Aluminum Castings
There is a constant quest to use lighter, weight saving materials, notably aluminum, in a variety of structural products.
Hot Isostatic Pressing's improvement in microstructural homogeneity and material properties is enabling cast aluminum to be viable in more demanding, severe stress applications, such as automotive engines, structural aerospace parts, turbo impellers and other critical industrial components.
HIP removes internal porosity, utilizing plastic yielding, creep and diffusional effects. Defects of considerable dimension may be removed by the process, as well as the more typical scattered shrinkage and hydrogen gas porosity.
Use of HIP thus extends the range of possible aluminum casting applications, with numerous advantages in comparison with wrought material. Recent advances in larger and faster cycling equipment have significantly lowered the per-unit costs for HIPped aluminum processing.