Advantages of making aluminum castings using the permanent mold process.  

  1. Permanent mold casting is often the lowest cost method of producing an aluminum casting.

  2. Permanent mold castings are usually stronger than sand castings as measured by ultimate and yield strength.  They also demonstrate better elongation. 

  3. The appearance of aluminum permanent mold castings is usually better than the appearance of castings made using the green sand process.

  4. The dimensional stability of permanent mold castings is better than the dimensional stability of green sand castings.

  5. Permanent mold castings achieve better elongation than die castings.  This means that permanent mold castings are less brittle than die castings.  If a permanent mold casting fails, it tends to bend instead of breaking.

  6. Permanent mold castings are better than die castings when pressure tightness is required.  This means that permanent mold castings don’t “leak” as much as die castings and are better for holding oil, fuel, compressed gas and compressed air.

  7. The aluminum permanent mold process can utilize sand cores to create complex geometries.  Die casting cannot use sand cores.  When cores are incorporated into the permanent mold process, the process is sometimes called “semi-permanent molding” because the mold is permanent but a new core has to be made for each casting.

  8. The tooling for permanent mold castings is less expensive than the tooling for die castings.

Disadvantages of making aluminum castings using the permanent mold process.  

  1. For simple, high volume parts, die casting can achieve a lower price for each casting (but the overall economics also depends on tooling costs)

  2. Permanent mold castings are not as precise as die castings and require thicker metal walls.

  3. The tooling for permanent mold castings is more expensive than the tooling for green sand castings.

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