Determination of acceptable quality limit for casting of a356 aluminium alloy: Supplier’s quality index (SQI)

Aluminium and its alloys have been widely used in the automotive industry for some time and A356 is one of the most popular aluminium alloys today in the sector. It contains approximately 7 wt.% Si and 0.3 wt.% Mg. Due to the defects that may be present in the cast parts, expected mechanical properties may not be reached and this alloy may perform in service under its potential. In a low pressure die casting, several precautions have to be taken in order to produce high quality and defect-free castings. Temperature of casting and the schemical composition of the melt is recorded continuously. Die temperature, pressure levels and their durations are optimized; degassing and fluxing operations are performed. Yet, regardless of the precautions, there could still be rejected parts. It is becoming clear that a good quality raw material is one of the most underrated points of the industry and that the starting material has a great effect on the final product and it should be taken in to account more seriously. Therefore, regarding the first rule of Campbell’s 10 Rules of Casting, in this study, the quality of the starting material of supply chains for a wheel manufacturer was investigated. Chemical compositions were compared, fluidity tests, mechanical tests and bifilm indexes of these various sources and ingots were measured and a final quality index was proposed to create a reference for the quantification of quality of supplier’s ingots. This new index was compared with the rejection rates.