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The Major Challenges Facing Iron Manufacturers in 2024 and Beyond

Iron foundries and casting manufacturers today face a range of evolving challenges – from implementing new production technology and manufacturing processes to contending with an ever-diversifying market. For domestic customers – especially those who have dealt with ongoing supply chain disruptions over the last several years – American foundries like Acme are uniquely positioned to meet the arising challenges of the industry.

Below, we take a look at some of the major hurdles facing foundries and the greater iron casting industry in 2024 and beyond.

Overcoming Supply Chain Disruptions

While not as volatile as many other materials or specialized components, the supply of essential raw iron materials can still be inconsistent on the global stage. Virtually every vendor has dealt with some level of scarcity or unavailability over the last several years as supply chains have struggled to return to normal. In most cases, that means increased costs and delays in production.

Material shortages are only exacerbated when working with an overseas or offshore foundry. As global supply chain disruptions have shown, vulnerabilities in international transportation and logistics lead to even longer unexpected delays and cost overruns.

With our trusted network of raw material suppliers, Acme Foundry helps keep domestic customers’ projects on track and responsive with reliable American manufacturing solutions.

Working with Rising Production Costs

Like most manufacturing sectors, the iron casting industry is quite energy-intensive. Rising electricity, natural gas, and fuel costs are major concerns in both cost and long-term sustainability. At Acme, we’re continuously focused on lean manufacturing to keep your project efficient, offsetting any rising costs as much as possible.

Environmental Regulations and Sustainability Demands

Increasingly stringent environmental regulations require foundries to reduce emissions, manage waste better, and minimize their carbon footprint. Compliance can necessitate costly upgrades and modifications to existing processes.

Customers likewise increasingly demand sustainable products, which puts pressure on foundries to adopt greener practices, like using recycled materials, reducing waste, and ensuring energy efficiency. Acme’s lean manufacturing solutions are geared towards achieving all of these sustainability targets, while our premium Made in the USA castings naturally carry less of a carbon footprint than products shipped internationally.

Maintaining Product Quality in an Increasingly Challenging Market

Customers demand high-quality products with precise specifications. Maintaining and improving quality, especially in the face of aging equipment and workforce, is a constant challenge.

There is a growing demand for lighter, stronger, and more complex castings, particularly in industries like automotive and aerospace. Foundries need to innovate to meet these requirements, which often involves new materials or casting techniques.

How Acme Foundry Overcomes the Industry’s Challenges

To remain competitive, Acme Foundry consistently invests in new casting technology and other equipment upgrades. Our company continually enhances our workforce training programs to keep our team on the cutting edge.

Over time, our company has increasingly adopted sustainable practices to meet the industry’s emerging sustainability targets. Along the way, we’ve developed more agile supply chain strategies and responsive manufacturing services to better serve our customers and ensure a steady supply of all products.

The Industry’s Leading Provider of Quality American Foundry Services

Located in Coffeyville, Kansas since 1905, Acme Foundry has specialized in the production of custom gray iron castings for more than 115 years. Our unparalleled experience combined with our material expertise helps us optimize every project for both cost and performance. Our company is an ISO 9001:2015 certified American manufacturer committed to superior quality and customer support.

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A Look Inside the Foundry Quality Control Process

Acme Foundry specializes in manufacturing complex cored gray iron castings – both rough and machined. Maintaining accuracy and repeatability in casting these intricate products requires an extremely involved quality control process and inspection methodology.

The quality control technology used in foundries today is highly sophisticated, evolving alongside the industry’s increasing demand for precision-built products. From visual inspection and dimensional measurement tools to advanced metallurgical analysis equipment, Acme utilizes state-of-the-art techniques to achieve 100% complete customer satisfaction in terms of both quality and on-time delivery.

Our casting design experts can work with your custom 3D models or engineer a precision mold for the unique requirements of your application. In both cases, our finished castings are meticulously manufactured and confirmed to meet your exact specifications.

Coordinate Measurement Machines (CMMs)

Confirming accurate dimensionality is crucial – especially for precision cast products requiring exceptionally close tolerances and/or complex designs. When it comes to dimensional inspection and measurement of the products, advanced coordinate measurement machines (CMMs) provide us with highly accurate measurements of basic part dimensions as well as more intricate custom casting features.

CMMs and related tools are crucial to the quality control process, allowing our quality assurance experts to verify dimensions and part geometry meet the exact specifications of the design.

Automated Inspection Systems

We also implement various vision systems throughout our quality control process. Advanced visual inspection processes rely on cameras and other other image processing techniques to closely inspect castings for surface defects, dimensional accuracy, and overall quality.

With advanced computerized inspection methods, we can look much closer at the surface and into the material than is possible with conventional visual inspection.

Material Inspection and Metallurgical Analysis

The quality of the raw materials is crucial to the overall process. In many cases, we will implement material testing methods to confirm the material meets all physical/mechanical requirements, such as hardness and tensile strength. More advanced metallurgical inspection techniques can essentially look inside the material to confirm the quality at a molecular level. Most commonly, we can use spectroscopy techniques to analyze the chemical composition of raw metals to confirm the correct alloy mix before casting is underway.

During the actual casting process, thermal analysis systems can monitor the solidification of the molten metal to ensure we achieve a proper microstructure for the required mechanical properties. The result is overall higher quality products that exhibit fewer material defects or manufacturing errors.

Quality American Foundry Services Since 1905

Backed by nearly 120 years of casting expertise, Acme is one of the nation’s most well-established foundries. Our commitment to quality control and superior craftsmanship allow us to meet even the most challenging of custom casting specifications.

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Machined Cast Iron at Acme Foundry – Streamlining Your Project and Supply Chain

Many of today’s more complex cast iron products require additional CNC machining services after casting in order to achieve relatively intricate end product designs. That actually brings up a major advantage of gray iron casting: the material’s ease of machinability allows us to produce complex, highly customized machined castings quickly and cost-effectively.

Many foundries only perform the basic metal casting services, leaving customers to seek out and incorporate a third-party CNC machine shop into their project. As you can imagine, that tends to complicate your project, adding extensive complexity in scheduling, shipping, and logistics.

However, at Acme Foundry, we offer an in-house CNC machine shop through our Magic Circle machining division. This enables us to streamline the entire casting and custom machining process, ensure superior quality control every step of the way, and simplify your overall supply chain.

The Advantages of Acme’s Machined Cast Iron Solutions:

Streamlining Your Project and Overall Supply Chain

Having both casting and machining operations in one facility reduces the need for transportation between different locations, minimizing delays and scheduling issues between separate manufacturers. Plus, with an integrated setup, our lead times from raw material to finished product is significantly reduced, allowing for quicker delivery to our customers.

Better Quality Control and Product Consistency

Our integrated machining division helps Acme Foundry maintain precision quality control throughout the entire production process. We ensure the highest degree of accuracy and repeatability every step of the way – from the foundry to the finished product.

Integrating our foundry and CNC machining services means we can identify any casting defects and rectify the issue before the components are sent off for machining and finishing. Typically, utilizing other foundries and third-party machine shops, such an issue could temporarily derail and delay your entire project. At Acme, we strive to achieve 100% on-time delivery and complete customer satisfaction.

Minimizing Your Production Time and Costs

Acme’s integrated machining solutions eliminate the need for you to transport your castings to a separate machine shop, thus reducing your transportation costs and part handling fees. More importantly for many projects, it removes all of the usual time and logistical headaches you would otherwise waste trying to schedule your project between multiple manufacturers. Our streamlined contract manufacturing services simplify your overall project, removing both time and complication from the process. That typically means better response to new developments and shorter lead times.

Common Examples of Custom Machined Cast Iron Products:

  • Machined castings for industrial hydraulic equipment including valves and fittings.
  • Cast and machined gears, gear cases, and gear boxes.
  • Machined hub and rotor castings.
  • Cast and machined mounting plates and brackets.
  • Complex machined castings such as turbine and compressor housings.

Quality Machined Cast Iron Components Since 1905

Acme Foundry provides quality casting services backed by integrated CNC machining services. Founded in 1905 in Coffeyville, Kansas, our company has remained one of the nation’s leading sources for quality custom machined castings for well over a century.

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Premium American Castings from One of the Midwest’s Premier Foundries

When it comes to custom casting services, “Made in the U.S.A.” typically signifies higher quality products backed by better support. American foundries have long been respected as industry leaders throughout the iron casting industry, consistently setting the standard in both quality and responsiveness.

Established all the way back in 1905, Acme Foundry has been raising that bar for well over a century.

Why Choose Acme’s “Made in the U.S.A.” Castings:

  • Quality-built castings manufactured to your exact specifications right here in Coffeyville, Kansas.
  • Reduced lead times and quicker turnaround to meet your tight production schedules.
  • Eliminate a lot of the cost, complexity, and headaches with shipping, inventory, and logistics.
  • Responsive customer service from our team of casting experts who understand the importance of full product support.

Better Communication, Better Collaboration

Compared to our overseas competitors, Acme’s American casting solutions give your project a much better platform for communication and collaboration. Contact our team and you’ll receive a prompt response with expert guidance for any aspect of your contract manufacturing project – no language barriers, no lengthy delays, no passing your inquiries off to a third party who may not even get back to you.

We’re always standing by to collaborate when you need to, especially in the design and early product development stages of your project. This joint effort between our teams is key to ensuring your end products meet your exact specifications and performance requirements.

Faster Turnaround Time for Your Products

One of the biggest benefits to choosing a local foundry is our ability to deliver faster turnaround times. Our streamlined casting processes can substantially reduce your delivery time while also minimizing any potential production delays. Furthermore, we can more easily expedite orders for local customers without running into shipping or supply chain issues.

Greater Flexibility in Manufacturing

Working with a local foundry can provide greater flexibility to your project through a more versatile range of manufacturing capabilities. We collaborate closely with our customers to develop a customized solution which meets your exact production needs as efficiently as possible. Our flexible contract manufacturing capabilities are especially beneficial to complex casting projects, as well as specialized castings and smaller production runs which demand a more unique manufacturing solution.

Better Quality Control and Product Consistency

Local foundries like Acme can also generally offer better overall quality control and consistency. Since we are located in closer proximity to our customers, their product engineers and inspectors are able visit our facilities in person if required. This can help ensure a truly optimized production process is established and maintained.

Additionally, Acme Foundry is an ISO 9001:2015 certified American provider. Our robust quality control processes further ensure the consistency of our end products.

Quality American Castings and Foundry Services Since 1905

Founded all the way back in 1905, Acme Foundry has remained one of America’s leading foundries for well over a century. Based out of Coffeyville, Kansas, our company is the leading manufacturer of custom gray iron castings for customers throughout the Midwest region, the Central U.S. and beyond.

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Gray Iron Castings: The Backbone of Industry in Factories Across America

Cast gray iron is a common manufacturing material used throughout the modern industrial space – it could even be aptly called the backbone of the industry. Its widespread adoption is largely due to the unique physical and mechanical advantages that gray iron provides, combined with the workability and cost-effectiveness of the material.

To sum up the material benefits of gray cast iron: it offers outstanding thermal properties, exceptional damping capacity, and high compressive strength combined with ease of workability and machinability. Below, we discuss these advantages in a bit more detail.

The Material Advantages of Cast Gray Iron for Industrial Use

The unique thermal and mechanical properties of cast gray iron make it the ideal material for a wide range of modern industrial applications:

Outstanding Thermal Stability

Finally, gray cast iron excels at withstanding thermal cycling. The material is able to undergo extreme temperature fluctuations without overly straining or developing stress fractures. Gray iron’s outstanding thermal properties are another reason it is an ideal material for various automotive and industrial applications.

High Damping Capacity for Reduced Noise, Vibration, and Harshness (NVH)

Gray iron material naturally exhibits excellent damping properties which minimize NVH – a major benefit to modern factories and industrial facilities which prioritize employee safety and comfort.

The enhanced damping capacity results from the metal’s microstructure – namely, the density of the graphite matrix throughout the material. Essentially, these distributed graphite flakes absorb and redistribute energy transferred into the metal, cutting down noise and vibration in the process. Beyond worker safety and comfort, enhanced damping makes cast iron an ideal material choice for various industrial applications which depend on highly sensitive machinery that can be affected by excessive vibration.

Easily Workable and Machinable

Gray iron’s workability means it can easily be cast into custom-designed components and assemblies. The material offers great compressive strength similar to low-carbon / medium-carbon steel counterparts which tend to be less workable and more expensive. 

A Versatile and Cost-Effective Industrial Material

Of course, two of the major advantages of gray iron castings are the versatility and its relatively low cost. Gray cast iron is relatively inexpensive compared to many comparable alloys, making it an economical choice for many industrial applications. The casting process itself is relatively simple and, as mentioned, the material is relatively easy to machine post-production. All of these advantages add up to make gray iron one of the most cost-effective industrial metals.

The Industry’s Leading Provider of Quality American Foundry Services

Located in Coffeyville, Kansas since 1905, Acme Foundry has specialized in the production of custom gray iron castings for more than 115 years. Our unparalleled experience combined with our material expertise helps us optimize every project for both cost and performance. Our company is an ISO 9001:2015 certified American manufacturer committed to superior quality and customer support.

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Green Sand Molding for Gray Iron Castings: An Efficient and Economical Manufacturing Process

Green sand molding is a common metal casting process that offers a number of advantages when it comes to manufacturing gray iron products. Namely, it’s a highly flexible and cost-effective process with the ability to produce an extremely wide range of designs, including large and somewhat complex parts.

However, green sand casting does also come with some limitations. Compared to other (often more complicated) custom casting methods, the green sand approach produces lower dimensional accuracy and a rougher surface finish. Despite these limitations, green sand casting remains a widely used and reliable solution throughout the gray iron casting market.

What Is Green Sand Casting?

Green sand casting is a relatively simple and economical casting process because it uses simple, cost-effective materials. The green sand mixture itself consists of olivine sand (up to 85%), bentonite clay (5% to 11%), water (2% to 4%), and various other additives (up to 5%). 

The term “green” does not refer directly to the color of the sand, but rather to the fact that the sand is used in its moist or damp state (though moisture does tend to give the mixture a greenish tint). This method is one of the oldest and most commonly used casting processes for a wide range of gray iron products.

The Green Sand Casting Process Explained:

Material Preparation

First we prepare the green sand molding material described above, sometimes choosing specific additives optimized for the specific products to be cast. Common additives for green sand molding include coal dust, sea coal, silica flour, and wood flour. We carefully mix the green sand to the desired consistency so that it can effectively compact around the pattern, which is a replica of the final casting.

Custom Pattern Making

Our core room produces a pattern that represents the shape of the final product. We place the finished pattern into the molding box, then pack the green sand around the pattern to create the mold cavity.

Molding

The molding box is opened and the pattern is removed, leaving the mold cavity compressed into the sand. Channels and gates for metal flow are thus created within the mold.

Pouring and Solidification

The mold is closed, and we pour molten metal into the cavity carefully through the gating system. The metal cools and solidifies, taking on the precise shape of the mold.

Casting Removal and Shakeout

After the metal has solidified, it’s time to open the mold and remove the gray iron casting. Excess material such as gates and risers are removed. If the project calls for custom machined castings, we pass the casting on to our Magic Circle CNC machining division.

The Advantages of Green Sand Molding for Gray Iron Castings:

Quick Turnaround and High Capacity

Green sand casting is relatively quick to set up and get running, thus minimizing lead times and turnaround. It is also a highly efficient manufacturing solution for high-volume projects, easily scalable to reach higher capacity when needed.

Minimal Material Costs

Green sand casting materials are relatively low-cost and widely available. Moreover, the price for tooling is generally lower than more complex casting processes, further reducing overall production costs.

A Relatively Simple Manufacturing Process

Green sand molding is a relatively simple method for producing gray iron castings. The simplicity of the process helps us eliminate complications and complexity to establish the most reliable supply chain possible for your iron casting products.

The Disadvantages of Green Sand Casting Services:

  • Lower dimensional accuracy.
  • Prone to more casting defects and rejected parts compared to more precise casting methods.
  • Rougher surface finish quality than other molding options.

More Than a Century of Quality American Casting Services

Established in 1905 in Coffeyville, Kansas, Acme Foundry has proudly remained one of America’s leading gray iron casting providers for well over a century. Our company is an ISO 9001:2015 certified manufacturer committed to delivering superior quality, consistency, and customer service for every custom casting project.

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The Advantages of American Foundry Services Compared to Offshore Competitors

Throughout the modern iron casting industry, “made in the USA” goes hand-in-hand with quality manufacturing and customer service. That’s because experienced American foundries like Acme are generally more focused on achieving higher quality and consistency compared to generic, offshore competitors. In fact, you’re likely to find that many of those types of companies are focused solely on whittling down costs as much as possible. Not to mention it’s usually a lot easier to work with us and communicate the details of your project effectively, considering there are no language barriers or corporate bureaucracy standing in the way.

Nevertheless, a lot of today’s domestic vendors opt to offshore the manufacturing of their custom casted products in an effort to minimize the cost per part. While it’s true that materials and labor are often cheaper overseas, your overall project becomes much less lean and sustainable.

You also have to factor in the increased shipping costs and logistics (along with the greater potential for delivery delays) as well as the potential quality issues that can be much more difficult to address. When you add it all up, you may find that American foundry services are just as (if not more) cost-effective than offshore options, while also removing many of the headaches and complications that come with an international supply chain.

Five Reasons to Choose an American Foundry for Your Custom Casting Services:

1. Better Communication, Customer Service, and Collaboration

Choosing a quality-focused American foundry facilitates much more open and efficient communication for the duration of your project. As with any manufacturing service, communication is key to ensuring your products are built exactly the way you want them – especially when producing extremely complex castings or difficult-to-manufacture products with highly intricate designs and geometries.

2. Greater Flexibility in Manufacturing

Working with a domestic foundry gives you greater flexibility, opening up your project to a more versatile range of manufacturing capabilities. We collaborate closely with our customers to develop a customized manufacturing solution which meets their unique casting needs as effectively as possible.

3. Shorter Lead Times and Rapid Turnaround

One of the prime advantages of American foundry services is our ability to provide shorter lead times and quicker turnaround. Our lean manufacturing processes can substantially reduce your delivery time while also minimizing any potential delays. Furthermore, we can more easily expedite orders for local customers without running into shipping or supply chain issues.

4. Better Quality Control and Product Consistency

American foundries can also offer better quality control over our custom casting services. Since we are located in close proximity to our customers, their product engineers and inspectors are able to analyze the casting process in person and keep tabs on all results. This can help catch any quality control issues early on in the production process when they are much easier, and often cheaper, to remedy.vAdditionally, Acme Foundry is an ISO 9001:2015 certified American provider. Our quality certification further ensures the consistency of our results.

5. A Leaner, More Sustainable Manufacturing Solution

Modern manufacturing is all about being as lean and sustainable as possible. Not only because it reduces manufacturing costs and waste, but also because leanness makes the process much more flexible and adaptable to future market developments. As one of America’s leading iron foundries since 1905, Acme brings more than 115 years of experience to the table in order to devise the leanest, most sustainable custom casting services possible.

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Common Consumer Products and Appliances Using Gray Iron Casting

Gray cast iron is a flexible manufacturing material that finds many uses in consumer product manufacturing. Having already covered the common industrial applications for gray iron as well as how gray iron is used in automotive manufacturing, let’s turn to the consumer sector and take a look at some of the common cast gray iron products we can produce.

The Most Common Consumer Products and Appliances Manufactured with Cast Iron:

Cast Iron in the Kitchen

Cast iron products are found throughout the modern American kitchen. Many types of cookware are manufactured from gray iron, most commonly cast iron skillets, pans, and Dutch ovens. The excellent thermal properties of gray iron makes it extremely efficient for cooking due to its high heat retention and resilience to thermal cycling.

Cast Iron Consumer Appliances

Cast iron kitchen products go beyond basic tools and cookware – it’s also an excellent manufacturing material for various consumer appliances. Some common uses include traditional wood stoves, gas stoves, and stove top burners, as well as large appliance housings and bases.

Cast Iron Household Products

Cast iron is used for many other basic consumer household products because the material is cost-effective and relatively easy to custom mold/machine into complex forms. Common uses include decorative elements such as custom frames and molded statues, fireplace ornamentation, as well as small everyday household items like coat hangers and bookstops.

Cast Iron in the Consumer Garage

Beyond the household and kitchen, there are many common cast iron products found in the modern consumer garage. Gray iron is a common manufacturing material for many hand tools like hammers and wrenches, as well as workbench tools such as vices and anvils.

Cast Iron Outside the Home

Cast iron consumer products are also common in the yard and garden. Some garden and outdoor furniture pieces, such as benches and tables, are cast from gray cast iron due to the material’s high strength and resistance to weathering. Other uses include outdoor ornaments and decorative elements such as gates, fencing, and planters.

The Advantages of Cast Iron Parts for Consumer Product Manufacturing:

Gray iron offers a number of material advantages for consumer products due to its unique mechanical properties and molecular structure. Gray iron exhibits outstanding thermal properties, great compressive strength, and exceptional damping properties which make it well-suited for applications of noise, vibration, harshness (NVH) reduction. Learn more about the unique material advantages of gray iron in our previous blog – Physical and Mechanical Advantages of Gray Iron Material.

Quality American Gray Iron Casting for Consumer Products Since 1905

Acme is one of the nation’s leading foundries serving the consumer product sector and many other quality-focused industries. Established in 1905, we provide 115+ years of experience in delivering custom casting services for a wide range of consumer products – all by superior American craftsmanship.

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Grades and Classes of Gray Iron Compared – Hardness, Tensile Strength, and Common Product Applications

Understanding the many different grades/classes of gray iron material helps Acme Foundry build the best, highest quality and most cost-effective metal castings possible for every unique application.

Gray iron materials used in the manufacturing of custom castings are generally cataloged by the minimum tensile strength of each unique metal formulation. These classifications are laid out by the ASTM International standard A48, which divides common gray iron materials into a chart according to tensile strength in megapascals (MPa) or pounds per square inch (psi).

However, in the automotive manufacturing sector, the SAE International standard J431 is used to designate suitable materials specific to cast parts for passenger cars and commercial vehicles. These standards are laid out according to the ratio of tensile strength in comparison to Brinell hardness.

Some of the most common gray iron materials used in the casting industry today include ASTM Class 300 (Grade 45) which is often used for manufacturing gears, cylinder blocks/cylinder heads, as well as heavy duty industrial tools. Other common classes include Class 200 (Grade 30) commonly used for manufacturing molds, gearboxes and housings, as well as Class 150 (Grade 20) commonly used for exhaust manifolds, pipes, and pulleys.

ASTM Gray Iron Classes Explained – Hardness Levels and Tensile Strength Ratings:

Many industries use ASTM’s A48 standard to designate different gray iron materials according to tensile strength. The grades are conveniently named according to tensile strength rating in MPa – e.g. Class 150 gray iron has a tensile strength of 150 MPa, while Class 300 is rated at 300 MPa.

  • Class 150 Gray Iron – Tensile Strength: 150 MPa – Lower grades commonly used for casting basic hammers, pipes, bearings, and protective covers.
  • Class 250 Gray Iron– Tensile Strength: 250 MPa – Higher tensile strength commonly used for casting gearboxes and housings, machine bases and couplings, and many other high-strength industrial components.
  • Class 350 Gray Iron – Tensile Strength: 350 MPa – A high-grade gray iron material used for casting precision bearings, bushings, cams, and high-performance dies.

The SAE International Standard of Gray Iron Grades for the Automotive Manufacturing Industry

In the automotive manufacturing sector, the SAE International standard SAE J431 is used to designate grades of gray iron materials according to tensile strength in relation to Brinell hardness ratings. The grades are named according to tensile strength rating in psi – e.g. SAE G3000 gray iron offers a tensile strength of 30,000 psi.

  • SAE Grade G2500 – Minimum Tensile Strength: 25,000 psi (173 MPa) – Brinell Hardness Rating: 170 to 229
  • SAE Grade G3000 – Minimum Tensile Strength: 30,000 psi (207 MPa) – Brinell Hardness Rating: 187 to 241
  • SAE Grade G3500 – Minimum Tensile Strength: 35,000 psi (241 MPa) – Brinell Hardness Rating: 207 to 255
  • SAE Grade G4000 – Minimum Tensile Strength: 40,000 psi (276 MPa) – Brinell Hardness Rating: 217 to 269

Quality American Gray Iron Castings Since 1905

Based out of Coffeyville, Kansas, Acme has provided quality American foundry services for well over a century as one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of gray iron castings. An ISO 9001:2015 certified company, we strive to ensure superior quality and responsive customer service for every project.

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Common Industrial Products Manufactured from Cast Gray Iron

Cast gray iron provides a number of unique material advantages which make it ideal for manufacturing various industrial products. Below we discuss some of the most common commercial and industrial uses for gray iron, along with the benefits that the material offers in each unique application.

The Most Common Industrial Uses for Gray Iron Castings

Heavy Equipment and Transportation

Widely used in the automotive manufacturing industry, gray cast iron is also widely used in the commercial transportation sector and heavy equipment applications. From cast iron suspension components to engine blocks and exhaust manifolds, the material’s exceptional thermal conductivity and NVH damping properties make it ideal for many components that power commercial and industrial transport.

Industrial Pipes and Fittings

Gray cast iron pipes and fittings are used throughout the industrial sector for plumbing, drainage, and cooling systems. It’s a cost-effective material for manufacturing custom pipes and fittings while offering good corrosion resistance and outstanding strength to stand up to tough factory environments.

Compressor Housings and Hydraulic Pump Components

Grey iron is a commonly used material for industrial compressor housings and cylinders, as well as various hydraulic pump parts. With exceptional compressive strength, the material is able to reliably withstand the high pressures and vibration generally inherent in these applications.

Factory Machine Mounts and Structures

The exceptional vibration damping properties of gray cast iron make it especially well-suited for the fabrication of machine tool structures, bases, and mounts. Not only does the material help reduce noise and vibration, it can also enhance machine precision and reduce manufacturing errors.

Other Industrial Machinery Components

Gray iron is commonly used to manufacture many other various industrial components and machinery parts such as gears, pulleys, and machine housings. Gray iron’s damping properties help keep factory workplaces safer, quieter, and more comfortable, while also offering great wear resistance and durability for an extended service life.

Agricultural Equipment

Gray cast iron is also commonly used in various agricultural machinery components such as plow shares, tillers, related mounts and brackets, other tractor parts, as well as irrigation system components. The material’s damping properties combined with its wear resistance and compressive strength make it ideal for commercial agricultural and farming applications.

Why Choose Gray Iron as a Manufacturing Material?

In addition to the application-specific benefits discussed above, gray iron offers a number of general material advantages. It exhibits outstanding thermal properties, great compressive strength, and exceptional damping properties which make it well-suited for applications of noise, vibration, harshness (NVH) reduction. Learn more about the unique material advantages of gray iron in our previous blog – Physical and Mechanical Advantages of Gray Iron Material.

Quality American Gray Iron Castings Since 1905

Based out of Coffeyville, Kansas, Acme Foundry has served for well over a century as one of the nation’s leading foundries specializing in gray iron castings. An ISO 9001:2015 certified manufacturer, our company ensures superior quality control backed by responsive customer service for every project.  From core-making to molding to custom CNC machined castings, Acme is your single-source American foundry solution.

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