Continuous Casting of Aluminium Alloys and Cost Effectiveness Analysis

So far, the process of continuous casting has only found a limited application as it takes costly machinery to implement it. Besides, aircraft manufacturers do not use the continuous casting technology because the process has not been properly verified for the aluminium alloys, which constitute the basis for aviation engineering. Neither has the process been studied in terms of feasibility. The problem is that new knowledge-intensive technology has to be cost-effective and profitable. It means that the monitoring capabilities should include a possibility to obtain online process data characterizing the properties of the semi-finished product under processing, as well as the properties of the finished product. Moreover, the continuous casting process should be able to deliver a certain combination of mechanical properties, the definition of which should be less effort-consuming. It should also be possible to determine the mechanical properties of aluminium alloy billets through measuring one property — e.g. Brinell hardness. The aim of this research is to assess the efficiency of the newly developed process for producing long-length parts from aluminium alloys, which are used in aircraft manufacturing, by monitoring how the properties tend to change during continuous casting of semi-finished products. The authors managed to find a better design for the variable cross-section mould, develop a technique for assessing the mechanical properties of billets by only measuring the Brinell hardness, and analyse the cost effectiveness of the new continuous casting process. The developed technique for assessing the mechanical properties of billets, as well as the cost effectiveness analysis serve to support the feasibility of the proposed casting process.

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