Most people within the mold and tooling industry know about porosity. At least they know what it looks like! It is often considered a dirty word as it implies a lower quality tool and/or sub-par construction. As tooling experts, especially with an in-house foundry, we are often asked by our customers, “Why can’t you just get rid of the porosity?” Believe us, if it was that easy, we would certainly do it. Unfortunately, there is a lot more to the story that prevents us from fully eliminating this occurrence within the tooling we build. To better understand why this isn’t a simple fix, let’s take a look into what causes porosity and how we can help you limit its exposure.
First, let’s clarify exactly what porosity is. A full dissertation could be written on this subject, but because we all have a to do list a mile long, we will spare you that explanation. Simply put, porosity is the result of air trapped within the molten material during the casting process that typically creates small holes and voids in the mold when the metal has cured (see Figure 1). The result can lead to imperfections on the part during the forming process (see Figure 2).
Figure 1: Example of minor porosity in a cast aluminum tool
Figure 2: Result of tool porosity on the finished part.
By working with Tooling Tech Group, you can be assured that our 40+ years in business and lessons learned from thousands of tools built will be applied when considering your project. Our experienced application engineers meet with you and ask a lot of questions, such as:
Knowing this type of information ensures we provide the best possible solution for your tooling needs. By gaining an in-depth understanding of your requirements, we can analyze the process to see which of the many variables are most likely to affect your project and focus on controlling these in a way that delivers the most optimized tool to meet your expectations.
For more information on Tooling Tech Group’s capabilities, call 231-400-4884.