Driving down element turnaround time while bettering quality and decreasing waste is being achieved at Weir Minerals Africa’s thrilling new Replicast Plant in Isando, Gauteng.
Umar Smith, plant manager at Weir Minerals Africa’s Isando facility, highlights that the innovative improvement permits the company to provide extra components at a time – and extra shortly. This will assist in meeting rising buyer demand, while also decreasing rework and wastage.
“As part of our Project Vuka, this new plant permits us to solid multiple small elements per batch rather than simply separately,” says Smith. “We can even cut back our knock-out occasions from days to only a few hours.”
The state-of-the-art amenities allow Weir Minerals Africa to solid high chrome components weighing up to 250 kg. There are two phases to the new process, he explains, which uses polystyrene to create moulds. The first section is the polystyrene moulding process, which happens after the polystyrene beads have been expanded. The second section is the place the ramming, pouring and demoulding takes place.
In contrast to the normal moulding line – the place resin and catalyst are used to bind sand – the Replicast Plant uses silica sand of 30-35 AFS grade together with the polystyrene mould, he says. The system involves a vacuum bin, from which all of the air is removed to compress the sand.
“The absence of resin and catalyst – in addition to having no clamping course of – results in much less scrap being produced, and therefore brings operational savings,” he says. “The quality of castings can additionally be raised, with a better floor finish and fewer defects.”
เกจ์วัดแรงดันน้ำ notes that the geometrical stability of elements is improved, as there may be much less fettling of the completed product thereby lowering dimensional variation between the identical parts. This in turn contributes to the reliability of the gear using these elements. He says the foundry may also realise significant environmental benefits because of utilizing no chemicals within the sand.
“This new plant aligns well with our company sustainability targets, guaranteeing that our processes usually are not solely compliant but continuously scale back our environmental impression,” says Smith. “Our new moulding techniques ensure that fewer gases are emitted in the course of the casting process, and there are zero emissions of dangerous substances such as benzene.”
The new technology is also resulting in less frequent disposal of silica sand, and the sand itself is extra environmentally pleasant as it incorporates no resin or acid.
“A exceptional facet of creating this new plant was the reality that it was done with our local skills and largely through the COVID-19 lockdowns,” he says. “Despite the novelty of this technology, and the logistical challenges created by the pandemic, it was successfully carried out on time and inside price range.”
The plant contains more than 16,000 particular person components, and uses over 1,900 m of cabling, 300 m of water piping and 55 tons of steel.
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