Cast aluminum generally refers to aluminum castings made by casting technology, while die-cast aluminum refers to aluminum castings made by high-pressure die casting. The difference between the two is mainly the casting process.
Casting processes generally include sand casting, lost wax casting, gravity casting, low pressure casting, ceramic mold casting, plaster mold casting and other casting processes. The die-casting process is a high-pressure die-casting process, generally called aluminum alloy die-casting, which uses a cold chamber die-casting machine for die-casting production.
The cast aluminum grades used in the two processes are also different. China’s national standard GB uses ZL to represent cast aluminum alloy grades, and YL to represent die-cast aluminum alloy grades. Generally, cast aluminum castings can be strengthened by heat treatment, generally using T6 heat treatment. Die castings are not suitable for T6 heat treatment because of the dense distribution of large amounts of gas inside (the reason is that the temperature of T6 heat treatment is very high, which is 15-15% lower than the melting point of aluminum alloys. At about 20 degrees, the gas in the die casting will expand and be forced out of the casting surface, causing dense point-like protrusions on the surface of the die casting due to the gas escaping. The appearance of the casting will be seriously damaged and cannot be used).