Welcome to e-Connections, the weekly AFS email newsletter. In this March 25, 2008, edition:

Metalcasting on Display at CONEXPO/CONAGG
AFS participated in the CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2008 Exposition held March 11-15, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas.

AFS took advantage of this event to market metalcasting to the construction and aggregate industries. The AFS exhibit featured casting competition winners from the last few years, as well as information about the metalcasting process, educational opportunities, and casting design and sourcing assistance available at AFS.

CONEXPO-CON/AGG draws professionals involved in all segments of the construction, aggregates and ready mixed concrete industries, including contractors, materials producers and government and institutional sector officials from around the world. Held every three years, the event showcases the latest equipment, products, services and technologies. This year's event was attended by an estimated 144,000 industry professionals.

ECS Launches New Casting Reference Website
On March 19, Engineered Casting Solutions launched a new website at www.MetalcastingDesign.com. At the revamped website, visitors will find pages of free information on casting alloys, processes, casting design and purchasing. This site now is one of the most comprehensive resources for casting buyers and designers on the web.

MetalcastingDesign.com replaces the original ECS website, www.castsolutions.com, and will house the regular online ECS elements, such as web-only white-papers, recent industry news and issue archives. Other features include a weekly metalcasting blog, monthly podcasts, metalcasting glossary, real-world casting examples and tutorials, and a directory of metalcasting suppliers.

Investigate AFS Member Benefits in Upcoming Webinar
In an effort to promote the many membership benefits of AFS, a free webinar is scheduled for Thursday, March 27, at 11 a.m. EST. This 20-minute webinar will cover many informational membership topics, such as:

  • utilizing AFS HR, Energy & Design Solutions and the Metalcasting Career Center;
  • hidden values in education and training;
  • taking advantage of resources in AFS Technical, Environmental and Library Departments;
  • corporate membership for progressive companies;
  • corporate and personal membership differences.

To register for this webinar, visit www.afsinc.org/memberbenefitswebinar. For more information, contact Dave Krugman, AFS PR and marketing coordinator, at dkrugman@afsinc.org.

Foundry Sand Test Procedures Workshop Coming
CMI will be offering a Foundry Sand Test Procedures workshop April 29-31 at the Univ. of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa. This is a hands-on course that covers a variety of methods and demonstrations for studying and testing metalcasting sand. Demonstrations covered include screen analysis, moisture, compactibility, green strength, green shear, methylene blue clay, 25 micron clay wash, AFS clay, hot compression, permeability, mold hardness and strength. Also covered are acid demand value, moisture, pH, work time, loss on ignition, gas evolution and core hardness. Additionally, the course will review development and applications of the wet tensile, soluble calcium, ammoniacal nitrogen, cone jolt toughness and friability.

For more information, or to attend this course, contact AFS customer service at 800/537-4237, or click here to register.

Looking for more information on sand test procedures? The publication Mold and Core Coatings Manual, 2nd Edition can help. AFS Special Publications has everything you need to supplement your metalcasting training. Visit www.afsinc.org/estore or call 800/537-4237 for more information.