1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a water-soluble expendable salt core for casting.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known, casting such as aluminum die casting is a technique of casting a structure having a desired shape by injecting a melt of an aluminum alloy into a metal mold at high speed and high pressure. In casting like this, a core is used to mold a cast product having a hollow structure, e.g., a water jacket for water cooling such as a cylinder block of an internal combustion engine. A core used in a case like this is apt to receive a large impact because a metal melt injected at high speed from a gate impacts against the core. In addition, the casting pressure is high until the completion of solidification. Therefore, the core is required to have strength that can withstand a high pressure and high temperature.
Also, as is well known, the core is removed from a cast product after casting. However, if a general sand expendable core solidified by a phenolic resin is used for a cast product having a complicated internal structure, it is not easy to remove the expendable core. On the other hand, water-soluble expendable salt cores removable by dissolution in high-temperature water or the like are disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 48-039696, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 50-136225, and Japanese Patent Publication No. 52-010803. An expendable salt core is manufactured by melting and molding a salt mixture of, e.g., sodium carbonate (Na2CO3), potassium chloride (KCl), and sodium chloride (NaCl), thereby obtaining a high pressure resistance, and improving the workability and stability of casting.
As described above, an expendable salt core manufactured by melting and molding a salt mixture and having a high strength has been developed. However, expendable salt cores have large variations in strength, and hence have not completely been put into practical use.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention solve the problems as described above, and more stably obtain a practical strength of a water-soluble expendable salt core for casting made of a salt cast product obtained by melting and molding salts of sodium and the like.
A method of manufacturing an expendable salt core for casting according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of making a melt by heating a salt mixture containing a salt of sodium, setting a temperature of the melt at a temperature higher than a liquidus temperature of the salt mixture, and pouring the melt into a mold for expendable core molding, and molding an expendable salt core for casting by solidifying the melt inside the mold, wherein the pouring step includes the step of setting, when the melt is completely poured into the mold, the temperature of the melt within a range not exceeding the liquidus temperature of the salt mixture by 30° C.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a melt of a salt mixture is heated to a temperature higher than the liquidus temperature of the salt mixture and poured into a mold for expendable core molding, and the temperature of the melt when the pouring is complete is set within a range not exceeding the liquidus temperature of the salt mixture by 30° C. This makes it possible to more stably obtain the strength of a water-soluble expendable salt core for casting made of a salt cast product obtained by melting and molding salts of sodium and the like.
The above and other elements, features, steps, characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be explained below with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, the form of use of an expendable salt core for casting according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to
The cylinder block 101 includes a cylinder bore 103, and a cylinder body 104 including the cylinder bore 103. Although not shown, a crankcase is attached to the lower portion of the cylinder body 104. This crankcase axially supports a crankshaft via a bearing so that the crankshaft is rotatable.
The cylinder body 104 is a so-called closed deck type body. A water jacket 106 is formed inside the cylinder body 104 by using the expendable salt core 102. The water jacket 106 includes a cooling water channel formation portion (not shown), cooling water inlet (not shown), main cooling water channel 109, and communication channel 110. The cooling water channel formation portion projects from one side portion of the cylinder body 104. The cooling water inlet is formed in the cooling water channel formation portion. The main cooling water channel 109 is formed to communicate with a cooling water supply channel (not shown) formed inside of the cooling water channel formation portion, and cover the cylinder bore 103. The communication channel 110 extends upward in
The water jacket 106 described above is formed to supply cooling water flowing from the cooling water inlet to the main cooling water channel 109 around the cylinder bore 103 through the cooling water supply channel, and guide the cooling water from the main cooling water channel 109 to an internal cooling water channel of the cylinder head through the communication channel 110. Since the water jacket 106 is thus formed, the cylinder body 104 is covered with the ceiling wall (the wall forming the mating surface 104a) of the cylinder body 104, except that the communication channel 110 of the water jacket 106 opens in the mating surface 104a at the upper end to which the cylinder head is to be connected, thereby constructing a closed deck type body.
The expendable salt core 102 for forming the water jacket 106 is formed into a structure that integrally connects the individual portions of the water jacket 106. To give a better understanding of the shape of the expendable salt core 102 (the shape of the water jacket 106),
The expendable salt core 102 according to this preferred embodiment is manufactured by making a melt by heating a salt mixture containing a salt of sodium, raising the temperature of the melt to a high temperature falling within a range not exceeding the liquidus temperature of the salt mixture by 30° C., pouring the melt into a mold for expendable core molding, and molding the melt by solidifying it inside the mold. The method of manufacturing the expendable salt core 102 will be described in detail later.
As shown in
The expendable salt core 102 can be removed after casting by dipping the cylinder block 101 in a dissolving bath (not shown) containing a dissolving liquid made of hydrochloric acid, hot water, and the like. When the cylinder block 101 is dipped in the dissolving liquid, the cooling water inlet of the cooling water channel formation portion of the expendable salt core 102 and the projections 102a exposed in the mating surface 104a are brought into contact with the dissolving solution and dissolved. The dissolved portions gradually extend, and all portions are finally dissolved. In this expendable core moving step, hot water or vapor may be sprayed with pressure from a hole, in order to accelerate the dissolution of the expendable salt core 102 remaining in the water jacket 106. In the expendable salt core 102, core prints can be inserted, instead of the projections 102a, in the prospective portions of the projections 102a.
Also, carbonic acid gas is foamed when using hydrochloric acid in the step of removing the expendable salt core 102 from the cylinder block 101 as a cast product. Since a stirring action is obtained by this foaming, the dissolution can effectively be promoted. Furthermore, the expendable salt core 102 contains sodium carbonate, and sodium carbonate shows alkaline properties when dissolved in water. An alkaline state like this poses the problem that, e.g., the cylinder block 101 as an aluminum cast product corrodes. The corrosion of the cylinder block can be prevented by setting the pH close to 7 by adding hydrochloric acid.
The method of manufacturing the expendable salt core 102 will be explained in detail below. The explanation will be made by taking a salt mixture obtained by mixing sodium chloride and sodium carbonate as an example of the salt mixture containing a salt of sodium. In this preferred embodiment, a salt mixture is first prepared by mixing sodium chloride and sodium carbonate, and a melt of the salt mixture is made by heating the salt mixture to a temperature higher than the melting point. For example, a salt mixture (to be referred to as 30 mol % NaCl-70 mol % Na2CO3 hereinafter) is prepared by mixing 30 mol % of sodium chloride and 70 mol % of sodium carbonate, and this salt mixture is heated to and held at a temperature higher by about 50° C. to 80° C. than the liquidus temperature of the salt mixture, thereby making an entirely dissolved melt. As an example, the salt mixture described above need only be placed in an alumina crucible and melted by an electric furnace. Note that heating the above-mentioned salt mixture produces a molten salt containing sodium ion, chlorine ion, and carbonic acid ion.
The liquidus temperature includes a conventional liquidus temperature (experimental data used in microstructure control of materials, and a liquidus temperature (calculated data) calculated by thermodynamic calculations from the thermodynamic data and mixing ratio of the constituent materials of a salt mixture. The former experimental data is obtained by measuring a temperature at which a primary a crystal starts precipitating when a salt mixture in a molten state is cooled. On the other hand, the latter calculated data is obtained by calculations by, e.g., “Thermo-Calc” by using thermodynamic data (see B. Sundman, B. Jansson, J.-O. Andresson, Calphad 9 (1985) 153. and Jun Yaokawa, Katsunari Oikawa and Koichi Anzai: “Thermodynamic Accessment of KCl—K2CO3—NaCl—Na2CO3System”, CALPHAD, accepted (2007)). The liquidus temperature in this preferred embodiment is the latter calculated data.
Then, after the salt mixture contained in the crucible is completely melted, the crucible is taken out from the electric furnace and cooled with air. The cooling rate is 0.3° C. to 1.2° C. per sec. At the same time, the salt mixture in the crucible is stirred at a rotational speed of three rotations per sec by using an alumina stirrer. The crucible is cooled while the salt mixture is thus stirred, and the melt of the salt mixture starts being poured into a metal mold when the temperature of the melt of the salt mixture is 758° C. higher by 15° C. than the liquidus temperature (743° C. for 30 mol % NaCl-70 mol % Na2CO3). That is, the temperature of the melt of the salt mixture is 758° C. immediately before the melt is poured into the metal mold. The metal mold is preheated to, e.g., about 100° C.
When the melt is poured into the metal mold, the melt is cooled to a temperature (753° C.) higher by 10° C. than the liquidus temperature when pouring is complete, due to, e.g., the elapse of time to the completion of pouring and the absorption of heat to the metal mold. In other words, the above-mentioned cooling is performed such that the temperature of the melt when the melt is completely poured into the metal mold (when pouring is complete) is higher by 10° C. than the liquidus temperature. In this preferred embodiment, the temperature of the melt decreases by about 5° C. in the series of steps of pouring the melt into the metal mold. Note that in the following description, the difference between the liquidus temperature and the temperature of the melt when pouring is complete, which is higher than the liquidus temperature, will be referred to as a superheat (superheat temperature). In the above-described case, the superheat is 10° C.
After that, an expendable salt core 102 is formed by solidifying the melt inside the metal mold. The expendable salt core 102 thus obtained has a high strength, i.e., the value of the bending strength exceeds 30 MPa. Also, as shown in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) photograph of
On the other hand, as shown in
When a fracture surface of the expendable salt core obtained by the manufacturing method in which the superheat is 10° C. is observed with the SEM, the surface has a complicated three-dimensional structure as shown in
As shown in
When manufacturing an expendable salt core by using a salt mixture obtained by mixing sodium chloride and sodium carbonate, as shown in
In this preferred embodiment as explained above, a melt is made by heating a salt mixture containing a salt of sodium, and this melt is heated to a temperature higher than the liquidus temperature of the salt mixture, poured into a mold for expendable core molding, and solidified inside the mold, thereby molding an expendable salt core for casting. In particular, the temperature of the melt when the melt is completely poured into the mold is set within a range not exceeding the liquidus temperature of the salt mixture by 30° C. Consequently, a higher bending strength can be obtained as described previously. This makes it possible to more stably obtain a practical strength of the expendable salt core (expendable salt core for casting). For example, even when the strength varies, the range of the variation falls inside a practical strength range.
The measurement of the bending strength will now be explained. In the measurement of the bending strength, a square-pillar-like specimen having predetermined dimensions is formed, a load is applied on the specimen, and a bending load is obtained from a maximum load required to break the specimen. First, the formation of the specimen will be explained. A bar-like specimen 801 as shown in
The bending strength of the bar-like specimen 801 formed as described above is measured as shown in
A bending strength σ (MPa) can be calculated by an equation “σ=3LP/BH2” from a bending load P. In this equation, H indicates the length of the section of the specimen in the loading direction, B indicates the length of the section of the specimen in a direction perpendicular to the loading direction, and L indicates the distance from the support member 1001 as a fulcrum to the loading portion 1002 that applies a load. The specimen 801 is formed by pouring a melt in a solid-liquid coexisting state into a metal mold. However, it is difficult to form a specimen having neither a flow line nor a shrinkage cavity and having a shape completely matching the mold dimensions. Therefore, the bending strength is calculated by approximating the section of the specimen to an oblong, and assuming that H≈20 mm, B≈18 mm, and L=20 mm. By this approximation, the strength is estimated to be lower by about 0% to 20% than the actual strength. For example, a specimen that breaks with a bending load of 1,200 N can be regarded as stronger than an ideal specimen having a bending strength of 10 MPa.
Note that various preferred embodiments of the present invention are also applicable to a method of molding an expendable salt core by die casting. Even when using die casting, the same effect as described above can be obtained as long as the superheat does not exceed 30° C. when a melt is completely poured into a mold (when melt injection into the mold is complete).
While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it is to be understood that variations and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing the scope and spirit of the present invention. The scope of the present invention, therefore, is to be determined solely by the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2008-123972 | May 2008 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP2009/058785 | 5/11/2009 | WO | 00 | 11/8/2010 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2009/136650 | 11/12/2009 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20110062624 A1 | Mar 2011 | US |