Products of Our V-Process Casting
About our V-Process
A&B’s foundry helps customers achieve new levels of quality for medium-sized and large castings with V-Process Casting technology.
This proprietary process consists of the following:
- The mold is composed of a dry, fine silica sand.
- A special plastic film is held by vacuum against the top and bottom of the mold.
- The aluminum alloy is poured into a tightly assembled cope and drag.
- The vacuum is released to initiate mold shake-out
V-Process Casting Benefits
The special plastic film and vacuum processing result in superior castings unattainable with other casting methods.
- Elimination of surface defects and smooth finishes provide an aesthetically appealing, high-quality end product
- Near net shape castings reduce machining time, saving manufacturing costs
- Sharp corners, tight radii and intricate details can be achieved for the most difficult casting requirements
V-Process Casting Facts
- Aluminum alloys including Series 200, 300, 500 and 700 Aluminum
- Casting weights can exceed 700 lb (320 kg)
The Overview of V-Process Casting
V-Process Casting was developed and patented in Japan in the late 1970’s.
When introduced in 1980’s, A&B Foundry and Machining was one of the leading foundries using V-Process for casting. With three decades, this process not only has been used and accepted in various industries, and also has been proved to be a very cost effective process for high quality and medium-sized / large aluminum castings.
V-Process is a variation of the sand casting process for most ferrous and non-ferrous metals, in which unbonded sand is held in the flask with a vacuum.
How our V-Process Works
A pattern is placed on a hollow carrier plate in advance. We heat a thin plastic film (.003″ to .008″) and place it over the pattern.
When the softened film covers a pattern, a vacuum (200 to 400 mm Hg) draws it tightly around the pattern, which is then surrounded by a flask.
Next, the process uses dry, free-flowing, unbonded sand to fill the special flask set over the film-coated pattern. (*The sand used contains no water or organic binders and is kept under a vacuum during molding.)
After a second sheet of film is placed on the flask, a vacuum draws out the air, and the completed mold is then stripped from the pattern.
Each half of the mold is made in a similar fashion and then casting is poured directly from the furnace into the closed halves.
The mold is held under vacuum to retain its shape. After the mold cools, the vacuum is released and the sand and completed casting falls free.
Advantages of V-Process Casting
V-Process Casting is the most efficient way to produce castings. It has a very low operating cost, unlimited pattern life cost which saves the customer a lot of money from having to continuously pay for new tooling, and it produces a much better quality part.
With the V-Process today, castings of all sizes and shapes, can be used to make parts in quantities from 5 to 5,000 and will produce a quality, low-cost part that will leave the end user extremely satisfied.
Other advantages of the V-Process include:
- Thin-wall Capabilities;
- Excellent Reproduction of Details;
- Low Tooling Costs;
- Unlimited Pattern Life;
- “User-friendly” Patterns;easy revisions to patterns, no metal tooling; good for prototypes;
- Quick Turnarounds and Short Lead Times.