Rheocasting - The Saviour of Casting⚒️
Enjoy the Conference Presentation of Fabian Niklas in Chongqing
This week’s newsletter contains the following topics:
Have you ever wondered if there’s a groundbreaking alternative to traditional aluminium casting that’s economical and sustainable? My presentation at the 4th China International Lightweight Industry Conference and Exhibition shows how Rheocasting enables a different approach to give the foundry industry a more positive outlook.
Imagine handling aluminium not as a liquid but as a semi-solid slurry. Rheocasting isn’t just innovative; it’s reshaping the rules of aluminium casting, promising enhanced quality, significantly reduced costs, and drastically lower environmental impact.
Discover how Rheocasting makes casting complex, high-performance parts with unmatched properties and consistency possible. Find out why automotive and telecommunications industries are shifting gears to embrace this cutting-edge technology.
Are you curious about how a casting method can extend tool lifespans, improve product quality, and dramatically reduce carbon footprints? Join me to explore these incredible advantages and more.
Watch the full video to see Rheocasting in action and learn why I call it the saviour of casting. For more insights, schedule a Free Consultation Call on the website to discuss Rheocasting for your existing or desired product portfolio.
Impressions from Chongqing⚒️
A presentation about Rheocasting brought Fabian Niklas to Chongqing in China. The world’s largest city no one knows, with 32 million people. You can get a few impressions of this three-dimensional city in the pictures.
Thank you, Jeffrey Zhou 周少杰, for the invitation and the warm welcome at the 4th China International Lightweight Industry Conference and Exhibition. The two days were filled with presentations about casting and fruitful discussions. Especially exciting was experiencing the openness in discussions and tours during times when trade restrictions divide the world.
And I hope that my presentation added to that cultural exchange by showing what Rheocasting can do for our Foundry Industry. If you are also curious about my presentation, sign up for the “Casting Insights” newsletter on the Casting-Campus GmbH down below. I’ll upload a recording of me giving the presentation. Don’t miss it on Tuesday!
Another highlight was definitely the visit to Chongqing Daijang Millison Die Casting to see a Gigacasting production live and the factory tours of Chongqing Yujiang Die-Casting and Dongke Mould Manufacturing.
CO₂ Climate Systems are the Hidden Goldmine⚒️
A quiet revolution is unfolding in the vehicle climate system, which could unlock high-margin and high-volume opportunities for HPDC foundries. This revolution is driven by the shift to CO₂ (R-744) as the new standard refrigerant, and it’s creating a whole new class of cast components that demand technical excellence, fast execution, and a rethinking of casting strategies.
From Fluorinated Gases to CO₂
Due to their high global warming potential, the European Union’s F-Gas Ban is mandating the phase-out of traditional refrigerants like R-134a. The leading replacement is CO₂, a natural refrigerant that is “environmentally friendly” but significantly more demanding from an engineering perspective.
CO₂-based systems operate at working pressures up to 180 bar, more than 10 times higher than legacy systems, and often require higher operating temperatures. This means that the castings used in these systems, such as compressors, valve bodies, manifolds, and junction blocks, must withstand intense mechanical and thermal stress while remaining completely leak-tight.
For foundries, this shift represents a rare convergence of three favourable conditions: large volumes, urgent demand, and the ability to manufacture these parts on small HPDC machines, typically in the 600 to 1200-ton range. That means you can tap into this opportunity using existing equipment without the need for massive capital expenditure.
Each vehicle requires multiple components, and many of these parts are shared across platforms or OEMs. Even conservative adoption forecasts point to annual volumes in the hundreds of thousands, with SOPs already scheduled for late 2026 and 2027.
Why These Castings Are So Technically Challenging
The technical barrier and the opportunity lie in meeting the extreme leak-tightness requirements. Testing is conducted at up to 180 bar using helium, which is impossible for traditional HPDC, even with post-cast impregnation. Quality departments are struggling to apply standard porosity specifications because the correlation between CT-scan pores and actual leakage is often inconsistent.
This is where process innovation comes in. With its thixotropic flow characteristics, Rheocasting allows for lower filling speeds, reduced turbulence, and better control over gas entrapment. It enables the production of castings that meet high requirements without impregnation. For foundries that master Rheocasting, the ability to reliably deliver leak-tight parts with extended tool lifetimes offers a distinct competitive advantage in quality and profitability.
This segment is particularly attractive because it doesn’t carry the typical “gigacasting hype”. It’s not about flashy, record-breaking machines; it’s about steady, high-volume business on mid-size presses with technically demanding parts that can’t easily be commoditized. It’s not sexy, but it’s profitable.
OEMs and Tier 1s desperately need suppliers who understand these casting challenges and can move fast. Those who can offer engineering input, high leak-tightness, and even a sustainability roadmap for the materials used will find themselves in pole position.
Use the Strategic Advantage and Scale
CO₂ climate systems are no longer a distant trend; they’re the next big business case for foundries. The scale is real, with new designs under validation, SOPs on the horizon, and multiple parts per vehicle in play. For foundries willing to adapt, innovate, and engage now, the strategic advantage could define their next decade.
This is not just a regulatory compliance story; it’s a growth story. The foundries that write their name into this chapter will do so by understanding the casting, mastering the process, and marketing themselves at exactly the right time: now.
Thank you for listening. We’ll see you in the next episode, where we’ll continue to bring you the latest insights and updates from the casting world. Don’t forget to ask questions, comment, or suggest future episodes.
Offers from Casting-Campus GmbH
Casting-Campus is all about helping you acquire new business through intelligent solutions, new technologies like Rheocasting, and sustainability.
Our services start with positioning your foundry. The next steps are to find unique solutions to market to existing and new customers and generate new profitable castings. In the meantime, we will improve your internal processes to accommodate the new solutions in your foundry. During the sampling process, we’re by your side, pushing the buttons to deliver the properties promised in the development process
Workshops on HPDC process optimization, Rheocasting and Sustainability
Business Development to acquire new Customers in the Foundry Industry
Strategy Development for Rheocasting and Sustainable Castings
Casting Experts on Demand - The Netflix of Knowledge
Support for part development: address casting issues early in the design process
Cut Energy costs and produce Sustainable Castings
If this sounds appealing to you, visit the website for more information on the Consulting Services and schedule a Free Consultation Call. Let’s discuss what is the right solution for your topic of interest:
Historical Post
A weekly reminder of an old but gold article
My best Productivity Hack⚒️
There are two different types of productivity. You need both, but mixing them will be a disaster! Let me give you a bit of a background.
I need to write multiple posts each week for the Casting-Campus newsletter and the Goldcasting Podcast. My intention is to maintain high quality and deliver an easy-to-consume article. You do not write that in 30 minutes; it takes some time. But time is always a limiting factor. So, I was on a quest to find the best productivity strategy for me.
I started to fill in my calendar with tasks, but it always felt like a chore. It required a lot of dedication to get even started. Most of the time, I did these tasks at night when everyone in Europe was asleep. During that time, I could finish editing a whole podcast or write two or three newsletter articles.
The issue with that method is that you’re way too sleepy in the morning. It’s not ideal, but it’s already in the right direction. After a lot of research, I found the explanation for my discovery. There are two types of productivity: maker-time and manager-time.
Maker-Time
When you need to accomplish a complex task that requires extensive research, information streamlining, or podcast editing, you need uninterrupted time. You need to focus on a topic for hours and dissect it in detail. Every interruption, even a quick message, rips you out of your train of thought. Getting back into that work and reaching the same productivity takes me at least 30 minutes. So, a quick call or message leads to a 30 to 60-minute delay in the work completion.
Manager-Time
That is the second type of productivity. Manager-Time is all the meetings where you need to catch up or present the current status. The same is true for all the free consultation calls with potential new clients. My productivity is highest when I schedule as many meetings as possible. With quick bio- or coffee breaks, it is easy to jump between the topics. As the preparation has been done before in Maker-Time
As you can see, these are totally different types of productivity, and mixing them is a nightmare. In a foundry, you often see this clash in stressful situations. Here is one example: You run into quality problems, and the engineering team tries to find the issues and fix them. As it is a high priority, management needs constant status updates. For the management, it is most productive when they set up several meetings per day. However, engineers need uninterrupted time to find the issue and solve it. That’s why, very often, the more management is involved, fewer things get done, and productivity is the lowest. They approach the problem with Manager-Time and kill the productivity of the ones in Maker-Time.
To avoid that, I guard my calendar like a hawk. Monday and Tuesday are Manager-Time days. I try to schedule most of the meetings on these two days, so consultation calls are only open on these days. The rest of the week is set for Maker-Time and, of course, working sections with my clients.
It took me several years to figure this out. Feel free to copy and implement this understanding in your company. You will be amazed at how much this grows your output!
If you want to improve your foundry’s processes, the Foundry Boot Camp is perfect for you. Schedule a Free Consultation Call to learn more.