The ecological factor is very important in shaping properties of alloys. It leads to a limitation or elimination, from the surroundings, of harmful elements from the heavy metals group. The so-called eco-brasses group comprises common lead-free brasses containing 10 to 40% of zinc and arsenic brasses of a high dezincification resistance. Among standardized alloys, CW511L alloy ( acc. to EN standard) or MS-60 alloy (acc. to DIN) can be mentioned. Investigations were performed on two different kinds of metal charges: ingots cast by gravity and the ones obtained in the semi-continuous casting technology with using crystallizers. The casting quality was analysed on the basis of the microstructure images and mechanical properties. The investigations also concerned increasing the corrosion resistance of lead-free alloys. This resistance was determined by the dezincification tendency of alloys after the introduction of alloying additions, i.e. aluminium, arsenic and tin. The investigations focused on the fact that not only alloying additions but also the production methods of charge materials are essential for the quality of produced castings. The introduced additions of aluminium and tin in amounts: 0÷1.2 wt% decreased the dezincification tendency, while arsenic, already in the amount of 0.033 wt%, significantly stopped corrosion, limiting the dezincification process of lead-free CuZn37 brass. At higher arsenic contents, corrosion occurs only within the thin surface layer of the casting (20 μ).

The exudation layer seriously affects the properties and the surface finish of the tin bronze alloy. The effective control of the exudation thickness is important measure for improving the properties of the alloy. In order to study the influence of process parameters on the thickness of exudate layer, the tin bronze alloy was prepared by continuous unidirectional solidification technology at different process parameters. The microstructure of the continuous unidirectional solidification tin bronze alloy was analyzed. The effect of process parameters on microstructure and chemical compositions was studied by orthogonal experiment. The results show that there exists an exudation layer on the surface of the continuous unidirectional solidification tin bronze alloy, and the exudation is mainly composed of a tin-rich precipitated phase. It indicates that the continuous casting speed is the main factor affecting the thickness of exudation layer, followed by mold temperature, melt temperature, cooling water temperature and cooling distance.

The aim of this study is to demonstrate the possibility of using moulds made from the environmentally friendly sands with hydrated sodium silicate in modified ablation casting. The ablation casting technology is primarily intended for castings with diversified wall thickness and complex shapes made in sand moulds. The article presents the effect of binder content and hardening time on the bending strength Rg u of moulding sands with binders based on hydrated sodium silicate hardened by microwave technology. The aim of the research was to develop an optimal sand composition that would provide the strength necessary to make a mould capable of withstanding the modified ablation casting process. At the same time, the sand composition should guarantee the susceptibility of the mould to the destructive action of the ablation medium, which in this case is water. Tests have shown that microwave hardening provides satisfactory moulds’ strength properties even at a low binder content in the sand mixture.

Relatively cold die material comes into contact with the substantially higher temperature melt during the casting cycle, causing high thermal fluctuations resulting into the cyclic change of thermal field. The presented contribution is devoted to the assessment of the impact of temperature distribution on individual zones in the die volume. The evaluated parameter is the die temperature. It was monitored at two selected locations with the 1 mm, 2 mm, 5 mm, 10 mm and 20 mm spacing from the die cavity surface to the volume of cover die and ejector die. As a comparative parameter, the melt temperature in the middle of the runner above the measuring point and the melt temperature close to the die face were monitored. Overall, the temperature was monitored in 26 evaluation points. The measurement was performed using the Magmasoft simulation software. The input settings of the casting cycle in the simulation were identical to those in real operation. It was found, that the most heavily stressed die zones by temperature were within the 20 mm from the die face. Above this distance, the heat supplied by the melt passes gradually into the entire die mass without significant temperature fluctuations. To verify the impact of the die cooling on the thermal field, a tempering system was designed to ensure different heat dissipation conditions in individual locations. At the end of the contribution, the measures proposals to reduce the high change of thermal field of dies resulting from the design of the tempering channel are presented. These proposals will be experimentally verified in the following research work.

Precision casting is currently motivated by high demand especially for castings for the aerospace, automotive and gas turbine industries. High demands on precision of this parts pressure foundries to search for the new tools which can help them to improve the production. One of these tools is the numerical simulation of injection process, whereas such software especially for investment casting wax injection, process does not exist yet and for this case must be the existing software, for alloys or plastic, modified. This paper focuses on the use of numerical simulations to predict the behavior of injected models of gas turbine blades segments. The properties of wax mixtures, which were imported into the Cadmould simulation software as a material model, were found. The results of the simulations were verified using the results of 3D scanning measurements of wax models. As a supporting technology for verifying the results was used the Infrared Thermography.