Scrap Metal Recycling

How the metal industries can play their part in a sustainable future

It has always been widely understood that scrap metal has economic value. With ever greater focus on recycling and reducing the strain we put on our natural resources, there is also a growing appreciation of the environmental benefits metal recycling can deliver. Metals have been worked for jewellery and tools since pre-historic times and over  … Read more

Rapid Prototyping: How 3D Printing is making its presence felt in the foundry

As a long-established foundry with its roots in sand and gravity die casting, NovaCast has grown and evolved over the years to become a modern, diverse and international foundry, with customers and production partners around the world. As the business has developed, it has embraced new casting processes, such as investment casting, lost foam casting,  … Read more

Analysis and Testing of Metals: The use of Spectrometers in foundries

Over the years, technology has played an increasingly important role in metal casting foundries. NovaCast, for example, uses the latest Casting Simulation Software, 3D Modelling and 3D printing to streamline processes, raise productivity and improve quality. One such area where technology is used to great effect in foundries is the use of Spectrochemical analysis for  … Read more

The Main Alloying Elements used in Cast Stainless Steels

When considering the alloy specification for a cast Stainless Steel component, it is critical that the service environment in which the cast component will be deployed is taken into account. The chemical composition of the Stainless Steel alloy will determine its performance characteristics and suitability for each application. At NovaCast, we supply a wide variety  … Read more

NovaCast shows the way to a greener, more sustainable industry

Over the years the metal casting industry has acquired a reputation as one of the worst in terms of environmental impact, largely due to traditional production practices with high energy usage going in and highly toxic emissions coming out. Add to this the massive energy demands for the extraction and production of raw metals, such  … Read more

The Use of Fluxes in Aluminium Casting

At NovaCast, a large proportion of our castings are produced using Aluminium alloy. The formation of Aluminium Oxide and the presence of non-metallic inclusions, collectively known as dross, is an inherent part of the casting process and one that must be managed to achieve the highest quality castings. For many years, part of the foundryman’s  … Read more

Impeller Casting Specialists

The accurate casting and balancing of impellers requires a specialist set of skills as well as a commitment to outstanding consistency and quality. For many years, NovaCast has cast and machined impellers and pump components for a wide variety of industries and applications ranging from centrifugal pumps used in the Oil & Gas, Chemical, Water  … Read more

The differences between Lost Foam Casting and Lost Wax Casting

In many respects, the process involved in these two investment casting methods is similar. In both cases, a sacrificial pattern is made. In lost wax casting, this is made from a tooled mould and in lost foam casting, it may be made from a mould or carved from a solid block of foam material. A  … Read more

The Difference Between Gravity and Pressure Die Casting

Die casting is one of the most widely used casting processes but what is the difference between Gravity Die Casting and Pressure Die Casting? Both are casting processes used by NovaCast, so we are well placed to explain the differences and discuss the selection criteria. Both forms of Die Casting employ a metal mould into  … Read more

NovaCast Heat Treatment

Heat Treatment of Castings

Heat treatment of castings is primarily used to alter the physical, and sometimes chemical, properties of the cast alloy. Many of the mechanical properties of both ferrous and non-ferrous alloys are determined by their microstructure. Heat treatment Is an efficient way of manipulating the crystalline structure of the alloy to modify its mechanical behaviour in  … Read more