Technical Services Explained No. 1: Defect Analysis Whats New!

Eastern Alloys has a number of services designed to help our customers
be more competitive in the diecasting industry. Some of these services
are Technical Service, Price Risk Management, and Market Development.
Much time and effort is spent developing and implementing these
programs to help assist our customers in achieving a competitive
advantage in the industry.
During the next several months, the Alloyer will focus on describing
these services in more detail. This Alloyer describes one of the
Technical Service tools: Defect Analysis. Over the last three years an
average of 67 technical reports were written each year detailing a
thorough investigation of defective parts or design help, - all in
response to customer requests. This defect analysis ranges from
finishing defects (plating or powder coating, etc) to cracking in
functional parts, or just general quality issues our customers may (or
may not!) have.
The Eastern Alloys website has undergone
major improvements. In addition to easy
access to a wealth of information, a new
section for component designers has been
added. This section explains the superior
properties and cost reduction benefits of
designing with zinc alloys. Whether creating
new applications or switching over from other
material, designers will find a great deal of
information to help them in designing better
components for less.
Eastern Alloys customers are free to use this
section for marketing and new business
development.
www.eazall.com

A full investigation can Market Snapshot

include the following:

Metallurgical
Examination
Eastern Alloys has a
full metallurgical
laboratory. Part of
the examination
includes sectioning
the defect, polishing Click to enlarge.
the sample to a
metallurgical finish, Upcoming Events
and then an
examination using NADCA/AFS Cast Expo 2005
one of our St. Louis, MO
macroscopes and/or April 16-19 2005
microscopes. This www.castexpo.com
process is vital to
ensure the correct
classification of the
defects, and helps
answer questions
such as - Is the
defect due to plating
or casting? Why
does the defect
occur? And most
importantly - How do
we keep this defect
from occurring?

Chemical Analysis
Eastern Alloys also
has the ability to
check the chemical
composition of the
parts in question
using Optical
Emission
Spectrometry (OES)
or Inductively Figure 1 This figure shows how
Coupled Plasma metallographic techniques help
(ICP). These are improve the ability to determine
used to ensure that what type defects are occurring, and
the castings are to what extent.
within the ASTM
guidelines.
 Runner and Gating Analysis This type of examination is often
done to ensure that the runner, gating and feed systems are
designed correctly. Inadequate design can be a major source of
casting defects.

PQ2 Analysis PQ2 calculations are normally done when designing

a die, but Eastern Alloys also uses it to help determine why defects
occur. It helps answer questions such as: Is the gate area correct?
What are the expected filling conditions due to the gate area and
the machine that it is being used in?

Shot Trace Analysis If this is available, it is a very useful tool.

Eastern can help diecasters use this tool to determine what the
exact filling conditions are, or if there are other hydraulic issues that
may be occurring in the machine.

The extent of the type of work done depends on the difficulty

determining what is occurring, or what information is available. After
the investigation is complete, a full report is written detailing the type of
defect occurring, and what options are available to eliminate it from
occurring in the future.

Most of our customers do not have metallographic equipment, an optical

emission spectrometer, or an experienced physical metallurgist.
Therefore, Eastern Alloys provides these free of charge. Eastern also
offers training to our customers on the above subjects, if
needed.

For more information on these or other topics, please contact Ryan

Winter, Manager - Customer Engineering Services at 845-427-2151 or
rwinter@eazall.com.

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