BNM 30303

CASTING TECHNOLOGY

Chapter 1 : Types of Casting

Prepared by :
Dr. Aslinda Saleh
 What is Casting?

 What is Foundry?

 Are both of them same in definition?

 What is Foundrymen?

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 Overview of Metal Casting
Definition:

Casting is a manufacturing process whereby the desired material is heated

to the liquid state, then introduced into a previously prepared mold cavity
of proper design, and allowed to solidify in the mold before being
extracted, trimmed and cleaned. (Joseph Datsko, 1966)

Foundry is a factory equipped with metal casting tools and equipment for
casting operation.

Foundrymen is the person who works in foundry that perform the casting.

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 Cont’

 Casting uses the idea that liquid metal can take the shape of the
vessel containing it.

 When it cools, it will take the shape of the container.

 Casting is a versatile process among other manufacturing processes,

since casting process can be used to produce many different purposes
of castings.

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 Advantages of Casting

 Casting can produced intricate shape of product either internal or external and
complex product.
 Since molten metal can flow into small sections in the mould.

 Casting product can be in the range of as small as 0.5mm diameter wire to

200tonnes large.

 Casting is a low cost and quick process.

 The tools required for casting mould are simple and inexpensive.

 Due to the casting process is low cost and quick, thus it is suitable for production of
protoypes for creating a new designed product.

 Casting is a versatile process for producing parts of any application such as for
automotive, agriculture, home appliances and machinery.

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 Limitations of Casting

 Dimensional accuracy and surface finished achieved by normal sand

casting would not be adequate for final application. Thus, the casting
shall undergo further trimming and cleaning processes.

 Casting is labour intensive to some extent for casting production.

 Due to casting operation requires mould preparation, melting metal, pouring molten
metal, extracting, trimming and cleaning. All these processes consume a lot of
workers to perform the casting.

 Casting process expose the foundrymen to safety hazard due to

handilng molten metal (melting and pouring).

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 When are metal casting required?
 To allow the shaping of difficult materials.
 Brittle material , low ductility

 To produce very complex shapes with internal cavities, hollow sections

and complicated contour.
 Engine block, cylinder head, bearing seat, pipe, piston, brake drum..

Engine block
Brake drum
Bearing seat

Cylinder head Pipe

Piston
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 Cont’
 To produce large parts, since casting may range from 1oz to
200tonnes large.

Heavy machinery

Cast steel mill housing

Large casting part

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 Cont’
 To produce work-piece materials that are difficult or uneconomical to
process by other means.

 Casting is competitive with other manufacturing processes .

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 Typical Application of Casting
 Automotive

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 Cont’
 Plumbing : valve blades, pipe fittings, pipe, control handle

Bronze valve
Brass stop valve

Pipe fittings

Bronze stop cock

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 Cont’
 Aerospace : Avionics cases, seat parts, window bezel, turbine parts,
handle, levers..

Aero-engine application
Turbine parts

Aluminum casting

Turbine blade

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 Cont’
 Machine tools : machine base, carriers, ways, tailstock, knee…

Tailstock
Machine base

Machine base

Ways
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 Fundamental of Metal Casting
Basic process of casting :

Pouring molten
Create mould
metal into a
from a pattern
mould

Removing the
Allowing it to
part from the
solidify
mould

Heat treating &

finish machining

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 Types of Casting
 Expendable moulds - moulds made of sand, plaster, ceramics, or
other materials capable of withstanding high temperatures which
are broken up and discarded after a single use.

 Permanent Moulds - moulds usually made of metal which maintain

strength at high temperatures and are used for making a large
number of repeated castings.

 Composite Moulds - moulds which use elements of both

expendable and permanent molds.

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 Casting Processes
a) Expandable mould and permanent pattern :
◦ Sand casting
◦ Shell-mould casting
◦ Plaster-mould casting
◦ Ceramic-mould casting

b) Expandable mould and pattern :

◦ Investment casting
◦ Lost foam casting

c) Permanent mould :
◦ Permanent-mould casting
◦ Die casting
◦ Centrifugal casting
◦ Squeeze casting

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 Sand Casting ( Overview)

 Sand mould is the traditional method of casting metal and it has been
used since c 3500 BC.

 Parts found during this period are copper axes and other flat objects
casted in an open mould made of stone or baked clay.

 The refinement of casting process was brought by the bronze age ( c

2000 BC)

 Core for making hollow sockets in the objects was invented which
made of baked clay.

 The casting technology continues to improve

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 Sand Casting Process

a) Placing a pattern in sand to make an imprint

(Pattern : the shape of the desired casting)

b) Incorporating a gating system

c) Removing the pattern & filing the mould cavity with molten metal

d) Allowing the metal to cool until it solidifies

e) Breaking the sand mould

f) Remove the casting

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 Schematic illustration of a sand mould

Sprue
Sprue

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 Casting terms
 Flask : one which hold / support the sand mould intact
 Cope : upper part of moulding flask
 Drag : lower part of moulding flask

 Pouring basin : a small tunnel shape cavity at the top of the mould
into which the molten metal is poured
 Riser : a reservoir of molten metal provided in the casting, so that it
will supply additional molten metal to the casting as it shrinks during
solidification (open riser & blind riser)
 Sprue : the passage through which the molten metal flows downward

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 Cont’
 Runner : Channel that carry the molten metal from the sprue to the
mould cavity
 Gate : the inlets into the mould cavity
 Parting line : dividing line between two moulding flask
 Core : inserts made from sand to create hollow cavities in casting
 Mould cavity : cavity in which molten metal occupied to the desired
shape (product)
 Vent hole : small / tiny hole create for molten metal gasses to escape
out from the mould when molten metal contact with moulding sand
 Pattern : replica of the final object used to form mould cavity

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Sequence of Operation for Sand Casting

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Cont’

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 Shell-mould Casting ( Overview)

 It was first developed in the 1940s and has growth significantly due to
its advantages :-
• Can produce casting with close dimensional tolerances

• Having good surface finish at low cost

• Lower draft angles

• Can produce very thin sections

 Applications include small mechanical parts requiring high precision

such as gear housing, cylinder heads and connecting rods.

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Application

Connecting rods Cylinder head

Cylinder head
Gear housing

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 Shell-mould Casting Process
a) Sand mixture preparation :
◦ Sand grain is mixed with thermosetting resin binder (phenol formaldehyde) about
2.5% ~ 4.0% which coats the sand particles

◦ Mixed inside muller for 1 minute

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 Cont’
b) Pattern creation
◦ Metal pattern is created of the desired part typically from iron or steel

c) Mould creation
◦ Metal pattern is heated to 175oC to 370oC and sprayed with release agent /
parting agent for easy release of shell (silicone spray)

◦ Heated pattern is clamped with a dump box contains a mixture of sand & resin
binder

◦ The dump box is inverted, allowing the sand-resin mixture to adhere on the pattern

◦ The shell along with the pattern plate kept in an oven for curing completion & shell
is ejected from the pattern

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 Cont’
d) Mould assembly
◦ The two halves shell are joined together either by mechanical clamping or
adhesive bonding

◦ Shell mould is placed into a flask and supported by a backing material (sand)

e) Pouring
◦ The is securely clamped together, and ready for pouring of molten metal

f) Removing
◦ After cooled, casting can be removed by breaking the mould

◦ Trimming and cleaning process shall be done to the excess material of the feed
system or from sand particles

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Dump-box technique

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 Plaster-mould casting (overview)

 Known as precision casting because of high dimensional accuracy and good

surface finish

 Used only for cast aluminum, magnesium, zinc and some copper-based
alloys

 The plaster mould having low thermal conductivity than others, the castings
cool slowly will obtained a uniform grain structure with less warpage

 Can produce thin wall product with thickness ranging from 1 to 2.5mm

 Typical parts produced by plaster-mould casting are lock components, gears,

valves, fittings, tooling and ornaments.

 Part produce ranging from 1kg to 10kg

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Application

Gears
Ornaments
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 Plaster-mould casting process
a) Pattern creation
◦ Create pattern from drawing or clone from customer model

◦ Pattern materials are aluminum alloys, thermosetting plastics, brass or zinc alloys

◦ Woods patterns are not suitable for making large number of moulds because they are repeatedly in
contact with water-based plaster slurry

b) Mould creation
◦ The composition of plaster of paris (gypsum or calcium sulfate) with addition of talc and silica flour to
improve strength and control the time required for plaster to set

◦ The slurry is then poured over the pattern and allowing the plaster to set (about 15minute) and removed
from the pattern

◦ The mould is dried at temperature 120oC to 260oC to remove moisture

c) Mould assembly
◦ The mould halves are assembled to form the cavity and preheated at 120oC

d) Pouring
◦ Molten metal is poured into the mould

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 Ceramic-mould casting (overview)
 Is similar to plaster-mould casting

 It uses refractory mould material which suitable for high temperature

applications such as ferrous and high temperature alloys, stainless
steel and tool steels.

 Capable of producing casting up to 700kg

 Typical applications are impellers, cutters for machining operations,

die for metal working, mould for plastic and rubber

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 Ceramic-mould casting process
a) Pattern creation
◦ Patterns are made of metal or wood

b) Mould creation
◦ Mix fine-grained zircon, aluminum oxide and fused silica which then mixed with bonding
agent

◦ The slurry is then poured over the pattern which has been place in flask

◦ After setting the mould (ceramic facing) are removed, dried, burned off to remove
volatile matter and baked

c) Mould assembly
◦ The mould halves are clamped firmly

d) Pouring
◦ The mould is ready for pouring

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Sequence operation of making ceramic mould

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This photo shows a ceramic mold made by 3D Printing and an orthopedic
knee casting poured into a similar mold. The knee casting has been
polished on the back side as can be seen in the reflection in the mirror.
The casting is made of a medical cobalt chrome alloy.
Photo Credit: MIT 3DP La

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 References

1) John Campbell, 2011, “ Complete Casting Handbook-Metal Casting

Processes, Metallurgy, Techniques and Design, Butterworth Heinemann

2) S. Kalpakjian and S.R. Schmid, 2001, “Manufacturing Engineering and

Technology”, 4th Edition, Prentice Hall

3) P N Rao, 2001, “ Manufacturing Technology: Foundry, Forming and

Welding”, 2nd Edition, McGraw Hill.

4) G. F. Schrader and A. K. Elshennawy, 2000, “Manufacturing Processes and

Materials”, 4th Edition, Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

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