GRAPHALLOY® Takes a Stand Against Heat and Sand

A foundry that specialized in ferrous and non-ferrous shell molded castings had a bearing problem. The high heat and sand in their molding machines were destroying their brass bushings and stopping their production. GRAPHALLOY^®, manufactured by Graphite Metallizing Corp.,provided a solution for this difficult problem.

During production, a casting pattern was mounted to the bottom plate of the machine. Sand was added to the plate. The plate was then rolled back to the center position and the oven lowered over the mold to bake the pattern. The bushings in the arms lowering the oven were exposed to 500°F degrees as well as grit and sand.

As a result of these harsh operating conditions, the brass bushings lowering the oven over the mold were only lasting 2 - 4 weeks. Replacing these bushings required two men - working for nearly two  hours - to make the repair.

The local Graphite Metallizing engineering representative was contacted. A recommendation was made to replace the brass bushings in the arms that raise and lower the oven with GRAPHALLOY Grade 212 High Temperature Bushings.

After the GRAPHALLOY bushings had been in use for 14 months, there was only .003 wear. The company was so pleased with the performance of the GRAPHALLOY bushings that additional orders were placed for all 13 of their molding machines. One of the maintenance repairmen estimated that he was personally saving 30 hours a month.

Once again, GRAPHALLOY proved to be the answer for difficult, high temperature applications.