Case Study Centrifugal Castings Improve Tooling Mandrel Service Life for Aerospace Applications

Overview

There is a saying in the centrifugal casting industry: “born round, stays round.” Due to directional solidification during casting, centrifugal castings maintain their shape better than rolled and welded fabrications. This is especially important for tooling mandrels and forming dies, which shape aerospace components and are routinely exposed to heat and pressure that can cause deformation, dimensional variation, and non-conforming parts.

Challenge

A leading manufacturer of composite and sheet-metal aerospace structures used forming mandrels made from basic stainless steel and produced as either forgings or fabrications. However, premature deformation of the mandrels caused formed parts to fall out of tolerance, requiring frequent rework to restore dimensional accuracy. The customer was interested in improving tool life and reducing rework.

Solution

The customer approached MetalTek’s Wisconsin Centrifugal Division and requested a sample mandrel produced by centrifugal casting as a proof of concept. After reviewing the application, MetalTek recommended a higher-performance alloy to improve service life and consistency from part to part.

Results

The customer tested the sample in an actual manufacturing setting. While the fabricated mandrel typically produced 25 parts, the customer stopped counting after the centrifugally cast mandrel produced 125 parts. The centrifugal casting was cost-competitive with the fabrication while delivering more than five times the service life.

After seeing the benefits of mandrels produced by MetalTek, the customer converted four additional dies to centrifugal castings. All achieved similar improvements in service life and consistency.  

To learn about popular alloys used in tooling mandrels, read our blog Tooling And Forming Dies: Tips For Selecting The Best Alloy.

Contact MetalTek’s Wisconsin Centrifugal Division to discuss how centrifugal castings can improve service life in demanding applications.