Rio Tinto Partners With Comptech On Aluminium Giga-Casting Technology – Aluminium Insider
Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Group and research and development provider Comptech Group are partnering to market a new aluminium alloy for use in emerging technologies like electric vehicles and 5G antennas.
Rio Tinto says it has already put into place alloys for Comptech’s semi-solid Rheocasting process that are capable of large specialized single piece designs known as giga-casting. The process of Rheocasting allows production of low-cost aluminium alloys that are high strength and minimally porous.
The alloys produced by the Rheocasting process are currently being tested by automakers in Europe. Rio Tinto notes that the process also lends itself to the production of 5G antennas, where a single large casting results in a piece that has high thermal conductivity and sealing properties but at a lower production and installation process.
Rio Tinto vice president Sales and Marketing Aluminium Tolga Egrilmezer said his firm is uniquely suited to meet such a demand.
“Through this partnership, we are delivering a new range of specialised alloys designed to deliver high performance, lower cost solutions for advanced applications like electric vehicles and 5G antennas. This is an area of emerging demand where our industry leading research and development capability allows us to deliver products that meet the specific needs of manufacturers and end customers.”
“We are in the capacity ramp up for the next generation of advanced technologies across sectors such as automotive and communications, and our customers, both foundries and OEM´s will need the development of more advanced parts,” explained Comptech Group CEO and owner Per Jansson. “This partnership positions us to offer customers the combined advantages of our casting process expertise and Rio Tinto’s technical strength and preferred alloys suite.”
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