Module-I

Casting processes: Classification, Metal mould casting processes, advanced casting processes,
investment casting, Rheocasting, mould and core making materials and their characteristics.

Technology of Selected casting Processes: Clay bonded, synthetic resin bonded, inorganic
material bonded mould and core making, sand additives, mould coating, continuous casting
process, centrifugal casting process.

Casting processes

Metal casting process begins by creating a mold, which is the ‘reverse’ shape of the part we need.
The mould 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 mostly refractory
material called silica (SiO2). The sand grains must be small enough so 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 of sand, clay and 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 (Fig 1):

• The mold is made of two parts, the top half is called the cope, and bottom part is the drag.
• The liquid flows into the gap between the two parts, called the mold cavity. The geometry of the cavity
is 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 of the funnel is the pouring cup; the pipe-shaped neck of the funnel is
the sprue – the liquid metal is poured into the pouring cup, and flows down the sprue.
• The runners are the horizontal hollow channels that connect the bottom of the sprue to the mould
cavity. The region where any runner joins with the cavity is called the gate.

Fig1: Schematic representation of a typical sand mould cross-section

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. They act as reservoirs; as the metal solidifies
inside the cavity, it shrinks, and the extra metal from the risers flows back down to avoid holes in
the cast part.
• Vents are narrow holes connecting the cavity to the atmosphere to allow gasses and the air in the
cavity to escape.
• Cores: Many cast parts have interior holes (hollow parts), or other cavities in their shape that are
not directly accessible from either piece of the mold. Such interior surfaces are generated by
inserts called cores. Cores are made by baking sand with some binder so that they can retain
their shape when handled. The mold is assembled by placing the core into the cavity of the drag,
and then placing the cope on top, and locking the mold. After the casting is done, the sand is
shaken off, and the core is pulled away and usually broken off.
Shell-mold Casting:
Shell-mold casting yields better surface quality and tolerances. The process is described as
follows:
- The 2-piece pattern is made of metal (e.g. aluminum or steel), it is heated to between 175°C-
370°C, and coated with a lubricant, e.g. silicone spray.
- Each heated half-pattern is covered with a mixture of sand and a thermoset resin/epoxy binder.
The binder glues a layer of sand to the pattern, forming a shell. The process may be repeated to
get a thicker shell (Fig 2).
- The assembly is baked to cure it. 6
- The patterns are removed, and the two half-shells joined together to form the mold; metal is
poured into the mold.
- When the metal solidifies, the shell is broken to get the part.

Fig 2: Making the shell-mold and Shell mold casting

Expendable-pattern casting (lost foam process)

The pattern used in this process is made from polystyrene (this is the light, white packaging material
which is used to pack electronics inside the boxes). Polystyrene foam is 95% air bubbles, and the
material itself evaporates when the liquid metal is poured on it.
The pattern itself is made by molding – 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 slurry of water and clay (or other refractory grains); it is dried to get a hard
shell around the pattern.
- The shell-covered pattern is placed in a container with sand for support, and liquid metal is poured
from a hole on top.
- The foam evaporates as the metal fills the shell; upon cooling and solidification, the part is
removed by breaking the shell. 7
The process is useful since it is very cheap, 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 is used to manufacture crank-shafts for engines, aluminum engine blocks, manifolds etc.

Fig 3: Expendable mold casting

Plaster-mold casting

The mold is made by mixing plaster of paris (CaSO4) with talc and silica flour; this is a fine white
powder, which, when mixed with water gets a clay-like consistency and can be shaped around the
pattern (it is the same material used to make casts for people if they fracture a bone). The plaster cast
can be finished to yield very good surface finish and dimensional accuracy. However, it is relatively
soft and not strong enough at temperature above 1200°C, so this method is mainly used to make
castings from non-ferrous metals, e.g. zinc, copper, aluminum, and magnesium.
Since plaster has lower thermal conductivity, the casting cools slowly, and therefore has more
uniform grain structure (i.e. less warpage, less residual stresses).

Ceramic mold casting

Similar to plaster-mold casting, except that ceramic material is used (e.g. silica or powdered Zircon
ZrSiO4). Ceramics are refractory (e.g. the clay hotpot used in Chinese restaurants to cook some
dishes), and also have higher strength that plaster.
- The ceramic slurry forms a shell over the pattern;
- It is dried in a low temperature oven, and the pattern is removed 8
- Then it is backed by clay for strength, and baked in a high temperature oven to burn off any
volatile substances.
- The metal is cast same as in plaster casting.
This process can be used to make very good quality castings of steel or even stainless steel; it is used
for parts such as impellor blades (for turbines, pumps, or rotors for motor-boats).
Investment casting (lost wax process)

This is an old process, and has been used 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 Fig 5 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.

Fig 5: Steps in the investment casting process

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 6below shows the basic idea – notice how
the mold appears in an inverted position from the usual casting process, and is lowered 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 Fig 7).
 Fig 6: Vacuum casting

Fig 7: Draining out metal before solidification yields hollow castings

Permanent mold casting

Here, the two halves of the mold are made of metal, usually cast iron, steel, or refractory alloys. The
cavity, including the runners and gating system are machined into the mold halves. For hollow parts,
either permanent cores (made of metal) or sand-bonded ones may be used, depending on whether the
core can be extracted from the part without damage after casting. The surface of the mold is coated
with clay or other hard refractory material – this improves the life of the mold. Before molding, the
surface is covered with a spray of 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 part to be withdrawn from the mold
more easily. The process can be automated, and therefore yields high throughput rates. Also, it
produces very good tolerance and surface finish. It is commonly used 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 very commonly used type of permanent mold casting process. It is used for
producing 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 manufacturer of
such products in the world, this technology is used by many HK-based companies. Surface finish
and tolerance of die cast parts is so good that there is almost no post-processing required. Die casting
molds are expensive, and require significant lead time to fabricate; they are commonly called dies.
There are two common types of die casting: hot- and cold-chamber die casting.
• In a hot chamber process (used for Zinc alloys, magnesium) the pressure chamber connected to the
die cavity is filled permanently in the molten metal. The basic cycle of operation is as follows: (i) die
is closed and gooseneck cylinder is filled 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.
• In a cold chamber process, the molten metal is poured into the cold chamber in each cycle. The
operating cycle is (i) Die is closed and 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 from the cylinder, if there are cores,
they are retracted away; (iv) ejector pins 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).

Fig. 8: (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 be pushed 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 than impurities, most of the impurities and inclusions are
closer to the inner diameter and can be machined away. The surface finish along the inner diameter
is also much worse than along the outer surface.

Fig 9: Centrifugal casting schematic

Rheocasting processes

Semi-solid metal casting is a near net shape variant of die casting. The process is used with non-
ferrous metals, such as aluminium, copper, and magnesium. The process combines the advantages of
casting and forging. The process is named after the fluid property thixotropy, which is the
phenomenon that allows this process to work. Simply, thixotropic fluids shear when the material
flows, but thicken when standing. The process of thixocasting offers a number of advantages, such
as improved mechanical properties, good surface finish, near net shape and so on. However, the
thixocasting process has also a number of disadvantages, such as the need for special feedstock with
near spherical primary crystals. In order to cast such special billets for thixocasting one has to pay a
more expensive premium than normal. Eliminating this additional specialized casting step leads to
savings in both costs and time. A product can be cast into a near net shape part directly from the
molten metal state as in rheocasting, where the need of special billet is removed. Therefore,
rheocasting is advantageous from an energy and cost saving point of view when compared to
thixocasting. In the early days of semisolid casting research, mechanical stirring was used in order to
achieve the right microstructures. More recently, electric stirring has used. There are two kinds of
rheocasting process using a cooling slope and a process using low superheat casting, respectively. In
the process using the cooling slope, the metal is in the semisolid condition when it flows into the die.
In the low superheat casting process, the seed of the crystals are generated at the die surface. The
casting is carried out before the crystal seeds could be re-melted. The crystal seeds could then grow
to become spherical primary crystals. In the processes described only pouring of the molten metal
into the die has been needed for the semisolid casting to take place. In conventional semisolid
casting, the solid metal fraction content is usually 50%, however, in this process; casting has been
tried at lower than 50% fraction solids. The primary crystal size becomes smaller as the solid rate
becomes lower. In thixocasting, metal handling is difficult at fraction solids lower than 50%.
However, in rheocasting, casting metal with lower fraction solids is easy because the product, which
is thin, can be cast at low fraction solids. Fig. 10 shows the two rheocasting processes devised in this
discussion. The rheocasting process using the cooling slope is schematically shown in Fig. 10(a).
The molten metal was poured into the lower die half via the cooling slope. The molten metal became
semisolid slurry on the cooling slope. The cooling slope, which is very compact and simple, is made
from mild steel, it is water-cooled and as a package offers both low equipment costs and low running
costs. The cooling slope can be easily mounted as part of any conventional casting machine. In
conventional semisolid casting process, a typical fraction solid of about 50% is required, however,
the present study aimed at fraction solids lower than 50%. The primary crystal size in the product
becomes smaller as the fraction solid is reduced. The solidification rate of the semisolid slurry after
flowing through on the cooling slope was about 10%. Casting was done immediately after pouring
without holding the slurry in order not to increase the solidification rate. Therefore, there was no
need of a system that controls the rate of solidification; this simplified the processes investigated in
the present study. Fig. 10(b) shows the rheocasting process that used low superheat casting. The
superheat of the molten metal was 10 0C. The crystal seeds are generated at the lower die surface,
and the upper die is inserted into the lower die before the metal solidifies. When the superheat of the
molten metal is low, the crystal seeds do not melt and if sufficient crystal seeds remain, they can
grow into spheroidal primary crystals. The low superheat casting is simpler than the cooling slope
process.

Fig. 10. Two kinds of rheocasting process

Continuous casting

In the continuous casting, molten steel is poured from the tundish in the water cooled mold and
partially solidified bloom/billet or slab (hereafter called strand) is withdrawn from the bottom of the
mold into water spray so that solidified bloom/billet or slab is produced constantly and continuously.
Continuous casting is widely adopted by steelmakers. The advantages of continuous casting over
ingot casting are
  Quality of the cast product is better
 No need to have slabbing/blooming or billet mill as required when ingot casting is used.
 Higher extent of automation is possible
 Width of the slab can be adjusted with the downstream strip mill.
 Continuously cast products show less segregation.
 Hot direct charging of the cast product for rolling is possible which leads to energy saving.

The essential components of a continuous casting machine are tundish, water cooled mold, water
spray and torch cutters. Tundish, mold and water spray are arranged such that molten stream is
poured from tundish to mold and solidified strand (billet/bloom/billet) is produced continuously. The
required length of the strand is cut by torch cutter. In figure 11, the arrangement of tundish, mold
and water spray is shown.

Fig 11: Arrangement of tundish, mold and water spray in a curved mold machine

Tundish

Tundish is a refractory lined vessel. Liquid steel is usually tapped from ladle into tundish. The
stream is shrouded as it enters from ladle to tundish. The functions of the tundish are:

Reservoir of molten steel

Tundish acts as a reservoir for molten steel. It supplies molten steel in presence of a slag cover to all
continuous casting molds constantly and continuously at constant steel flow rate. The flow rate is
maintained constant by maintaining a constant steel bath height in the tundish through teeming of
molten steel from the ladle. The number of mold is either one or more than one. Normally bloom and
billet casting machines are multi strand i.e. number of molds are either 4 or 6 or 8. Slab casters
usually have either single or two molds. During sequence casting and ladle change over periods,
tundish supplies molten steel to the molds.

Distributor

Tundish distributes molten steel to different molds of the continuous casting machine at constant
flow rant and superheat which is required for stand similarly with reference to solidification
microstructure. Control of superheat is required in all the moulds to reduce break out. Location of
ladles stream in the tundish is important. It may be located symmetric or asymmetric to the centre of
the tundish depending on the number of mold. For single strand machines, molten stream enters
from one side and exits the other side of the tundish. In multi strand tundishes, ladle stream is either
at the centre of the tundish or displaced to the width side of the tundish.

Fig. 12: Tundish with flow control device, namely weir and slotted dam

Inclusion removal

Tundish helps to remove inclusions during the process of continuous casting. For this purpose liquid
steel flow in the tundish is modified by inserting dams, weirs, slotted dams etc. The whole idea is to
utilize the residence time available before steel leaves the tundish. For example, if capacity of
tundish is 40 tons and casting speed is 5 tons/min, then the average residence time of molten steel in
the tundish is 8 minutes. During this average residence time, inclusion removal can be exercised .For
this purpose flow of steel melt in the tundish has to be modified so as to accelerate the inclusion
removal. The Inclusion removal is a two-step step unit operation, namely floatation and absorption
by a flux added on the surface of the tundish. Flux is usually rice husk, or fly ash or some synthetic
powder.
Mold:

Mold is the heart of continuous casting. In the water cooled mold, molten stream enters from the
tundish into mold in presence of flux through the submerged nozzle immersed in the liquid steel.
Solidification of steel begins in the mold. The casting powder is added onto the top of molten steel in
the mold. It melts and penetrates between the surface of mold and the solidifying strand to minimize
friction as shown in Fig 13. Control of height of molten steel in the mould is crucial for the success
of the continuous casting machine. The solidification begins from the meniscus of steel level in the
mould. Mold level sensors are used to control the meniscus level in the mould.

Fig 13: Role of flux in continuous casting mold

As seen in the figure, flux melts and enters into the gap between mold surface and solidified strand.
Molds are made of copper alloys. Small amounts of alloying elements are added to increase the
strength. Mold is tapered to reduce the air gap formation. Taper is typically 1% of the mold length.
For cross section of mold the taper is about 1mm for 1m long mold. The cross section of the mold is
the cross section of the slab/bloom/billet. Length of the mold is around 0.7 and is more for large
cross sections. Mold cross section decreases gradually from top to bottom. Mould extracts around
10% of the total heat.
The mold is oscillated up and down to withdraw the partially solidified strand (strand is either billet
or bloom or slab).The oscillated frequency can be varied. At Tata steel slab caster frequency is
varied in between 0 and 250cycles/min and the stroke length from 0 to 12mm.
Steel level in mould is controlled, that is the meniscus for smooth caster operation. Sensors are used
to control the meniscus level.
The functions of mold flux are.
Inclusion absorption capability.
Prevention of oxidation.
Minimization of heat losses.
Flux on melting enters into the air gap and provides lubrication.

For the above functions the flux should have the following properties.
Low viscosity
Low liquidus temperature
Melting rate of flux must match with the speed of the continuous casting.
The hierarchical classification of various casting processes are summarized in Fig. 14. The
Capabilities of major casting processes are compared in Table 2.

Fig.14 Hierarchical classification of various casting processes

Table 2: Capabilities of major casting processes

Sand mould and core making

Sand casting is the most common production technique, especially for ferrous castings. Sand is
mixed with clay and water or with chemical binders and then packed or rammed around the pattern
to form a mould half. The two halves are joined together to make the mould - a rigid cavity that
provides the required shape for the casting, as shown in Fig. 15 below. Variations on this technique
include the use of plaster in place of sand and the recently invented Patternless process, where the
mould is machined directly out of a sand block without the need for a pattern.
Cores are produced by blowing, ramming or in heated processes, investing sand into a core box. The
finished cores, which can be solid or hollow, are inserted into the mould to provide the internal
cavities of the casting before the mould halves are joined. Sand cores are also widely used in
diecasting, where permanent metal moulds are employed.

Fig 15: Assembled Mould with Core Inserted Ready for Casting

Sand Preparation: Moulding sand should have good flowability (for better reproduction of pattern
details), adequate green strength (to prevent its collapse during moulding), dry strength (to prevent
its collapse during mould filling), sufficient refractoriness (to withstand molten metal temperature),
enough permeability (to allow entrapped air and gases generated inside the mould to escape) and
collapsibility (for ease of shakeout).

These are achieved by a suitable composition of sand, binders, additives and moisture. Silica sand is
the most widely available and economical. Special sands include zircon sand (lower thermal
expansion, higher refractoriness and higher thermal conductivity, but more expensive), olivine sand
(with properties in between silica and zircon sand) and chromite/magnesite sand (high thermal
conductivity). The most widely used binder is bentonite clay (sodium or calcium bentonite), which
imparts strength and plasticity to silica sand with the addition of water. Additives include coal dust
(to improve surface finish by gas evolution at metal-mould interface), iron oxide (for high
temperature resistance), dextrin (for improved toughness and collapsibility) and molasses (for high
strength and collapsibility). Modern sand plants automatically carry out mulling, mixing, aeration
and testing of the sand. They also reclaim used sand through magnetic separation (to remove metal
particles), crushing of lumps and finally removal of excess fines and bond (usually by washing in hot
water or by mechanical impact).
Core Making: Cores are surrounded by molten metal, and have higher requirement compared to
mould sand in terms of strength (to support their own weight and the buoyancy force of metal),
permeability and collapsibility (especially for curved holes, otherwise they will be difficult to clean
out). The most widely used binder for core sands is vegetable oil (linseed and corn oil, sometimes
mixed with mineral oils), which is economical, but requires heating in an oven to about 240 C for 2-
3 hours to develop sufficient strength. Another widely used process uses sodium silicate binder
mixed in dry sand free of clay; the sand mixture hardens immediately when CO2 gas is passed
through it. The process is highly productive. The core develops high compressive strength but has
poor collapsibility. Other processes are based on organic binders; mainly thermosetting resins such
as phenol, urea and furan. This includes hot box and cold box processes. The core sand mixed with
binder is filled into a core box either manually or using a sand slinger. For higher productivity core
blowing machines are used, in which core boxes are mounted in the machine and sand is forced and
pressed into the core box under a stream of high velocity air. This is followed by appropriate heating
of the core box to impart the desired properties to the core.

Moulding: This involves packing the moulding sand uniformly around a pattern placed in a
moulding box (or flask). Most foundries are equipped with jolt-squeeze machines operated by
compressed air. The combination of jolting and squeezing action gives good compaction of sand
near the pattern (by jolting the sand into crevices) as well as the top where the squeeze plate comes
in contact with the mould. Many modern foundries have high pressure moulding equipment, which
use air impulse or gas injection to impact the sand on the pattern. These machines produce relatively
less noise and dust compared to jolt and squeeze machines and has much higher productivity
(several moulds per minute). A special type of high pressure moulding machine is the flaskless
moulding machine pioneered by Disamatic, in which the parting plane is vertical and the mould
cavity is formed between consecutive blocks of mould.

Melting: Most widely used melting equipment include cupula, oil/gas fired furnaces (including
crucible and rotary furnaces), direct arc furnace and induction furnace. The cupola is the simplest
and the most economical, and most suited for grey iron. Layers of pig iron, coke and flux (limestone)
are charged into the cupola; air for combustion is blown through several openings (tuyeres). Use of
hot air blast and double row tuyeres improves cupola efficiency. Oil or gas fired crucible furnaces
are suitable for melting small quantities of metal, usually non-ferrous. The crucible is usually made
of graphite and clay. Rotary furnaces are made of steel shells lined with refractory, turning at a rate
of 1-2 rpm. The charge is placed through a door in the middle; one end of the furnace is heated (by
firing oil or gas) and the melt is taken out through the other end. Electric furnaces include direct arc
and induction furnaces, which are more widely preferred by newer foundries owing to ease of
control over temperature and composition, and high melting rate. In arc furnace, the heat is
generated between the electrodes and transferred to the metal. In induction furnace, the heat is
generated in the metal itself by eddy currents. Induction furnaces can be classified depending on the
location of the induction coil (cored and coreless), and frequency of current (high or medium).

Casting Applications

Castings can range in size: from a few grams (for example, watch case) to several tones (marine
diesel engines), shape complexity: from simple (manhole cover) to intricate (6- cylinder engine
block) and order size: one-off (paper mill crusher) to mass production (automobile pistons). The
desired dimensional accuracy and surface finish can be achieved by the choice of process and its
control. Castings enable many pieces to be combined into a single part, eliminating assembly and
inventory and reducing costs by 50% or more compared to machined parts. Unlike plastics, castings
can be completely recycled. Today, castings are used in virtually all walks of life. Major areas of
applications are given below (see Fig. 1.3). The transport sector and heavy equipment (for
construction, farming and mining) take up over 50% of castings produced.

Transport: automobile, aerospace, railways and shipping

Heavy equipment: construction, farming and mining
Machine tools: machining, casting, plastics moulding, forging, extrusion and forming
Plant machinery: chemical, petroleum, paper, sugar, textile, steel and thermal plants
Defense: vehicles, artillery, munitions, storage and supporting equipment
Electrical machines: motors, generators, pumps and compressors
Municipal castings: pipes, joints, valves and fittings
Household: appliances, kitchen and gardening equipment, furniture and fittings
Art objects: sculptures, idols, furniture, lamp stands and decorative items

Virtually any metal or alloy that can be melted can be cast. The most common ferrous metals
include grey iron, ductile iron, malleable iron and steel. Alloys of iron and steel are used for high
performance applications, such as temperature, wear and corrosion resistance. The most common
non-ferrous metals include aluminum, copper, zinc and magnesium based alloys. The production
and application of ductile iron and aluminum castings are steadily increasing. Aluminum has
overtaken steel in terms of production by weight. The consumption of magnesium alloys is
rapidly increasing in automobile and other sectors, owing its high strength to weight ratio.
Important and emerging metal titanium is stronger than steel, but has found limited applications
owing to the difficulty in casting and machining. Table 3 lists the major metals in use today (by
weight) along with their main characteristics and typical applications.

Table 3: Major cast metals

foundries, use of robots, casting design, near net shape casting, pollution control, energy and
waste management in foundries.

Physics of welding arc, characteristics of arc, modes of metal transfer, welding fluxes, electrode
coating, classification of electrode, characteristics of welding power source, pulsed and inverter
type power source, power source for resistance welding, weldability, weldability tests,
Weldability of cast iron, Plain carbon steel, Determination of preheating temperature, Stainless
steel, use of Scheffler’ s diagram.

Casting Defects:
Some defects are common to any and all process. These defects are illustrated in figure 13.22
and briefly described in the following:

There are numerous opportunities in the casting operation for different defects to appear in the
cast product. Some of them are common to all casting processes:

Misruns: Casting solidifies before completely fill the mold. Reasons are low pouring
temperature, slow pouring or thin cross section of casting.

Cold shut: Two portions flow together but without fusion between them. Causes are similar to
those of a misrun.

Cold shots: When splattering occurs during pouring, solid globules of metal are entrapped in the
casting. Proper gating system designs could avoid this defect.

Shrinkage cavity: Voids resulting from shrinkage. The problem can often be solved by proper
riser design but may require some changes in the part design as well.

Microporosity: Network of small voids distributed throughout the casting. The defect occurs
more often in alloys, because of the manner they solidify.

Hot tearing: Cracks caused by low mold collapsibility. They occur when the material is
restrained from contraction during solidification. A proper mold design can solve the problem.

Some defects are typical only for some particular casting processes, for instance, many defects
occur in sand casting as a result of interaction between the sand mold and the molten metal.
Defect found primarily in sand casting are gas cavities, rough surface areas, shift of the two
halves of the mold, or shift of the core, etc.

a) Misruns: A Misruns is a casting that has solidified before completely filling the mold cavity.
Typical causes include
1) Fluidity of the molten metal is insufficient,
2) Pouring Temperature is too low,
3) Pouring is done too slowly and/or
4) Cross section of the mold cavity is too thin.
b) Cold Shut: A cold shut occurs when two portion of the metal flow together, but there is lack of
fusion between them due to premature freezing, Its causes are similar to those of a Misruns.

Figure 13.22 Some common defects in castings:

c) Cold Shots: When splattering occurs during pouring, solid globules of the metal are formed
that become entrapped in the casting. Poring procedures and gating system designs that avoid
splattering can prevent these defects.

d) Shrinkage Cavity: This defects is a depression in the surface or an internal void in the casting
caused by solidification shrinkage that restricts the amount of the molten metal available in the
last region to freeze. It often occurs near the top of the casting in which case it is referred to as a
pipe (Figure 12.7). The problem can often be solved by proper riser design.

e) Microporosity: This refers to a network of a small voids distributed throughout the casting
caused by localized solidification shrinkage of the final molten metal in the dendritic structure.
The defect is usually associated with alloys, because of the protracted manner in which freezing
occurs in these metals.

f) Hot Tearing: This defect, also called hot cracking, occurs when the casting is restrained or
early stages of cooling after solidification. The defect is manifested as a separation of the metal
(hence the terms tearing or cracking) at a point of high tensile stress caused by metal’s inability
to shrink naturally. In sand casting and other expandable mold processes, compounding the mold
to be collapsible prevents it. In permanent mold processes, removing the part from the mold
immediately after freezing reduces hot tearing.

Some defects are related to the use of sand molds and therefore they occur only in sand castings.
To a lesser degree, other expandable mold processes are also susceptible to these problems.
Defects found primarily in sand castings are shown in figure13.23 and describe here:

a) Sand Blow: This defect consists of a balloon-shaped gas cavity caused by release of mold
gases during pouring. It occurs at or below the casting surface near the top of the casting. Low
permeability, poor venting and high moisture content of the sand mold are the usual causes.

Figure 13.23: Other defects found primarily in sand castings

b) Pinholes: A defect similar to a sand blow involves the formation of many small gas cavities at
or slightly below the surface of the casting.

c) Sand Wash: A wash is an irregularity in the surface of the casting that results from erosion of
the sand mold during pouring. The contour of the erosion is imprinted into surface of the final
cast part.

d) Scabs: This is a rough area of the casting due to encrustations of sand and metal. It is caused
by portions of the mold surface flaking off during solidification and becoming embedded in the
casting surface.

e) Penetration: When the fluidity of the liquid metal is high, it may penetrate into the sand mold
or sand core after freezing, the surface of the casting consists of a mixture of sand grins and
metal. Harder packing of the sand molds helps to alleviate this condition.

f) Mold Shift: This is manifested as a step in the cast product at the parting line caused by
sidewise displacement of the cope with respect to the drag.

g) Core Shift: A similar movement can happen with the core but the displacement is usually
vertical. Core shift and mold shift are caused by buoyancy of the molten metal. (Figure
13.1.3)
h) Mold Crack: If mold strength is insufficient a crack may develop in to which liquid metal can
seep to form a fin on the final casting.
Inspection Methods:

Foundry inspection procedures include;

a. Visual Inspection to detect obvious defects, such as Misruns, cold shut and severe surface
flaws;
b. Dimensional measurements to ensure that tolerances have been met;
c. Metallurgical, chemical, physical and other tests concerned with the inherent quality of the
cast metal. Tests in category 3 include
1) Pressure testing to locate leaks in the casting
2) Radiographic methods, magnetic particle tests, the use of fluorescent penetrants and
supersonic testing to detect either surface or internal defects in the casting;
3) Mechanical testing to determine properties such as tensile strength and hardness. If defects are
discovered but are not too serious, it is often possible to save the casting by welding, grinding or
other salvage methods
to which the customer has agreed.