The casting process represents the shortest route from the basic material, the alloyed melt, to the casting ready to be installed with optimized multiple functions. In contrast to this unique advantage exists the problem of the difficult control and diagnosis of the casting parameters which are responsible for the quality and the functionality of the casting. Only the melting parameters, chemical alloy composition and pouring temperature which can be set by inoculant or alloy wires and the heating capacity of the furnace before the casting are exceptions | Sensors in Manufacturing. Edited by . Tonshoff I. Inasaki I 143 Copyright 2001 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH ISBNs 3-527-29558-5 Hardcover 3-527-60002-7 Electronic 4 Sensors for Process Monitoring Casting and Powder Metallurgy Casting . Haferkamp M. Niemeyer and J. Weber Universität Hannover Hannover Germany Introduction The casting process represents the shortest route from the basic material the alloyed melt to the casting ready to be installed with optimized multiple functions. In contrast to this unique advantage exists the problem of the difficult control and diagnosis of the casting parameters which are responsible for the quality and the functionality of the casting. Only the melting parameters chemical alloy composition and pouring temperature which can be set by inoculant or alloy wires and the heating capacity of the furnace before the casting are exceptions. The other parameters are subjected during the extremely short period of production in the casting process and solidification to dynamic and for the most part also reciprocal influences which are difficult to control. It is still said that for difficult and costly casting processes eg bell founding you have to take off your hat before praying before the casting starts 1 2 . With modern automated casting methods and the increasing use of computer-integrated manufacturing CIM systems in foundries inaccuracy of the parameters must be avoided to guarantee a high quality of the casting products and to avoid a cost intensive interruption of production. The aims of perfect production and total quality management TQM require sensors which also control the mold filling and the solidification processes and thereby permit efficient process control and process control engineering 3 4 . This demanding process control can only be realized with sensors which are adjusted to the severe conditions in a foundry such as high temperatures difficult accessibility of the measuring point and the chemically .
