MME 345

Lecture 11

The Design of Feeding System

2. Feeding calculations 1: Optimizing shape of feeder
Ref:
[1] P. Beeley, Foundry Technology, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001
[2] J. Campbell, Castings, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001
[3] Heine, Loper, Rosenthal, Principles of Metal Casting, Tata McGraw-Hill, 1976

Topics to discuss....

1. Introduction
2. Optimizing size of feeder
 1. Introduction
 7 rules of feeding
1. Do not feed (unless necessary)
2. Heat transfer requirement
3. Volume requirement
4. Junction requirement
5. Feed path requirement
6. Pressure differential requirement
7. Pressure requirement

 It is essential to understand that all six rules (no. 2 to 7) must be fulfilled

if sound castings are to be produced
 The breaking of only one of the rules may result in ineffective feeding, and a porous casting
 The wide prevalence of porosity in castings is a sobering reminder that solutions are often
not straightforward.

 The optimum feeder size is so burdened with complications

 dangerous if calculated wrongly; costs money to cast on, and more money to cut off
 the casting engineer is strongly recommended to consider whether a feeder is really
necessary at all (rule 1 applies !!)
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 The feeder and the casting should be considered an integral system because
a casting cannot be made sound without adequate feed metal, no matter how much
we pay attention to other details.

 Table shows that only a relatively small Crystal Volume

Metal
amount of feed metal is necessary. Structure Change, %
Al fcc 7.14
Cu fcc 5.30
 So one might think that feeding is Mg hcp 4.10
fairly simple and that only small Zn hcp 4.08
reservoir is necessary to compensate Fe bcc 3.16
for shrinkage. Li bcc 2.74
Si diam -2.90
Bi rhom -3.32

 But the metal in the feeder is subject to the same laws of solidification as the metal
in the casting and, to be effective,
(1) a feeder must stay fluid at least as long as the casting, and
(2) must be able to feed the casting during this time.
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 Consequently, the problem of providing this feed metal during the entire
solidification period of the casting involves quite a few variables!

 The key criteria that should be considered in feeder design:

1. Feeder size and shape
2. Feeder number and feeder dimensions
3. Location of feeder
4. Feeder connections to the casting
5. Increase in efficiency of feeder
6. Special conditions arising from joining sections (junction problem)

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2. Optimizing Feeder Size

 Methods for determining feeder head size must be based upon meeting the
separate requirements for
freezing time criterion, which indicates that the head must freeze sufficiently slowly to ensure
that the liquid metal will be available throughout the freezing period , so enabling directional
solidification from the casting to the feeder, and
feed volume criterion, which ensure that the head must be capable of supplying sufficient
volume of liquid to compensate for liquid and solidification shrinkage

 In each individual case either one or the other of these requirements will be the
critical factor controlling the minimum size of head.

 When head size is governed by the freezing time criterion,

 the freezing times of head and casting are not estimated
 a purely 2D geometric comparison (based on comparison of the ruling sections of casting
and head; method of inscribe circle, for example) is adopted to ensure that the head will
solidify last
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 2.1 Determination of feeder size
Caine’s Method

 If a cylindrical casting is fed by a top feeder, the diameter of the feeder should be
at least equal to the diameter of the casting.

 One the other hand, a plate casting of the same volume and thickness smaller
than the diameter of the cylinder need not require a feeder of the same volume,
because it will not have to remain molten as long as the feeder on the cylinder.

 So, obviously then, the A/V ratio of feeder can be related to the A/V ratio of the
casting.

 Caine developed an equation for steel which expressed the relative freezing time
of feeder and casting in terms of the relative volumes of feeder and casting:

(A/V)casting
a X = freezing ratio, or relative freezing time =
X = +c (A/V)feeder
Y–b Y = Vfeeder / Vcasting
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For identical freezing rates of feeder

and casting, feeder volume requirement The values of the constants (a, b, c)
becomes infinite vary with additional conditions imposed
(e.g., use of exothermic sleeves, etc.) on
the feeder during casting
When casting freezes increasingly
rapidly relative to the feeder, the feeder
volume requirement decreases towards
sound
a minimum , which is represented by casting
the shrinkage requirement alone unsound
casting

Provides the basic understanding

of feeding principles

• requires trial-and-error calculation

to obtain desired feeder size
• nature of shape of shrinkage
cavity generated in feeder affects
feeder size

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 Bishop’s Method
Simple modification of Caine’s method
that considers the shape of casting instead of freezing ratio

L+W
Shape factor, S =
T

With increasing values of S (thin

casting), the feeder head diminishes
towards the limiting level at which
the controlling influence is no
longer the shape factor but the
volume of feed metal required

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Wlodawer’s Modulus Method

Based on Chvorinov’s method

Deduction of the feeder head requirement

1. Determine the cooling modulus of the casting (cooling surfaces are included only)

volume of casting/segment (V)

M =
cooled surface area (CSA)

2. Feeder head is then selected on the principle that it should have a modulus value
1.2 times that for the casting or section concerned.

 Extended to include systematic consideration of exothermic materials, padding,

chills and other aids to directional solidification

 Since the feeder head requirement for a slender, extensive cast shape is governed
not by its modulus but by the volume of feed metal, a further check is therefore
necessary to verify that the feed volume from the proposed head will be adequate
in the particular circumstances.
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 2.2 Modulus determination

Modulus of some common shapes

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 more complicated shapes should be  for more complex shapes, a general

broken down into simple shapes formula of the following can be used
cross-sectional area
 moduli of the individual simple shapes M =
perimeter
should be determined
Example: For simple rectangular shape
 the section having the highest modulus
should be considered as the significant a.b
M =
section as sensitive for porosity formation 2 (a + b)

 if any of the sections contain directly non-

cooling surface, its dimension (c) should
be excluded from the perimeter
Example: For simple rectangular section
a.b
M =
2 (a + b) - c

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Example:
 Heavy truck wheel hub casting
 Weight = 68 kg
 Very high scrap rate due to shrinkage
defect “A” in segment 3

a.b
M =
2 (a + b) - c
5 * 2.5
M1 = = 1.0
2 (5 + 2.5) – 2.5

5*3
M2 = = 1.5
2 (5 + 3) – 3 – 3

5*4
M3 = = 1.8
2 (5 + 4) – 4 – 3
Significant modulus, MS = 1.8

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2.3 Influence of feeding criteria and

casting shape on feeder shape

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  The dimensions of any feeder head must satisfy the two separate criteria:
(1) modulus (representing freezing time), and (2) volume feed capacity.

min. volume requirement to

satisfy volume requirement
(a = 3%, e = 20%)

min. volume requirement to

satisfy modulus requirement
L/T  9

• any of the castings represented on this curve

could be fed by a spherical head of modulus 1.2

it also demonstrates the increased yield

attainable for thin-walled castings

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 The ranges of casting dimensions over which freezing time and volume feed capacity
respectively control feeder head size depend upon the specific shrinkage of the alloy.

Volume feed capacity becomes

increasingly significant with higher
values of specific shrinkage.

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 at ~10% shrinkage the volume feed capacity
would determine the minimum feeder head size
throughout the shape range of the casting

summary of influences of the volume feed and

freezing time criteria for various combinations
of shrinkage and casting shape

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2.4 Dimension of feeder neck

 The necessary minimum dimensions of feeder neck vary with the particular casting
design and method, but except in special cases, the neck requires a cross sectional area
greater than that of the section which it is designed to feed.

 Modulus of the neck commonly controlled

to be intermediate between that of the
casting and the feeder
ratio of moduli of casting, neck and feeder
are usually taken as 1.0 : 1.1 : 1.2

 The neck can be reduced significantly

if the neck can be kept hot for a longer
period of time

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 Restricted neck feeding
(Washburn Core)

 This is an extremely thin wafer with a central

aperture, inserted into the mould across the
junction of casting and feeder head

 Provided that the core is sufficiently thin in

relation to the surrounding mass of metal, its
temperature rises rapidly because of its limited
thermal capacity

 Solidification thus proceeds extremely slowly

adjacent to the core and the aperture remains
open for feeding: the net effect is much as though
the core were absent

 The successful use depends upon

 maintaining the correct relationship between core
thickness, aperture size and metal section
 adequate mechanical strength
 resistance to fusion and metal penetration
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Next Class
MME 345, Lecture 12

The Design of Feeding System

3. Feeding calculations 2:
Optimizing shape and placement of feeder