OREANDA-NEWS. April 1, 2008. A flux cored wire production area was opened at the foundry within the bounds of the project “Flux cored wire ladle modification of cast iron”.

In the iron casting production there is a laboratory of flux cored wire development and production. Line speed is 2 thousand tonnes a year. All operations are unattended. Tests of the first bobbin of flux cored wire showed that the obtained castings are of high quality.

“Now we have the difficult task – to master the manufacture of one of flux cored wire components – a complex modifier “Premix” the fabrication technique of which only Japan producers are able to use, - said Semyon Shnaiderman, project manager. – The replacement of “Premix” by the Russian modifier will make it possible to cut production costs of wire and castings in whole.”

A great achievement of the project is a stable quality of iron castings and reduction of their production costs. It should be recalled that automated forming lines SPO-2 and SPO-4 are transferred to the new casting technique. 80 positions of KAMAZ and initiative nomenclature are found of high-duty cast iron there. Lately the technique was extended to vermicular graphite casting. A range of experimental castings, “cylinder blocks”, “transmission housings”, “splitter housings” are produced at SPO-1.

According to Semyon Shnaiderman, the given vermicular graphite castings are obtained in compliance with technical requirements and, above all, they have equally stable properties. To get the definitive result, in the short run there will be cast pilot batches of castings for mechanical operation.

In the world practice there is no mass production of vermicular graphite castings with the help of the automated process of flux cored wire modification. As specialists explain, the process should be exercised with extremely high precision. If there are the slightest deviations from metallurgical characteristics of the modification process castings are obtained either of gray cast iron or of high-duty cast iron.

Touching the prospects of this large-scale project, the immediate task will be the transfer of the automated forming line HWS-1 to ladle modification. Such castings as “a front axle” of the KAMAZ vehicle will be found of high-duty cast iron here.

The final step will be implementation of ladle modification at two DISAMATIC lines. Then it will be possible to say about the full transfer of high-duty casting at the KAMAZ foundry to the ladle modification technology.