By GEORGE STOYA

Tribune business writer

Few images epitomize the historical ascent and progress of mankind than that of the forge. Pre-dating even biblical lore, the central myth of advancing civilizations since the dawn of recorded time have at their core the symbol of human beings as metal tool-makers.

Reaching as far back as the ancient kilns of Hammurabi's Babylon, modern archeologists continue to measure the contributions of past civilizations in terms of the utensils, ceramics and quality of metalwork achieved by their craftsmen.

Currently, while advances in micro-processing computers and innovations in software programs dominate media headlines, underneath it all and supporting the forward march of modernity are today's foundries and casting technologies. Those technologies would likely be taken for granted by harried workers in today's frenetic pace. But the advances achieved in casting will not be overlooked due to public relations efforts within the industry.

"The metal casting industry is the manufacturing backbone of America," asserts Blake Jeffrey, executive director of Indiana's Cast Metal Association. Jeffrey only recently undertook his new role as the Association's public relations director, and lobbyist, after spending six years in Washington, D.C., intervening on behalf of the Indiana Manufacturing Association. "Although I learned quite a lot about the issues important to the manufacturing industry, I came away convinced that the process of federal legislation was almost futile in terms of the time it took to achieve any goals."

Frustrated by the length of bureaucratic red-tape at the federal level, Jeffrey decided to return to Indiana and work for progressive legislative aims at the state level. "Few people realize that every business is reliant on a foundry product, and that 90 percent of all manufactured goods contain metal castings," intoned Jeffrey.

An average American home, adds Jeffrey, has more than one ton of castings in its bathtubs, furnaces, pipes, and appliances. Also, Indiana is one the largest foundry states, whose normally small, family-owned businesses must nonetheless compete globally under strict environmental standards.

Nationally, informed Jeffrey, literally hundreds of millions of tons of scrap steel, aluminum, iron, and copper are recycled each year in lieu of raw materials. Utilizing scrap metal not only conserves raw materials that would otherwise require mining, but uses 95 percent less energy. Not only that, but foundry sand is also reused up to ten times before it too is recycled into alternative uses such as road construction, in bricks, asphalt, plaster and glass.

One of the worlds leading aluminum recycling plants and foundries is Wabash Metals, whose North American corporate headquarters are located in Wabash, Ind, just off of U.S. 31, and 14 miles east on Ind. 24. A corporate subsidiary of privately-owned Connell Ltd. Partnership, Boston, a holding company, Wabash Alloys currently has 14 plants throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

What's more, both its Tipton and Wabash plants supply molten aluminum to Indiana's largest casting facility, the DaimlerChrysler transmission casting plant in Kokomo. It also supplies the aluminum foundry needs of General Motors Corp.'s Bedford, Ind. casting plant, in addition to Ryobi Die Casting of Shelbyville, which produces transmission components.

"We transport about one truck an hour to the Chrysler plant which carries a 30,000 lb. thermal ladle full of molten metal," said Brian Cochran, Wabash's Director of Technical Services. Cochran supervises the entire scope of Wabash's sales, manufacture and post-sales support services. "We just don't sell the metal. We also provide technical engineering advice and consultation to our customers."

According to Cochran, a transmission casting plant such as the one here at DaimlerChrysler, not only casts the transmission "bell" housings, but also the intricate hydraulic tubes and valves that go into it. It also casts the gear-wheels. Also, since today's engine blocks and cylinder heads are 90 percent aluminum, these too are cast in foundries manned by Big Three automotive subcontractors such as Ryobi in Shelbyville.

"If you're in secondary aluminum casting, you're likely to be part of the automotive industry," opined Cochran. "But aluminum casting can also be found in aerospace plants, where other alloys are mixed or added to the metals involved." An example of this is Kokomo's Haynes International which utilizes nickel in the manufacture of high-tensile, heat resistant metals for U.S. armed forces jet aircraft, and NASA's space-shuttle program.

But metal casting technology doesn't end there. There are also powered metal casting plants such as Micro Metals of Jamestown, TN. Powered metallurgy methods are now utilized to manufacture discreet items like small gears, wrench sockets and automobile transmission linkage sockets. The prime advantage of powered metallurgy is the near infinite variety it affords in casting items in highly unique shapes and forms.

In the future, the variant forms of metal casting will also compete with the rapid advancing technology of ceramic casting. Indeed, prototypes of automobile engines have already been tested. Ceramics are already in use in steel mills as steam pipe conduits used as a means of producing hydraulic power and heating.

The prime advantage of ceramics is the abnormally high temperature its capable of sustaining before its mold loses its integrity. Consequently, the variety of materials that can effectively be burnt for fuel is almost limitless. The process approaches nearly perfect efficiency because in burning at such high temperatures, there is no residual waste-product, making the operation environmentally superior.

The drawback to ceramics, studies show, is brittleness. Like all ceramic products, it is forged by exposure to intense heat before it hardens. But it lacks sufficient strength to absorb the blunt force energy that steel does under external impact, such as that absorbed by a car in an auto-accident.

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©2000 The Kokomo Tribune. 

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