Overview

What Is Zinc Die Casting?

Zinc die casting is a metal casting process characterized by pressuring molten metal into the mold cavity. The mold cavity is created using two hardened tool steel molds that are machined to the net shape or near-net shape of the zinc die casting parts. The zinc die casting process allows products to be made with a high degree of accuracy and repeatability. The Zinc die casting process can also produce fine details such as textured surfaces or names without requiring further processing.

How is Zinc Die Casting Made?

Steel dies capable of producing tens of thousands of zinc castings in quick succession that must be made in at least two sections to allow the castings to be removed. These parts are firmly mounted in the machine and are arranged so that one is stationary (fixed die half) and the other one is movable (injector die half). To begin the casting cycle, the two mold halves are clamped together by a die-casting machine.

Molten zinc alloy is injected into the mold cavity and rapidly solidified. The mold half is opened and the zinc casting is ejected. Zinc die casting molds can be simple or complicated, with movable slides, cores, or other parts, depending on the complexity of the casting.

To date, the complete cycle of zinc die casting has been the fastest cycle to produce precision zinc parts. This is in stark contrast to sand casting, which requires new sand molds for each casting. Although the permanent mold process uses iron or steel molds instead of sand, it is much slower and less precise than zinc die castings.