JP2000254764A - Device for supplying material for molten metal and device for forming metallic material utilizing this device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a material supplying device for molten metal suitable to the formation of the metallic material, in which the metallic material can be melted without needing a melting furnace. SOLUTION: This material supplying device 1 for molten material is provided with a heating cylinder 11 having an inlet for receiving the material R to be melted and an outlet for the molten metal Rm, a heater 12 for heating the heating cylinder 11 and a vacuum pump 17 for making almost vacuum state in the inner part of the heating cylinder 11 by connecting with the heating cylinder 11.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a molten metal material supply device and a metal material forming device using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a molding apparatus for a metal material, a so-called die casting apparatus for obtaining a product by injecting a molten metal into a mold under pressure to obtain a product is known. Metal (generally alloys such as aluminum alloys and magnesium alloys)
The product is obtained by pressurizing it with a cylinder mechanism, guiding it into a mold, and solidifying it by cooling.

[0003]

However, such a configuration requires a melting furnace for melting the metal prior to molding, and thus has the problems of causing air pollution and increasing the equipment cost. Was.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a first aspect of the present invention is a heating cylinder having an inlet for receiving a material to be melted and an outlet for the molten material, and a pressure reducing means connected to the heating cylinder. And a molten metal material supply device having the following. According to the first aspect of the present invention, the material to be melted is introduced into the heating cylinder from the inlet, and after being heated and melted by the heating means, exits from the outlet. Also,
In particular, since the pressure reducing means is connected to the heating cylinder, the inside of the heating cylinder can be evacuated or almost evacuated. For this reason, heating inside the heating cylinder can be performed without oxygen. Therefore, no special melting furnace for melting the material to be melted is required, and no heating steam is generated, so that air pollution can be eliminated. Furthermore, since the heating is performed in a vacuum or almost vacuum state, there is almost no entrainment of air in the molten material. Therefore, the molten metal material supply device according to the first aspect of the present invention can be optimally used as a material supply device to a molding device such as a die casting device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a molten metal material supply apparatus provided with material pushing means for sequentially supplying a material to be melted in the form of a rod having a predetermined length to the inlet. By providing the material pushing means for supplying the material to the heating cylinder in the form of a rod having a predetermined length in this manner, for example, if the rod-like material is sequentially pushed until the molten material just reaches the outlet, the remaining By pushing the last rod-shaped material by a stroke corresponding to a required amount (for example, an amount required for one molding by a die-casting device), a necessary amount of the material is supplied from the outlet. Therefore, the supply amount can be easily controlled.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a molten metal material supply apparatus further comprising a preheating means for preheating a material to be melted to a predetermined temperature before supplying the material to the inlet by the pushing means. By preheating the material to be melted, the rod-shaped material can be quickly melted in the heating cylinder.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the molten metal material supply device according to the third aspect, wherein a narrowed portion having a diameter slightly smaller than the rod-shaped material is provided at the inlet of the heating cylinder. With such a configuration, when the rod-shaped material is pushed into the inlet of the heating cylinder, the material is shaved by the drawing portion,
Alternatively, since the inside of the heating cylinder is advanced after the diameter is reduced, there is obtained a state where there is no gap between the material and the heating cylinder at the narrowed portion. Therefore, the inflow of air into the heating cylinder can be reliably eliminated, and the vacuum state in the heating cylinder can be effectively maintained.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is the molten metal material supply device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein an inner peripheral surface of the heating cylinder is covered with a ceramic layer. By covering the inner peripheral surface of the heating cylinder with the ceramic in this way, for example, even when the molten material is an aluminum alloy, the molten material does not directly contact the heating cylinder, and thus is a general material for the heating cylinder. Utilizing iron and eliminating the formation of intermetallic compounds between aluminum and iron. Therefore, since the inner wall of the heating cylinder is protected and the life of the heating cylinder is prolonged, and the metal compound can be prevented from being mixed into the molten metal material, for example, the molten metal material supply device may be replaced with a supply device for a die casting device. When it is used as a material, the quality and yield of a molded product can be improved. In addition, since an intermetallic compound is not formed when an aluminum alloy is used, the same apparatus can be used for supplying an alloy other than the aluminum alloy, for example, a magnesium alloy. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a plurality of devices, and the equipment can be reduced.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a molten metal material supply apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, and a pressure filling apparatus for filling a mold with the molten metal material supplied from the molten metal material supply apparatus. The pressure filling means has a cylinder, a piston that can reciprocate in the cylinder, and a hot nozzle formed in the cylinder, and includes a hot nozzle of the molten metal material supply device. The outlet is connected to the cylinder and is open in the cylinder, and the piston is between a forward position for closing the outlet and a retracted position for opening the outlet and communicating with the material filling chamber in the cylinder. This is a metal material forming apparatus that can be moved by using. In the invention according to claim 6, the outlet of the molten metal material supply device is closed when the piston is in the forward position, and the outlet communicates with the material filling chamber in the cylinder when the piston is in the retracted position. When the piston moves from the advanced position to the retracted position in a state where the communication with the mold cavity through the connected hot nozzle is prevented, the material filling chamber formed by the retreat has a negative pressure (vacuum). When the piston further retreats and the material filling chamber communicates with the outlet of the heating cylinder of the molten metal material supply device, a negative pressure is applied to the molten material in the material filling chamber and the molten material tries to enter the material filling chamber. However, since the pressure reduction means is connected to the heating cylinder, the negative pressure given to the molten material by the pressure reduction means and the negative pressure in the material filling chamber are balanced, and the inflow into the material filling chamber is prevented. . For this reason, if the material is supplied from the molten metal material supply device (one shot by a mold) when the piston is retracted to a predetermined position, the amount of the molten material is reliably filled in the material charging chamber. Next, if the piston is advanced, only the amount of the molten material supplied from the molten metal material supply device is filled into the cavity of the mold through the hot nozzle, and molding can be performed. Further, since the material filling chamber is in a vacuum state even during forward movement, no pressure (return force) is applied to the molten material in the material supply device. That is, in the invention of claim 5, since the molten material can be quantitatively supplied into the cylinder from the material supply device without being affected by the negative pressure in the material filling chamber, the molding operation can be performed smoothly and reliably. A means such as a valve for shutting off the pressure on the cylinder side becomes unnecessary. In addition, since molding can be performed while maintaining a vacuum state not only in the heating cylinder but also in the cylinder (material filling chamber), the molten material can be introduced into the mold without any air, and the molded product can be formed. Quality and yield are improved.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the sixth aspect of the present invention, the hot nozzle sets the molten metal mainly at the front end of the hot nozzle to a semi-solid state or a solidified state before the piston retreats from the advanced position, thereby forming a mold. This is a metal material molding apparatus configured to cut off communication with the cavity. Since the molten metal inside the hot nozzle is semi-solidified or solidified to cut off the communication with the mold cavity, the communication is cut off.
Even if no valve means for releasing is provided, the material filling chamber can be evacuated when the piston is retracted, and the structure is simplified. In particular, the use of hot nozzles eliminates accessories such as runners, spools, biscuits, and overflows that are inevitably associated with conventional die-cast products. Therefore, there are the following advantages. (1) Since the accessory is not molded, the production cost can be reduced, the product unit price can be reduced, and the molding cycle can be shortened. (2) Since the operation of separating the accessory from the product is not required, the manufacturing cost is further reduced. (3) In connection with (2), the separated accessory is usually used by being re-dissolved and mixed with a new material. However, such a re-dissolution operation is not required, and the molding is always performed using only the new material. Since the work is performed, the product quality is stabilized.

The invention according to claim 8 is the metal material molding apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder is covered with a ceramic layer. Since the invention of claim 8 can eliminate the formation of an intermetallic compound as described in connection with claim 5,
The life of the cylinder is prolonged, and the quality and yield of the molded product can be improved by combining with the molten metal material supply device of claim 5. Also, for each type of alloy,
There is no need to provide a plurality of devices, and the equipment can be reduced.

[0012]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The metal material forming apparatus of the present embodiment is roughly divided into a molten metal material supply apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 and a pressure filling apparatus 2 shown in FIG.

The molten metal material supply device 1 includes a preheating device 3
And a vacuum heating device 4. The preheating device 3 has a housing case 5 for housing columnar rod-shaped materials R to R cut in advance in a predetermined length as shown in FIG.
And a hydraulic cylinder device 6 for pushing the materials R to R into the vacuum heating device 4. Here, materials R to R
Is preferably made of a metal material suitable for molding with a mold M described later, for example, an aluminum alloy or a magnesium alloy. The hydraulic cylinder device 6 is a cylindrical cylinder 7 for receiving the materials R dropped from the storage case 5 one by one.
And a piston 8 as a material pushing device for pushing the material R received in the cylinder 7 toward the vacuum heating device 4. In the present embodiment, the length of the material R is determined by the volume of the cavity C of the mold M described later.
Is set so as to be approximately equal to the volume.

A heater 9 is provided around the housing case 5 so that the material R housed in the housing case 5 is preheated to a semi-molten state before being supplied to the vacuum heating device 4. Has become. Note that the storage case 5 is capable of charging the materials R to R from the upper part thereof, and the number of the materials R to R that can be stored is appropriately set according to the material consumption of the pressure filling device 2. Further, a stopper 10 is provided at a lower portion of the storage case 5, and the stopper 10 can be operated in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing in order to prevent or allow the material R to fall by a driving device (not shown). Has become. As shown in FIG. 3, a part of the cylinder 7 located below the stopper 10 is constituted by half portions 7A, 7A having lower ends hingedly connected. These halves 7A, 7A can be opened and closed by a driving device (not shown), and can be opened to receive the dropped material R as shown in FIG. 3, and can be closed when the material is received. The driving device of these half portions 7A, 7A is driven at an appropriate timing in conjunction with the driving device of the stopper 10.

Next, the vacuum heating device 4 will be described. The vacuum heating device 4 receives the materials R to R preheated by the preheating device 3 and completely melts them (suitable for molding by a mold M described later). A heating cylinder 11 for heating until the temperature reaches a predetermined temperature. Heating cylinder 11
Is provided with a ceramic layer 13 on the inner periphery thereof so that the molten material does not come into direct contact with the heating cylinder 11. Note that the heater 12 is not limited to the external heating type shown in the figure, and may be of any type, such as one embedded in the heating cylinder 11.
The length is appropriately designed according to the required material heating temperature. The heating cylinder 11 is provided with a ring 14 as a narrowed portion formed of a cemented carbide at a tip portion facing the cylinder 7 of the preheating device 3, and the inner peripheral diameter of the ring 14 is the outer diameter of the rod R. It is set slightly smaller than.
An annular groove 15 is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the ring 14, and the annular groove 15 is connected to a vacuum pump 17 via a connection port 16. Thereby, the inside of the heating cylinder 11 can be made vacuum or almost vacuum state as described later. FIG. 4 shows a portion of the heating cylinder 11 which is separated from the ring 14 by an appropriate distance (a distance not exceeding the length of the material R).
As shown in the figure, a screen 18 having a large number of holes 18a to 18a is attached.

Further, protrusions 8A to 8A which bite into the material R are provided at the tip of the piston 8 which pushes the material R into the heating cylinder 11.
(Only one is shown in the figure), and the piston 8 can be rotated not only by reciprocating motion but also by a driving device (not shown).

Next, the structure of the pressure filling device 2 will be described with reference to FIG. 2. The pressure filling device 2 is configured as a die casting device, and includes a hydraulic cylinder device 19 and a piston of the hydraulic cylinder device 19. A piston body 20A attached to the tip of the rod 20 and having a diameter larger than that of the piston rod 20, a cylinder 21 for housing the piston body 20A slidably back and forth, and a hot body attached to the tip 21a of the cylinder 21 And a nozzle 22.

On the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder 21, the heating cylinder 11
A ceramic layer 23 is provided in the same manner as described above, so that the molten material does not come into direct contact with the cylinder 21. Further, a connection port 24 with the outlet side of the heating cylinder 11 is provided at a position slightly forward of the longitudinal center of the cylinder 21, and the molten material is supplied to the cylinder 2 through the connection port 24.
1 can be flowed into. Further, the inside of the cylinder 21 is tapered at the tip 21 a and is connected to the molten material passage 25 of the hot nozzle 22. Further, a heater 26 is attached to the outer peripheral portion of the cylinder 21 so that the molten material supplied into the cylinder 21 can be heated to maintain the molten state optimally.

The distal end portion 20B of the piston body 20A has a conical shape corresponding to the inner peripheral shape of the distal end portion 19a of the cylinder 19. Further, ceramic piston rings 28 to 28 are mounted on the outer periphery of the piston body 20A at an appropriate distance from each other in the axial direction.

Next, the hot nozzle 22 will be described.
The hot nozzle 22 is fixed to the tip 21a of the cylinder 21 via the bracket 31 by bolts 30 and 30. The molten material passage 25 has a tapered tip and opens directly into the cavity C of the mold M. are doing. The mold M has a normal structure including a movable mold M1 and a fixed mold M2.

Here, the hot nozzle 22 has the same structure as that disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 10-61566 filed by the same applicant as the present application, and the schematic structure will be described below.
The hot nozzle 22 is provided with a pair of split grooves 34, 34 (only one is shown in the figure) from the base 33 to the tip 32 except for the tip 32, and the split grooves 34, 34 are provided through the base 33.
By applying a voltage between the portions separated by 34, the distal end portion 32 is mainly configured to generate heat.
The outer periphery of the hot nozzle 22 is covered with a ceramic layer (not shown), and a ceramic layer (not shown) is also provided on the inner peripheral surface of the molten material passage 25. With such a configuration, the hot nozzle 22 can quickly control the tip 32 to an optimum temperature according to the molding cycle.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described step by step in relation to the molding operation of the material by the mold M.

(1) First, the materials R to R are filled in the storage case 5 of the preheating device 3 of the molten metal material supply device 1,
Heating is performed by the heater 9 to an appropriate temperature (a temperature at which a semi-molten state is reached).

(2) When the materials R to R are heated to an appropriate temperature, the half portions 7A, 7A of the cylinder 7 are opened as shown in FIG. The material R is retracted from the lower part, and the material R is dropped into the half portions 7A. When one material R falls, the stopper 10 is immediately returned to the position shown by the solid line to prevent the next material R from falling, and then the half portions 7A, 7A are closed. Next, piston 8
Is driven forward to first push the first material R into the ring 14. However, the first material R does not pass through the ring 14 at this time, but is kept at a position behind the annular groove 15 of the ring 14. Then, since the inner diameter of the ring 14 is slightly smaller than the diameter of the material R, the material R enters the ring 14 in a state where the outer peripheral portion is slightly cut or compressed by the inner peripheral rear edge of the ring 14. . That is, the ring 14 functions as a throttle unit for narrowing the material R.
Therefore, there is no gap between the ring 14 and the material R, and the inside of the ring 14 and the inside of the heating cylinder 11 are sealed from the outside.

(3) Next, the vacuum pump 17 is driven. Thereby, the inside of the heating cylinder 11 is brought into a vacuum state. At this time, as shown in FIG. 2, the distal end portion 20B of the piston body 20A of the hydraulic cylinder device 19 of the pressure filling device 2 is
And a material filling chamber F communicating with the heating cylinder 11 is formed inside the cylinder 21. Therefore, the material filling chamber F and the hot nozzle 22
The molten material passage 25 and the cavity C of the mold M (closed state) are also in a vacuum state.

(4) When a vacuum state is obtained as described above, the material R is moved while the piston 8 is moved forward and rotated.
Is pushed into the heating cylinder 11 so that the rear end of the material R
When it reaches the position immediately before
To the original position. Note that, as described above, the protrusions 8A to 8
A, the rotation of the piston 8
Effectively transmitted to the material R via A and 8A. Next, in the same step as the above (2), the next material R is supplied to the half portion 7 of the cylinder 7.
A, 7A is dropped, the piston 8 is driven forward, and the push is stopped when the rear end reaches the position just before the ring 14 from the ring 14 into the heating cylinder 11 while giving rotation. In this way, while rotating the material R, the heating cylinder 11 is rotated.
By pressing into the material R, the material R
By passing through 8a to 18a, it becomes linear first and is sheared and subdivided into short lengths. Fluidity (thixotropic) is given to the material by such shear subdivision, whereby the formability (productivity and dimensional accuracy) by the pressure filling device 2 described later is improved. Since the piston 8 does not penetrate into the ring 14, the material R cannot be sheared and fragmented by the screen 18 in one stroke of the piston 8, but the next material R is located at the rear end of the previous material R. Upon reaching, the materials R and R are united by welding and friction, so that the remaining portion of the previous material R is also rotated and pushed together with the first half of the later material R,
The shear subdivision by the screen 18 can be performed similarly. When the materials R to R are sequentially fed into the heating cylinder 11 as described above, the state changes from a semi-molten state to a completely molten state by the heating action of the heater 12 from the front.

(5) When the molten material is filled in the heating cylinder 11, the feeding of the material R is temporarily stopped. In this state, the last material R protrudes from the ring 14 to some extent as shown in FIG.

(6) Next, the material R is rotated in the same manner as described above with a stroke corresponding to the total volume V of the volume of the cavity C of the mold M and the volume of the molten material passage 25 of the hot nozzle 22. And push it in. In this embodiment, since the material R is set to have a volume substantially equal to the volume of the cavity C, the last material R in (5)
Is not sufficient, so that the next material R is further pushed.

(7) Then, the volume V of the molten material Rm
Is supplied into the material filling chamber F of the cylinder 21. (FIG. 6
reference)

(8) Next, the hydraulic cylinder device 19 is driven to move the piston rod 20 forward. Then, since the material filling chamber F is in a vacuum state as described above, the molten material Rm fills the material filling chamber F as shown in FIG.
Reaches the front stroke end, the molten material Rm fills the molten material passage 25 of the hot nozzle 22 and the cavity C as shown in FIG.

(9) When the state of (8) is obtained, the mold M is cooled and the molten material Rm in the cavity C is solidified by cooling. When the solidification is completed, the movable mold M1 is separated from the fixed mold M2 and solidified. Take out the used material as a product. Even when the mold M1 is completely cooled in this way, the hot nozzle 22, particularly the tip 32, is maintained at a temperature at which the material is in a semi-molten state.
, And the molten material Rm does not flow out of the hot nozzle 22 in a drooling manner.

(10) When the product is taken out of the mold M and the movable mold M1 returns to the original position and the mold M is clamped, the piston rod 20 of the hydraulic cylinder device 18 retreats and the piston body 20A is returned to the rear position. here,
Since the molten material Rm remains in the semi-molten state in the hot nozzle 22, even if the piston rod 20 returns to the rear position, the inside of the material filling chamber F is maintained in a vacuum state.

(11) Next, a new material R is introduced into the cylinder 7 from the storage case 5 of the preheating device 3, and the piston 8 of the preheating device 3 is set to a volume equal to the volume of the cavity C of the mold M. The molten material is supplied into the material filling chamber F in the cylinder 21 of the hydraulic cylinder device 19 by an amount equivalent to the volume of the cavity C by pushing in the corresponding stroke, that is, by the length of the material R.

(12) Next, or prior to (11), the hot nozzle 22 is heated by energization to bring the material in the molten material passage 25 into a completely molten state.

(13) When the piston rod 20 of the hydraulic cylinder device 19 is moved to the front stroke end, except that the molten material passage 25 is filled with the material in advance, FIGS.
The cavity C is filled with the molten material through the same state as in FIG.

(14) The product is taken out of the mold M in the same process as in (9). Thereafter, the product can be continuously formed by repeating the steps (10) to (14).

As described above, the molten metal material supply device 1 of the present embodiment has the vacuum pump 17 connected to the heating cylinder 11 and serving as a pressure reducing means for bringing the inside of the heating cylinder 11 into a substantially vacuum state. Therefore, the heating of the molten material is performed without oxygen. Therefore, no special melting furnace for melting the material to be melted is required, and no heating steam is generated, so that air pollution can be eliminated. further,
Since the heating is performed in a vacuum state, there is no air entrainment in the molten material. For this reason, it can be optimally used as a material supply device to the pressure filling device 2 for the mold M shown in FIG.

That is, in the pressure filling device 2, the piston 2
When OA moves from the forward position to the backward position, the material filling chamber F formed by the backward movement becomes negative pressure (vacuum). However, since a vacuum pump 17 as a decompression means is connected to the heating cylinder 11, the negative pressure applied to the molten material in the heating cylinder 11 by the vacuum pump 17 and the negative pressure in the material filling chamber F are reduced. It is balanced and the material in the heating cylinder 11 is prevented from flowing into the material filling chamber F. Therefore, when the piston body 20A retreats to a predetermined position, the material is supplied from the molten metal material supply device 1 (one shot by the mold M).
Then, the molten material by that amount is reliably filled in the material filling chamber F. Next, when the piston body 20A is advanced, only the amount of the molten material supplied from the molten metal material supply device is supplied through the hot nozzle 22 to the cavity C of the mold M.
And can be molded. Further, since the inside of the material filling chamber F is in a vacuum state even at the time of forward movement, no pressure (return force) is applied to the molten material in the material supply device 1. Therefore, the cylinder 21 is quantitatively supplied from the material supply device 1 without being affected by the negative pressure in the material filling chamber F.
Since the molten material can be supplied to the inside, the molding operation can be performed smoothly and reliably, and means such as a valve for shutting off the pressure on the cylinder 21 side is not required.

Further, not only in the heating cylinder 11 but also in the cylinder 2
Since the molding can be performed in a state where the inside 1 (in the material filling chamber F) is also kept in a vacuum state, the molten material can be introduced into the mold M without containing any air, and the quality and yield of the molded product can be reduced. improves. In particular, since the vacuum pump 17 is connected to the ring 14 at the inlet of the heating cylinder 11 and sucks the material R in the semi-molten state from the outer peripheral portion, the position of the material R with respect to the ring 14 is realized simultaneously with the realization of the vacuum state. Holding can be performed, and the material R in the semi-molten state and further, the material in the molten state on the upstream side can be reliably held in the heating cylinder 11.

Further, since the hydraulic cylinder device 6 is provided as a material pushing means for sequentially supplying the material R to be melted to the heating cylinder 11 in the form of a rod having a predetermined length, the rod-shaped material R is melted. Is pushed in order until it reaches the outlet of the heating cylinder 11, and then the last rod-shaped material R is pushed in by a stroke corresponding to the required amount. Cylinder 21
The material is supplied into the material filling chamber F inside. Therefore, the supply amount can be easily controlled.

Since the material R to be melted is preheated to a predetermined temperature prior to being supplied to the heating cylinder 11 by the hydraulic cylinder device 6, the preheating device 3 is provided. Melting in the heating cylinder 11 can be performed quickly. Further, the ring 14 at the inlet of the heating cylinder 11 has a slightly smaller diameter than the rod-shaped material R, and is formed of a cemented carbide, so that the rod-shaped material R is , A state in which there is no gap between the material R and the heating cylinder 11 is obtained. Therefore, the inflow of air into the heating cylinder 11 can be reliably eliminated, and the vacuum state in the heating cylinder 11 can be effectively maintained.

Since the inner peripheral surface of the heating cylinder 11 is covered with the ceramic layer 13, even if the material R is an aluminum alloy, for example, it does not come into direct contact with the heating cylinder 11. For this reason, it is possible to use iron, which is a general material, as the heating cylinder 11, and to eliminate the generation of an intermetallic compound between aluminum and iron. Therefore, protection of the inner wall of the heating cylinder 11 is obtained, and the life of the heating cylinder 11 is prolonged, and furthermore, it is possible to prevent the metal compound from being mixed into the molten material. In the present embodiment, the ceramic layer 23 is also provided on the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder 21 of the pressure filling device 2, and the ceramic layer is also provided on the inner peripheral surface of the molten material passage 25 of the hot nozzle 22. , And the mixing of the metal compound into the molten metal material is prevented, thereby improving the quality and yield of the molded product. In addition, since the intermetallic compound is not formed when the aluminum alloy is used in the metal material forming apparatus in which the molten metal material supply apparatus 1 and the pressure filling apparatus 2 are combined as described above, the same forming apparatus is used for other than the aluminum alloy. It can be used to supply alloys such as magnesium alloys. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a plurality of devices, and the equipment can be reduced.

Further, in this embodiment, the hot nozzle 2
Before the piston 20 retreats from the advanced position, the molten metal mainly at the front end of the hot nozzle 22 is semi-solidified or solidified to form the cavity C of the mold M.
It is configured to cut off the communication between the material filling chamber F and the piston. Becomes

In particular, the use of the hot nozzle 22 eliminates accessories such as a runner, a spool, a biscuit, and an overflow which are inevitably attached to a conventional die-cast product. Therefore, there are the following advantages. (1) Since the accessory is not molded, the production cost can be reduced, the product unit price can be reduced, and the molding cycle can be shortened. (2) Since the operation of separating the accessory from the product is not required, the manufacturing cost is further reduced. (3) In connection with (2), the separated accessory is usually used by being re-dissolved and mixed with a new material. However, such a re-dissolution operation is not required, and the molding is always performed using only the new material. Since the work is performed, the product quality is stabilized.

Next, another embodiment of the molten material supply device 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The molten material supply device 51 shown in FIG. 9 has a preheating device 53 and a vacuum heating device 54 corresponding to the preheating device 3 and the vacuum heating device 4 in the above embodiment, respectively. In the drawings, the same members as those in the previous embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

The preheating device 53 has a housing case 55 and a hydraulic cylinder device 56. Like the storage case 5 of the previous embodiment, the storage case 55 stores cylindrical rod-shaped materials R to R that have been cut to a predetermined length in a line in the vertical direction. Are not housed directly above the half-sections 7A, 7A of the cylinder 7 of the hydraulic cylinder device 56, but are fixed by a fixed bottom plate 55A.
The R is shifted rearward (leftward in FIG. 9) from directly above the half sections 7A, 7A to be supported from below. An opening 55B that allows the passage of the material R is provided in a lower part of the bottom plate 55A at a portion facing the front end of the lowermost material R.
Is provided, and a piston-cylinder mechanism 55D is attached to a portion facing the rear end via a bracket 55C. With such a configuration, when the piston / cylinder mechanism 55D is driven to push the lowermost material R forward in a drop-down manner, the lowermost material R is passed through the opening 55B as shown by the imaginary line in the figure. It comes out of the storage case 55, and then the half parts 7A, 7A
(Open state). This half part 7A, 7A
Is the same as that of the above-described embodiment. After the fallen material R is accommodated, it is closed by a drive device (not shown), and then the piston 8 of the hydraulic cylinder device 56 pushes the material R into the vacuum heating device 54. With such a configuration, there is no movable member that receives the load of the materials R to R as in the stopper 10 of the above embodiment, so that the durability and operation reliability of the parts are improved.

On the other hand, the vacuum heating device 54 is the same as the vacuum heating device 4 of the above embodiment except for the internal structure of the heating cylinder 11. That is, in the vacuum heating device 54, the screen 18
Is arranged slightly forward (to the right in the figure) from the case of the above-described embodiment, and the inner peripheral surface of the ceramic layer 13 inside the heating cylinder 11 has a spiral shape in an appropriate range in front of the screen 18. Ridges 57 to 57 are provided. With such a configuration, the material R in a semi-molten state pushed into the heating cylinder 11 by the piston 8 reaches the screen 18 while being twisted, that is, rotated, by the ridges 57 to 57, and passes through the screen 18 to perform the above-described operation. Subjected to the same shear subdivision action as the morphology, it also imparts fluidity (thixotropic) to the material.

As described above, rotation can be given to the material R only by pushing the material by the piston 8, so that
There is no need to rotate the piston 8 as in the above embodiment, and the structure of the hydraulic cylinder mechanism 6 is simplified. In this connection, it is possible to eliminate the protrusions 8A and 8A for cutting into the rear end of the material R as shown in the figure.

Although the pressure filling apparatus 2 of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 8 performs molding in combination with a mold M having one cavity C, a mold having a plurality of cavities is used. Can be similarly used, and such an embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In addition,
In FIG. 10, the same members as those in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 8 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

The pressure filling device 2 whose main part is shown in FIG. 10 has the same configuration as the pressure filling device 2 shown in FIGS.
Further, the mold MW includes a movable mold MW1 and a fixed mold MW2 which form a plurality (two in the figure) of cavities CW therebetween.
And runner blocks B arranged at predetermined intervals with respect to the fixed MW2 via the spacer S.

In the present embodiment, two hot nozzles 22A, 22A are further provided corresponding to the cavities CW. These hot nozzles 22A, 22A are provided on the side of the runner block B facing the fixed mold MW2 via bolts 30A, 30A. Fixedly mounted. The molten material passage 25 of each hot nozzle 22A has a tapered tip and directly opens to the corresponding cavity CW, as in the above embodiment.

Inside the runner block B, an inlet-side flow path portion B1 that opens on the front side (left side in the figure), and an outlet-side flow path section B2 that branches off from the flow path section B1 in a bifurcated manner.
B2, and the outlet side flow path portions B2, B2 communicate with the rear ends of the molten material passages 25, 25 of the hot nozzles 22A, 22A, respectively.

In the above-described embodiment, the hot nozzle 22 attached to the tip of the pressure filling device 2 feeds the molten material from the cylinder 21 to the inlet side flow path portion B of the runner block B.
During the normal molding cycle, the temperature control is not performed as in the above-described embodiment, and the molten material is simply maintained at an optimum temperature suitable for filling the mold MW. It has become.

With such a configuration, the piston rod 20 of the hydraulic cylinder device 19 is driven, and the material filling chamber F is formed by the piston body 20A as described in the above embodiment.
When the molten material Rm filled in is extruded, the molten material R
m is diverted from the inlet flow path portion B1 of the runner block B to the outlet flow path portions B2 and B2 via the molten material passage 25 of the hot nozzle 22 at the tip, and the corresponding hot nozzle 22
A, 22A are filled into the respective cavities CW through the molten material passages 25, 25. The temperature of the hot nozzles 22A and 22A is controlled in accordance with the molding cycle in the same manner as described in the above embodiment, and the products are simultaneously molded in the two cavities CW.

Even when such a mold MW is used, molding can be performed in the same steps (1) to (14) as in the above embodiment, except for the following points (a) and (b). it can. (A) The volume of the material R is set to be substantially equal to the total volume of the two cavities CW. (B) In the first material filling step of (6), the stroke of the piston 8 is not the total volume V of the volume of the cavity C of the mold M and the volume of the molten material passage 25 of the hot nozzle 22, but two volumes. It is the total volume of the volume of the cavity CW + the volume of the hot nozzle 22 and the volume of the molten material passage 25 of the hot nozzles 22A, 22A + the volume of the inlet channel portion B1 and the outlet channel portions B2, B2 of the runner block B. .

In this embodiment, the cavity C
Since the hot nozzle 22 is still provided not only at the hot nozzles 22A and 22A facing W and CW but also at the tip of the tip 21a of the cylinder 21, the mold MW and the runner block B are changed by changing the molded product, for example. When replacing the entire mold apparatus including the hot nozzle 22, by maintaining the temperature of the tip of the hot nozzle 22 at a temperature at which the metal material is in a semi-molten state, the mold apparatus can be easily separated from the hot nozzle 22;
In addition, dripping from the hot nozzle can be prevented. Further, after a new mold device is mounted, the tip of the hot nozzle 22 is rapidly heated, and molding can be resumed quickly. In addition, the pressure filling device 2 of this embodiment and the mold M
It is of course possible to use the molten material supply device 51 of FIG. 9 in combination with W.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 10, one pressure filling device 2 and a molten material supply device 1 (or a molten material supply device 51 of another embodiment described above) associated with one pressure filling device 2 and one mold MW are provided. However, for example, the injection capacity (pressing capacity) of the pressure filling device 2 may be insufficient with respect to the injection pressure required for the mold MW. In this case, it is conceivable to replace the pressure filling device 2 with another one having a large pressurizing capacity (specifically, one having a large diameter of the cylinder 21), but as shown in FIG. It is preferable to arrange a plurality of (two in the figure) filling devices 2 in parallel and supply the molten material to the runner block B via the inlet flow path portions B1 and B1, respectively. Here, the melted material supply device 1 (or the melted material supply device 51 of another embodiment described above) is attached to the pressure filling devices 2 and 2 respectively. In FIG. 11, the same members as those in FIG. That is, for example, when the injection pressure required for the mold MW is 700 tons, the total injection pressure becomes 700 tons by providing two pressure filling devices 2 having the same injection capacity of 350 tons. The requirements of the type MW can be satisfied. By using a plurality of pressure filling devices 2 having the same injection capacity in this way, common components can be used for these devices. For this reason, the management and maintenance work of parts is simplified, and the maintenance work according to the manual can be thoroughly performed, so that the molding work can be reliably performed. In addition, when the mold is changed from one having a high injection pressure requirement to another having a low injection pressure requirement, an appropriate number of the pressure filling devices 2 may be stopped correspondingly, and there is an advantage that the requirement can be promptly dealt with. .

In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 to 8 and 9, the ring 14 has a constant diameter. However, the diameter of the ring 14 is gradually reduced toward the rear (downstream side). Is also good.

Further, the molten material supply devices 1 and 51 are used in combination with the piston / cylinder type pressure filling device 2, but other types of pressure filling device and also other than molding by a mold. It can be used for any purpose.

In addition, in the embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 8, 10 and 11, the hot nozzle 22 uses a self-heating type hot nozzle developed by the same applicant as the present invention. A hot nozzle having a structure in which a heater is embedded in the nozzle can be similarly used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a molten metal material supply device of a metal material forming device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a material filling device of the metal material forming device together with a mold.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a material falls into a half portion of a cylinder for pushing in a preheating device.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a screen mounted in a heating cylinder.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a material is supplied into a heating cylinder.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a cylinder of the pressure filling device is filled with a molten material.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 6, showing a state where the piston body advances and a cylinder is filled with a material.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the piston body is further advanced and the cavity of the mold is filled with a material.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 1, showing another embodiment of the molten material supply device.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view of a main part showing another embodiment of the pressure filling device.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view of a main part showing still another embodiment of the pressure filling device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1,51 Molten metal material supply device 2,72 Pressure filling device 3,53 Preheating device 4,54 Vacuum heating device 6,56 Hydraulic cylinder device 7 Cylinder 8 Piston 9 Heater 11 Heating cylinder 12 Heater 13 Ceramic layer 14 Ring 17 Vacuum pump 19 Hydraulic cylinder device 20 Piston rod 20A Piston body 21 Cylinder 22 Hot nozzle 23 Ceramic layer 24 Connection port 25 Melt material passage 26 Heater R material M, MW Mold M1, MW1 Movable M2, MW2 Fixed C, CW Cab tea

Claims (8)

[Claims] An apparatus for supplying a molten metal material, comprising: a heating cylinder having an inlet for receiving a material to be melted and an outlet for the molten material; and a pressure reducing means connected to the heating cylinder. 2. The molten metal material supply device according to claim 1, further comprising material pushing means for sequentially supplying the material to be melted to the inlet in the form of a rod having a predetermined length. 3. The molten metal material supply apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a preheating means for preheating the rod-shaped material to a predetermined temperature before supplying the rod-shaped material to the inlet by the pushing means. 4. The molten metal material supply device according to claim 3, wherein a narrowed portion having a diameter slightly smaller than that of the rod-shaped material is provided at the inlet of the heating cylinder. 5. The molten metal material supply device according to claim 1, wherein an inner peripheral surface of the heating cylinder is covered with a ceramic layer. 6. A molten metal material supply device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, and a pressure filling device for filling a mold with the molten metal material supplied from the molten metal material supply device. The pressure filling device includes a cylinder, a piston that can reciprocate in the cylinder, and a hot nozzle connected to the cylinder, wherein the outlet of the heating cylinder of the molten metal material supply device is The piston is connected to the cylinder and opened in the cylinder, and the piston is movable between a forward position for closing the outlet and a retracted position for opening the outlet and communicating with the material filling chamber in the cylinder. Metal material molding equipment. 7. The hot nozzle, before the piston retreats from the advancing position, causes the molten metal mainly at the front end of the hot nozzle to be in a semi-solid state or a solid state, thereby cutting off the communication with the mold cavity. 7. The metal material forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein: 8. The metal material molding apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder is covered with a ceramic layer.