Honda of America and Alotech Ltd., Cleveland, have won the 2015 American Foundry Society (AFS)/Metal Casting Design & Purchasing Magazine Casting of the Year award for their collaboration on three aluminum nodes for the Acura NSX space frame. The ablation-case lower front body, upper front body and rear body nodes exhibit superior properties that allow them to be placed within the frame’s critical crash zones, which allowed for additional part consolidation.
To safely be located in the frames crash zones, the cast parts would have to match the properties of the surrounding extrusions (265-295 MPa UTS, 175-205 MPa YS, > 12% elongation). Consistency of properties within the crash zone is critical in establishing a repeatable crash absorption mode. Honda was able to achieve the necessary properties and additional design requirements with ablation casting by partnering with Alotech Limited, Cleveland, Ohio. Ablation casting is a new technology invented by Alotech that combines the complete flexibility of traditional sand casting techniques with rapid cooling of the molten alloy through the use of a water-soluble binder.
The lower front body, upper front body and rear body nodes, currently cast at the Honda of America Anna Engine Plant in Ohio, showcases Honda’s ability to take external technlogy and work collaboratively with Alotech to integrate ablation casting into existing manufacturing requirements (a real-world technology transfer).
The AFS/Metal Casting Design & Purchasing Magazine Casting Competition is held every year to give North American metalcasting facilities the chance to show the engineering and purchasing community what a cast metal part can accomplish.
Honda and Alotech were recognized for their winning casting during the President’s Brunch April 23 at the 119th AFS Metalcasting Congress in Columbus, Ohio.
Seven other castings were honored as Best in Class or Honorable Mention winners.
Best in Class:
? REL Inc., Calumet, Mich., and Eck Industries, Manitowoc, Wis., for an aluminum conformable compressed natural gas tank.
? Magna International, Troy, Mich., for its high pressure vacuum diecast multi material lightweight vehicle front kick down rail for the automotive industry.
? Grede-Columbiana, Columbiana, Ala., for a lost-foam-cast ductile iron stalk roll used in the separation and processing of corn stalk material during harvest.
Honorable Mention:
? Signicast Investment Castings, Hartford, Wis., for a steel cold chamber shot end plunger tip.
? Waupaca Foundry Plant 4, Marinette, Wis., for a green sand cast differential case for automotive, light truck driveline.
? Tooling & Equipment International, Livonia, Mich., for an aluminum accessories plate that integrates internal cooling, air fuel and accessories in power generators.
? O’Fallon Casting, O’Fallon, Mo., for an aluminum afocal optics housing for a defense application.
The American Foundry Society is a not-for-profit organization formed in 1896. With its headquarters in Schaumburg, Ill., AFS provides members and consumers with information and services to promote and strengthen the metalcasting industry.