StaCast, soon the new standards - New classification of structural defects

StaCast (New Quality and Design Standards for Aluminium Alloys Cast Products) is a European project devoted to aluminium foundries, with the ambitious goal to set up advanced quality standards or technical reports for aluminium alloy castings. The StaCast project (FP7-NMP-2012-CSA-6, Grant n. 319188) refers to University of Padova (Italy), Aalen Hochschule Technik und Wirtschaft (Germany), Trondheim Norges Universitet (Norway), Associazione Italiana di Metallurgia (Italy), Assomet Servizi (Italy), and Federation of Aluminium Consumers Europe (Brussels). The challenge of StaCast project is to promote the transformation of the European Aluminium Foundry field in a quality/efficiency-driven and integration-oriented sector, thanks to the development and introduction of two specific CEN Technical Reports, covering aspects which are not approached in current norms: Casting Defects Classification and Aluminium Foundry Alloys Mechanical Properties. To achieve these goals, a preliminary survey has been carried out by StaCast involving about 60 foundries, representing roughly the 12% of EU Al alloys castings production, and 20 suppliers. The survey was aimed at obtaining a complete picture of the approach of European Aluminium foundries in terms of quality of products, verifying the degree of knowledge and application of current CEN standards and identifying the more relevant Standardization needs in the field.