CLEARPOR Casting Foam

Premium Plastic Foam for Exceptional Lost Foam Metal Moulding Patterns

 

Clearpor® is a unique expandable bead for use in the evaporative (EPC or “lost foam”) casting process, which in turn are used as patterns to make cast metal parts for use in the lost foam process. CLEARPOR® pattern shapes are moulded on standard EPS moulding equipment.

Automotive castings that benefit from the use of CLEARPOR® include engine blocks, exhaust manifolds, bearing caps, differential gear cases, cylinder sleeves and other engine parts, as well as water and drainage hardware castings, valves, and metal castings of all types made from steel and ferrous metals.

Advantages include the best of both worlds


CLEARPOR® provides benefits on the "white" side (pattern production), and also on the "black side" (casting)

  • Less carbon, fewer carbon cavities
  • Moulded as easily as EPS
  • Greater dimensional accuracy than EPS
  • Faster thermal reaction than PMMA
  • Easier to handle than PMMA
  • Allows thin walls, tight tolerances, complex shapes
  • Enhanced pyrolysis

Mould patterns made from CLEARPOR® are comprised of extremely small beads, 0.4 mm and 0.5 mm in diameter, depending on grade, which provide superior dimensional stability. Typically, less machining is required to finish the part when made with CLEARPOR® foam patterns.

CLEARPOR® provides superior pyrolysis properties, and produces far less black carbon soot as a casting by product.

Lost Foam Casting


As background, the lost foam casting process, also known as evaporative casting, is a low cost technique for manufacturing complex thin-walled steel and casting iron. Energy savings of 25 to 30 percent are typically achieved by the lost foam process compared to conventional sand casting.

In addition, lost foam casting is a much simpler process, requiring less machinery, producing less waste and pollution, and yielding greater output. The technique enables parts to be cast that could not be cast using conventional techniques.

Production cost reductions from 40 to 45 percent on complex castings are attainable, compared with conventional casting techniques.

How CLEARPOR® is Used in the Lost Foam Metal Casting Process

 

  1. CLEARPOR® unique bead foam beads are expanded using steam heat to achieve their desired size, density and performance characteristics.
  2. CLEARPOR® beads are fused together into the desired pattern shape, using efficient steamchest moulding technology identical to that used with moulded EPS products.
  3. The CLEARPOR® pattern is immersed in an emulsion of silica sand and minerals, coating the CLEARPOR® shape in preparation for casting.
  4. The prepared CLEARPOR® pattern is embedded in the casting mould sand. As molten metal contacts the CLEARPOR® pattern, the CLEARPOR® is immediately consumed and displaced by the metal, resulting in a precision casting.
  5. The finished metal casting has a superior surface finish, crisp edges and precision radii, and can achieve wall thickness as low as 3 mm in some cases.