Significant increase in
service life
Narrower scatter band
of properties
Failure probability
significantly reduced
What we do
Densal®
Bodycote offers Hot Isostatic Pressing, a casting densification service specifically for aluminium to remove porosity and increase the performance of aluminium alloys. Among these is Densal®, exclusively offered by Bodycote.
After several years of trials and verifications within the automotive industry, Bodycote’s team of technical experts developed the Densal® process. Since its launch, Densal® has been adopted and integrated into the production processes of major OEMs and their Tier 1 suppliers. It has successfully improved aluminium components and generated cost savings for the supply chain.
Using Densal® in combination with best practice foundry techniques result in a significant improvement in the mechanical properties of cast parts, producing high quality, porosity-free cast aluminium components.
Benefits of Densal®
- Increased mechanical strength
- Longer fatigue life
- Uniform mechanical properties
- Pore-free machined surfaces
- Reduced property scatter
- Improved x-ray inspection acceptance
- Enhanced surface finish
Application & materials
Aluminium castings are used widely in the automotive market for modern, high-performance engines. Ever increasing performance requirements for these engine components, such as crankcases, mean that the material must perform near to the limit of it’s capability, elevating the risk of failure. For several years, Bodycote has processed crankcases and the data from as-cast and Densal® processed components have been compared through laboratory and real-world testing. As a result of this comparison, major OEMS have firmly integrated Densal® into the production process of these crankcases.
For applications in the high performance motorsports market for NASCAR, Formula 1 and Le Mans racing cars, adding the Densal® process to manufacturing specifications leads to:
- Reduced weight
- Enhanced performance
- Higher mechanical strength
- Increased life of components
For the automotive markets the improved consistency of properties together with significant increase in fatigue performance improves reliability, i.e. fewer premature failures, and enables maximum efficiency, i.e. reduce weight and increase stress limits.
Densal® process details
Aluminium casting offers the opportunity to produce cost-effective complicated net-shape components regardless of casting technique or the alloy composition used. Gas and shrinkage-porosity can exist in the castings, negatively influencing the mechanical properties of the component.
By removing this porosity, Densal® improves the performance of aluminium castings which are subjected to high dynamic loads, such as are seen in performance-critical applications.
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See how Densal® could enhance your components.