High-tin bronzes are used for church bells and concert bells (carillons). Therefore, beside their decorative value, they should also offer other functional properties, including their permanence and good quality of sound. The latter is highly influenced by the structure of bell material, i.e. mostly by the presence of internal porosity which interferes with vibration of the bell waist and rim, and therefore should be eliminated. The presented investigations concerning the influence of tin content ranging from 20 to 24 wt% on mechanical properties of high-tin bronzes allowed to prove the increase in hardness of these alloys with simultaneous decrease in the tensile and the impact strengths (R_m and KV, respectively) for the increased tin content. Fractures of examined specimens, their porosity and microstructures were also assessed to explain the observed regularities. A reason of the change in the values of mechanical properties was revealed to be the change in the shape of α-phase crystals from dendritic to acicular one, and generation of grain structure related to the increased Sn content in the alloy.

Bells as percussion instruments have been known to humanity for ages. The casting process, the shape and the materials have changed over the years. The functional properties of bells depend on the casting quality and the generated sound. The casting quality is related to the shape, material and technology. The acoustic quality must fulfill specific parameters. This work concerns the assessment of the quality of the manufactured bells and the possibility of replacing tin bronze with a material with similar mechanical properties. Therefore, bell bronze—which is dedicated to this type of work—and aluminum bronze—which is characterized by high strength and hardness, have been applied to casting. The laser scanning technique was used to assess the quality of castings. Based on a point cloud, an optimized mesh was generated from which the 3D model was finally created. On the basis of the CAD model, the defects resulting from the casting process were determined in the form of graphical comparison. The correctness of the selected foundry shrinkage of the selected material was also determined. The manufactured bells were also assessed for sound quality. Vibration frequencies were determined using a vibration analyzer and free software Wavanal. The experimental results were compared with the ones obtained from the numerical frequency analysis. With the help of tests, the quality of the bells was assessed, and it was determined whether aluminum bronze meets the acoustic criteria. The presented method can be used in the development of bell templates. These templates will allow the bell to obtain the correct shape and acoustic quality without the need for a tuning process.

The subject of the study was to determine the impact of changes in mechanical properties of high-tin bronzes on the basic components of the sound of a bell. Change in the tin concentration in the range of about 7.5 to 20 parts wt. in a casting alloy significantly affects the mechanical properties of the alloy such as Young’s modulus or hardness. The free vibrations of bells were obtained with the help of the finite element method. In the numerical analyses the mechanical properties of standard alloys were adopted. The obtained natural frequencies of the bell made of a bronze with different tin concentration in copper were compared with the acoustic properties of a real bell casted on the basis of the same ribs. A significant effect of the increase in the alloying share of tin on the obtained results was stated. In addition, the acoustic analysis of aluminum bronze C95500 have been performed. Based on the obtained results, authors stated that this material can replace the commonly used high tin bronze C91300 for the unit production of bells.

The material subject to investigation was two commercial alloys of cobalt CoCrW (No. 27 and 28) used in prosthodontics. The scope of research included performing an analysis of microstructure and functional properties (microhardness, wear resistance and corrosion resistance), as well as dilatometric tests. The examined alloys were characterized by diverse properties, which was considerably influenced by the morphology of precipitates in these materials. Alloy No. 27 has a higher corrosion resistance, whereas alloy No. 28 shows higher microhardness, better wear resistance and higher coefficient of linear expansion. Lower value of the expansion coefficient indicates less probability of initiation of a crack in the facing ceramic material.

The paper presents the results of investigation into the technological possibility of making light-section castings of GX2CrNiMoN25-6-3 cast steel. For making castings with a wall thickness in the thinnest place as small as below 1 mm, the centrifugal casting technology was employed. The technology under consideration enables items with high surface quality to be obtained, while providing a reduced consumption of the charge materials and, as a result, a reduction in the costs of unit casting production.

The performed examinations concerning the process of filling the plaster ceramic moulds with aluminium alloys allowed to assess the influence of various methods of introducing the metal into the mould cavity on the macro- and microstructure of the obtained experimental castings. The comparison was performed for castings with graded wall thickness made either of EN AC-44000 alloy or of EN AC-46000 alloy, produced either by gravity casting, or by gravity casting with negative pressure generated around the mould (according to the Vacumetal technology), or by counter-gravity casting. It was found that the silicon crystals grow in size with an increase in wall thickness due to the slower cooling and solidification of castings