Meehanite Metal Corporation began operations in the early 1920's. Since then it has developed into an international foundry consulting company with associate companies in England, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, Taiwan and Japan. There are more than 200 Meehanite foundries in 40 countries. This is a unique association of progressive foundries who are recognized as world class suppliers of high quality castings.
Meehanite originated the very revolutionary discovery in 1927 of a way to modify graphite structures and control the properties of cast iron in relation to casting section. Meehanite metallurgists found that by adding alkaline earth silicides to a low carbon iron in the ladle, carbides could be reduced and the iron could be made very machinable and with uniform strength properties.
The Meehanite Process was a landmark in cast iron technology and opened up a whole new world of engineering applications. Today licensees all over the world enjoy the advantages of Meehanite developments that include more than 100 patents relating to foundry methods and technology. Meehanite metal is recognized as a superior engineering cast iron, including nodular cast iron, flake graphite iron and white iron. Each type is made to exacting specifications. The wide range covered by Meehanite specifications enables Meehanite foundries to offer their customers a choice of properties to suit all normal conditions of service. There is no question about the engineering acceptability of Meehanite castings in the minds of experienced casting buyers.
What's Different About Meehanite?
Meehanite is different from ordinary cast iron for a number of reasons and offers distinct advantages: Uniform soundness, consistent physical properties and dependable performance in service.
Meehanite is actually three things. First, it's a patented process for casting metals to exact and well-defined engineering specifications. Second, it's a series of superior engineering cast irons including nodular graphite irons, flake graphite irons and white cast irons. Third, it's a select group of world class foundries capable of supplying Meehanite castings weighing less than a pound to large components weighing over 300,000 pounds, one-of-a-kind or in quantities exceeding millions of parts.
The Meehanite Process in a Nutshell:
The dense, fine grain structure of Meehanite metal which assures casting solidity and consistent physical properties relate the carbide stability of the molten metal, both before and after processing to the casting section. These controls, which are the basis of a series of patents dating back to 1927, are fundamental to the Meehanite process and are the primary reasons for the structural integrity exhibited by Meehanite castings.
Expressed in its simplest form, Meehanite metal is first melted to a definite degree of undercooling or constitution which is related to the section of the casting to be poured and the range of physical properties such as tensile strength and hardness required. Nucleation with patented mixtures of graphitizing agents results in the removal of undercooling, in the controlled precipitation of graphite and in a fine grained eutectic cell structure which determines the density and physical integrity of the casting. Ordinary cast irons made to chemical specifications which do not include the benefit of controlled undercooling are influenced by mass effect to a maximum degree and for this and other reasons cannot be considered an equivalent to Meehanite metal.
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