Most manufacturers rely too much on the weight of the metal during the selection of the accurate material for die casting and during the designing of the components. This is the reason why many manufacturers frequently overlook the metal Zinc when it comes to the die casting of lightweight applications.
It is true that most of the lightweight applications need their die casting parts to be a bit lighter, particularly in the case of hand held and automotive device applications, which is the reason why most manufacturers prefer Magnesium and Aluminum over Zinc. However, it is significant to note that Zinc is a better economical choice for lightweight die casting applications.
You might have a misconception that there is no role for Zinc in lightweight application, but this is not true. Zinc is considered as the simplest metal to cast and Zinc casting offers an incredible combination of higher quality, cost effectiveness, and production efficiency. Below are a few benefits of Zinc die casting that you might not know.
Castability
Zinc is regarded as the most fluid of all the alloys and this is the reason why many die cast manufacturers loves to work with Zinc. The incredible fluidity of Zinc allows die castings to be a lot more complex, intricate, and it even makes them a little bit thinner.
In addition to that, Zinc also helps manufacturers by eliminating the need for secondary operations, which are always necessary in the case of Magnesium and Aluminum alloys. Die casting parts automatically becomes lighter as less materials are used during the thin-wall applications. This also helps the manufacturers to save energy and material cost.
Extended Die Life
The investments manufacturers make in quality tooling is certainly one of the major upfront costs in die casting process. Heat-treated Steel materials are the common tools used by manufacturers during die casting. The tooling cost, however, varies on a number of factors such as the complexity and size of the component.
Zinc die casting alloys have a low melting temperature, which means that the dies for Zinc parts will be able to last approximately 10 times longer than that of Aluminum and 5 times longer than that of Magnesium. When we consider the tooling investment, Zinc becomes tremendously cost effective during the design of complex high volume components.