Engineering Practice

(PRIR11)
Section: A
1st Semester
Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Matruprasad Rout, PhD

Assistant Professor
Dept. of Production Engineering
National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli
Tamil Nadu- 620015, India
Email: matruprasad@nitt.edu
 Pattern
o Replica of the desired product used to form the mold cavity

o Dimension is different from the actual part to be manufactured, why?

Important things to study about pattern

 Pattern materials

 Kind of pattern

 Allowances provided in the pattern

Pattern material:

Points to be considered while choosing a pattern material:

o Easy to give the required shape i.e. easy to work, machin and join
o Should have good resistance to wear and corrosion
o Good resistance to chemical reaction
o Dimensionally stable
o Easily available and economical
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Wood:
• Light weight, low cost, easily available and easily shaped
• More than 90% castings use wood patterns
• Absorbs moisture, may distort and dimensional changes may happen
• Comparatively lower life, used for small quantity production
Metal:
• Suitable for large quantity production
• Closer dimensional tolerances can be possible and comparatively longer life
• Commonly used metals: aluminum, cast iron, brass etc.
Plastic:
• Light weight, easy to form, smooth surface finish etc.
• Corrosion resistant, dimensionally stable (do not absorb moisture)
Some other pattern materials are wax, plaster etc.

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Types of Pattern

• Single Piece Pattern

• Split Pattern or Two Piece Pattern

• Gated Pattern

• Cope and Drag Pattern

• Match Plate pattern

• Loose Piece pattern

• Follow Board pattern

• Sweep Pattern

• Skeleton Pattern

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(a) Single piece, (b) Split, (c) Match-plate, and (d) Cope and Drag Pattern

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 Split Pattern

Cope and Drag Pattern

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 Follow board pattern
Match Plate pattern

Sweep pattern
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Pattern Allowances
• Dimensions of the pattern are different from the final dimensions of the
casting, modifications (in dimensions) incorporated into a pattern are called
pattern allowances.
• Shrinkage allowance: compensate for solid cooling (i.e. cooling from freezing
temperature or range to room temperature)
• Draft and shake allowance: facilitate easy withdrawal of pattern from mold
• Machining or finish allowance: extra amount of material to be provided on the
casting to give better finish through machining process
• Distortion allowance: compensate for distortion of weaker sections of the casting

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Shrinkage Allowance

Stage I: shrinkage of liquid melt: from

pouring to freezing temp
Stage II: solidification shrinkage due to
phase change at freezing temperature
(metals) or range (alloys)
Stage III: shrinkage of solidified casting: due
to cooling from freezing to room
temperature
• Shrinkage during stage I and II are taken
care of by riser while shrinkage allowance
takes care of shrinkage during stage III
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Required Casting Distorted Casting Cambered Pattern
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Molding materials

Different molding materials:

 Sand: Most Commonly Used
 Metals and Alloys: Multiple-Use Mold Casting Processes
 Plaster of Paris:
 Ceramic: the Mold can Withstand the Higher Melting Point Metals.
 Rubber: Low Melting Point Materials.

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Molding Sand
Desired properties of molding sand
• Refractoriness: Ability to withstand the high temperature of the melt so that it
does not fuse with the melt
• Cohesiveness: Rammed molding sand particles are bonded together once the
pattern is withdrawn from the mold
• Permeability: Property which allows the gases inside the mold to escape to the
surroundings, permeability is a function of
 Size of the sand particles,
 Amount and type of clay or bonding agent,
 Moisture content,
 Compacting pressure
• Collapsibility: Property due to which Sand Mold can Collapses after
Solidification of the Casting
• Flowability or Plasticity: ability to flow around and over the pattern
• Green Strength: ability of Green Sand to Retain the Shape of the Mold. The
(Strength refers to the compressive strength and molding sand containing moisture
is termed as green sand)
• Dry Strength: ability of the dry sand to retain the mold cavity (when the moisture
in the molding sand is completely expelled: dry sand)
• Hot Strength: strength of the sand required to hold the shape of the mold at high
temperature (when all the moisture of sand has been eliminated)
• Adhesiveness: ability to adhere to the surface of the molding flask

• Some other requirements:

 Cheap and easily available
 Low thermal expansion coefficient
 Reusable
 Chemically inert Engineering Practice (PRIR11)- July 2020 13
Composition of Molding Sand

• Material used for making green sand molds consists of

 Sand (70-85%): provides refractoriness
 Clay (10-20%): act as a binder, along with water, impart required
strength to the molding sand
 Water (3-6%): activate the clay and provide flowability
 Organic additives (1-6%): to enhance desired sand properties
• Molding sand composition must be carefully controlled to assure
satisfactory and consistent results
Different sands used: Silica sand (mostly used), Zircon sand, Olivine sand,
Chromite sand
Different clays used: Kaolinite or fire clay, Bentonite (Sodium or Calcium
bentonite)
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Sand molding

• In most cases sand molds are made by specially designed molding

machines however hand ramming is the preferred method
• Molding machines greatly reduce the labor and skill required, and give
to castings with better dimensional accuracy and consistency
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JOLTING:
• Sand is placed on top of the pattern.
• Pattern, flask, and sand are then lifted and
dropped several times.
• Kinetic energy of the sand produces optimum
packing around the pattern.
SQUEEZING:
• Uses either an air-operated squeeze head to
compact the sand.
• Squeezing provides firm packing near the
squeeze head, but the density diminishes farther
into the mold.
• High-pressure machines can produce a more
uniform density around all parts of an irregular
pattern Engineering Practice (PRIR11)- July 2020 16
Core
• Used for making cavities and internal features which cannot be produced by the
pattern alone.
• Cores are generally made of the sand and are even used in permanent molds.
• Cores are surrounded on all sides by the melt and therefore subjected to sever
thermal and mechanical conditions, hence core sand should be of higher strength
than the molding sand.
Core print
• Provided to securely and correctly position the core in the mold cavity.
• Design of core prints takes care of the weight of the core before pouring and the
upward pressure of the melt after pouring.
• Core prints ensures that the core is not shifted when molten metal is entered into
the mold cavity.
• Buoyancy force acts on the core when melt is poured into the mold cavity
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Casting defects

Casting Defects can be Categorized based on the cause of defect.

• due to evolution of gases
• due to shrinkage
• caused by molding material
• due to pouring of the molten metal
• metallurgical defects
Casting defects caused due to evolution of gases
• Blow holes and open blows, pin hole porosity, and air inclusion.
• Gas defects are caused to a great extent by the lower gas passing tendency
of the mold which may be due to
• Lower venting,
• Lower permeability of the mold
• Improper design of the casting
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Blow Holes

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Casting defects due to shrinkage

Shrinkage cavity is a void or depression in the

casting caused mainly by uncontrolled and
haphazard solidification of the cast material.
Causes:
• Wrong location or improper sized gating
system,
• Inadequate risers or poor design of casting
involving abrupt changes of sectional
thickness,
• Too high pouring temperature.

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Defects due to molding material
• Casting defects caused by the characteristics of the molding material include
• Cuts and washes, penetration, fusion, run out, swell, drop, rat tails and buckles

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Defects due to pouring the molten metal
Misrun, Cold Shut and Slag Inclusion

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