Released on June 29, 2010

The ProMetal Rapid Casting Technology Division (RCT) of The Ex One Co., Troy, Mich., and Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., recently won an award for collaborating on a 50% reduction in lead time on a magnesium sand casting.

According to a press release issued by the company, RCT won the award by producing defect free parts for Sikorsky using digital metalcasting molds. The award was given to the companies by the Vertical Flight Society of the American Helicopter Society. The society’s awards program was initiated in 1944 to pay tribute to the “leaders of the vertical flight industry.”

RCT and Sikorsky won the Robert L. Pinckney Award, given in recognition of notable achievement in manufacturing research and development for rotorcraft or rotorcraft components brought to fruition in recent years. The award was created by The Boeing Company in 1995 to honor the memory of Pinckney, a manufacturing engineer.

To complete the award winning project, RCT enabled the digital production of the sand molds and cores, and Sikorsky provided the funding to develop the process and modeling techniques for a special grade of magnesium in a thin wall configuration. The specific application of the part produced through the method was not disclosed.