Unlocking Sustainability Potentials in Heat Treatment Processes

Stefan Scharf, Niklas Bergedieck, Eric Riedel, Hans Richter and Norbert Stein
Additional contact information
Stefan Scharf: Institute of Manufacturing Technology and Quality Management, Otto-von-Guericke-University, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany
Niklas Bergedieck: Institute of Manufacturing Technology and Quality Management, Otto-von-Guericke-University, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany
Eric Riedel: Institute of Manufacturing Technology and Quality Management, Otto-von-Guericke-University, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany
Hans Richter: Institute of Manufacturing Technology and Quality Management, Otto-von-Guericke-University, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany
Norbert Stein: LGL GmbH, 99947 Bad Langensalza, Germany

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 16, 1-11

Abstract: Energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, environmental impact levels, and the availability of materials as well as their sustainable usage are all topics of high current interest. The energy intensive processes of casting production such as heat treatment are particularly affected by the pursuit of sustainability. It has been estimated that up to 20% of the total energy demand in a non-ferrous foundry is required to provide the heat energy necessary during heat treatment processes. This paper addresses the application-oriented development of a sustainable configuration of the heat treatment process at the example of the aluminium-casting alloy A356 (AlSi7Mg0.3). Based on calculations of the physically necessary operating modes and under investigation of previous parameter recommendations, experimental studies were carried out to investigate the effects of various heat treatment parameters on the ultimate mechanical properties of the alloy. Since the achievable mechanical properties of the finished casting are decisive, the static and dynamic casting properties resulting from the heat treatment with optimized process parameters were compared with those of conventional process control. Significant optimization potential is shown for reducing the treatment time and thus lowering the energy consumption.

Keywords: heat treatment; energy-efficiency; sustainable manufacturing; aluminium A356 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6457/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6457/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:16:p:6457-:d:397295

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().