Cast Aluminum Solutions: An Overview
CAS serves advanced industrial markets with precision-engineered thermal components.
Cast Aluminum Solutions develops and manufactures highly-engineered industrial components, the majority of which have heating or cooling capabilities, for the global aerospace, microelectronics, medical, foodservice, and industrial fluid markets. CAS products are critical to the phones we use every day, the breakthrough medicines that keep us healthy, and the spacecraft marking pathways to tomorrow.
With an acclaimed New Product Development Team, many customers view the CAS Team as an extension of their own engineering department. Our success is based on these three tenets:
- Engineering Expertise
- Speed to Market
- Operational Excellence
Solving complex process challenges is at the heart of everything we do. We take projects from conception, design & modeling, through prototype fabrication & performance testing, all the way to volume production.
Winner of several prestigious awards - including Manufacturer of the Year (Illinois Manufacturing Alliance), Inc. 5000, and the ML100 Manufacturing Leadership Award - the CAS Team is active in the community and among the industry groups we serve. Achieving total customer satisfaction is our goal, and this philosophy is embraced at every level of the company, from executive leadership to the factory floor.
CAS Quick Facts
- Certified to ISO 9001: 2015
- QAN and QAR Quality System Certifications for manufacturing products for hazardous locations
- Certified ASQ Black Belt on staff
- Semiconductor market Copy Exact compliant processes
- IPC 610 and 620 Assembly and Inspection (with a certified trainer on staff)
- Committed to Lean and Six Sigma principles for continuous improvement and waste reduction
- Over 100 Sales Engineers in 17 Countries
- 40-plus distributors throughout the U.S
Industries CAS Serves
These are the primary markets CAS serves. Industries such as semiconductor and aerospace have incredibly-precise requirements, and that level of precision and quality can be expected in every single component CAS manufactures, no matter what the application. Cast Aluminum Solutions also provides standard products and custom-engineered devices into a number of emerging applications and specialized market sub-sectors, which may not necessarily be listed below.
CAS provides meticulously-engineered, precisely-manufactured thermal components for mission-critical applications in technology-rich sectors.
Primary Markets Served:
- Semiconductor Wafer Processing
- Medical Device
- Industrial & Cryogenic Gas
- Commercial Foodservice
- Petroleum & Natural Gas
- Chemical & Fluid Handling
- Space Exploration
- Fixed-Wing & Defense
- Compressors & Diesel Engines
- Steam Generation
- Industrial Cleaning & Parts Washing
- Paint & Coating Processing
Standard Products
Cast Aluminum Solutions offers several standard product lines, many of which are circulation heaters. Most CAS circulation heaters are functional across multiple applications, suitable for a range of industrial and commercial environments. All standard CAS offerings, including our 200 mm and 300 mm semiconductor wafer platens, are semi-customizable (available in a selection of worldwide voltages, or with several terminal enclosure options, etc.).
CAS provides meticulously-engineered, precisely-manufactured thermal components for mission-critical applications in technology-rich sectors.
- CAST-X Circulation Heaters:
Power ranging from .5 to 60 kW, with the ability to heat flammable liquids & gases, even under high operating pressures (aluminum heater body)
- CAST-X High Temperature Heaters:
Featuring operating temperatures up to 600°C / 1112°F (bronze heater body)
- PUR-X Circulation Heaters:
Equipped with removable & replaceable PFA high-purity flow-tubes - PUR-Therm Gas Delivery Heater:
High-purity heating of semiconductor chamber and process gases - Universal Solvent Heater:
Specially-designed to warm low-flashpoint solvents and caustic fluids - 200 mm Standard Platen:
Aluminum heated platen designed to fit silicon wafer processing applications - 300 mm Standard Platen:
Replacement heat platen sized to fit large-format semiconductor chambers
Engineering & Designing of Custom Products
With an emphasis on solving complex challenges, the CAS New Product Development Team employs an array of sophisticated technologies to design and fabricate prototypes and first articles. And our in-house Research & Development Laboratory gives CAS Engineers the ability to conduct critical performance tests on-site.
Our dedicated New Product Development Team and large Engineering Dept. are key start points for successful projects.
- Structural and thermal modeling using Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
- 3-D Solidworks CAD modeling, utilized on all design projects
- Life-cycle reliability testing in atmospheric or vacuum chamber environments
- Infrared camera stations supported by data-logging, for meticulous temperature uniformity tests
- Dedicated New Product Development Team featuring cross-functional engineers, technicians, and machinists. The group’s specialty is shepherding new products through the multi-stage development process: from initial design and conceptualization, through prototype fabrication, performance testing, and preparation for full production.
- Customer-accessible Smartsheet cloud-based project management tools
- X-Ray and ultrasound imaging capabilities, to verify casting integrity and internal component positioning
- Helium leak test stations to evaluate components destined for vacuum chamber installations
- Large team of electrical, mechanical and thermal engineers on staff to assist with power calculations, pressure drop estimates, and structural assessments
Manufacturing & Production Capabilities
The CAS Manufacturing Facility is uniquely-equipped to support the high-volume production of precision-engineered thermal components. Cast Aluminum Solutions has invested heavily in computer-assisted casting technology, state-of-the-art multi-axis CNC machines and surface finishers, in addition to a wealth of cleanroom, laboratory, and inspection implements - all configured to work in harmony via coordinated process controls and advanced tracking systems.
An in-house foundry and dozens of state-of-the-art programmable CNC machines are the foundation of our manufacturing strength.
- Pressurized casting and tilt-pour casting methods available through our in-house foundry. Non-cast construction techniques are also available. CAS fabrication processes generate consistently high quality and excellent part-to-part repeatability.
- Wide selection of substrate material options, including aluminum alloys, stainless steel grades, copper, Inconel, Monel, nickel, and other specialize alloys
- Manufacturing facility features dozens of programmable multi-axis CNC machines, directly linked to schematic-based dimensional data: this reduces machine programming and optimizes time resources
- Multiple options for weldment & joining techniques (from MIG & TIG welding to electron-beam welding)
- Multiple plating, coating, and surface finishing options (nickel plate, hard-coat anodizing, and more)
- In-house cleanroom available for semiconductor and medical industry assembly and packaging activities
- Multiple coordinate measuring machines (CMM), to ensure ultra-precise dimensional compliance
- Detailed manufacturing drawings, process data sheets, travelers, and inspection documents
- Fully-integrated ERP system linking all primary business functions, from order entry through delivery; orders may be tracked online via customer-accessible portals
