Many foundries do not have the luxury of a resident experienced metallurgist due to the high salary the position commands. A retainer agreement with CMPT is an excellent alternative to a full time metallurgist at a fraction of the cost. There are many benefits to foundries who retain Casting Metallurgy & Process Technology (CMPT) for their metallurgical and technical director needs. CMPT's efforts will be specifically targeted to address the client's immediate needs.
Reduction of casting cost by:
Modification of chemistry to improve properties and reduce processing costs
Improved target control of chemistry by modification of melting practice
Application of gating principles to improve metal flow and reduce casting defects
Application of risering principles to reduce potential of shrinkage
Assistance with quotation packages (especially when there are significant metallurgical and quality specifications). Common problems with specifications are that the specified metal may not be able to achieve the desired mechanical properties.
Casting Defect Analysis- ability to characterize defects, understand the significant process variables contributing to them and modification of the process to prevent reoccurrence
Customer Satisfaction- customers of foundries value the ability to talk to a metallurgist either at the quotation stage, sampling or during a production run when there are quality concerns.
Metallurgist at Heat treater or Fabricator
Many commercial heat treating companies do not have a metallurgist to guide them to achieve optimum mechanical properties through correct metallurgical heat treat processing. The same can be said for fabricating companies; there are direct metallurgical effects associated with welding parameters for example preheating and post weld heat treating. As a result of improper preheat and/or post weld heat treat, components may crack afetr cooling or by delayed cracking in service. Stainless welds may exhibit premature corrosion, low alloy steels may have reduced impact properties or strength increased or reduced and hardness increased or reduced.