Goodwin Steel Castings employs the latest solidification analysis to ensure that all castings produced are of the highest integrity whilst meeting a customer’s technical specification.

The casting design process starts with a technical evaluation by a cross-functional team, in which the customers’ requirements are assessed by competent engineers. Early engagement with the customer facilitates design for manufacture, in which the benefit of castings can be capitalised upon and the overall cost acquisition reduced. A value engineered design approach is employed to mitigate excessive rectification or non-productive cost.

The casting evaluation process is conducted pre-tender, as it is necessary to have
assessed and determined the manufacturing route such that first principal costing is conducted. The manufacturing route is documented in a Manufacturing Inspection Test Plan (MITP), which can be accompanied by a Process Failure Mode Effects Analysis (PFMEA) at the time of tender.

MagmasoftTM solidification analysis is a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) computer aided design package, which assesses the characteristics of a casting solidifying from a molten liquid to solid. The software enables engineers to predict the integrity of a casting when a method of manufacture is applied by a competent engineer.

Casting solidification packages, such as MagmasoftTM, must be calibrated to a foundry facility through the input of thermal material data sets to obtain reliable simulations.

Goodwin Steel Castings have established world leading data sets for various material grades, derived from the casting of sacrificial components in which thermocouples have been used to record the cooling characteristics. This invaluable research work over many years ensures that we have a high level of competence in engineering out casting issues associated with solidification, such as shrinkage and in mould cracking.

We utilise closed loop design optimisation processes, where the method of castings manufacture is assessed for conformance against the technical specification, ensuring every casting maintains 100% traceability. The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) utilised within the business to assess the effectiveness of our methods of manufacture are average process yields, percentage weld repair and percentage scrap.