What is the Deco Advantage?
The Deco Advantage includes engineering guidance to help designers optimize their projects. Use this post as aid to better understand the capabilities of zinc casting alloys for product applications.
Unlocking The Deco Advantage
Zinc casting alloys are versatile engineering materials. They provide the combination of strength, toughness, rigidity, bearing performance, and economical castability.
At Deco, we work with customers to identify when zinc is the right material for their next part. Our experienced engineering team understands zinc die casting advantages vs other materials and manufacturing processes and will “point you in the right direction”.
We will review zinc and the Deco Advantage; in addition, explore attributes reducing component costs and enhancing precision quality.
Precision Tolerances
Zinc alloys are castable to closer tolerances than other materials or molded plastics, therefore presenting the opportunity to reduce or eliminate machining. “Net Shape” or “Zero Machining” manufacturing is a major advantage of zinc casting.
In the design process, achieving precision features, small thin walls, and specific radii is crucial for intricate designs. Zinc serves as an ideal solution for these requirements. Filling in the details and minimizing the need for secondary operations especially in scenarios where tolerances are quite tight.
Therefore, positioning zinc alloys as the go-to solution for applications demanding robustness and precision.
Strength & Ductility
You’ll find that the Deco Advantage evolves around zinc’s great balance of strength and high precision.
Zinc alloys offer strength and superior elongation for high impact resistance. As such, zinc provides strong designs with formability for bending, crimping and riveting operations.
Toughness
Few materials provide the strength and toughness of zinc alloys. Impact resistance is significantly higher than cast aluminum alloys, plastics, and grey cast iron.
Rigidity
Zinc alloys have the rigidity of metals with modulus of elasticity characteristics equivalent to other die castable materials. Stiffness properties are, therefore, far superior to engineering plastics.
Zinc alloys offering a unique blend of rigidity and accuracy.
Zinc surpasses plastic in both strength and rigidity, making it an optimal choice when durability is a necessity. The precision achieved with zinc casting is unparalleled, allowing for tighter tolerances and ensuring excellence in various applications.
Bearing Properties
Zinc’s excellent bearing properties can often eliminate bushing and wear inserts in component designs, but also demonstrate superior performance in comparison to traditional materials.
Easy Finishing
Zinc castings are readily polished, plated, painted, chromated or powder coated for decorative and /or functional service.
Surface finish is crucial, for aesthetics but also for minimizing stress concentrations and the overall strength of the part.
Optimizing the finish, particularly on the visible side, involves trade-offs that prompt discussions between us and the customer. These discussions are part of the Deco Advantage focused on meeting both immediate needs and ensuring long-term satisfaction.
Thin Wall Castability
Another advantage to using zinc is its fluidity. When melted it flows like water, allowing for precision features and thin walls.
Zinc proves more tolerant of varying wall thicknesses. As it cools at a more constant rate, ensuring a better surface finish.
Explore more on thin wall die casting in zinc for its advantages.
Machinability
The machinability of zinc materials not only results in fast and trouble-free machining. Also minimizing tool wear and reducing overall machining costs. This makes zinc an optimal choice for streamlined manufacturing processes.
Long Tool Life
Low casting temperatures result in less thermal shock and, therefore, extended life for die casting tools. With zinc molds, the tool life is generally 10 times longer compared to aluminum molds, lasting approximately 1million shots.
This longevity is significant, especially when considering the equivalent situation for aluminum, which typically reaches 100,000 shots. The difference becomes evident in the cost and frequency of tool replacements. With zinc requiring only one tool change for the same output that would demand 10 changes with aluminum.
The Deco Advantage Conclusion
The Deco Advantage guide serves as a resource to understand the capabilities of zinc casting alloys for product applications.
The Deco Advantage revolves around zinc’s unique balance of strength and high precision.
Offering versatile solutions for applications demanding robustness and precision.
With precision tolerances, strength, and many other advantages, zinc alloys may be an optimal choice for your next project. Deco can support can with design assistance to explore the advantages of zinc’s characteristics including thin wall castability, machinability, and extended tool life.
