WBMF 205L CASTING AND WELDING

Module 1 - Casting Fundamentals- Gating System

Dr. SUNDARAMALI
Asst. Prof. (Sr.)
Dept. of Manufacturing Engineering
SMEC, VIT Vellore
Mob:7598489628
 Introduction to Metal Casting
• One of the oldest manufacturing technique
• Casting is an important manufacturing process for producing
very small, as well as very large and complex parts
• 3200 B.C. - A frog made from copper metal, the oldest known
casting in existence, was cast in Mesopotamia
• 3000 B.C. – Earliest casting 11 cm high bronze dancing girl found
at Mohen-Jo-daro
• 233 B.C. - Cast iron plowshares are poured in China
• 500 A.D.- Cast crucible steel was first produced in India
• Rheocasting was developed at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
Source: Global Casting Production Stagnant,
50th Census of World casting production, 2015
 Metal Casting
• Metal Casting is the process of pouring molten
metal into a hollow cavity and allowing it to cool and
solidify into a desired shape

• The solidified part is known as a casting

• When solidified, the desired metal object is taken out

from the mold either by breaking the mold or taking the
mold apart

• Industries: Automobile, aerospace, transportation,

construction, defence, railroad, jewellery
 Parts Made by Casting
Big parts
– Engine blocks and heads for automotive
vehicles, wood burning stoves, machine
frames, railway wheels, pipes, bells, pump
housings.

Small parts
– Dental crowns, jewelry, small statues, frying
pans.

• All varieties of metals can be cast - ferrous and

non-ferrous.
 Air craft Jet Engine

Roll Royce and GE

 Applications of Metal Casting

• Automotive engine
• Aircraft engine
• Machine tool structures
• Turbine blades
• Machinery housing
• Railway wheels
• Dental crown
• Jewellery
• Statues
v
 THE SAND CASTING PROCESS

 The most common method of making castings is using

sand moulds
 Sand moulds are made by ramming sand in metallic or
wooden flasks
 Such a casting process is commonly called sand casting
process

The basic sequence of the operations required for making

sand castings are given in next page:

VIT University 28
 Basic steps in Casting
1. Pattern making
2. Mould making Core making
3. Melting of metal and pouring
4. Cooling and solidification
5. Cleaning of castings and inspection.

Sequence of Foundry Operations

 Foundry
• Foundry is an factory/industry that produce metal
castings
• Most widely used metal processed are cast iron and
aluminium
 Sequence in Foundry Operations
• Mechanical drawing of the part
• Pattern making
• Core making (if needed)
• Preparing core and drag boxes (Setting the core, positioning, etc.).
• Pattern removal
• Assembling cope and drag boxes
• Pouring of molten metal
• Solidification
• Removing of cast part
• Post processing (Trimming unwanted portion like runners, gate, sand blasting, etc.)
• Inspection/Testing
• Ready for shipment
 Advantages of casting
• Very thin sections can be made easily due to flowability

• Intricate and complex part geometries can be made easily and

which cannot be made by any other process

• Can create both external and internal shapes

• Tooling requires are simple and inexpensive

• Size and weight is not a limitation for casting

• Casting can be applied to shape any metal that can melt

• Some casting methods are suited for mass production

•
 Limitations
• Pattern production time is more i.e, almost 60-70% of the
lead time in general (sand casting)
• Poor dimensional accuracy and surface finish for some
processes; e.g., sand casting
• Limitations on mechanical properties
• Labour intensive process
• Safety hazards to workers due to hot molten metals
• Environmental problems
 Patterns

 Pattern is not exactly replica of the object to be made by

metal casting, but some modifications are provided on the
pattern to take care of various process aspects such as
shrinkage, shrinkage, hot tear, distortion stress, core seat etc.
 Patterns can be made out of various materials such as wood
metals and alloys, plastic, plaster of paris, plastic and rubbers,
wax and resin.
 Pattern should posses the following characteristics
 Light weight, can be worked, shaped and joined easily, strong,
hard and durable, resistant to wear and abrasion, resistant to
corrosion and to chemical reactions, dimensionally stable and
unaffected by variation in temperature and humidity,
available at low cost
 Function of pattern

 Pattern is used to prepare mold cavity

 For hollow casting core prints are added to the pattern to
support core in the mold cavity
 Gates, riser, channels may become the part of casting,
however, they are not the integral part of pattern
 Efforts should be made to provided all allowances on a proper
manner in the pattern and surface of pattern should be made
smooth
 A properly constructed pattern minimise the overall cost of
casting
• Pattern may be in two or three pieces whereas casting is a
single piece
• Pattern differs in material of which it is made
• Patterns may not have all slots and holes like those in casting
because they are machined afterwards

Materials used for making patterns

• Wood • Metals
• Plaster • Plastic
• Wax • Paper
 Wooden Pattern
Wood is the most common material for the pattern, the main
reasons being,
– Its cheapness
– Availability
– Ease of shaping
– Lightness
– Ease with which it can be joined
– Wood can cut and fabricate into numerous forms by gluing,
bending and carving
– Its surface can be easily made smooth by sanding
– Its surface can be preserved by applying a coating of shellac
 Drawbacks of wooden pattern

• It is readily affected by moisture.

• It changes its shape when the moisture dries out of it, and when it
picks up moisture from the damp moulding sand.

• It wears out quickly as a result of sand abrasion.

• If not stored properly, it warps badly.

• Its strength is low and it tends to break

on rough usage.

• Suitable for only small number of castings

and for large size to be produced
 Metallic Patterns
Used for where the large number of castings is desired, and advantages of
metallic patterns are,
• They do not change their shape when subjected to moisture
conditions.
• They are free from warping in storage.
• They are very much suited to machine moulding because of their
accuracy, durability and strength.
• They can withstand abrasion and rough handling.
• Direct machining is possible to desired shape.
• Easy to obtain smooth surface finish.
• They possess excellent resistance to swelling.
 Drawbacks with metallic patterns

• Expensive than wood and

hence, not generally suited for
small production

• Less easy to shape and work

• Tendency to get rusted

• Excessive weight

• Cannot be repaired easily

 Metals used for making patterns

• Cast iron

• Brass

• Aluminium alloys

• White metal (tin,

antimony, copper, zinc,

led, cadmium, )

• Steel
 Plaster patterns
• Both pattern and core boxes are made of gypsum cement. It has high

compressive strength of upto 300 kg/cm 2 and controlled expansion

• Use of reinforcement and the careful

design the strength can be reached

upto 1150 kg/cm2

• When water is added it forms a plastic mass capable of being cast into a

mould made earlier by a master pattern or swept into a desired shape or

form by sweep and stickle method

Plaster patterns cont.
• Gypsum cements expands on solidification and so, by
choosing cement of proper expansion coefficient, the
shrinkage of casting can be completely offset, and no
shrinkage allowance may be given on the pattern.

• Because of these qualities plaster are very much into use

for the construction of patterns, and core boxes of small
dimensions requiring high precision.
 Plastic Patterns
Phenolic thermo-setting resins are used to make patterns
and the advantages are,
• They don’t absorb moisture.
• Strong and dimensionally stable.
• Resistant to wear.
• Possess good compressive and flexural strength.
• Better impact strength.
• Good resistance to chemical attack.
• Have a very smooth and glossy surface.
• Weight less.
 Limitations of using plastic patterns

• Fragile in nature.

• Thin sections require metallic reinforcement.

• Not suitable for machine moulding due to shocks.

Materials used for pattern

• Phenolic resin (combination of carbolic acid and
formaldehyde)

• Epoxy resin
 Wax patterns

Basically wax patterns are used in investment casting process,

• Produces high degree of surface finish and dimensional

accuracy in casting.
• Molten wax is poured into the split moulds or a pair of dies

followed by water cooled.

• Wax patterns assembled as tree, dipped in the ceramic

slurry which makes a shell mould, dried, by heating wax is

poured out by keeping it upside down.

 Materials used for wax pattern

• Paraffin with stearin

• Paraffin with ceresin

• Polyethylene wax

• Natural wax

• Synthetic wax
 Wooden patterns with metallic coatings
• Where metallic patterns cannot be economically employed and
wooden patterns also not found satisfactory due to low strength
and lack of high finish, metallic coated patterns are used for short
production.

• The wooden patterns are sprayed with a thin metallic coating of

bismuth of about 0.25mm thickness.
 Factors affecting the selection of pattern material
While selecting a pattern material for a given casting, the
following factors to be considered,

• Design of casting like the minimum thickness desired, complexity

of parts, the degree of accuracy and finish desired in the casting.
• The number of castings required. For large quantity metal
patterns are preferred.
• Method of moulding employed like hand moulding, machine
moulding.
• Moulding material to be used.
• Chances for repeat orders.
 Types of pattern

The selection of pattern for a particular casting will depend

upon several conditions,

• The shape and size of casting

• Number of castings required

• Method of moulding employed

• Anticipated case or difficulty of the moulding operation

 Common types of pattern

• Single piece pattern • Segmental pattern

• Split pattern • Skeleton pattern

• Match plate pattern • Shell pattern

• Cope and Drag pattern • Built-up pattern

• Gated pattern • Boxed-up pattern

• Loose-piece pattern • Lagged-up pattern

• Sweep pattern • Left-hand and right-hand

pattern
 Pattern allowances

If the pattern is fabricated exact size as the casting part it

will produce undersize casting. To avoid this, patterns should
produce with allowances,

– Shrinkage allowance of casting metal

– Finishing or Machining allowance
– Draft or Taper allowance
– Rapping or Shaking allowance
– Distortion or Camber allowance
 Properties of good moulding sand

• Permeability • Chemical resistivity

• Plasticity (or) Flowability • Collapsibility

• Green strength • Fineness

• Dry strength • Low coefficient of expansion

• Hot strength • Bench life

• Refractoriness
Advantages and disadvantages of synthetic sand (against natural sand)
S.No Advantages Disadvantages
Lower sand maintenance cost and
1 High initial cost
no sand dumping

Improved permeability, lower

Needs more careful control than
2 moisture, lesser chances of porous
natural bonded sand
castings, chilling, etc.

Easier to work on mass production

3 Drying out gives friability
moulding

Semi-skilled operatives can work

4 Patching is difficult
on machine moulding

Old core sand and reclaimed sand

5 Balling up may give poor finish
can be used
 Mould Making
Mould making is the process of making mould using mould
material and it should be such that mould cavity retains its
shape till the molten metal solidifies

Moulding processes are broadly classified as,

Hand Moulding – used in piece and small scale production

foundry practice

Machine Moulding – used in large scale and mass production

Based on the type of material used

• Green sand moulding

• Dry sand moulding
• Metal moulding

Based on the method

• Bench moulding • Sweep moulding
• Floor moulding • Plate moulding
• Pit moulding
Classification of moulds based on their life

 Permanent mould – which are made of ferrous metals and alloys

 Temporary mould – which are made of refractory sands, resins,
wax, plaster of paris, CO2, ceramics, etc.

Types of refractory materials (Materials (non-metallic) that are

resistant to heat (> 538°C or 1000°F), pressure or chemical attack
• Silica
• Magnesite • Olivine
• Zircon • Sillimanite
• Dolomite • Graphite
 Moulding sands

 The principal material used in moulding is the sand as a

refractory material

 Physical, Chemical, and Mechanical properties of the sand

may vary based on the geology condition of the place where
the sand is taken from

Sources of moulding sands

River beds, Sea, Lakes and Deserts
Sources of moulding sand in India
1. Andhra Pradesh – Secunderabad, 2. Uttar Pradesh – Hardwar
3. Maharashtra – Satara, Bhavnagar. 4. Punjab – Batala
5. Tamil Nadu – Avadi, 6. Orissa – Rourkela. 7. Bengal – Hoogli

Classification of the moulding sand based on the nature of their

origin
1. Natural sand
2. Synthetic sand
 Natural moulding sand

• It is also called green sand. It is taken from river beds (or) is

dug from pits.
• It contains only the binder and is used as received with
water added.
• It can be used for making moulds as soon as it is received
from its sources.
• It contains binder material from 5 - 20%. It needs additional water
5-8%. It may contain considerable organic matter

• It has the advantage of maintaining moisture content for a long

time

• It permits easy patching and finishing of moulds

• It is employed for moulds for casting cast iron and non-ferrous

metals

• As compared synthetic sand, it is cheaper, needs lesser control

• When mixed with bentonite, its properties are improved and it is

known as “semi synthetic sand”
 Synthetic moulding sand
• It is made in the foundry by mixing relatively clay-free sand with a
selected clay binder. (e.g., bentonite, water and other materials as required)

• These are comparatively much better sands for moulding as the

properties can be more easily controlled

• As compared to natural sand, synthetic sand possess greater

refractoriness (above 1650°C), high permeability, more uniform grain
size

• It contains no organic matter and it acquires more mouldability

• Easy to control its composition and requires less space for storing

• Suitable for mass production in mechanised foundries

Advantages and disadvantages of synthetic sand against natural sand
S.No Advantages Disadvantages
Lower sand maintenance cost and
1 High initial cost
no sand dumping

Improved permeability, lower

Needs more careful control than
2 moisture, lesser chances of porous
natural bonded sand
castings, chilling, etc.

Easier to work on mass production

3 Drying out gives friability
moulding

Semi-skilled operatives can work

4 Patching is difficult
on machine moulding

Old core sand and reclaimed sand

5 Balling up may give poor finish
can be used
 Reasons for using sand as mould material

Sand is the most important and principal moulding material used in

foundry shop for all types of castings e.g., ferrous and non-ferrous.

The reason for this is properties the sand possess,

• The most important characteristic of sand is its refractory

nature, i.e, it can easily withstand the high temperature

involved during the pouring of the molten metal and does

not get fused.

Reasons for using sand as mould material cont.

• It’s chemical resistivity. i.e it generally does not

chemically react (or) combine with the molten metal and

can be used over and over again.

• A high degree of permeability. i.e. capacity to allow the

gases and air to escape and at the same time the moulds

maintains sufficient hardness and strength. This

characteristic is extremely difficult to achieve in any other

moulding material.
Reasons for using sand as mould material cont.

• Sand can easily take any shape according to the shape of the

pattern.

• Sand is extremely cheap and easily available everywhere.

Types of moulding sand as per their use

• Green sand • System sand

• Dry sand • Parting sand
• Loam sand • Core sand
• Facing sand • Molasses sand
• Backing sand • Oil sand
 Green sand

• By green sand we denote sand in its natural more (or) less moist
state

• It is a mixture of silica sand with 18 – 30% clay and water 6 – 8%.

The clay and water give bonding strength to green sand

• It is fine, soft, light and porous. Being damp, when squeezed in

the hand it retains the shape given to it under pressure

• Moulds prepared in this sand are known as “green sand moulds”

and “cores” can also be made out of green sand

• The rammed sand is dense; hence the structure is made
porous by venting freely.

• As the hot metal is poured in it, sharp edges being weak,

break and hence sharp edges are avoided in green sand
moulding.

• Green sand is generally used for casting simple, small (or)

medium sized moulds.

• Coal dust is mixed to prevent defects in castings.

 Dry sand
• The moulds prepared in green sand are dried (or) baked
to remove almost all moisture of the moist sand.

• The structure in the moulding boxes becomes stronger

and compact.

• Venting is necessary but not so much as required in

green sand.

• For larger heavy moulds cow dung, horse manure, horse

hair are mixed with the sand of coarser grains.
• Depending upon the wall thickness, it may be called “skin dry
mould” (or) “dry mould”

• Moulds have greater strength, rigidity and thermal stability,

castings will have smoother surfaces also it eliminates
defects like pinhole and etc.

• Moulds are dried by heating them at 175°C and skin-dried by

torch.

• Dry sand moulding is employed for large and heavy castings

 Loam sand

• Loam sand is mixture of clay and sand milled with water

to a thin plastic paste from which moulds are builds up
on a backing of soft bricks

• Patterns are not generally used for loam moulding and

shape is given to the mould by sweeps

• High in clay 50% and moisture is 18-20%

 Facing sand

• It forms the face of the mould for the thickness of 20-30mm.

• It is used directly next to the surface of the pattern and it

comes into contact with the molten metal when the mould is
poured.

• It is made of silica sand and clay, without the addition of

used sand. Possess high strength and refractoriness.
 Backing sand
• The accumulated moulding sand from cast up moulds which is
used over and over again is known as “backing sand” (or) “floor
sand”.

• Repeatedly used moulding sand is black in colour due to the

addition of coal dust and burning (or) coming in contact with
molten metal.

• The sharp edges of the sand grains become rounded due to high
temperature of molten metal and burning of clay content and
sand becomes weak in bonding strength.
 System sand
• System sand is prepared in a mechanical sand preparation and
hardening system. No facing sand is used manually. Used in
machine moulding.

Parting sand
• A mould is generally prepared into two (or) three boxes. The
boxes are separated from adhering to each other by spreading
fine sharp dry sand called parting sand.

• Parting sand is also used to keep the green sand from sticking to
the pattern. It is clean clay-free sand. Lycopodium powder and
brick powder is used for the same.
 Core sand
• Sand which is used to make core is called core sand (or) oil
sand. It is a silica sand mixed with core oil. i.e linseed oil,
resin, light mineral oil and other binders

Molasses sand and oil sand

• Sand using molasses (or) oil binders (linseed oil) are called
“molasses sands” and “oil sands”

• Used for producing intricate and accurate non-ferrous casting

 Properties of good moulding sand

• Permeability • Chemical resistivity

• Plasticity (or) Flowability • Collapsibility

• Green strength • Fineness

• Dry strength • Low coefficient of expansion

• Hot strength • Bench life

• Refractoriness
 Permeability
• Molten metal always contains a certain amount of dissolved gases,
which are evolved when the metal solidifies.

• Molten metal when comes in contact with moist sand, generates

steam and water vapour.

• If these gases and water vapour do not find passage to escape

completely through mould, they will forms gas holes and pores in the
casting.

• Therefore, the sand must be sufficiently pores to allow the gases (or)
moisture present (or) generated to be removed freely while pouring.
This process is known as permeability (or) porosity.
 Plasticity (or) Flowability

• It is the ability of the moulding sand to acquire a

predetermined shape under pressure and retain the same
when the pressure is removed.

• To obtain a good impression of the pattern in the mould,

high plasticity is required of a moulding sand.

• Flowability increases with the increase in clay and moisture

content.
 Adhesiveness
• Moulding sand particles must be capable of adhering to another
body. In other words, they should cling to the sides of the
moulding boxes. This property helps sand mass not fall out of the
moulding box.
Cohesiveness
• The sand particles should have ability to stick together. Cohesion
must be retained when the mould is filled with molten metal and
it should not wash away during pouring.

• Cohesiveness is depends upon the shape and size of grain. It also

depends upon distribution of binding material in the sand.
 This property of moulding sand in its moist (or) green state is
known as “green strength” and in its dried (or) baked state as “dry
strength” (or) “baked strength”.

Green Strength
• A mould having adequate green strength will not distort (or)
collapse even after removing the patterns from the mould box.

• Green strength assists in making and handling the moulds. It

gives the mould dimensional stability and high accuracy.
Dry Strength
• If green sand mould is likely to lose its moisture and get dried
while waiting for getting poured (or) when it comes in contact
with molten metal, the mould is dried (or) skin dried to
withstand pressure and erosive forces of molten metal.

• Dry strength is related to grain size, binder and moisture content.

• There must be optimum balance between dry strength and

collapsibility of mould sand.
Hot strength
• It is the strength of sand of mould cavity above 100°C. If hot strength is
inadequate, mould is likely to enlarge, break, erode (or) get cracked.

Refractoriness
• The capability of the moulding sand to withstand the high
temperature of the molten metal without fusing is known as
refractoriness.

• Moulding sands having poor refractoriness will burn on to the

casting. However, Silica sand has high thermal expansion.
 Chemical resistivity

• Moulding sand should not chemically react with the

metal as otherwise the shape of the casting will be

distorted and its surface spoiled.

• Also the sand must not stick to the casting and should

strip off easily leaving a clean surface.

 Collapsibility

• It is that property of the moulding sand, which determines the

readiness with which it automatically gets collapsed after

solidification of the casting and breaks down in knocking out

and cleaning.

• If the mould or core does not collapse, it may restrict free

shrinking of solidification metal and cause the same to crack

or tear.
 Fineness

• Finer mould sand resists metal penetration and produces

smooth casting surfaces.

• Fineness and permeability are opposite to each other.

Hence, these should be balanced for optimum results.

• Both these properties can be maintained by using mould

coating on highly permeable mould surfaces.
 Thermal expansion
• Mould sand should possess low coefficient thermal of
expansion.

Bench life
• It is the ability of mould sand to retain its properties
during storing, handling (or) in case of any delay.
 Constituents of moulding sand
• Silica sand • Additives
• Binder • Moisture
Silica sand
• Grains of silica sand impart refractoriness, chemical
resistivity and permeability to the sand.

• They are paramount importance in the moulding sand.

• Grains will be specified according to their average size and

shape.
Grain size
• Grain size and its distribution influence sand properties
like refractoriness, chemical resistivity, permeability,
plasticity, surface fineness, strength and etc.

• Grain size between 0.1-1mm in three distinct sizes namely

Fine, Medium and Coarse.

Finer grains
Finer grains will be laying more closely to each other and so
permeability will be less, will give more strength, tendency of
the mould deformation be less, give good surface finish.
Coarse grains
Coarse and uniformly graded sands impart high permeability, high
flowability and maximum refractoriness.
Grain shape

• Well rounded grains

• Rounded grains
• Sub rounded grains
• Sub-angular grains
• Angular grains
• Very angular grains
• Compounded grains
Rounded grains

• Rounded grains have least contract with one another in a

rammed structure.

• It makes the sand highly permeable to the gases. However,

lacks in strength possess greater flowability.

• Grains too smooth and round results mould cracks, and wash
and scabs.
Sub-angular grains
It provides less permeability than rounded grains. But, they
have high strength.

Angular grains
They have defined edges and flat surfaces give more strength
and less permeability to the mould.

Compounded grains

Combination of above is not useful because they tend to break

down at high temperature.

 Bonding Action of clay (or) Bond Formation (or)
Bonding Theories

Clay in presence of water tends to bind sand grains together

and builds the mould with sufficient strength based on the
following bonding theory.

• Block and Wedge theory (Inter-particle friction)

• Surface Tension theory

• Electrostatic bonding theory

 Binder

• Binder develops necessary bonding strength to the mould

sand so that the mould does not lose its shape after ramming.

• As the quantity of clay increases, the permeability of the

mould sand decreases.

• Clay may be defined as those sand particles under 20microns

in diameter which fail to settle a distance of 25mm per

minute, when suspended in water.

• Average clay particles are of colloidal size, clays are essentially

aggregates of extremely minute crystalline, usually flake-shaped

particles around 2microns which can be classified on the basis of their

structure and composition.

• Clay consists of two ingredients namely fine slit and true clay.

• Fine slit is a sort of foreign matter or mineral deposit which as no

bonding property.
 Classification of binders

• Fire clay
• Bentonite
– Calcium Montmorillonite
– Sodium Montmorillonite

• Illinite
• Limonite
• Kaolinite
All the above clays are inorganic binders having different
plasticity.
 Fire clay
Fire clay is a kind of refractory clay usually found in coal mines. Though the sizes of
the particles are 400times larger than the bentonite it produces lower strength to the
mould.

Bentonite
• Bentonite (Montomorillonite) it is the most commonly used clay binder as it
produces the strongest bond in mould sand.

• Bentonite is weathered product of volcanic ash.

• They are soft, creamy white powders used for synthetic moulding sand.

• It has high plasticity of 7 times than ball clay and it will swell when the water is
come in contact. But, by adding other additives it can be controlled.
 Illite
Illite is a other type of binder used for moulding, having thickness
of 20milli microns and width 200milli microns, it does not swell
like bentonite, produces reasonable strength to the sand.

Kaolinite
Kaolinite is an another type of clay contains 60% kaolinite, 30%
illite, and 10% quartz, having low shrinkage and swelling and
no plasticity in nature.
 Bonding Action of clay (or) Bond Formation (or)
Bonding Theories

Clay in presence of water tends to bind sand grains together

and builds the mould with sufficient strength based on the
following bonding theory.

• Block and Wedge theory (Inter-particle friction)

• Surface Tension theory

• Electrostatic bonding theory

 Moisture

• The purpose of clay will not be served unless required amount of water
is added to it.

• It penetrates and forms a micro-film coating over the surface of each

individual flake.

• The molecules of water which form the micro-film on the flake are not
in the original fluid state but they are in a fixed and definite position.

• On adding more water, thickness of the micro-film increases up to a

certain limit after which, the excess water remains in the fluid state.
• The thickness of the water film varies with the clay minerals and bonding

property of clay depends on the maximum thickness of water micro film it

can maintain.

• When a mould is rammed, the sand grains are forced together, on each

grain, the clay coating acts in such a way that it locks the grains in position

and makes them retain the position.

• For the best bonding action the amount of minimum water required to form

the micro-film is enough. Excess water reduces the strength of the mould

and lead to weak.

 Additives
• Materials other than basic ingredients are also added to mould
sand in small quantities for improving existing properties and
certain other properties like resistance to sand expansion defects,
etc.

• Sea coal or coal dust, pitch, asphalt, graphite, silica flour and etc.
are few examples for the same.
Video for Foundry jolt / Squeeze sand moulding

Foundry JoltSqueeze Sand Molding.mp4

 CO2 Moulding
In this process the sand is mixed with water glass (or) sodium silicate

liquid as binder and the mould is hardened by blowing CO2 gas over it

This process is favoured by hobby metal casters because a lot of cost

cutting can be done

In addition, one can be sure of getting dimensionally accurate castings

with fine surface finish requiring less machining. But, this process is not

economical than green sand casting process

• Carbon di-oxide mouldings deliver great accuracy in production

• Any existing pattern can be used for the moulding purpose

which can be placed in the mould before the mould is hardened

• This method helps in producing strong mould and cores that can

be used for high end applications

• If the process is carefully executed then casting can be as precise

as produced by the shell casting method

• The sand used for the process must be dry and free from clay

• Suitable additives such as coal powder, wood flour, graphite

may be added to improve certain properties like collapsibility

• The suitable sand mixture can then be packed around the

pattern in the flask (or) in the core box by machines (or) by

hand

• When the packing is complete, CO2 is forced into the mould at a

pressure of about 1.45 kgf/cm2. The gas is inert upto 15 – 30

seconds
• The volume of CO2 required can be calculated if the quantity of

sodium silicate present is known

• As a thumb rule, for every 1kg of sodium silicate, 0.50-0.75kg of

gas is required

• Over gassing is wasteful and results in deteriorating the sand

• Patterns used in this process may be made of wood, metal or

plastic
Advantages
This process has many advantages in comparison to other forms
of castings some of them are as follows
• Compared to other casting methods cores and moulds are strong

• Reduces fuel cost since gas is used instead of to other costly

heating generating elements

• Reduces large requirement for number of mould boxes and core

dryers

• Provides great dimensional tolerance and accuracy in production

• Moisture is completely eliminated from the moulding sand

• This process can be fully automated

• Semi-skilled worker can do the work

• It is a very versatile process

• It produces very good surface finish

• Used for long production runs

• The distortion is negligible

Disadvantages

• It is an expensive process
• Thorough mixing of the materials is very necessary
• Gathering all the materials is not easy
• It needs careful mixing which involves the use of mechanical
means
• A common fault is poor surface finish because of over gassing
• If sand reclamation plant is not present then the sand cannot
be reused