Technology Looks Ahead
With Topcast's TCC vacuum continuous casting machines, the quality of semi-finished products is always consistently high
For years, the Arezzo-based company has been developing solutions for the continuous vacuum casting of non-ferrous and precious metals for jewelry, clothing and fashion accessories, as well as less common alloys used in industry, such as industrial bronzes (containing Al, Ti and Ni, among others), brazing metals and eutectic alloys. Topcast is now also ready to supply stand-alone equipment for basic production needs in the form of automated turnkey systems with multiple functionalities, such as continuous crucible feeding or a mobile cutting unit. The advantage is that casting takes place in total absence of oxygen, creating a rapid and efficient vacuum in the casting chamber, followed by inert gas washing (Gas Wash Purge© procedure), allowing vacuum levels of up to -900 mbar to be reached. The casting process is fully automatic with digital control of the parameters (temperatures, draw speed, cooling water flow around the die, initial position of the dummy bar). Moreover, crucible-die coupling is extremely fast and simple with no need for lubricants or adhesives. All models are National Industry 4.0 Plan compliant and equipped with a Data Logger for sampling process variables in numerical and graphical form and an off-line reporting program for traceability and quality control analysis.
