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Solidification of Castings
Solidification of Castings
Solidification of Castings
After molten metal is poured into a mould, a series of events takes place during the solidification
of the casting and its cooling to ambient temperature. These events greatly influence the size, shape,
uniformity, and chemical composition of the grains formed throughout the casting, which in turn influence
its overall properties. The significant factors affecting these events are the type of metal, thermal properties
of both the metal and the mould, the geometric relationship between volume and surface area of the casting,
and shape of the mould.
Nucleation and Grain Growth
When the free energy of a parent phase is reduced by means of temperature or pressure then there
is a driving force leading to crystallization. At the melting point, the thermal fluctuations result in the
formation of tiny particles (containing only a few atoms) of the product phase within the parent volume.
Such a tiny particle has an interface that separates it from the parent matrix. It grows by transfer of atoms
across its interface. The process of formation of the first stable tiny particle is called nucleation. And the
process of increase in the sizes of these particles is called grain growth.
The grain size in the product phase depends on the relative rates of nucleation and grain growth.
Each nucleating particle becomes a grain in the final product. So a high nucleation rate means a larger
number of grains. Also, when this is combined with a low growth rate, more time is available for further
nucleation to take place in the parent phase that lies between slowly growing particles. A combination of
high nucleation rate with low growth rate yields a fine grain size. On the other hand, a low nucleation rate
combined with a high growth rate yields a coarse grain size.
The temperature of maximum rate
of nucleation is lower than that of maximum
growth rate. An increase in cooling rate
lowers the effective transformation
temperature and results in the combination
of high nucleation rate and a relatively slow
growth rate and yields a fine grain size.
The solidification which starts from the mould wall toward the centre line of the cavity is called
Lateral or Progressive Solidification. The longitudinal or Directional Solidification occurs at right
angles to lateral solidification at the centre line and is shown in the figure 1.8.4. The casting shown is a
simple bar or plate and the metal is a pure metal, or a skin forming alloy.
In order to obtain a sound casting with no shrinkage void along the centerline, two requirements must be
satisfied as follows:
1. The longitudinal solidification must be progressive toward the riser from the point, or points, most
distant from the riser.
2. The temperature gradient, in addition to being properly directed, must be sufficiently steep so that
liquid metal can pass through the wedge-shaped channel to compensate for shrinkage as it occurs
at the centerline.
If the temperature gradient is not sufficiently steep, the included angle of the wedge-shaped channel will be
too small and proper passage of feed metal is not possible. If there were no temperature gradient, the lateral
solidification at all points would reach the centerline at the same time. The result in either case is a lack of
metal at the centerline, which causes an elongated narrow void known as centerline shrinkage. In other
casting sections, voids of various shapes are caused by the shrinkage of skin forming type of alloy.
Solidification of Alloys
face. In the chilled mould, on the other hand, due to rapid heat extraction, a narrow liquid zone quickly
sweeps across the molten metal. The difficulty of feeding a given alloy in a mould is expressed by a
quantity, called centre line feeding resistance (CFR).
Time interval between start and end of freezing at centre line
CFR = x 100 %
Total solidification time of casting
Chills
These are provided in the mould so as to increase the heat extraction capability of the sand mould. A chill
normally provides a steeper temperature gradient so that directional solidification as required in a casting is
obtained. These are metallic objects having a higher heat absorbing capability than the sand mould.
The chills can be of two types: external and internal.
The internal chills are placed inside the mould cavity where an external chill cannot be provided.
The material of chill should approximately resemble the composition of the pouring metal for proper
fusing. Cleanliness of the internal chills is far more important because they are surrounded on all sides by
the molten metal.
Chaplets
Chaplets are metallic support often kept inside the mould cavity to support the cores. These are of the same
composition as that of the pouring metal so that the molten metal would provide enough heat to completely
melt them and thus fuse with it during solidification.
Though the
chaplet is supposed to fuse
with parent metal, in
practice it is difficult to
achieve and normally it
forms a weak joint in the
casting. The other likely
problems encountered in
chaplets are the
condensation of moisture
which finally ends up as
blow holes. So chaplets
Figure 1.8.10: Core supported by chaplets
before they are placed in the mould should be thoroughly cleaned of any dirt, oil or grease. Because of the
problems associated with chaplets, it is desirable to redesign the castings, as far as possible.
The force Fm can be estimated by taking the area of cross section of the casting on which this is
acting. The projected area, AP of the casting in the parting plane is the area on which the metal pressure will
be acting.
Review Questions
1. What do you mean by progressive and directional solidification?
2. Why fine grained skin is formed just adjacent to the mould wall in solidification of casting?
3. Why columnar grains are formed in casting?
4. To generate equi-axed grains in casting what conditions one has to create?
5. If nucleation rate is slow but growth rate is fast, what type of grain structure will form?
6. Differentiate between homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation.
7. How dendrites are formed in alloys?
8. What do you mean by Centre line Feeding Resistance?
9. How feeding distance from riser can be increased?
10. What are the functions of chills and chaplets?
11. Explain external and internal chills.
12. What are the common materials used in chills and chaplets?
13. Find the weights that need to be kept to compensate for the forces during the pouring in a sand
casting of a cast iron pipe of 12.5 cm OD and 10cm ID with a length of 180 cm. The metal head is
to be about 20 cm, while the moulding flask size used for the purpose is 200 x 25 x 20 cm in size.
Take the density of the core sand to be 0.0165 N/ cm3 and the liquid metal density to be 0.0771
N/ cm3.
14. The volume of a sand core is 160 cm3. Find the buoyant force on the core if poured with the
following alloys: a) cast iron b) cast steel c) aluminium.
15. What is the freezing range for steel?
16. How to fill very thin section of the casting by liquid metal?
17. If the core print area is not sufficient to support the buoyant force, then what steps one will
consider?
18. Which types of grain contribute toward high strength of the material?
19. Why centre line cavity is formed in cooling of casting?
20. How thermal properties of mould affect grain sizes of casting?