Recently, Thixotropic Technologies semi-solid metal casting and rheocasting processes implemented by MIT during the 1970s began mass-production as a result of basic research and various improvements made over some 20 years. This technology, together with the recent needs for lightweight automobiles, is remarkably important as a sophisticated technology in the field of casting and forging. We are now starting to develop this technology because we have determined it to be the prevailing casting method over conventional methods. Initially, to evaluate the properties of casting parts, we tried to develop the main parts (Figure 1) of a scroll type automobile air conditioner needing high strength at elevated temperature as well as room temperature and automobile body parts (Figure 2) that must be lightweight, thin in thickness but of complex configuration. In the development of these trial parts by the semi-solid metal casting processes we encountered the insurmountable problems of commercial billets, because we had to finely adjust chemical compositions of materials, change of materials, optimize the dimension of billet and reuse the runners. So, we tried to produce our own in-house billets which can promptly correspond to the altered specification during development at low cost, and established our original billet production technology.
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