- SUPPLIER BUYS DIE CASTING ASSETS FROM CITATION
- Complex rapid-prototype metal-polymer composite moulds now possible
SUPPLIER BUYS DIE CASTING ASSETS FROM CITATION
Mar 16, 2009
Compass Automotive Group LLC has purchased the aluminum and magnesium die casting and machining operations of supplier Citation Corp., in Compass' most recent acquisition of an aluminum components company.
The Citation business makes parts for steering, engine and safety systems at plants in Grand Rapids and Lowell, Mich., which will remain open, Compass said today in a release. Terms of the transaction, completed Friday, March 13, were not disclosed.
Compass is the automotive arm of Monomoy Capital Partners LP, a New York private equity fund. It also owns the former Alcoa Automotive Castings unit; Castings Technologies Co., of Franklin, Ind.; Magnesium Aluminum Corp., a die caster of aluminum and magnesium steering and airbag components with plants in Ohio and Mexico; and SRC, which supplies raw material to aluminum and magnesium producers.
Citation filed for and emerged from a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2007, citing a decline in demand for its automotive business. At that time, 54 percent of the company's total business was in that segment. It had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2004 and emerged in 2005.
Citation, of suburban Detroit, makes lost-foam castings, chassis, brakes, iron components and powertrain and driveline components.
Sources from: http://www.autonews.com/article/20090316/ANA02/903160264/1128
Complex rapid-prototype metal-polymer composite moulds now possible
3 April 2009
SWINBURNE University researchers have developed a new computer-aided technique for making metal-polymer composite moulds, allowing them to create complex plastic objects.
According to Professor Syed Masood from the Industrial Research Institute Swinburne, the new technique is suited for medical applications, where complex plastic parts are only needed in small numbers.
The moulds are created with a combination of plastic filament, heat, computer-aided design programs, and a fused deposition rapid prototyping machine.
The rapid prototyping machine uses the Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) process, which produces parts by rapidly depositing 0.05 to 1.25mm thick layers of material.
Traditionally, its applications have been limited, as only plastic could be used as the raw material. However, Professor Masood says the fused deposition rapid prototyping machines can now be used to create complex metal parts.
Professor Masood and his scientists developed iron-nylon composites which can be extruded into filaments and fed into the Fused Deposition Modelling process.
The metal-based composite raw material can now be used to develop complex injection moulds. Unlike steel moulds, which can be used to make up to two million parts, a rapid prototype composite mould will eventually give way, so it can be used for smaller production runs.
Sources from: http://www.industrialit.com.au/Article/Complex-rapid-prototype-metal-polymer-composite-moulds-now-possible/475791.aspx
