Dry Sand Moulding
Dry Sand Moulding
Dry Sand Moulding
In skin drying a firm mold face is produced. Shakeout of the mold is almost as good as that obtained with green sand
molding. The most common method of drying the refractory mold coating uses hot air, gas or oil flame. Skin drying of
the mold can be accomplished with the aid of torches, directed at the mold surface.
Shell Molding Process
It is a process in which, the sand mixed with a
thermosetting resin is allowed to come in contact
o
with a heated pattern plate (200 C), this causes a
skin (Shell) of about 3.5 mm of sand/plastic
mixture to adhere to the pattern.. Then the shell is
removed from the pattern. The cope and drag
shells are kept in a flask with necessary backup
material and the molten metal is poured into the
mold.
This process can produce complex parts with
good surface finish 1.25 m to 3.75 m, and
dimensional tolerance of 0.5 %. A good surface
finish and good size tolerance reduce the need for
machining. The process overall is quite cost
effective due to reduced machining and cleanup
costs. The materials that can be used with this
process are cast irons, and aluminum and copper
alloys.
Molding Sand in Shell Molding Process
The molding sand is a mixture of fine grained quartz sand and powdered bakelite. There are two methods of coating
the sand grains with bakelite. First method is Cold coating method and another one is the hot method of coating.
In the method of cold coating, quartz sand is poured into the mixer and then the solution of powdered bakelite in
acetone and ethyl aldehyde are added. The typical mixture is 92% quartz sand, 5% bakelite, 3% ethyl aldehyde.
During mixing of the ingredients, the resin envelops the sand grains and the solvent evaporates, leaving a thin film
that uniformly coats the surface of sand grains, thereby imparting fluidity to the sand mixtures.
In the method of hot coating, the mixture is heated to 150-180 o C prior to loading the sand. In the course of sand
mixing, the soluble phenol formaldehyde resin is added. The mixer is allowed to cool up to 80 90 o C. This method
gives better properties to the mixtures than cold method.
Sodium Silicate Molding Process
In this process, the refractory material is coated with a sodium silicate-based binder. For molds, the sand mixture can
be compacted manually, jolted or squeezed around the pattern in the flask. After compaction, CO 2 gas is passed
through the core or mold. The CO 2 chemically reacts with the sodium silicate to cure, or harden, the binder. This
cured binder then holds the refractory in place around the pattern. After curing, the pattern is withdrawn from the
mold.
The sodium silicate process is one of the most environmentally acceptable of the chemical processes available. The
major disadvantage of the process is that the binder is very hygroscopic and readily absorbs water, which causes a
porosity in the castings.. Also, because the binder creates such a hard, rigid mold wall, shakeout and collapsibility
characteristics can slow down production. Some of the advantages of the process are:
A hard, rigid core and mold are typical of the process, which gives the casting good dimensional tolerances;
good casting surface finishes are readily obtainable;
Permanent Molding produces a sound dense casting with superior mechanical properties.
The castings produced are quite uniform in shape have a higher degree of dimensional accuracy than
castings produced in sand
The permanent mold process is also capable of producing a consistent quality of finish on castings
Disadvantages
Centrifugal Casting
In this process, the mold is rotated rapidly about its central axis as the metal is poured into it. Because of the
centrifugal force, a continuous pressure will be acting on the metal as it solidifies. The slag, oxides and other
inclusions being lighter, get separated from the metal and segregate towards the center. This process is normally
used for the making of hollow pipes, tubes, hollow bushes, etc., which are axisymmetric with a concentric hole. Since
the metal is always pushed outward because of the centrifugal force, no core needs to be used for making the
concentric hole. The mold can be rotated about a vertical, horizontal or an inclined axis or about its horizontal and
vertical axes simultaneously. The length and outside diameter are fixed by the mold cavity dimensions while the
inside diameter is determined by the amount of molten metal poured into the mold.Figure 9(Vertical Centrifugal
Casting), Figure 10 ( Horizontal Centrifugal Casting)
Figure 9: (Vertical Centrifugal Casting)
Figure 10: (Horizontal Centrifugal Casting)
Advantages
Disadvantages
More segregation of alloy component during pouring under the forces of rotation
Contamination of internal surface of castings with non-metallic inclusions
Inaccurate internal diameter
Goto Home