AFS Castings of the Year

The metalcasting industry handed out top honors in its 2008 Engineered Casting Solutions and American Foundry Society Casting Competition. The winners serve in a variety of industries, including material handling, agriculture, energy production, military, heavy truck, and automotive. , Blaine, Minn., took Casting of the Year honors for its Harley- Davidson oil tank. The tank was cast in A356-T6 aluminum via semipermanent molding; it weighs 9.25 lb and measures 14 10 8 in. The casting is better looking and increases heat resistance compared to an alternative plastic design and a multipiece fabrication. A brass permanent-mold chill casting for a steering linkage from , Greensburg, Pa., was redesigned from a weldment composed of 10 prefabricated pieces, 19 weld joints, and four bushings. The resulting 9.82-lb component was 10% lighter than the weldment and eliminated some machining and the need for stress relieving. , Mankato, Minn., engineered an austempered ductile-iron and ductile-iron green-sand casting from a weldment. The new assembly was 30% lighter and cost 40% less. In a Static Mixer Tube, , Waukesha, Wis., made an abrasion resistant, 124-lb white-iron no-bake sand casting of a tool for cleaning coal in power-generation facilities. It was converted from a seven-piece fabrication, eliminating assembly and allowing for thickening in wear areas which extends the service life of the component. , Denison, Tex., converted a multipiece assembly into a 200-lb, A356-T71 aluminum no-bake sand casting. The conversion eliminated tubing, hydraulic lines, and passageways by casting them into the design, which required 77 cores. , Columbiana, Ala., devised a 21-lb ductile-iron lost-foam casting that eliminated machining and heat treating needed on previous towing brackets. The new part is 1.5-lb lighter and saves 35% of the costs associated with the previous one. The new part has cast-in frame mounting and cross-member mounting surfaces, a tow pin receiver, and