This course guides participants through the basic functions of gating and risers to provide clean, sound and functional castings. An introduction to fluid flow and solidification will serve to guide participants through key design concepts of various function elements of a good gating and riser design. Emphasis will be placed on hands-on activities, animations, and simulations to enhance understanding of the filling and solidification processes in a foundry. Focus will be on practical examples in iron, steel, aluminum, and copper castings. The goal is to introduce the participants to the basics of gating and riser design, common industry norms and troubleshooting.
Course Syllabus
Course Instructors:
Patrick Kluesner, Sr. Product Engineer, Grede Castings
Patrick Kluesner, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Technology Management from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, took a position with Grede Castings as Senior Product Engineer. Previously, Patrick served as a Training Engineer at MAGMA where he taught basic and advanced simulation techniques, with an emphasis on HPDC and sand casting. When not teaching, he was also responsible for creating content for seminars, webinars, and online tutorials for defect analysis and resolution.
Dr. Sudesh Kannan, Expert Consultant
Dr. Sudesh Kannan helps foundries reduce their casting scrap and rework rates to improve their profitability. With over 20 years of global foundry support, Kannan has helped businesses generate new products and services and tackled commercialization challenges of new technologies. He has authored over 25 technical papers, conference publications, and has been printed in Modern Casting and AFS Transactions. His background includes service with Selee, Praxair, St. Gobain and the University of Maryland. Kannan has a Ph.D. in materials science from UVA.