Retech Systems LLC, Ukiah, Calif., part of the Seco Warwick Group, announces that its consumable electrode casting furnace has produced the largest ceramic shell titanium casting ever created from a single pour in Europe. The component, designed in collaboration with U.K. pump manufacturer Amarinth, is an industrial centrifugal pump housing for highly corrosive applications in the chemical and petrochemical sectors. The housing was cast from a 1320-pound melt, with finished part weight in excess of 440 pounds. The furnace is equipped with four interchangeable crucibles, which form an integral part of a manufacturing cell capable of producing castings weighing up to 1100 pounds with a diameter of 80 inches and length of 100 inches.
This result was achieved through Retech’s partnership with the Castings Group of the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) at the University of Sheffield in Scotland. This is the United Kingdom’s only titanium equiax casting facility. AMRC has more than 100 industrial partners, including Boeing, Rolls Royce, BAE Systems, and Airbus.
AMRC is already working toward a new goal – to pour over 1000 kg of titanium, producing two centrispun parts, each weighing in excess of 250 kg, fully testing the design parameters of its Retech consumable electrode castings furnace. The group’s new milestone is planned for May 2018.
“AMRC is dedicated to working with manufacturing businesses operating in the global supply chain, ranging from multi-national aerospace giants to local companies,” says AMRC Casting Group’s General Manager Richard Cook. “We decided to cooperate with Retech, and thanks to their technology we achieved a record casting at the first attempt, a significant step forward for us and the United Kingdom as a whole.”
