Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH).
Being able to control the cooling rate of the metal in critical areas of a casting can have numerous benefits. EXACTHERM sand additive contains unique characteristics that allow the foundry to custom tailor the thermal properties of a mold or core to meet critical casting sections needs. The result is better control of the casting process; elimination of misrun defects, blows and hot tears; and an overall improvement of the casting’s surface finish.
Challenges in casting thin sections have existed for many years, but with EXACTHERM sand additive, casting thin-wall metal sections is achievable. The total amount of EXACTHERM additive that is in contact with a casting section determines how fast or slow the metal in that section will cool. It is compatible with all traditional mold and core-making processes, including green sand, cold box, no-bake and others. Ashland Casting Solutions, a business group of Ashland Specialty Chemical, is a leader in supplying products, processes and technologies to the global metal casting marketplace. The group has operations (including
licensees and joint ventures) in 21 countries.
Dramatic color change featured in Ashland’s VELVAPLAST® ZW FDI refractory coating
Dublin, Ohio – Foundries wishing to maximize productivity by reducing oven drying time for molds and cores need only apply VELVAPLAST ZW FDI refractory coating and watch the color change. This new technology, introduced by Ashland Casting Solutions, a business group of Ashland Specialty Chemical, a division of Ashland, Inc. (NYSE: ASH), provides the most dramatic color change of any refractory coating currently used.
“Our new VELVAPLAST ZW FDI refractory coating helps foundries not only reduce costs by optimizing oven drying times, but also by allowing core or mold density problems to be more readily seen,” said Joe Muniza, global marketing manager – metal casting specialties, Ashland Casting Solutions.
VELVAPLAST ZW FDI refractory coating can be brush, spray, dip or flowcoat applied and changes from a bright purple color to yellow when dry. The dramatic color change is very easy to observe and assists foundry personnel in determining when cores and molds are dry so that multiple layers can be applied, or pouring can begin.
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