The History of Metals and Man in the Die Casting Process

The History of Metals and Man in the Die Casting Process. To understand the die casting process is to understand the history of metallurgy and to peruse the history of man. Man has been shaping metal since antiquity. We fashioned our tools, weapons, and implements from the metals we found in the earth. The first metal we used was gold, then copper. Gold exists in its natural state and did not require much processing, but copper had to be smelted. This was the start of a crude metalworking industry.

The manufacturing of die cast parts in modern times is a far cry from those first attempts of civilization. Now it is not an outdoor bonfire that we use, but a high tech die casting machine inside a die casting company to melt and mold our metals. Aside from copper, we have discovered more useful metals like aluminum, zinc, tin, brass, magnesium, and lead.

The parts we manufacture out of metal are not anymore crude knives and arrowheads, but precision parts for modern industries like telecommunications and automobiles, mobile phones, fiber optics, computers and laptops, children’s toys and and aluminum aircraft parts.

The process we use is high pressure injection molding and a four step procedure involving lubricants and shots and ejector pins, or a heated-manifold what they call direct-injection die casting procedure which is a less complicated procedure than the first one, no matter how it sounds.

The metal parts that we manufacture nowadays are various things like mobile phone antennas, electronic connectors, industrial housings and fittings, bicycle pedals, sprockets, gas knobs and valves, handles and lids, door hinges, fasteners, doorknobs and zippers.