Ribs are often added
to increase strength in many types of parts. The major advantage of
ribs is that they can add strength without increasing the typical
wall thickness of a die cast part. This practice results in a part
design that is lighter and uses less valuable material, but has the
strength required. Ribs also assist in providing molten metal flow
to part features that would otherwise be difficult to fill. Ribs
should always include draft and fillets to add strength, provide
smoother metal flow, and allow easy part ejection from the die
casting die. As observed in the animation the number of ribs is
odd, this prevents stresses from building up across to an adjacent
rib and also reduces the creation of thick sections in the part.
However it should be kept in mind, in some applications ribs may not
be necessary and may only serve to add unneeded complexity to the
part and die design.
