Casting methods

Metal casting process begins by creating a mold, which is the reverse shape of the part we need. The mold is made from a refractory material, for example, sand. The metal is heated in an oven until it melts, and the molten metal is poured into the mould cavity. The liquid takes the shape of cavity, which is the shape of the part. It is cooled until it solidifies. Finally, the solidified metal part is removed from the mould. A large number of metal components in designs we use every day are made by casting. The reasons for this include: (a) Casting can produce very complex geometry parts with internal cavities and hollow sections. (b) It can be used to make small (few hundred grams) to very large size parts (thousands of kilograms) (c) It is economical, with very little wastage: the extra metal in each casting is re-melted and re-used (d) Cast metal is isotropic it has the same physical/mechanical properties along any direction. Common examples: door handles, locks, the outer casing or housing for motors, pumps, etc., wheels of many cars. Casting is also heavily used in the toy industry to make parts, e.g. toy cars, planes, and so on. Table 1 summarizes different types of castings, their advantages, disadvantages and examples.

Sand casting

Sand casting uses natural or synthetic sand (lake sand) which is mostlya refractorymaterial called silica (SiO2). The sand grains must be small enoughso that it can be packed densely;however, the grains must be large enough to allow gasses formed during the metal pouring to escape through the pores. Larger sized molds use green sand (mixture ofsand, clayand some water). Sand can be re-used, and excess metal poured is cut-off and re-used also.

Typical sand molds have the following parts (see Figure 2): The mold is made of two parts, the top half is called the cope, and bottompart is the drag. The liquid flows into the gap between the two parts, called the mold cavity. The geometry of the cavityis created by the use of a wooden shape, called the pattern. The shape of the patterns is (almost) identical to the shape of the part we need to make. A funnel shaped cavity;the top ofthe funnel is the pouringcup; the pipe-shaped neck ofthefunnel is the sprue the liquid metal is poured into the pouring cup, and flows down thesprue.

 The runnersare the horizontal hollow channels that connect the bottomof the sprue to the mould cavity. The region where anyrunner joins with the cavityis called the gate. Some extra cavities are made connecting to the top surface of the mold. Excess metal poured into the mould flows into these cavities, called risers. Theyact as reservoirs; as the metal solidifies inside the cavity, it shrinks, and the extra metal fromthe risers flows back down to avoid holes in the cast part. Ventsare narrow holes connecting the cavity to theatmosphere to allow gasses and the air in the cavityto escape. Cores: Manycast parts have interior holes (hollow parts), or other cavities in their shape that are not directlyaccessible from either piece of the mold. Such interior surfacesare generated byinserts called cores. Cores are made by baking sandwith some binder so that theycan retain their shape when handled. The mold is assembled byplacing the coreinto the cavityof the drag, and then placing the cope on top, and locking the mold. After the casting is done, the sand is shaken off, and thecore is pulled awayand usually broken off. Important considerations for casting: (a) How do we make the pattern? Usuallycraftsmen will carvethe part shape byhand and machines to the exact size. (b) Whyis the pattern not exactlyidentical to the part shape? - you only need to make the outer surfaces with the pattern; the inner surfaces are made bythe core - you need to allow for the shrinkage of the casting after the metal solidifies (c) If you intersect the plane formed by the mating surfaces of the drag and cope with the cast part, you will get a cross-section of the part. The outerpart ofthe outline of this cross section is called the parting line. The design of the mold is done byfirst determining the parting line (why?) (d) In order to avoid damaging the surface of the mould when removing the pattern and the wood-pieces for the vents, pouring cup and sprue, risers etc., it is important to incline the vertical surfaces of the part geometry. This (slight) inclination iscalled a taper.Ifyou know that your part will be made bycasting, you should taper the surfaces inthe original part design.

(e) The core is held in position by supporting geometrycalled core prints (see figure below). If the design is such that there is insufficient support to hold the core in position, then metal supportscalled chaplets are used. The chaplets will be embedded inside the final part.

(f) After the casting is obtained, it must be cleaned using air-jet or sand blasting

(g) Finally,the extra metal near the gate, risers and vents must be cut off, and critical surfaces are machined to achieve proper surface finishand tolerance.

Shell-mold casting
Shell-mold casting yields better surface qualityand tolerances. The process is described as follows: - The 2-piece patternis made of metal (e.g. aluminumor steel), it is heated tobetween 175C-370C, and coated with a lubricant, e.g. silicone spray. - Each heated half-pattern is covered with a mixture of sand anda thermoset resin/epoxy binder. The binder glues a layer of sand to the pattern, forming a shell. The process maybe repeated to get a thicker shell. - The assembly is baked to cure it. - The patterns are removed, and the two half-shells joined togetherto formthe mold; metal is poured into the mold. - When the metal solidifies, the shell is broken to get the part.

Expendable-pattern casting (lost foamprocess)

The pattern used in this process is madefrompolystyrene(this is the light, white packaging material which is used to packelectronics inside the boxes). Polystyrene foam is 95%air bubbles, and the material itself evaporates when the liquidmetal is poured on it. The pattern itself is made bymolding the polystyrene beads and pentane are put inside an aluminum mold, and heated; it expands to fill the mold, and takes the shape of the cavity. The pattern is removed, and used for the casting process, as follows: - The pattern is dipped in a slurryof water and clay(or other refractorygrains);it is dried to get a hard shell around the pattern. - The shell-covered pattern is placed in a container with sand for support, andliquid metal is poured from a hole on top. - The foamevaporates as the metal fills the shell; upon cooling and solidification, the partis removed by breaking the shell. The process isuseful since it is verycheap, and yields good surface finish and complex geometry. There are no runners, risers, gating or parting lines thus the design process is simplified. The process isused to manufacture crank-shafts for engines, aluminumengine blocks, manifolds etc.

Investment casting (lost wax process)

This is an old process, and has beenused since ancient times to make jewellery therefore it is of great importance to HK. It is also used to make other small (few grams, though it can be used for parts up to a few kilograms). The steps of this process are shown in the figure 10 below. An advantage of this process is that the wax can carry very fine details so the process not only gives good dimensional tolerances, but also excellent surface finish; in fact, almost any surface texture as well as logos etc. can be reproduced with very high level of detail.

Vacuum casting
This process is also called counter-gravity casting. It is basically the same process as investment casting, except for the step of filling the mold (step (e) above). In this case, the material is sucked upwards into the mould by a vacuum pump. The figure 9 below shows the basic idea notice how the mold appears in an inverted position from the usual casting process, and islowered into the flask with the molten metal. One advantage of vacuum casting is that by releasing the pressure a short time after the mold is filled, we can release the un-solidified metal back into the flask. This allows us to create hollow castings. Since most of the heat is conducted away from the surface between the mold and the metal, therefore the portion of the metal closest to the mold surface always solidifies first; the solid front travels inwards into the cavity. Thus, if the liquid is drained a very short time after the filling, then we get a very thin walled hollow object, etc. (see Figure 10).

Permanent mold casting

Here, the two halves of the mold are made of metal, usually cast iron, steel, or refractoryalloys. The cavity, includingtherunners andgating system are machinedintothemold halves. For hollow parts, either permanent cores (made of metal) or sand-bonded ones maybe used, dependingon whether the core can beextracted from the part without damage after casting. The surface of the mold is coated with clayor other hard refractory material this

improves the life of the mold. Before molding, the surfaceis covered with a sprayof graphite or silica, which acts as a lubricant. This has two purposes it improves the flow of the liquid metal, and it allows the cast partto be withdrawn fromthe mold more easily. The process can beautomated, and therefore yields high throughput rates. Also, it produces very good tolerance and surface finish. It is commonlyused for producing pistons used in car engines,gear blanks, cylinder heads, and other parts made of low melting point metals, e.g. copper,bronze, aluminum, magnesium, etc.

Die casting
Die casting is a verycommonlyused type of permanent mold casting process.It is used forproducing many components of home appliances (e.g rice cookers,stoves, fans, washing and drying machines, fridges), motors, toys and hand-tools since Pearl river delta is a largest manufacturerof such products in the world, this technologyis used bymanyHK-based companies. Surface finish and tolerance of die cast parts is so good that there is almost no postprocessing required. Die casting molds are expensive, and require significant lead time to fabricate; theyarecommonlycalled dies. There are two common types of die casting: hot- and cold-chamberdie casting. Ina hot chamber process(used for Zinc alloys, magnesium) the pressure chamber connectedto the die cavity is filledpermanently in the molten metal. The basic cycle of operation is as follows: (i) die is closed andgooseneck cylinder isfilled with molten metal; (ii) plunger pushes molten metal through gooseneck passage and nozzle and into the die cavity; metal is held under pressure until it solidifies; (iii) die opens and cores, if any, are retracted; casting stays in ejector die; plunger returns, pulling molten metal back through nozzle and gooseneck; (iv) ejector pins push casting out of ejector die. As plunger uncovers inlet hole, molten metal refills gooseneck cylinder. The hot chamber process is used for metals that (a) have low melting points and (b) do not alloy with the die material,steel; common examples are tin, zinc, and lead. Ina cold chamber process, the molten metal is poured into the coldchamber in each cycle. The operating cycle is (i) Die is closedand molten metal is ladled into the cold chamber cylinder; (ii) plunger pushes molten metal into die cavity; the metal is held under high pressure until it solidifies; (iii) die opens and plunger follows to push the solidified slug fromthe cylinder, iftherearecores, they are retracted away;

(iv)ejectorpins push casting off ejector die and plunger returns to original position. This process is

particularly useful for high melting point metals such as Aluminum, and Copper (and its alloys).

Figure 11 (a) Hot chamber die casting (b) Cold chamber die casting

Centrifugal casting
Centrifugal casting uses a permanent mold that is rotated about its axis at a speed between 300 to 3000 rpm as the molten metal is poured. Centrifugal forces cause the metal to bepushed out towards the mold walls, where it solidifies after cooling. Parts cast in this method have a fine grain microstructure, which is resistant to atmospheric corrosion; hence this method has been used to manufacture pipes. Since metal is heavier thanimpurities, most of the impurities and inclusions are closer to the inner diameter and can be machined away. surface finishalong the inner diameter is also much worse than along the outer surface.

Drafts and tapers

It is not good for a casting to have surfaces whose normal is perpendicular to the direction along which the part will be ejected fromthe mold. This can cause the part to stick in the mold and forceful ejection will cause damage to the part (and mold, if the mold is re-usable). Therefore all such surfaces are tilted bya small angle (between 0.5and 2) so as to allow easyejection. Draft angles on the inner surfaces of the part are higher, since the castpart also shrinks a littlebit towards the core during solidification and cooling. An illustration of this principle was shown in Figure 3. .Shrinkage As thecasting cools, the metalshrinks. For commoncast metals,a 1%shrinkage allowance is designed in alllinear dimensions (namely,the design is scaled p byapprox 1%). Since the solidification front, i.e. the surface at the boundary of the solidified and the liquid metals, travels fromthe surface of the mold to the interior regions of thepart, the design must ensure that shrinkage does not cause cavities. Figure 18.Poor and preferred design examples [source: Kalpakjian & Schmid]

.Parting line
The parting line is the boundarywhere the cope, drag and the part meet. If the surface of the cope and drag are planar, then the parting line is the outline of the cross-section ofthe part along that plane. You can easily see the parting line for manycast and molded parts that you commonlyuse. It is conventional that the parting line should be planar, if possible. A verysmall of metal will alwaysleak outside the mold between the cope and the drag in anycasting. This is called the flash.If the flash is along an external surface, it must be machined away bysomefinishing operation. Ifthe parting line is along an edge of the part, it is less visible this is preferred.

Machine Dimensions (Length x Width x Height) 1940 x 2300 x 2600 Total weight (without dielectric) 3460 X, Y, Z axes X, Y, Z axes travels 500 x 350 x 426 U, V axes travels 70 Taper angle/height 30/100 Work area Workpiece dimensions (Length x Width x 1050 x 650 x 420 Height) Max. workpiece weight (with/without bath) 400/800 Volume of dielectric 1000 Wire circuit Available wire diameters (Standard) 0.33 - 0.15 Available wire diameters (Option) 0.10 0.07 Manufacturing quality Best surface finish (Standard) 0.2 Best surface finish (with SF Module) <0.1

mm kg mm mm /mm mm kg l mm mm m m