Metal casting processes

Casting is one of the oldest manufacturing process. It is the first step in making most of the
products

Steps: - Making mould cavity

- Material is first liquefied by properly heating it in a suitable furnace.

- Liquid is poured into a prepared mould cavity

- allowed to solidify

- Product is taken out of the mould cavity, trimmed and made to shape

Typical sand mould

Important casting terms

Flask: A metal or wood frame, without fixed top or bottom, in which the mould is formed.
Depending upon the position of the flask in the moulding structure, it is referred to by various
names such as drag – lower moulding flask, cope – upper moulding flask, cheek – intermediate
moulding flask used in three piece moulding.

Pattern: It is the replica of the final object to be made. The mould cavity is made with the help
of pattern.

Parting line: This is the dividing line between the two moulding flasks that makes up the mould.
Moulding sand: Sand, which binds strongly without losing its permeability to air or gases. It is a
mixture of silica sand, clay, and moisture in appropriate proportions.

Facing sand: The small amount of carbonaceous material sprinkled on the inner surface of the
mould cavity to give a better surface finish to the castings.

Core: A separate part of the mould, made of sand and generally baked, which is used to create
openings and various shaped cavities in the castings.

Pouring basin: A small funnel shaped cavity at the top of the mould into which the molten
metal is poured.

Sprue: The passage through which the molten metal, from the pouring basin, reaches the mould
cavity. In many cases it controls the flow of metal into the mould.

Runner: The channel through which the molten metal is carried from the sprue to the gate. Gate:
A channel through which the molten metal enters the mould cavity.

Chaplets: Chaplets are used to support the cores inside the mould cavity to take care of its own
weight and overcome the metallostatic force.

Riser: A column of molten metal placed in the mould to feed the castings as it shrinks and
solidifies. Also known as “feed head”.

Steps in making sand castings

Pattern making - Pattern: Replica of the part to be cast and is used to prepare the mould cavity.
It is the physical model of the casting used to make the mould. Made of either wood or metal. -
The mould is made by packing some readily formed aggregate material, such as moulding sand,
surrounding the pattern. When the pattern is withdrawn, its imprint provides the mould cavity.
This cavity is filled with metal to become the casting. - If the casting is to be hollow, additional
patterns called ‘cores’, are used to form these cavities.

Core making Cores are placed into a mould cavity to form the interior surfaces of castings. Thus
the void space is filled with molten metal and eventually becomes the casting.

Moulding Moulding is nothing but the mould preparation activities for receiving molten metal.
Moulding usually involves:
(i) Preparing the consolidated sand mould around a pattern held within a supporting metal frame,
(ii) removing the pattern to leave the mould cavity with cores. Mould cavity is the primary
cavity. The mould cavity contains the liquid metal and it acts as a negative of the desired
product. The mould also contains secondary cavities for pouring and channeling the liquid
material in to the primary cavity and will act a reservoir, if required.

Melting and Pouring-The preparation of molten metal for casting is referred to simply as
melting. The molten metal is transferred to the pouring area where the moulds are filled.

Cleaning Cleaning involves removal of sand, scale, and excess metal from the casting. Burned-
on sand and scale are removed to improved the surface appearance of the casting. Excess metal,
in the form of fins, wires, parting line fins, and gates, is removed. Inspection of the casting for
defects and general quality is performed.

Making a simple sand mould

1)The drag flask is placed on the board

2) Dry facing sand is sprinkled over the board

3) Drag half of the pattern is located on the mould board. Dry facing sand will provide a non-
sticky layer.

4) Molding sand is then poured in to cover the pattern with the fingers and then the drag is filled
completely

5) Sand is then tightly packed in the drag by means of hand rammers. Peen hammers (used first
close to drag pattern) and butt hammers (used for surface ramming) are used.

6) The ramming must be proper i.e. it must neither be too hard or soft. Too soft ramming will
generate weak mould and imprint of the pattern will not be good. Too hard ramming will not
allow gases/air to escape and hence bubbles are created in casting resulting in defects called
‘blows’. Moreover, the making of runners and gates will be difficult.

7) After the ramming is finished, the excess sand is leveled/removed with a straight bar known as
strike rod
Pattern-

The pattern and the part to be made are not same. They differ in the following aspects.

1. pattern is always made larger than the final part to be made. The excess dimension is known as
Pattern allowance. Pattern allowance => shrinkage allowance, machining allowance

2. Shrinkage allowance: will take care of contractions of a casting which occurs as the metal
cools to room temperature. Liquid Shrinkage: Reduction in volume when the metal changes from
liquid state to solid state. Riser which feed the liquid metal to the casting is provided in the
mould to compensate for this. Solid Shrinkage: Reduction in volume caused when metal looses
temperature in solid state. Shrinkage allowance is provided on the patterns to account for this.
Shrink rule is used to compensate solid shrinkage depending on the material contraction rate.

Core and core print: - Cores are used to make holes, recesses etc. in castings - So where coring
is required, provision should be made to support the core inside the mould cavity. Core prints are
used to serve this purpose. The core print is an added projection on the pattern and it forms a seat
in the mould on which the sand core rests during pouring of the mould. - The core print must be
of adequate size and shape so that it can support the weight of the core during the casting
operation.