Zinc Alloys: Zinc-based alloys are the easiest to die cast. Ductility is high and impact strength is excellent, making these alloys suitable for a wide range of products. Zinc alloys can be cast with thin walls and excellent surface smoothness making preparation for plating and painting relatively easy. It is essential that only high purity (99.99 + 0/0) zinc metal be used in the formulation of alloys. Low limits on lead, tin and cadmium ensure the long-term integrity of the alloys strength and dimensional stability.

Zinc Die Cast Advantages: Zinc casting alloys are strong, durable and cost effective engineering materials. Properties of zinc alloys can compete with and often exceed those of cast aluminum, magnesium, bronze, plastics and most cast irons. Also, the finishing capabilities of zinc alloys make it much more popular than many other options for industrial hardwares and accessories.

The Top Benefits of Zinc Alloy as Die Casting Materials:

1. Superior casting fluidity and strength.

Zinc alloy’s superior casting fluidity and yield strength over aluminum makes zinc-based products permits the design of thinner and more precise wall sections for reduced wright and material cost than aluminum alloys. And, it is much easier to be assembled, the entire assemblies can be cast as a single unit, eliminating the need for expensive manual assembly operations.

2. Extended Tool Life

The tools for zinc die cast components have exceptionally long lives. And die-cast manufacturing rates for zinc are much faster than for aluminum, or magnesium. Coupled with a tool life often exceeding 1 million casting cycles, tooling and machine usage charges are dramatically reduced, whereas an aluminum tool will typically only last 100,000 to 200,000 shots. For parts with high volumes, zinc will always be a money saver in tooling costs.

3. Great for High Volumes Production

Hot chamber die casting is the process that all zinc die casters use. It’s different than cold chamber die casting because there is no pouring of the molten metal into the gooseneck. This makes hot chamber much faster because the metal comes directly from the chamber underneath and there’s no wait time for filling.

4. Variety of Finishing Options

Comparing to other metal and alloy materials, unlike aluminum castings usually have to be buffed before they can be finished which represents a significant increase in processing costs, zinc alloys with a much smoother surface and are much less expensive and easier to finish with a variety of finishing options. Zinc is suitable for a variety of finishing options for cosmetic and anti-corrosion purposes, including: electroplating, overmolding, powder coating, chrome plating, PVD (physical vapor deposition) and CVD (chemical vapor deposition).

5. Excellent Thermal Conductivity

Zinc is an excellent conductor of temperature. This makes it a great material for heat sinks in certain applications.

6. Perceived Quality

Weight is a property of zinc that can’t be ignored. It’s roughly 2 ½ times heavier than aluminum, which can be a major disadvantage in certain applications, but not in others. If you want to make a product that has thin wall design while achieving high perceived value, zinc is the perfect material. Its density conveys value and quality to any end customer.

7. Sustainability & Green

Zinc die castings can be easily recycled compared to plastic substrates, making zinc a more sustainable manufacturing material. Also, zinc takes less energy to melt because its melting point is only 787.2°F, whereas aluminum’s melting point is 1,221°F. This also gives zinc an advantage over aluminum on the recycling end because it takes less time and energy to melt zinc down than aluminum. Over the course of 2 cycles, zinc would save over 800°F worth of heating energy over aluminum.

8. Net Shape Casting

Casting to net shape means that the casting comes out of the die and doesn’t need to be machined at all. This is extremely advantageous in terms of piece price because fewer machine hours and processing steps translate into a lower the piece price.