Pathway to Improved Metalcasting Manufacturing Technology & Processes - Taking Metalcasting Beyond 2020

Goal: Organize and initiate an industry-led roadmapping process that results in the identification and prioritization of research projects addressing capability gaps and guides technology investment decisions.

Lead: American Foundry Society
1695 N. Penny Lane
Schaumburg, IL. 60173

Award Number: 70NANB14H043

Federal Funding: $396,287

Project Duration: 24 months

The American Metalcasting Consortium—composed of four industry associations that represent 95 percent of the nation's 2,000 foundries—will launch an industrywide roadmapping effort to identify research and related actions aimed at achieving significant improvements in processing capabilities and productivity. Specific objectives are to:

• Reach industry consensus on metalcasting capability gaps, solution priorities, and investment recommendations.
• Identify potentially transformative technologies requiring collaborative research.
• Establish clear problem definitions and a common framework for parallel work by multiple organizations.
• Chart a transition path to facilitate interoperability of developed solutions with existing systems.
• Build a collaborative infrastructure tailored to the roadmap's targeted outcomes.
• Initiate development of an infrastructure that supports an advanced U.S. metalcasting industry.

Cast metal parts and products are used in nearly every sector of the economy—consumer products, energy exploration and production, aerospace, automotive, defense, construction, and more. Examples of cast metal components span from engine blocks to prosthetic devices and surgical equipment to valves and pumps. Among the most energy-intensive U.S. industries, the sector is composed mostly of small businesses, which lack the resources to initiate and sustain the research necessary to remain globally competitive. Major technical challenges facing the industry include improving and accelerating casting design, improving process capabilities and efficiency, and building and retaining a skilled workforce.

For project information: Thomas E. Prucha, (847) 824-0181, tprucha [at] afsinc.org (tprucha[at]afsinc[dot]org)

Funded Participants:

• Advanced Technology International (ATI), dba SCRA Applied R&D ( Charleston S. C.)
• Non-Ferrous Founders' Society (Park Ridge, Ill.)
• North American Die Casting Association (Arlington Heights, Ill.)
• Product Development & Analysis, LLC (Naperville, Ill.)
• Rock Valley College (Rockford, Ill.)
• SteelFounders' Society of America (Crystal Lake, Ill.)

AMTech Project Manager: Jean-Louis Staudenmann, (301) 975-4866, jean-louis.staudenmann [at] nist.gov (jean-louis[dot]staudenmann[at]nist[dot]gov)