Leonardo Electronic Journal of Practices and Technologies Issue 23, July-December 2013

ISSN 1583-1078 p. 51-62

Gating System Design for Casting thin Aluminium Alloy (Al-Si) Plates

Victor ANJO1* and Reyaz KHAN1

1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Federal University of Technology Minna Niger,
State Nigeria
E-mails: victoranjo2008@live.com*; reyazkhan1@yahoo.com
*
Corresponding author: Phone: +2348057846076

Abstract
The main problems caused by improper gating are entrained aluminium oxide
films, cuts and washes, low casting yield and entrapped gas. This study
describes the design of a gating system to produce thin Aluminium cast alloy
plates of different sizes and thicknesses of 4mm, 6mm, 8mm, and 10mm using
the non-pressurized gating with ratio of 1:4:4 and green sand moulding
technique. The gating design was based on the laws of fluid mechanics and
empirical rules of gating for non ferrous metals. The equipments used for this
experiment includes; a coal fired crucible furnace and an X-Ray machine.
Materials used include; silica sand, clay, wood, glue and Aluminium alloy
scraps. The experimental procedure involved: the gating design calculations,
construction of wooden pattern and gating; using the wooden pattern and
gating to produce the mould cavities and gating; melting, melt treatment and
pouring of melt in the sand mould to produce the casting. The plate castings
after removal from mould were visually examined for surface defects and
after fettling and cleaning X-Ray radiography was used to find the internal
soundness of the castings. From the results obtained in the experiment, it was
found that there were no internal defects and quality castings were produced.
Keywords
Gating Design; Casting; Green Sand; Aluminium alloy (Al-Si); Thin plates.

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 Gating System Design for Casting thin Aluminium Alloy (Al-Si) Plates
Victor ANJO and Reyaz KHAN

Introduction

One of the critical elements that have to be considered for producing a high quality in
sand casting product is the gating design. Many extensive research efforts have been made in
attempts to study the effect of gating system on the flow pattern of melt entering the mould
[1,2]. It has been shown that an optimum gating system design could reduce the turbulence in
the melt flow; minimize air entrapment, sand inclusion, oxide film and dross [3]. The
formation of various casting defects could be directly related to fluid flow phenomena
involved in the stage of mould filling. For instance, vigorous streams could cause mould
erosion; highly turbulent flows could result in air and inclusions entrapments; and relatively
slower filling might generate cold shuts [4]. Furthermore, porosity which is a common defect
in casting also could result from improper design of gating system [5]. In [6] also found out
that: recently, demand for the lightweight alloy in electric/electronic housings has been
greatly increased. However, among the lightweight alloys, aluminium alloy thin-walled
casting is problematic because it is quite difficult to achieve sufficient fluidity and feed ability
to fill the thin cavity as the wall thickness becomes less than 6 mm. During the casting
process, molten aluminium alloy is poured into the pouring basin and flows through the sprue
to the runners, then through the ingate (the passage trough that leads the molten metal from
the gating system into the mould cavity) to the mould cavity. Molten metal’s are fluids and
therefore obey the natural laws of fluid mechanics. A proper and convenient gating system is
required in the production of quality castings with soundness of surface and without defects.
In the metal casting process, the proper feeding of the molten metal into the mould
cavity have been very problematic especially when it involves castings with thin sections. In
order to properly feed the molten metal into the mould cavities of these thin section castings,
a properly design gating system is required. The problem in this study is how to design a
single optimize gating system that will be use to produce for aluminium alloy plates of
different sizes and also minimize defects in the castings.
The gating system, which is composed of: sprue, runners, ingates and overflows, is a
series of passages trough that the molten metal flows into the mould cavity to produce the
castings for minimizing degradation in metal quality and for minimizing the occurrence of
shrinkage porosity in the solidifying casting differ among the various casting process,

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 Leonardo Electronic Journal of Practices and Technologies Issue 23, July-December 2013
ISSN 1583-1078 p. 51-62

primarily as a function of process limitations [7-12] discovered that a good gating design and
pattern allowances ensures proper heat flow and cooling thereby eliminating casting defects.
The aim of this research was to improve the quality of Aluminium alloy thin plates
castings produced in green sand moulding process through proper gating design and Conserve
materials by the recycling of aluminium alloy scraps as the charge materials.

Material and Method

The materials used for this study include: wood, glue (Alteco 110), Aluminium (Al-Si-
Mn-Mg-Cu) alloy scraps, silica sand (River sand), betonies (Clay), water and additive (wood
ash). The equipments include: Coal fired Crucible Melting furnace, Colchester Lathe Machine
and a 300mA X-ray machine.

Gating Design Calculations

The methods that will be use for this study is the principle of gating system design
calculations according to: [13-16]. For this study on aluminium alloys, we shall be using the
non-pressurized gating system with a gating ratio of:

As:Ar:Ag=1:4:4 (Non pressurized gating ratio) (1)

where As = the cross sectional area of the sprue exit, Ar = the cross sectional area of the
Runner(s) and Ag = the cross sectional area of the ingate(s). The choke (the smallest cross
sectional area) is at the sprue base exit therefore.

As=Ac (2)
where Ac = the cross sectional area of the choke.

Pattern Allowances
Shrinkage allowance for Aluminium alloys is 16mm/m [13]. These allowances shall
be added to the pattern parts in the mould cavity.

Pattern Dimension = Actual Dimension + Shrinkage allowance (3)

For 4mm thickness plate, actual length = 80mm and breath = 40mm.
Pattern thickness = 4 + (0.004×16) = 4.064mm
Pattern length = 80 + (0.08×16) = 81.28mm

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 Gating System Design for Casting thin Aluminium Alloy (Al-Si) Plates
Victor ANJO and Reyaz KHAN

Pattern breath = 40 + (0.04×16) = 40.64mm

For 6mm thickness plate, actual length = 120mm and breath = 60mm;
Pattern thickness = 6 + (0.006×16) = 6.096mm
Pattern length = 120 + (0.12×16) = 121.92mm
Pattern breath = 60 + (0.06×16) = 60.96mm
For 8mm thickness plate, actual length = 160mm and breath = 80mm;
Pattern thickness = 8 + (0.008×16) = 8.128mm
Pattern length = 160 + (0.16×16) = 162.56mm
Pattern breath = 80 + (0.08×16) = 81.28mm
For 10mm thickness plate, actual length = 200mm and breath = 100mm;
Pattern thickness = 10 + (0.01×16) = 10.16mm
Pattern length = 200 + (0.2×16) = 203.2mm
Pattern breath = 100 + (0.1×16) =101.6mm
Table 1 shows the dimensions of the pattern plates used in the design of a gating for
four thin Aluminium alloy plates.

Table 1. Dimensions of the pattern plates

Plate Designation Thickness Length Width Volume
(mm) (mm) (mm) (mm3)
A 4.06 81.28 40.64 13411.07
B 6.10 121.92 60.96 45335.68
C 8.13 162.56 81.28 107420.69
D 10.16 203.20 101.6 209754.42

Step 1: Calculate the total weight of castings

W = ρ×V (4)
where: W = total weight of casting, ρ = density, V = total volume of casting.
V = 13411.07 + 45335.68 + 107420.69 + 209754.42 = 375921.86mm3
W = 2500×375921.86×(10-3)3 = 0.9399Kg

Step 2: Calculate the pouring rate and pouring time

Pouring rate formula for non-ferrous gating:

R=b W (5)

where: R = pouring rate, b = constant, depends on wall thickness; typical values of b are
shown on Table 2.

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 Leonardo Electronic Journal of Practices and Technologies Issue 23, July-December 2013
ISSN 1583-1078 p. 51-62

Table 2. Values of constant (b) for different Casting thickness [14]

Wall thickness Below 6 mm 6-12 mm Above 12 mm
(mm)
b -constant 0.99 0.87 0.47

R = 0.87 × 0.9399 = 0.84345Kg / s

R (6)
Ra =
K ⋅C
where: Ra = adjusted pouring rate, K = metal fluidity, C = the effect of friction with values of
0.85-0.90 for tapered sprues in the gating system.

W (7)
t=
Ra
where: t = pouring time [14].
0.84345
Ra = = 0.99229 Kg / s
1 × 0.85
0.9399
t= = 0.94729s
0.99229

Step 3: Calculate the effective sprue height

Sprue height Hsprue = 100mm [15]
Height of casting in the cope H1 = 5 mm
Total height of casting H2 = 10mm, then using equation (8) from [14]:

h 21 (8)
H p = H − 0 .5
h2
where: Hp = effective sprue height.
52
H p = 100 − 0.5 = 98.75mm
10

Step 4: Calculate the choke cross sectional area

The flow rate equation:

W (9)
Ac =
ρtC 2gH p

where: Ac = choke area (mm2), W = casting weight (Kg), ρ = density of molten metal (kg/m3),

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 Gating System Design for Casting thin Aluminium Alloy (Al-Si) Plates
Victor ANJO and Reyaz KHAN

Hp = effective sprue height (mm), C = discharge coefficient (0.8), g = acceleration due to

gravity (9.81m/s2), Ra = adjusted pouring rate (Kg/s) and t = pouring time (s) [16].
0.9399
Ac = = 356.641mm2
2500 × 0.94729 × 0.8 × 2 × 9.81 × 98.75 × 0.001

Step 5: calculation of the sprue inlet area, since sprue exit area Asprue_exit =choke area Ac
Continuity equation:

A sprue − exit H sprue − exit (10)

A sprue − inlet =
H sprue − inlet

where Asprue_inlet = sprue inlet cross-sectional area, Asprue_exit = sprue exit cross-sectional area,
Hsprue_inlet = distance between the ladle and sprue top and Hsprue_exit = distance between ladle
and sprue exit.
Asprue-exit = 356.641mm2
Hsprue-inlet = 50mm
Hsprue-exit = 50 + 100 = 150mm

150
A sprue − inlet = 356.641 × = 617.720mm2
50
Radius of the sprue inlet:
A sprue − inlet 617.720
R inlet = = = 14.022mm
π 3.1416
Radius of the sprue exit:
A sprue − exit 356.641
R exit = = = 10.6547 mm
π 3.1416

Step 6: Calculation of the Ingates and Runner cross-sectional areas using a gating
ratio of 1: 4: 4
Runner cross-sectional area = 4×356.641mm2 = 1426.564mm2

Area of a Square = L×B (11)

where: L = length, B = breath. Since for a square, Length = Breath, therefore, Area = (Length) 2.
Length of Runner cross section = Breath of Runner cross section.
Length of Runner = 37.77mm and Breath of Runner = 37.77mm.
Total Ingates cross-sectional area = 4×356.641mm2 = 1426.564mm2

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 Leonardo Electronic Journal of Practices and Technologies Issue 23, July-December 2013
ISSN 1583-1078 p. 51-62

Since we have four plates, we shall be using four ingates. Therefore, the cross
sectional area of each ingate will be calculated as follows:
Total plates thickness = 4 + 6 + 8 + 10 = 28mm for the 4mm thickness plate.
Ingate cross sectional area = (4/28)×1422.4448 = 203.21mm2
For the 6mm thickness plate:
Ingate cross sectional area = (6/28)×1422.4448 = 304.81mm2
For the 8mm thickness plate:
Ingate cross sectional area = (8/28)×1422.4448 = 406.41mm2
For the 10mm thickness plate:
Ingate cross sectional area = (10/28)×1422.4448 = 508.02mm2

Step 7: Design of Sprue well

Sprue well cross-sectional area = 5×sprue exit area = 5×356.641mm2 = 1783.21mm2
Sprue well depth = 2×runner depth = 2×37.77 = 75.54mm

Results and Discussion

After the calculations of the gating system dimensions and the pattern allowances
values obtained was transfer to the wood pattern and gating in order to make the mould. The
mould cavity was produced by placing the pattern in a wood frame, filling it with the green
sand mix and properly ramming the sand mix with the pattern in it to give the mould strength.
After the pattern was removed, the mould was assembled back together. Figure 1, shows the
schematics of the mould cavities and gating produced by the wood pattern and gating. 5.6Kg
Aluminium alloy scraps was charge into a crucible furnace fired with charcoal. 0.5%
Hexachloroethane (C2Cl6) tablets were added to the molten metal to remove dissolve gases
from the melt and soon after degassing, at a temperature of 740°C, the metal was poured into
the mould. After solidification and cooling, the casting was knocked out of the mould (figure
2) and cleaned from sand particles (figure 3). The X-Ray radiograph of the castings was taken
for inspection to check for internal defects in the castings (figure 4). Table 3 present the
composition of melt.

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 Gating System Design for Casting thin Aluminium Alloy (Al-Si) Plates
Victor ANJO and Reyaz KHAN

Pouring
basin
Mould
Cavities

Sprue

D
A
Sprue
Well
B C

Parting Line Runner

Ingates Ingates

Figure 1. Schematics of the Mould Cavities of Plates A,B,C & D and the Gating

Figure 2. Removal of Casting from Mould

Figure 3. Casting After Cleaning

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 Leonardo Electronic Journal of Practices and Technologies Issue 23, July-December 2013
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Figure 4. X-Ray Radiograph of Castings

After knocking out and cleaning, X-Ray radiograph (figure 4) and visual inspection
carried out show that the castings were free from internal defect and with few surface defects.
The gating design can also be employed in metallic mould to produce quality casting with
better surface finish than that of green sand mould.

Table 3. Composition of Melt

Element Al Si Mn Mg Cu
Composition % Weight 96.290 1.523 0.930 0.822 0.33

A summary of the gating system characteristics is shown in the Table 4, showing the
various dimensions of the gating system obtained in the design calculations.

Table 4. Dimensions of the Gating elements for the four plates

Part Thickness/Height Length Width
(mm) (mm) (mm)
Pouring Basin 50.0 50.0 50.0
Sprue 100.0 Inlet Radius = 14.0 Exit Radius = 10.7
Sprue well 75.6 39.6 45.0
Runner 300.0 37.8 37.8
Ingates
A 4.0 50.8 10.0
B 6.0 50.8 10.0
C 8.0 50.8 10.0
D 10.0 50.8 10.0

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 Gating System Design for Casting thin Aluminium Alloy (Al-Si) Plates
Victor ANJO and Reyaz KHAN

From the results obtained in this experiment, it was seen that proper gating design and
proper melt treatment i.e. degassing and slug removal produced castings with few defects.

Conclusions

A horizontal gating system was designed to produce thin Aluminium alloy plates
using green sand mould and a non-pressurized gating system with a gating ratio of 1: 4: 4.
The horizontal gating design made use of horizontal feeders along the sides of the thin wall
plates. Through this design, a low turbulence uniform filling of mould cavities was obtained.
Side ingates gating systems, provides a lamina flow through the ingates to the mould cavities
and minimizes air entrapment in the mould cavities. The X-ray radiograph of the four plates
taken, shows that there were no internal defects in the castings. The result obtained from this
experiment shows that “Gating system design in casting process is one of the crucial factors
to produce good quality of casting product “ [19].

Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge the entire Academic and Technical staffs of the Mechanical
Engineering Department, Federal University of Technology Minna Niger State, Nigeria for
their support and encouragement.

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