First Ever Steel Gating Principles Seminar

On June 13-14, 2018, MAGMAacademy offered the Steel Gating Principles Seminar.  This was the first gating seminar offered by the academy and it was well received. We welcomed 13 participants from 9 different facilities.  The topic of gating a casting is quite broad and can be a very diverse topic as well. By limiting the course to steel casters, we were able to have more control over the focus of the discussion. 

The program’s success has sparked many ideas about where to take this concept for future offerings with different alloy/process groups.  

The seminar started with a lecture discussing the theory regarding molten metal behavior and gating system related defects.  In addition, some references to literature resources and mathematical calculations were discussed.  We encouraged participants to share their own experiences and practices as well as keeping them engaged with several interactive exercises. 

Roughly 75% of the program time involved interactive group activities.  The class was split into 3 teams, and each team was tasked with designing a system with a different gating style.  Tile gating, parting line gating, and bottom gating teams were established respectively.  These activities involved the use of MAGMASOFT® autonomous engineering to identify the primary influences of each different gating system component. It also allowed participants to choose how they wanted their own gating system to appear.  The truly fun and revealing part of the program was when it came time to compare each team’s design against all possible combinations through the use of the MAGMASOFT® Assessment Perspective. 

Attendees were able to evaluate their designs against numerous objective measures like; Air Entrapment, Gate Velocity, and Free Surface formation.  Additionally, we looked at which variables had the most significant influence on the filling pattern and of course, used the traditional 3D Results Perspective to come to a final conclusion about which design is best.   

The MAGMA steel group has already started discussing additional information for the next course.   We feel that some additional emphasis on ladle practices, and pouring basin design will simply enhance the already great experience.  Please join us in early 2019 for our next Steel Gating Principles Seminar! 

As always, please contact the MAGMAacademy if you have any questions or would like additional information. If you are interested in attending this event next year, please contact the MAGMAacademy.