The thickness of the materials used in castings is being constantly reduced in order to achieve further weight reduction. At the same time, the demands being placed on the quality of castings and on production turnaround times are on the rise. This is precisely why casting inspection via X-rays has been playing an important role in the automotive sector for years. Castings to be X-ray inspected such as engine blocks, cylinder heads, steering-gearcasings or wheel mounts are examined especially for the presence of blowholes, porosities and component deviations from design. Here YXLON offers X-ray based casting inspection systems for manually operated visual casting inspection as well as fully automated solutions which can be integrated into the production process. A difference is made in those offers between robot-based and pallet-based X-ray casting inspection systems.
An example of a special application in casting inspection is the testing of TDI pistons. They have a cooling channel in the bottom of the piston to dissipate heat. Motor oil flows through that channel. The channel is created by the insertion of a salt-core ring into the casting mold which is flushed out later on. A breakage, damaging, shifting or incomplete removal of the salt core can all occur within the course of production of this casting. When installed later on in a passenger vehicle, for instance, any one of those can lead to insufficient oil flow. That, in turn, leads to an overheating of the piston base and subsequent engine damage. Through fully automated X-ray casting inspection, residues or breaks in the salt-core ring already become visible during the production stage.
