Development of Magnesium Seat Frames using the Vacuum Die Casting Process

The vacuum die casting techniques can diminish the porosity of products and provide better surface appearance by the ordinary high pressure die casting process. The vacuum system can also reduce the cold laps in the die casting process and minimize the overflow pockets of the die. The vacuum system does not need high pressures to die cast compared to the ordinary die casting process, and so enables die casting of large parts for a given machine size. Parts made by the vacuum system have higher strength and more elongation than parts made by the ordinary die casting systems. In this paper, we designed and produced the Magnesium seat frames using the vacuum die casting processes. The new Magnesium seat frame was designed to satisfy safety regulations. Some safety test procedures of the seat frame were simulated by the finite element method. We obtained 10% weight reduction by design modification of seat frames compared to the current model. Flow simulations were carried out to minimize the trial and error in producing the parts. The die casted parts using vacuum systems resulted in better mechanical characteristics and no defects compared to those without vacuum systems.

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