Progress in Other Fields Thus far our discussion has related to the search for what might be called ultra high-strength, ductile copper- base alloys. However, there are other fields of endeavour concerning the family of copper alloys, Some end results hhave been accomplished, others remain in the stages of development, ‘A case in point is the Cu-S% Sn-79% AL material which has been developed as one of the possible answers, to the search for a “stainless” copper. It has been found to be remarkably resistant to attack by various industrial and coustal atmospheres. Pilot type applications are now in service, Another development is Incramet 800 (International Copper Research Association). This is a Cu-14% Ni- 1G ALI% Fe-1% Co alloy, It exhibits a remarkable degree of thermal stability while eycling at temperatures from ambient up to 1600° F. (870°C), a thermal con- ductivity that increases with temperature, excellent resis: tance to thermal cracking, and also to oxidation, Tons Of it are now in use in the glass industry, A tribute to improvements through research Another type of research developed improvement which now is commercially available has to do with the beryllium addition to 70/30 cupro-nickel, Such addition is only in the order of 0-5% or less and yet after soli tion anneal. followed by an ageing treatment —a pre- cipitation hardening approach — the resultant castings are vice as strong as the standard 70/30 cupro-nickel casting alloy. With this addition and treatment, tensile Strengths of typically 115K.si., yields of 82 ksi, and tions of 12%¢ are realised. Still short of our goal, but nevertheless one of those great strides forward, Another approach to inereasing the strength of 70/30 cupro-nickel involves what is believed to be the first practical usage of the spinodal hardening phenomenon not involving special heat treatment, stich as hardening. This approach resorts to the addition of 2-8% chromium to the standard wrought alloy. "The resultant product in wrought form exhibits roughly two and a half times the yield strength of wrought material from the conventional alloy. There is not a disturbing loss in ductitity, This material was originally developed. and shows much promise, for increased corrosion and fluid velocity attack resistance. There also appears to be an appreciable gain in endurance limit when run in dry air. To the best of my knowledge wet endurance values have not been determined. Hard Suriacing We cannot overlook the work that is being done, with significant advances, in the area of hard surfacing. @ softer and more ductile core material, You can envisage the advantage of such a product when used for pump. Plungers, valve discs and seats, for example. The hard surfacing referred to is not metallurgically comparable to surface overlaying or even to plating. ‘The present approach is to arrive, by molecular diffusion, at a situa, tion where a true surface alloy exists integrally with the base metal One of the first successful methods for accomplishing this goal involved the diffusion of aluminium into the surface regions of aluminium bronze. thereby greatly increasing hardness. This method invoived the use of & halogen vapour or gas as a transfer azent. Much interest on the part of iniection pump manufacturers, as well as users, was developed, and field evaluation was contem- Lo ee plated, However, it was determined that when taken ou: Of the laboratory and put into production, the relatively high temperatures involved resulted in thermal distor tion to such a degree that to build a layer of the hard surface. sufficiently thick to allow. for correetne machining operations, the time for diffusion and result ing costs became uneconomical Now there are in pilot production other methods involving lower temperatures and other media for bring ing about diffusion coating, One of the more significant ones uses certain of the fluorides in a molten condition as a solvent bath for electrolytically forming the diffused coating, During the years which have passed since it was prc posed to this group that the Creech version of the Good. ‘man diagram seemed applicable to aluminium bronze ay used in fluid ends, a great number of tests have proven the validity of the proposal, These tests were run on machines of a type which allowed a positive stress of a greater magnitude to be applied cyclically to a constant Positive stress. If the stresses were within the envelope Of the diagram, failure did not occur. If they exceeded such boundaries, failure did occur. ‘Time does not permit the recounting of ull of the developmental work proceeding around the “world on copper-base alloys, Much of this type of research is tunder the sponsorship of International Copper Research Association, However, there is a very interesting project under investigation by a team of Italian metallurgists. I has to do with the addition of cobalt to the Cu-Al system containing low iron, ‘This system holds promise for the fluid end of injec- tion” pumps. Uniquely, after heat treatment the mechanical properties are roughly equal whether the material came from @ static cast structure or a wrought Structure such as extrusions. This is an advantage over the marannealed aluminium bronze. From the cast and heat treated product there is realised 115 k.si. tensile 75ksi. yield, and 12% elongation, Tests. to date indi cate that it is completely immune to de-aluminification in saline waters. Its metallurgical structure shows promise of resistance to stress corrosion eracking, and hopefully, improved wet-notched endurance limits. Testing con cerning these last mentioned characteristies are undet- way. Time will tell, More Wire Rod Finishing Lines Ordered from Schloemann SCHLOEMANN A.G., have received further orders for modern wire rod finishing lines, which permit controlled cooling of the material direct from rolling temperature ‘Two finishing Jines were recently ordered by Richard Johnson & Nephew, Lid, (Manchester, England), and wo others by the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation, Ltd. (Montreal, Canada). ‘This means that, so far Schloemann have built —or have on order —a total of, 43 such wire rod finishing lines. Tn these ines, the wire rod first passes throu: automatically controlled water cooling section, where it is cooled down to a predetermined temperature which corresponds to the type of material and the required end product. The wire rod then further cools daven uniformly on a conveyor belt_in vertical or horizontal loops bY static-air cooling. This controlled cooling operation ensures that the wire rod produced is of flawless, Unk form quality and thus helps to lower costs considerably uring subsequent processing eee eerThe Disamatic Moulding Plant and its Operation claimed for the compact design of the Disamatic moulding machine now in use in a number of foun {vies in this country, including that of Blakey's (Malleable Castings). Ltd., referred to in our December issue. The machine is made in two sizes, producing Mlaskless moulds Tein,» 20;in, or 19 in, x 23! in,, with a maximum mould deptty of 12in,, and has a moulding chamber with two frtical opposing sides made up of two pattern pltes, a front tiltable counter-pressure plate and a rear squeeze- presstire plate. When moulded, the tiltable plate is raised, fhe moukl and the squeeze plate pushed forwards until it eloses with the previous mould and forms the cavity ready for pouring, In this way, the three most important features in the moulding process: compression of moulds. closing of moulds and separation of moulds from pattern, take place within the same rectilinear movement of the same system of guides. Therefore, n0 interruptions in the process take place and it can be tarried out automatically at high speed. A production fate of 300. moulds per hour at 8 in, mould depth can how he attained. Tolerances on finished castings arising from the guide system of the pattern plates are less than (-004 in.. and precise closing of the moulds on the pouring Zone in continuation of the moulding chamber ‘irtually eliminates fins The principle of this new moulding process was eveloped by Mr. V. A. Jeppesen. professor of, mechanical equipment at the Technical University of Copenhagen, In 1961 all rights in connection with this invention were taken over by DISA, Dansk Industri Spndikat A'S, Copenhagen. After extensive work and further developments, DISA has incorporated the machine in its production programme under the name of Disamatie. The essential parts of the Disamatie are indicated by Marna production in a minimum of space is Pouring metal into the moulds of a Disamatic pant. letters in the sketch. The moulding chamber A comprises four rugged fixed walls with a counter-pressure plate B which carries the front pattern plate. In the rear, the moulding chamber is closed by the squeeze plate, mounted on the front one of the two pistons in the hydraulic cylinder C, The other piston is connected, by means of the tie rods D to the counter-pressure plate. The hydraulic accumulator F is located directly above the cylinder. The machine has ity own air receiver F. from which air passes through the sand-shot valve G into the sand hopper H, from where sand is fed into the ‘moulding chamber below, While the moulding chamber is being filed the sand gate is kept closed, The base frame K funetions as an oil tank and contains the pump housing L enclosing an immersed main pump. M is @ platform housing the control units and main motor. Sie elevation of the plant, showing the Varios details housed under the cover. haar a vos1-Mould chamber filing. Vz 3-Stripping 6—Closing we moulding chamber ‘The six phases ofthe moulding eyce ‘Moulding Stages ‘The operation of the machine can be divided into the following six phases: (D Moulding Chamber Fitiing—The moulding chamber is connected to the sand hopper which is fed through an injection slot in the top, the filling process being con- {rolled by a level indicator. Sand is fed into the mould- iz chamber from the hopper by means of compressed air, which forces it through an injection aperture. After the moulding chamber has been filled and excess air has been exhausted, the sand gate opens to fill the hopper. (2) Squeeze Operation. —The front tiltable pattern plate is kept in a fixed position during the squeeze operation, Keeping the moulding chamber closed in front. The reat pattern plate, mounted on the hydraulic piston, pushes into the moulding chamber during the squeeze operation Until the pressure on the mould face has reached the desired value, which can be adjusted to give any degree of hardness, During the squeeze operation, the pattern plates are vibrated by units built into their bases (3). Stripping .—The front pattern plate vibrates and is stripped while being held absolutely true to the mould surface by a high-precision guide system, and then tilted up to a horizontal position, so that the moulding chamber is open in front, When adjusted for inserting cores, the machine stops automatically and with this setting it will only carry on the automatic eycle when the core inserter has triggered the automatic stop by means of a two-hand release valve, (4) Closing of Moulds—The rear pattern plate pushes the mould out of the chamber, accelerating steadily Immediately before reaching the previous mould, 5 is reduced and the two close at a low speed. Foilo this, the speed is again raised and the whole row of ‘moulds is pushed forward a distance equal (0 the thick ness of the mould block. During this stage, the electronic level control in the sand hopper triggers the sand filling operation, (5) Stripping 11—The rear pattern plate is vibrated at this point before returning at high speed to its oriinal Position in the mould chamber. This. position abe adjusted to allow for varying mould thickness require ments. As soon as the closing of the mould chamber hus begun, cores may be inseried into the exposed rear free of the mould block, with the sme automatic stop deviee asin (G3). METALLURGPee 1) Closing the Moulding Chamber—When the squeeze- He has returned 10 ils starting position, the counter- Sure plate returns. to the vertical position, and is ed back to close the chamber. The pulse triggering willing of the hopper ceases, and the sand throttle | ses, Jeaving the machine ready for another cycle ing and Casting Although core setting is carried out automatically, an ggerator places the cores in the frame Jocated beyond Pend of the machine, where they are held in position fra vacuum, When they have been placed in position, fhe operator activates two release valves causing the the frame to swing inwards, Having swung into Tine ‘ith the moulds, the core frame moves forward to close tp with the free end of the string of moulds, As the jime touches the mould, a valve is actuated, causing impressed ir to be fed through the channels also used fir vacuum, and transferring the cores from the frame tthe mould face. The frame subsequently moves back tnd swings out ready {0 accept more cores from the operator, ‘Rs. the moulds are completed in the moulding amber, they are pushed forward on to the. chute, shere they form a rectilinear string. The end surfaces of je moulds carty impressions of the pattern so that asting cavities form bebween the moulds when they are mashed into contact with each other, As each new mould ‘tives the entire string is pushed a short distance for ward on the chute on which the pouring takes place. Before being pushed on to the shakeout, the moulds hy, if necessary, be fed through a cooling zone pro- Gaul in direct continusttion of the pouring zone. 1 The: Disumatic isa machine-tool-quality. precision noulding machine tailored to the needs of the Foundry. itis entirely enclosed, covered by plates and sealed with | THIS year sees the 25th Anniversary of Jenolite at a time when the word has become synonymous with As a company Jenolite, Lid., really began in 1945 when John H, Lawrence —a young executive in tie frm of Internationa! Forwarding Agents, Ltd. — decided 10 sell RR.N. (cust remover and neutraliser) on the general market, R.R.N. had been specified by the | Ministry of Supply: throughout the war for the anti- ‘orosion protection of iron and steel equipment during ansit (o Yurious spheres of military operations, | Jenolite, Lid.. which had been dormant since 1939, was thus re-established in order to develop, manufac: lure and market R-R.N., and to this end a factory was ‘tablished in Feltham, “Middlesex, AU the same time } earch laboratories. staffed with qualified chemists were set up at the firm's London headquarters, Under the guidance of John Lawrence, who became managing lirector in 1946, the firm prospered to a point where the market for R.RN.. by then renamed Jenolite, soon inchidled applications in the motor, petro-chemical, con- struction, marine, raiiway and electricity industries. In fact, subsequent research work carried out on Jenolite hus led to the introduction of nearly forty different Yarianls of the product, each tailored to tackle a specific sspect of rust removal znd prevention. The Jenolite variant which has been developed from nis, remov “The Disamatie with cover removed. rubber moulding. Its interior can be kept under slight positive pressure, thus preventing the entrance of dust ‘The effective protection against dust and wear permits very accurate positioning and stripping of patterns, aided by the high-precision pattern plate guide system, It is not designed for any particular type of sand, and natural sand, half synthetic sand and fully synthetic'sand have all been used successfully. It is, therefore, equally well suited for steel, cast iron and non-ferrous alloys. Jenolite’s Silver Jubilee the original R.RIN. is ideal for removing rust and light heat-scale and produces a chemically inert, corrosion resistant surface on ferrous metals, This is particularly £0 in the case of steel sheet, piste, tube, extruded sections, castings. ete, Once treated with Jenolite these surfaces become highly receptive to a variety of end treaiments, ‘Although founded on the strength of the rust remover alone, Jenolite, Ltd,, rapidly extended their product ange 10 cover applications. in. virtually all forms of metal precireatment and finishing processes, Develop- ments included pickling and upgrading additives, zine Phosphating solutions, blacking solutions, organic Coating strippers, degreasers, phosphating lacquers, con- terete removal solutions, and a host of others. Tt was at this point that Alexander Duckham & Co, Lid, realising the potential in these fields and looking for ‘a way in which to extend the activities of theit Industrial Sales Division, became interested in the com- pany, ‘The takeover finally came in September 1969 When Duckhams purchased the plant and ‘goodwill? jncluding patents and trade marks of Jenolite, Ltd, and its associate the Fenolizing Co.. Lid. Although integrated into the Duckhams Industrial Sales Division, Jenolite, Ltd, has not died —far from it— and, in feet, Duck- ham’ intend £0 continue the sales expansion programme, 107