- Reduce Mg consumption
- Applicable to cored wire treatment and tundish standard treatment
- Ensure castings free of micro-shrinkage defects
- Improve the stability and profitability of your process
In ductile cast iron parts production, Mg treatment is applied to modify the graphite structure from lamellar to spheroidal. However, exceeding certain Mg contents can also lead to the apparition of shrinkage defects, risking the soundness of the castings, and, of course, increasing the cost associated to the overuse of this consumable.
AZTERLAN’s SDS – Smart Dosing System is an intelligent solution that, based on actual production data, determines the optimal amount of Mg needed ladle by ladle.
SDS – Smart Dosing System is suitable for cored wire and standard tundish cover treatment methods.
Every nodular cast iron foundry can benefit from SDS system, which adapts to the unique characteristics of their manufacturing process and product quality standards.
Based on actual process data, not only does SDS define the amount of Mg (length of cored wire or weight of FeSiMg) to be additioned to each ladle in real-time, but this process can be automated and controlled by a smart system.
These are the main steps covered for a successful Mg Smart Dosing System deployment:
KPIs linked to the amount of Mg in the melt are monitored to predict the presence of this element in upcoming ladles.
These KPIs include some data related to process aspects that affect the fading of Mg such as: holding time, temperature, S content in the furnace, metal weight variations in the ladle and heal of metal in the pouring unit.
Based on process and metallurgical data of the plant and minum target Mg content levels, a custom algorithm is defined to determine the specific dose of Mg treatmet to be added to each ladle.
Mg dosing calculation and addition means used in the plant should be digitalized or, at least, be able to provide certain exploitable data.
Ideally, this equipment would make it possible to program a certain level of automatism.
Building a self-managed intelligent dosing system is the ultimate goal to get the most efficient results.
“The Foundry of the Future is that of connected processes that is able to take advantage of the knowledge generated inside the company at the same time that it keeps learning from its manufacturing and market experience.
Along with a deep knowledge of metallurgy, Industry 4.0 technologies, advanced data management systems and machine learning technologies have landed in this industry to transform the way castings are conceived”.
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