Magnaflux

While Magnaflux Quasar can be used to test many types of production non-ferrous castings, most applications are for aluminum castings. These parts range in size from rocker arms to engine blocks. Other applications include: 

• Brake components - master cylinder bodies and calipers
• Suspension components - knuckles and control arms
• Engine components - heads and rocker arms
• Other components - wheels, links and engine mounts

Magnaflux Quasar has also been applied to magnesium, zinc and copper castings.

Magnaflux Quasar detects all structurally significant defects

Magnaflux Quasar detects all of the structural defects that occasionally appear in non-ferrous castings including:

• Cracks
• Hot tears
• Shrink and gas porosity
• Cold shuts
• Oxides
• Inclusions
• Significant gas holes
• Significant non-fill
• Incorrect alloying
• Missing features
• Significant dimensional variation

Magnaflux Quasar provides better NDT

Since a part's resonance pattern provides a measure of the structural integrity of the whole part, a single Quasar test can replace the other NDT methods that focus on specific defects. Magnaflux Quasar replaces

• Dye penetrant (cracks, cold shuts, hot tears and oxides)
• X-Ray (porosity, gas holes and inclusions)

Magnaflux Quasar also replaces, or complements visual white light inspections for non-fill, missing features, and significant dimensional variations. Magnaflux Quasar can also substitute for certain met lab testing to verify material properties.

Special Considerations

Magnaflux Quasar is used for higher volume parts made of materials that are stiff enough to resonate. In general, aluminum castings resonate very well with the exception of some large, thin-walled die-castings. A simple experiment can be performed to verify that a part will resonate and is suitable for Quasar testing.

Recent work has shown that the presence of oxide inclusions is the primary cause of field failures in most aluminum castings. Quasar is particularly effective for detecting these oxides that cannot be reliably detected by other NDT methods.

Magnaflux Quasar detects only structurally significant defects, that is, defects that are severe enough to cause a part to fail prematurely in service. So the Quasar system will not detect cosmetic defects such as surface cracking caused by die imperfections, nor will it detect surface discontinuities associated with parting lines or tool marks.

Benefits

Magnaflux Quasar provides the following benefits for production non-ferrous castings:

• Reliable detection of all structurally significant defects in a single test
• Results that can predict road life by correlating to failure testing (e.g., tensile or fatigue tests)
• Computer based accept/reject decisions, not subject to human judgment
• Reduction in scrap as cosmetic defects are not rejected
• Dry process eliminates need for post-inspection treatment

Nonferrous Castings Economic Case Study

Description

The part is a cast aluminum rear knuckle tested at 360 parts (180 pairs) per hour. The plant operates 3 shifts per day, 5 days per week and produces 1,800,000 of this type of knuckle per line per year. The plant is located in the United States and all costs and prices are in US$.

Magnaflux Quasar replaces FPI (Fluorescent Dye Penetrant Inspection), which costs $0.80 per part, including the cost of transporting the parts for off-site inspection.

The Quasar system consists of an automatically loaded Quasar 3200 Dual Test Station NDT System integrated into a customer-provided cell that incorporates both Quasar and Brinell testing. The system includes robotic load/unload and mechanical part marking. The price for the Quasar system and related automation was $250,000.

The cost savings are tabulated below.

The Quasar Cost per Part is based on capital amortization over 2 years. It does not include labor cost because the system is integrated into the manufacturing process.