Blog Examples of Continuous Castings Solving a Problem and Decreasing Costs

The continuous casting process involves pouring molten metal through a die of the desired outside profile. If shaping on the I.D. is also desired, the material may flow around a mandrel to create that profile. As a result, continuous cast product is often chosen to dramatically reduce machining cost. Here are just two examples of when the continuous casting process resulted in cost savings.

AMS 4880 Alloy for High Wear Bushings and Sleeves

Taking off in an airplane is exciting but safely landing at your destination is the ultimate goal of flight. The landing gear is just one of the many important systems MetalTek’s aerospace customers design and build for commercial use. Two major landing gear components are bushings and sleeves that need to withstand wear from airplanes transitioning from 140-190 MPH to taxi speeds in a matter of seconds. MetalTek’s onsite metallurgical group recommended changes to their customer’s specifications to use continuously cast components made of AMS 4880, a nickel aluminum bronze (NAB) alloy, which met the component’s wear demands and offered attractive cost savings over forged material.

Availability and fast turnaround of landing gear components is a must, to complete maintenance and repairs quickly. MetalTek’s extensive stock inventory of rectangular, hollow, and solid AMS 4880 enables delivery of bushings, sleeves, and many other shaped parts fast. With less material to machine away, additional cost and time savings are realized. Not only are MetalTek’s manufacturing processes certified to ISO 9001, Nadcap, AS9100, and many others, we have been supplying quality continuous cast parts for over 40 years, which makes us a preferred landing gear supplier.

Continuous Cast Bronze Used in Deicers

Fluid conduit connectors are not large parts but are expensive to produce because of the amount of metal that must be machined to achieve the desired shape, especially in the flange.  MetalTek provides a wide range of alloys for aerospace applications, including precipitation hardening grades 15-5 and 17-4, and cast nickel aluminum bronze 4880B.  MetalTek recognized this application to be an appropriate use of shaped continuous cast products.  Selecting 4880B because of its high strength and excellent resistance to corrosion from both atmospheric and internal fluid attack, the continuous cast process allowed the connectors to be near net-shaped with the center hole and triangular shape cast in.  This eliminated the need for much expensive milling, avoided any welds or seams, and provided a high integrity part at an economical price.