Our engineers work closely with you from start to finish

<p>Our team of skilled engineers will assist you from the early stages of your project through completion, incorporating design for manufacturing principles and leveraging advanced technologies to ensure optimal results.</p>

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Engineering

Speak to an engineer

Dynacast’s expertise in Design for Manufacturing (DFM) supports customers in optimising wall thickness and incorporating features such as fillets and ribs to reduce weight, lower material costs, and enhance strength and performance.

Collaboration through DFM

Engineers with a deep understanding of the die casting process can help ensure parts are not only functional but also manufacturable. Through advanced simulation tools such as MAGMA, parts achieve higher quality with fewer defects. 

Dynacast engineers designing innovative metal parts

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Improved part design

By helping to identify issues early in the design phase, engineers can eliminate costly design revisions and tooling modifications. This results in overall cost savings for the project. 

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Minimise rework

Minimise rework, maximise savings

Early involvement of the engineering team can accelerate the design and tooling process by preventing design iterations and ensuring a smooth production start-up.

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Shorter lead times

Explore the advantages of Dynacast engineering

The DFM process considers part shape, material selection, and casting processes.

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Shrinkage porosity results from the casting metal shrinking as it solidifies, leaving small pores. To combat porosity, parts are designed with uniform wall thickness and metal savers to reduce material weight and promote consistent solidification.

Shrinkage porosity

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DFM can incorporate fillets and radii to eliminate sharp corners, improving material flow and reducing stress concentrations. This design approach minimises cracking and extends tool life.

Fillets and radii

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Engineers optimise ejector pin bosses by strategically placing and slightly indenting them to ensure smooth ejection of the casting. This approach prevents casting defects and enhances overall part quality.

Ejector pin bosses

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DFM addresses draft by incorporating tapered edges into the design, ensuring parts can be easily removed from the tool without sticking. This improves mould release and prevents defects.

Draft

Supporting the optimisation of your design for die casting

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<p>As the automotive industry increasingly designs and produces more sustainable, electronically powered vehicles, manufacturers will need to adapt by converting traditionally ICE-compliant parts to comply with EV requirements—this means higher-voltage batteries, more efficient heat sinks, lighter-weight components and sustainably sourced materials.<strong> </strong>As more automotive companies offer customers hybrid and EV technology, now is the time to reconsider part designs and effective materials to keep pace with automotive trends.</p><p>Although the events of 2020 temporarily significantly decreased demand for EVs and other automotive vehicles,<strong> the global electric vehicle market demand is expected to rise at a CAGR of 41.5% from 2022 to 2027</strong> -- with the market size expected to surpass US $718 billion by 2030.</p><h2><strong>The importance of reducing component weight in automotive and EV designs</strong></h2><h3>Benefits of aluminium in automotive applications</h3><p>Aside from these factors, <strong>one major roadblock to widespread electrification is that it increases the vehicle’s kerb weight—a development that needs to be countered by the use of lightweighting techniques.</strong> Lighter components make for lighter vehicles, which in turn improves energy efficiency for both electric and hybrid vehicles. Considering the rapid development of electric powertrains, batteries, charge ports and transmissions, and their impact on vehicle weight, the need for suppliers with extensive experience and capabilities in lightweight manufacturing is increasing.</p><p>That is where aluminium comes in. Aluminium’s strength, corrosion resistance, low weight and heat-dissipating properties offer significant advantages to mechanical designers. Thin-walled aluminium castings can also withstand the highest operating temperatures of all die cast alloys. Specifically for the <a href="/industries/automotive" target="_self">automotive industry</a>, choosing alloys with these properties improves the fuel efficiency of hybrid vehicles and allows both hybrid and electric cars to accelerate faster, brake more quickly and handle better.</p><h3>Zinc as an alternative weight-saving solution</h3><p>For parts where weight is not a factor, zinc can be an excellent alternative. Because most engineers focus heavily on the weight of the material itself, zinc is often overlooked for lightweight die casting applications, when it could be a more economical choice.</p><p>Because of zinc’s greater fluidity, die castings can be made thinner, more intricate and more complex, eliminating the need for secondary operations that are almost always necessary for aluminium and magnesium alloys. <strong>With less material used in thin-wall applications, parts automatically become lighter, creating savings in material costs and energy during melting and recycling.</strong></p><p>Another benefit of zinc is the extended die life it provides. Due to the low melting temperature of <a href="/die-casting-technologies" target="_self">zinc die casting alloys</a>, dies for zinc parts can last up to 10 times longer than dies used for aluminium and about five times longer than dies used for magnesium. When designing high-volume, complex components, zinc becomes extremely cost-effective when considering the tooling investment.</p><h2>Die casting vital shielding components for increased electronic features</h2><p>Another roadblock in the EV industry is the need to manage the ever-increasing number of electronic sensors. Precisely cast, thin-walled housings are needed to position electronic components and other parts, such as heat sinks, within a net-shape design. Die casting enables designs with internal features to be manufactured into the part without additional operations, significantly increasing accuracy and saving on costly secondary processes.</p><p>As autonomous vehicles become more popular, sensors, radars and cameras are becoming increasingly advanced and critical to vehicle function. Alloys such as zinc, with high wear resistance and structural integrity, are ideal for creating the multi-faceted, highly complex shapes used in automotive safety and electronics components. Alloys such as aluminium, with high thermal conductivity and lightweight properties, are ideal materials for battery packs, motor housings and heat sink systems.</p><h3>Processes and alloys matter</h3><p>As the EV and hybrid vehicle industry continues to grow rapidly, choosing the right manufacturing process and alloy is critical not only to vehicle safety and performance, but also to project success and budget. Lightweighting offers many benefits, including reducing the energy consumption needed to propel heavy vehicles, while die cast alloys can also provide solutions for the increase in electronic components in vehicles through their net-shape designs and thermal properties. Contact our team of skilled engineers to begin your DFM project.</p>

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Discover how die casting is reshaping the automotive industry through lightweighting, high performance and cost efficiency for the vehicles of tomorrow.

Automotive die casting trends | Future of the industry

Explore how the future of die casting in the automotive industry is driven by the need for lightweight, high-performance components in electric and hybrid vehicles, focusing on innovative materials such as aluminium and zinc to meet evolving design and efficiency requirements.

The future of die casting in the automotive industry

<p>Does your part design require external gears or threads where a parting line would significantly affect part performance?</p><p>We know our customers are in the business of producing strong, high-performing parts, and that the highest level of performance requires optimised production processes. If your project is experiencing part failure due to uneven porosity or weakness around parting lines, our Centre Gate technology could be the answer to your problems.</p><h2>What is centre gate technology?</h2><p>As the name suggests, centre gating is a process in which molten metal is injected into the centre of the part, causing the metal to radiate evenly outwards from the gating system. Once the die has filled and solidified, a central core pin pushes the gate away and ejects the component.</p><p>With <a href="/die-casting-technologies/conventional-die-casting" target="_self">conventional die casting</a>, the gate is often located on the side of the thickest point of the casting, with a runner system on the opposite side of the die to force molten metal through the part and achieve even density throughout. However, for circular components or components with external threads, it can be difficult for this method to achieve the desired strength and density levels evenly throughout the part.</p><p>Currently, our centre gate process works best with all zinc alloys due to their high strength and exceptional hardness. Multi-Slide <a href="/metals/zinc" target="_self">zinc components</a> are an ideal alternative to machined, pressed, stamped and fabricated components.</p><h2>Benefits of centre gating for your die cast component</h2><p>Optimising your die cast design with a centre gate solves a number of issues associated with complex part requirements and geometries. See below for a list of benefits you can gain by incorporating a centre gate into your design.</p><h3>Circular parts</h3><p>A centre gate is an excellent solution for circular parts with gears and external threads that require tight tolerances. When the gate is designed within the core or hole of the part, components can be manufactured with tooth-to-tooth tolerances and very high density.</p><h3>Optimum material flow</h3><p>Centre gating provides optimum material flow from the centre of the part to the outer edges, eliminating microporosity and providing greater density than other casting alternatives.</p><h3>Flash-free</h3><p>Because the metal is injected through the centre of the component, parts are flash-free. By removing parting lines on the outside of the component, secondary operations are eliminated—reducing production time compared with other methods.</p><h3>Eliminate secondary operations</h3><p>Centre gating eliminates the need to trim, thermally deburr, machine the centre hole, wash, and more.</p><h3>Cost savings</h3><p>Machining fixture and tooling costs are greatly reduced when you can design using a centre gate.</p><h2>Centre gate industry application</h2><p>Gating through the centre solves problems for many components found in the <a href="/industries/automotive" target="_self">automotive industry</a>. Pinions, for example, are crucial components required for the successful movement of automatic seats. The part must be near-perfect and extremely dense to support the weight of very large seats. In addition to automotive parts, centre gating also provides solutions for commodity pieces found in industries such as fitness and personal care, as well as the electronics industry.</p><h2>Center Gate at Dynacast Peterborough</h2><p>Dynacast Peterborough developed our Center Gate technology in 2008. Dynacast Peterborough, located just outside Toronto, serves customers throughout North America. The capabilities offered by Center Gate technology expanded Dynacast's existing range of Multi-Slide technology, standard die casting with integrated automation, and IMA  (a type of insert moulding) precision zinc manufacturing.</p><p>This facility is one of the only manufacturing plants offering Center Gate as a solution. Our <a href="/additional-capabilities/engineering" target="_self">expert engineers</a> provide value engineering for all customers and designs, assessing whether a part would benefit from transitioning from external gating.</p>

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Explore centre gate die casting and how it improves metal flow, reduces porosity, and enhances quality in complex part geometries.

Center Gate die casting method | Dynacast

Center Gate technology, pioneered by Dynacast Peterborough, is an innovative die casting method that enhances the strength and precision of circular components with external gears or threads by optimising material flow and eliminating parting lines, resulting in superior density, reduced secondary operations, and significant cost savings. 

Center Gate: an innovative die casting method

<p>At Dynacast, all of our die casting machines need to meet certain standards. As a machine ages, technologies can become outdated and parts can wear. This blog post will give you an inside look at how we keep our machines up and running, and how we upgrade them to ensure the most up-to-date technology is available for our customers’ manufacturing needs.</p><h2>Why is regular maintenance essential?</h2><p>Regular maintenance is crucial for several reasons. Well-maintained machines operate more reliably, reducing downtime and production disruptions. Up-to-date equipment often offers improved efficiency, leading to higher output and lower costs. Adhering to maintenance schedules helps ensure compliance with industry regulations and safety standards. Upgrading machines allows us to incorporate the latest technologies and stay competitive in the market.</p><h2>How do we handle machine breakdowns?</h2><p>While we strive to prevent breakdowns, we are prepared to address them promptly. Our proactive maintenance programmes, coupled with a robust inventory of spare parts, minimise downtime. In the event of a breakdown, we can quickly identify and replace faulty components, ensuring minimal disruption to production.</p><p>Accommodating special requests (H3)</p><p>Dynacast is equipped to handle special projects and components. Our <a href="/additional-capabilities/tooling" target="_self">specialised tooling and machinery</a> enable us to efficiently produce complex parts and meet unique customer requirements. We can also customise machine programming to accommodate specific functions or tolerances.</p>

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Explore how Dynacast's precision die casting machines deliver superior part quality, efficiency and reliable performance to advance manufacturing processes.

Precision die casting machines | Precision meets progress

Dynacast prioritises machine maintenance and upgrades to ensure optimal performance, minimise downtime, and deliver high-quality products. 

Precision meets progress: machine upgrades

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Optimise design, precision, and efficiency with our comprehensive solutions, offering expert support throughout the design for manufacturability process.

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Ensure quality by implementing key improvements from the start

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Achieve complex geometries and tight tolerances with our in-house tooling capabilities

Engineering

Supporting the optimisation of your design for die casting

Shrinkage porosity

Fillets and radii

Ejector pin bosses

Draft

Beyond the basics

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