Fastener enterprises to appeal anti-dumping sanction

Chinese fastener enterprises are to work together to appeal against the EU's anti-dumping sanction, according to Feng Jinyao, director of China Fastener Association.

The European Commission voted earlier this month to impose anti-dumping duties of 63 to 87 percent on China-made fasteners over the next five years. The vote must be approved by the trade ministers of the 27-nation bloc within a month, before it comes into force.

This is one of the largest anti-dumping investigations that the EU has instigated against China. As a result, the fastener industry in China could lose over 400 million euros a year, and 800,000 workers could be made redundant.

"This is devastating for enterprises like us," said Yu Liangbin, an exporter based in Zhejiang, who each year exports over $10 million worth of goods to the EU. Yu said many enterprises are thinking about turning to other markets to avoid the trade sanction by EU.

Read more...

Sand casting compared with Die casting

Sand casting and die casting are both the manufacturing process to produce cast parts by pouring molten liquid metal into the mold,which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape,and then allowed to solidify. The main difference between sand casting and die casting is in the mold.


The sand casting is a cast part produced by forming a mold from a sand mixture and pouring molten liquid metal into the cavity in the mold. The mold is then cooled until the metal has solidified.It is expendable mold casting.


Die casting is the process of forcing molten metal under high pressure into mold cavities (which are machined into dies). Most die castings are made from nonferrous metals, specifically zinc, copper, and aluminum based alloys, but ferrous metal die castings are possible. It is non-expendable mold casting.

Non-expendable mold casting differs from expendable processes in that the mold need not be reformed after each production cycle.

The sand casting is one of the most popular and simplest types of casting that has been used for centuries. Sand casting allows for smaller batches to be made compared to permanent mold casting and at a very reasonable cost. Not only does this method allow manufacturers to create products at a low cost, but there are other benefits to sand casting, such as very small size operations.

The die castingmethod is especially suited for applications where many small to medium sized parts are needed with good detail, a fine surface quality and dimensional consistency.In recent years, injection-molded plastic parts have replaced some die castings because they are cheaper and lighter.Plastic parts are a practical alternative if hardness is not required and little strength is needed.

Read more...