DEVELOPMENT OF A PERMANENT MOULD FOR CASTING ALUMINUM PISTON USED IN SUMEC FIRMAN 2.5KVA GENERATOR
There is a huge demand for imported generators due to irregular power supply in Nigeria. This has caused a high demand for generators spare parts especially, piston which soon gets worn out after a reasonable service life. Aluminum is the ideal material for producing internal combustion engine components because of its high strength to weight ratio, good formability, good resistance to corrosion and recycling potential. Aluminum-silicon alloy pistons for Sumec firman 2.5kVA generators were cast using Aluminum scraps as charge materials. The casting was carried out using permanent mould (gravity die-casting) technique. A permanent mold was designed for the piston casting. This implied that the material selected (mild steel) for the mould permitted good thermal dissipation from the molten metal to the core mould. The piston core also facilitated heat transfer from the molten metal to the core as the time increased from 0 sec to 10.5 secs. The surface area of the piston core received the maximum thermal energy (temperature) when the molten Al-Si alloy was poured into the mould at about 1 sec. The piston core also effectively transferred heat. Microstructure analysis showed good homogeneous grain distributions, and chemical analysis confirmed a hypoeutectic Al-Si alloy (13% Si). The cast pistons had a Brinell hardness of 198BHN matching expected value for LM13 alloy and 111 pistons were produced. The process successfully demonstrated the feasibility of recycling aluminum generator pistons for reuse.
Authors : Odeh, P., Abolarin, M.S., Lawal, S.S., Adedipe, O., Morkah, H.I. and Jiya, J.Y.
Category : Volume (Issue) : 11(2) Date Uploaded : 8th August 2025