Advancing Gigacasting: Inside Fondarex Innovative Solutions for the Future of Die Casting

Interview 16/10/2024

It was a privilege to sit down with Jérôme Honório who is Sales Manager at Fondarex overseeing operations in Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific markets. Fondarex is a Swiss company at the forefront of vacuum technology in high-pressure die casting. Their aim is to become a key partner for companies looking to improve the quality of Gigacastings through their new solutions discussed in the following article.

Let's start from the early days of Gigacastings; Fondarex is part of the Foundry Star Alliance, a partnership between 8 companies which teamed up to offer their expertise in the development of the best die casting production cell in the market. How did the development of larger die casting machines, such as the Giga Press, occur and how did Fondarex react to the new needs?

“First of all, the Foundry Star Alliance was an idea of Riccardo Ferrario, former IDRA General Manager, he understood that nobody can be a specialist in everything, so he invited different companies to work together with IDRA to offer the most complete die casting island solution. Of course, we are also free to work on different projects with other companies, we like to say that we work together but not with our hands tied.”

“I remember when I joined Fondarex in 2018 the largest die casting machine on the market was 4,500 tons which at the time was a huge machine. Among other factors, the transition to electric vehicles has led to a simplification of the body in white. Many smaller components are being consolidated into a single large casting, resulting in reduced costs and assembly complexity. But to produce the underbody in a single piece, new needs arose for die-casting machines that had never been built before.”

“When the first order for a 6,000 tons machine arrived, at Fondarex we already had developed all the vacuum systems to manage larger die cavities as we thought it was inevitable that sooner or later the market would move in that direction. We already had developed the hardware and we had to adapt a few things for our customer’s specifications and we were able to deliver on time, it was quite a challenge but it’s working.”

The first Giga Press started producing Gigacastings 4 years ago. What is Fondarex doing to keep improving the Gigacasting process? Especially in larger parts that we are soon going to see in the automotive industry in the next few years.

“At Fondarex, we recognized that addressing specific issues, particularly porosity, requires multiple technologies, vacuum machines alone are insufficient. Gas porosity is just one of the aspects related to porosity that we aim to solve with our vacuum machines, but during the solidification phase there is also shrinkage porosity and for this we need different technologies, such as thermoregulation and densification of the melt during solidification.”

“We developed a Jet Cooling unit which allows us to have better thermoregulation control on specific hotspots and we are convinced that we likely have the most advanced cooling machine in the world right now. With just one unit we can apply it to 9,000 ton machines whereas our competitors may need 2 to 4 units.” FX-Jet video here

“To locally compensate for the volume shrinkage of the metal during solidification, we developed a most flexible so called Squeeze Unit, which we presented at Euroguss 2024 and it was very successful.”

How can these products effectively address the demand for larger and higher quality castings? Some Chinese OEMs are even planning 20,000 ton machines for a full underbody casting.

“Decentralized feeding of the melt during solidification is not a truly new concept. So-called Squeeze Pins are pressed into the semi-solid metal using hydraulic cylinders to compensate for volume shrinkage and thus lower shrinkage porosity. Especially in zones that cannot be fed via the main injection piston.”

“The reason our unit is unique in the market is because we have our own accumulator. As a result, we can tailor the hydraulic pressure supply and control specifically to the requirements of the squeeze process. For instance, in contrast to the hydraulic system of the die-casting machine, a reliable pressure of 320 bar is available. Our FX-Squeeze unit can control up to 24 pins independently, for example we can set up the force build up, the final pressure, holding time and retreat pressure of the pins in order to avoid it remaining stuck in the metal and braking during retraction or the opening of the die.”

“The FX-Jet's high-performance local cooling, when paired with the FX-Squeeze unit, effectively minimizes porosity due to solidification shrinkage. The integration of these two systems compensates for volume loss during solidification, thereby meeting stringent requirements for part tightness, strength, and ductility.”

“Of course all of this equipment and customization bring another problem which is the interface. With our Periphery Management System, the FX-PMS, we can use just one screen and reduce the cables and screens needed to operate multiple systems on one device.”

Jérôme also told me that Fondarex developed the Squeeze Machine with the idea of Gigacastings in mind, but what happened is that smaller die casting machine operators were also very interested because they are able to improve the output of their older machines.

For example one of their customers said they have a mold with one cavity requiring 1,200 tons but with 1,600 tons they could use a two cavity mold. The problem is that their old machine is not capable of delivering enough injection pressure. Thanks to the squeeze machine they can produce parts using a two cavity mold and compensate for the lack of pressure from the injection piston with the hydraulic cylinders from Fondarex. Retrofitting the older die casting machine with the Fondarex Squeeze machine requires a lower capital investment than buying a new die casting machine.

I extend my sincere thanks to Jérôme Honório and the team at Fondarex for sharing their valuable insights and for their commitment to advancing die casting technology.