Metal-Casting Processes

Casting

• Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is

usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the
desired shape, and then allowed to solidify.
• The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or
broken out of the mold to complete the process.
• Nearly all alloys can be sand casted, including metals with high
melting temperatures, such as steel, nickel, and titanium
•Parts ranging in size from small to very large
•Production quantities from one to millions
Production Steps in Sand-Casting
 Advantages of casting process:
• Molten metal flows into any small section in mold cavity, hence any
complex shape can be easily produced.
•Practically any type of material can be casted.
•Due to small cooling rate from all directions, the properties of
casting are same in all directions.
•Any size of casting can be produced like up to 200 tonnes.
•Heavy equipment like machine leads, ship’s propeller etc. can be
cast easily in the required size rather than fabricating them by
joining several small pieces.
 Applications
• Transport : Automobile, aerospace, railways and shipping
•Heavy Equipment : Construction, farming and mining
•Machine Tools : Machining, casting, plastics molding, forging, extrusion
and forming
•Plant Machinery : Chemical, petroleum, paper, sugar, textile, steel and
thermal plants
•Defense : Vehicles, artillery, munitions, storage and supporting equipment
•Electrical Equipment Machines : Motors, generators, pumps and
compressors
•Household : Appliances, kitchen and gardening equipment, furniture and
fittings
 Pattern
• Pattern is defined as a model or replica of an object to be cast
•The type of pattern to be used for a particular casting depends upon many
factors like design of casting, complexity of shape, number of casting
required [bulk of casting], mould process, surface finish and accuracy.
Functions of the Pattern
1) A pattern prepares a mold cavity for the purpose of making a casting.
2)A pattern may contain projections known as core prints if the casting
requires a core and need to be made hollow.
3)Runner, gates, and risers used for feeding molten metal in the mold cavity
may form a part of the pattern.
4)Patterns properly made and having finished and smooth surfaces reduce
casting defects.
5)A properly constructed pattern minimizes the overall cost of the castings.
 Pattern material
• Wood
• Metal
• Plastic
• Plaster
• Wax
 Pattern Material

• Easily worked, shaped and joined

• Light in weight
• Strong, hard and durable
• Resistant to wear and abrasion
• Resistant to corrosion, and to chemical reactions
• Dimensionally stable and unaffected by variations in temperature
and humidity
• Available at low cost
 Wood
Advantages
Cheap, easily available, light, easiness in surfacing, preserving (by
shellac coating), workable, ease in joining, fabrication
Disadvantages
Moisture effects, wear by sand abrasion, warp during forming, not
for rough use.
Must be properly dried/ seasoned,
free from knots, straight grained
 metals
• Used for mass production
• For maintaining closer dimensional tolerances on casting.
• More life when compared to wooden patterns
• Few of the material used include CI, Al, Fe, Brass etc. Al is widely
used.
• More expensive
• Cannot be repair

Egs: Al alloys, Brass, Mg alloys, Steel, cast Iron for mass production
 Advantages
• Do not absorb moisture
• More stronger
• Possess much longer life
• Do not wrap, retain their shape
• Greater resistance to abrasion
• Accurate and smooth surface finish
• Good machinability
Disadvantage
• More expensive
• Cannot be repair
 Plastics
• Low weight
• Easier formability
• Do not absorb moisture
• Good corrosion resistance
Plaster
• Plaster of Paris or gypsum cement is used as a pattern material
• Complicated shapes can be easily cast
• Has high compressive strength
• Used for making small and intricate pattern and core boxes
 wax
• Wax is used in specialized applications such as investment
casting process etc
• Wax provide good surface finish
• Provide high accuracy to the casting
 Pattern allowances

• Pattern is always made larger than the final casting because it

carries certain allowances due to metallurgical & mechanical
reasons
Types
Shrinkage or contraction allowance
Draft or taper allowance
Machining or finish allowance
Distortion or camber allowance
Rapping allowance
 Shrinkage or contraction allowance
• Almost all cast metals shrink or contract volumetrically on
cooling.
• shrinkage allowance gives to the pattern to compensate for the
contraction of the liquid metal on cooling.
• For this, the dimensions of the pattern is made slightly oversize.
• The shrinkage allowance will be different for different metals.
• The shrinkage allowance is greater for cast steel than that of
other alloys.
• The shrinkage allowance is always added along the length than
along the diameter
Rate of Contraction of Various Metals
 Machining or finish allowance
• This allowance is provided on the pattern if the casting is to be machined.
• This allowance is given in addition to shrinkage allowance.
• The amount of this allowance varies from 1.6 to 12.5 mm which depends upon
the type of the casting metal, size and the shape of the casting.
• The ferrous metals require more machining allowance than non ferrous metals.
Is given due to the following reasons:
1. For removing surface roughness, Scale, slag, dirt and other imperfections
from the casting.
2. For obtaining exact dimensions on the casting.
3. To achieve desired surface finish on the casting.
 Draft or taper allowance

• Provided to facilitate easy withdrawal of the pattern.

• Typically it ranges from 1 degree to 3 degree for wooden patterns.
• The amount of draft required depends upon the shape and size of the casting,
moulding method, the method of production, intricacy of pattern, and whether
moulded by hand or machine.
Draft Allowances of Various Metals
 Distortion or Camber Allowance
• Sometimes castings, because of their size, shape and type of metal, tend to warp
or distort during the cooling period depending on the cooling speed.
• Expecting the amount of warpage, a pattern may be made with allowance of
warpage. It is called camber.
• For example, a U-shaped casting will be distorted during cooling with the legs
diverging, instead of parallel as shown below. For compensating this warpage,
the pattern is made with the legs converged but, as the casting cools, the legs
straighten and remain parallel.

casting w/o camber actual casting patterns with camber allowance

 Rapping or Shaking Allowance
• When the pattern is shaken for easy withdrawal, the mould cavity, hence the
casting is slightly increased in size. In order to compensate for this increase,
the pattern should be initially made slightly smaller.

• For small and medium sized castings, this allowance can be ignored.

• Large sized and precision castings, however, shaking allowance is to be

considered.

• The amount of this allowance is given based on previous experience.

 Types of patterns

1. Single piece(Solid) pattern.

2. Split piece(Two piece) pattern.
3. Loose piece pattern.
4. Sweep pattern.
5. Gated pattern.
6. Follow board pattern.
7. Cope and Drag pattern.
 1. Single piece (solid) pattern

• Made from one piece and does not contain loose pieces or joints.
• Inexpensive.
• Used for large size simple castings.
• Pattern is accommodated either in the cope or in the drag.
• Examples:
• 1.Bodies of regular shapes.
• 2.Stuffling box of steam engine.
 2. Split piece pattern
Patterns of intricate shaped castings cannot be made in one piece because of the
inherent difficulties associated with the molding operations (e.g. withdrawing
pattern from mould).
The upper and the lower parts of the split piece patterns are accommodated in
the cope and drag portions of the mold respectively.
Parting line of the pattern forms the parting line of the mould.
Dowel pins are used for keeping the alignment between
the two parts of the pattern.
 3.Loose piece pattern
 Certain patterns cannot be withdrawn once they are embedded in the molding
sand. Such patterns are usually made with one or more loose pieces for
facilitating from the molding box and are known as loose piece patterns.
 Loose parts or pieces remain attached with the main body of the pattern, with
the help of dowel pins.
 The main body of the pattern is drawn first
from the molding box and thereafter as soon
as the loose parts are removed, the result is the
mold cavity.
 4. Sweep pattern
 A sweep pattern is just a form made on a wooden board which sweeps the shape
of the casting into the sand all around the circumference. The sweep pattern
rotates about the post.
 Once the mold is ready, Sweep pattern and the post can be removed.
 Sweep pattern avoids the necessity of making a full, large circular and costly
three-dimensional pattern.
 Making a sweep pattern saves time and labor compared to making a full pattern.
 A sweep pattern is preferred for producing large casting of circular sections and
symmetrical shapes.
 5.Gated pattern
 The sections connecting different patterns serve as runner and gates.
 This facilitates filling of the mould with molten metal in a better manner and at
the same time eliminates the time and labour otherwise consumed in cutting
runners and gates.
 A gated pattern can manufacture many casting at one time and thus it is used in
mass production systems.
 Gated patterns are employed for producing small castings.
SandMould
 Making the Sand Mold
The cavity in the sand mold is formed by packing sand around a pattern, then
separating the mold into two halves and removing the pattern

The mold must also contain gating and riser system

If casting is to have internal surfaces, a core must be included in mold

Two forms of mold:

(a) open mold, simply a container in the shape of the desired part;

(b) closed mold, in which the mold geometry is more complex and requires a gating
system (passageway) leading into the cavity.
Sand Mold
 Two Categories of Casting Processes
1.Expandable mold processes (Temporary refractory mould) – uses an
expandable mold which must be destroyed to remove casting
Mold materials: sand, plaster, and similar materials, plus binders e.g. sand casting, shell & investment casting.
2.Permanent mold processes – uses a permanent mold which can be used
over and over to produce many castings
Made of metal (or, less commonly, a ceramic refractory material) e.g. die casting and centrifugal casting.
Moulding sand
Depending upon the purity and other constituents present, sand is classified into
(i)Natural sand.
(ii)Synthetic sand,
(iii)Special sand or loam sand.
 Natural sand

• Natural sand is directly used for molding and contains 5-20% of clay as binding
material.
• It needs 5-8% water for mixing before making the mold. Many natural sands
possess a wide working range of moisture and are capable of retaining moisture
content for a long time.
• Its main drawback is that it is less refractory as compared to synthetic sand.
• Many natural sands have weak molding properties.
• These sands are reconditioned by mixing small amounts of binding materials
like bentonite to improve their properties and are known as semi-synthetic sand.
 Synthetic Sands

• Synthetic sand consists of silica sand with or without clay, binder or

moisture.
• It is a formulated sand i.e. sand formed by adding different
ingredients. Sand formulations are done to get certain desired
properties not possessed by natural sand.
• These sands have better casting properties like permeability and
refractoriness and are suitable for casting ferrous and non-ferrous
materials.
• These properties can be controlled by mixing different ingredients.
• Synthetic sands are used for making heavy castings.
 Loam Sand

• Loam sand contains many ingredients, like fine sand particles, finely
ground refractories, clay, graphite and fiber reinforcements.
• In many cases, the clay content may be of the order of 50% or more.
• When mixed with water, the materials mix to a consistency resembling
mortar and become hard after drying.
• Big molds for casting are made of brick framework lined with loam
sand and dried.
• Sweeps etc are used for making big castings like big bells by using
loam sand.
 Characteristics of moulding sand
1. Green strength is the strength of sand in the green or moist condition.
2. Dry strength is the strength after the molten metal is poured & moisture is evaporated.
3. Flowability/plasticity is the ability of the sand to get compacted
4. Permeability/porosity is the ability of sand to allow the escape of any air, gases/moisture
5. Refractoriness is the ability of molding sand to withstand high temperatures without
breaking down or fusing
6. Adhesiveness It is property of molding sand to get stick or adhere with foreign material
such as with inner wall of molding box
7. Cohesiveness is the ability of sand grain particles interact and attract each other within the
molding sand.
8. Thermal stability is the ability of molding sand to withstand expansion/crack/buckle due
to heat generated at mold-metal interface
 Core
• Full-scale model of interior surfaces of part used to produce hollow parts
• It is inserted into the mold cavity prior to pouring
• The molten metal flows and solidifies between the mold cavity and the core to
form the casting's external and internal surfaces
• May require supports to hold it in position in the mold cavity during pouring,
called chaplets
• Castings are often required to have holes of various sizes and shapes. These
impressions can be obtained by using cores.
 Shell moulding

•It is a moulding process in which the mold is a thin shell of sand held
together by thermosetting resin binder
• Developed in Germany during early 1940s
• Used for mass production and smooth finish
• Shell mold casting is particularly suitable for steel castings under 10
kg; however almost any metal that can be cast in sand can be cast with
shell molding process.
• Also much larger parts have been manufactured with shell molding.
• Typical parts manufactured in industry using the shell mold casting
process include cylinder heads, gears, bushings, connecting rods,
camshafts and valve bodies.
 Steps in shell-molding
(1) A match-plate or cope-and-drag metal pattern is heated and placed over a box
containing sand mixed with thermosetting resin
 Step (2)
• box is inverted so that sand and resin fall onto the hot pattern, causing a layer of
the mixture to partially cure on the surface to form a hard shell
 Steps -3
• box is repositioned so that loose uncured particles drop away

• (4) sand shell is heated in oven for several minutes to complete curing
• (5) shell mold is stripped from the pattern
(6) two halves of the shell mold are assembled, supported by
sand or metal shot in a box, and pouring is accomplished
(7) the finished casting with sprue removed
Advantages and Disadvantages of Shell Molding
• Advantages:
–Smoother cavity surface permits easier flow of molten metal and better
surface finish on casting
–Good dimensional accuracy
–Machining often not required
–Mold collapsibility usually avoids cracks in casting
–Can be mechanized for mass production
•Disadvantages:
–More expensive metal pattern
–Difficult to justify for small quantities
 GATING SYSTEM

• The term gating system refers to all passageways through which the
molten metal passes to enter the mould cavity.
•The gating system is composed of
 Pouring basin
 Sprue
 Runner
 Gates
 Risers
 Gating system
 For proper functioning of the gating system, the following factors need
to be controlled.
Type of pouring equipment, such as ladles, pouring basin etc.
Temperature/ Fluidity of molten metal.
Rate of liquid metal pouring.
Type and size of sprue.
Type and size of runner.
Size, number and location of gates connecting runner and casting.
Position of mould during pouring and solidification.
 A pouring basin

• makes it easier for the ladle/crucible operator to direct the flow of metal to sprue.
• Helps maintaining the required rate of liquid metal flow.
• Reduces turbulence at the sprue entrance.
• Helps separating dross, slag etc., from metal before it enters the sprue.
Sprue
• The vertical passage that passes through the cope and connects the pouring basin
with the runner or gate is called the sprue.
• A sprue feeds metal to runner which in turn reaches the casting through gates.
• A sprue is tapered with its bigger end at top to receive the liquid metal. The
smaller end is connected to runner.
 Gates
• A gate is a channel which connects runner with the mould cavity and through
which molten metal flows to fill the mould cavity.
• Ingate is the End of gate where it joins the mould cavity and through which,
molten metal is introduced into the mould cavity. Gates can be:
 Top gate
 Bottom gate
 Parting line side gate
Runner
• The Runners are of large cross-section and often streamlined to slow down
and smooth out the flow, and are designed to provide approximately uniform
flow rates to the various parts of the mould cavity.
• Runners are commonly made trapezoidal in cross-section.
 Riser
• The function of a riser is to supply addition molten metal to a casting
to ensure a shrinkage porosity free casting
• It provides the direction solidification of molten metal It escapes the
gases in cavity during casting.
• It also indicates the filling of cavity. The rate at which the pouring
metal is stop or not.
• The riser is placed top most portion of the mould cavity.
• To be effective a riser must solidify after the casting and contain
sufficient metal to feed the casting or portion of a casting.
 Investment Casting (Lost Wax Process)
• "Investment" comes from one of the less familiar definitions of "invest" - "to cover
completely," which refers to coating of refractory material around wax pattern. It is a
precision casting process - capable of castings of high accuracy and intricate detail.
• Steps in investment casting:
(1)wax patterns are produced
(2) several patterns are attached to a sprue to form a pattern tree
(3) the pattern tree is coated with a thin layer of refractory material
(4) the full mold is formed by covering the coated tree with sufficient refractory material
to make it rigid
(5) the mold is held in an inverted position and heated to melt the wax and permit it to drip
out of the cavity
(6) the mold is preheated to a high temperature, which ensures that all contaminants are
eliminated from the mold; it also permits the liquid metal to flow more easily into the
detailed cavity; the molten metal is poured; it solidifies
(7) the mold is broken away from the finished casting - parts are separated from the sprue
I.C

(g) Cut off parts

(high-speed friction saw)
 finishing (polish)
Advantages and Disadvantages of Investment Casting
•Advantages:
–Parts of great complexity and intricacy can be cast
–Close dimensional control and good surface finish
–Wax can usually be recovered for reuse
–Additional machining is not normally required - this is a net shape
process

•Disadvantages
–Many processing steps are required
–Relatively expensive process
 Pressure Die casting(permanent mould casting)
 Die casting is a moulding process in which the molten metal is injected
under high pressure and velocity into a split mould die. It is also called
pressure die casting.
 The split mould used under this type of casting is reusable. Die casting
is categorized under two types namely- hot chamber and cold chamber
 It is type of permanent mold casting.
Hot-Chamber Die-Casting
(i) die is closed, gooseneck cylinder is filled with molten metal
(ii) plunger pushes molten metal through gooseneck into cavity
(iii) metal is held under pressure until it solidifies
(iv) die opens, cores retracted; plunger returns
(v) ejector pins push casting out of ejector die
Hot-Chamber Die-Casting
 Hot-Chamber Die-Casting

Application
• Applications limited to low melting-point metals that do not chemically attack
plunger and other mechanical components.
e.g. zinc, tin, lead, magnesium and non-alloying elements.
 Cold-Chamber Die-Casting
(i) die closed, molten metal is ladled into cylinder
(ii) plunger pushes molten metal into die cavity
(iii) metal is held under high pressure until it solidifies
(iv) die opens, plunger pushes solidified slug from the cylinder
(v) cores retracted
(iv) ejector pins push casting off ejector die
Applications
aluminum, brass, and magnesium Alloy products of automotive, aerospace
and others
Cold-Chamber Die-Casting
 Centrifugal Casting
• A group of casting processes in which the mold is rotated at high speed so
centrifugal force distributes molten metal to outer regions of die cavity

• A permanent mold made of metal or ceramic is rotated at high speed(300 to 3000

rpm). The molten metal is then poured into the mold cavity and due to centrifugal
action the molten metal conform to the cavity provided in the mould.

•Castings are known for their higher densities in the outer most regions.

•The process gives good surface finish

•Applications: pipes, bushings, gears, flywheels etc.

Centrifugal Casting
 Casting defects

Defects may occur due to one or more of the following reasons:

Fault in design of casting pattern

Fault in design on mold and core
Fault in design of gating system and riser
Improper choice of moulding sand
Improper metal composition
Inadequate melting temperature and rate of pouring
A).Misrun A casting that has solidified before completely filling mold cavity
Misrun defect is a kind of incomplete casting defect, which causes the casting
uncompleted. The edge of defect is round and smooth.
B)Cold Shut
Two portions of metal flow together but there is a lack of fusion due to
premature(early) freezing
C) Sand blow/Blow holes
Balloon-shaped gas cavity caused by release of mold gases during pouring
d) Shrinkage Cavity
• Depression in surface or internal void caused by solidification shrinkage that
restricts amount of molten metal available in last region to freeze
e)Pin Holes
•Formation of many small gas cavities at or slightly below surface of casting f)
f) Penetration
• When fluidity of liquid metal is high, it may penetrate into sand mold or sand
core, causing casting surface to consist of a mixture of sand grains and metal