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In this article, the possibility of using investment casting technology to produce high-quality shaped and thin-walled castings of magnesium alloys (Mg-Al based alloy - AZ91E and Mg-Zr-based alloy WE43B) at ALUCAST s.r.o. (the Czech based precision castings foundry) is described. The paper briefly focuses on using suitable and available protective atmospheres for the safe processing of magnesium alloys, considering the current European legislation. The casting process and the best arrangement of the gating system were optimized by software simulation of the casting process using "ProCast" software by the ESI group. Microstructures and mechanical properties of magnesium alloys AZ91E and WE43B within the scope of this article were investigated by light microscopy (LM), hardness tests, and tensile tests. In addition, radiography inspections and chemical composition analyses were performed. The experiments show that good mastery of magnesium melt processing technology (including knowledge of methods for reducing reactions between melt and ceramic shell, the porosity of real castings around 0.04%, etc.) allows high quality and precise magnesium castings with high mechanical properties corresponding to castings from AZ91E and WE43B alloys produced by sand casting. |
