Engineering Materials and Processes

Lecture 5 – Casting Process

Casting iron in
a sand mould:
Wikipedia
 Casting

Reference Text Section

Higgins RA & Bolton, 2010. Materials for Engineers and Technicians, Ch 5
5th ed, Butterworth Heinemann

This lecture follows exactly with Higgins Chapter 5.

Engineering Materials and Processes

Ingot casting (Higgins 5.2)

Cooling a thick casting causes poor grain

structure. Large ingots are a problem.

Grains in cast
aluminium
www.spaceflight.esa.int

Engineering Materials and Processes

Low Pressure Metal Casting
(Higgins 5.3 Sand-casting)

VIDEO
Metal casting: Sand Moulds
Scutt, Don. [Chadstone, Vic.] : Double D Technical
Productions, c2004. DVD (29 min.)
This program covers jobbing moulding, cold box
moulding, pit moulding, rapid prototyping, investment
casting, medium volume green sand moulding,
automated cold box moulding, hot box moulding, high
volume lost foam moulding, hunter process, disamatic.
Mt Druitt College Library: DVD 671.252/META
Recommended Viewing: All sections.

5.6 Investment-casting
5.7 Full-mould process (Lost foam)

Engineering Materials and Processes

Porosity in Low Pressure
Porosity occurs because the casting
shrinks on solidification.
High pressure can fix this, but it makes
the mould very expensive.
Another way is to use a reservoir of
molten metal that feeds more liquid as it
solidifies.

In this low pressure casting, aluminium alloy was

poured down the runner into the mould. The
hollow in the top of the runner caused by liquid
flowing from the runner into the mould as the
casting solidified. As well as the hollow at the top,
you can see some holes in the runner and one
hole within the casting itself. The runners and
risers will later be cut off and discarded.
http://openlearn.open.ac.uk

Engineering Materials and Processes

High Pressure Metal Die Casting
(Higgins: 5.4 Die-casting)

VIDEO
Metal casting: Die Casting
Scutt, Don. [Chadstone, Vic.] : Double D Technical
Productions, c2004. DVD (29 min.)
This video shows six casting processes and outlines the
advantages, limitations and areas of application of
each process. Included are gravity casting high pressure
hot chamber die casting, high pressure cold chamber
die casting and squeeze casting.
Mt Druitt College Library: DVD 671.253/META
Recommended Viewing: All sections.

5.4.1 Pressure die-casting

5.4.2 Gravity die-casting
5.5 Centrifugal casting

Engineering Materials and Processes

(Higgins: 5.9 The choice of casting process)

In order of precision: In order of melting point:

1. Investment-casting 1. Investment-casting
2. Die-casting 2. Sand-casting
3. Sand-casting 3. Die-casting
4. Full-mould process

Engineering Materials and Processes

Metal Casting Processes

Wikipedia: Casting

Engineering Materials and Processes

(Higgins: 5.9 The choice of casting process)

The initial costs of mould and

equipment are higher in the case of
die-casting (B) than for sand-
casting (A). Labour costs are
higher for sand casting.
The break-even value, i.e. the
number of castings which must be
made before the use of die-casting
is justified, may be of the order of
several thousands.
Once the break-even value has
been reached, the cost per die-
casting becomes less than the cost Higgins Fig 5.8
per sand-casting.

Engineering Materials and Processes

Shrinkage Allowance Contraction
Metal
(%)
Atoms in a solid fit closer together than in Grey cast iron 0.7 to 1.05
a liquid, so shrinkage occurs.
White cast iron 2.1

A few substances expand when they Malleable iron 1.5

solidify because they have a very loose Steel 2.0
packing arrangement. E.g. Water (ice), Brass 1.4
and Silicon. Alluminium 1.8
Aluminium alloys 1.3 to 1.6
Bronze 1.05 to 2.1
Magnesium 1.8
Zinc 2.5
Manganese steel 2.6

Based on;
http://www.calculatoredge.com

Engineering Materials and Processes

Design Study

Learning Space > All Units > Engineering and Technology > T173_2
> Manufacturing > PART 2. Casting:

2 Casting
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Properties for processing – casting
2.3 Types of casting
2.3.1 Permanent pattern
2.3.2 Permanent mould
2.3.3 Expendable mould and pattern
2.4 Casting processes
2.5 Casting metals
2.6 Casting plastics
2.7 Casting microstructure and defects
2.8 Casting our gearwheel
http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=399740&section=2.1

Engineering Materials and Processes

Online Properties Resources.

Graphical comparison of materials properties.

DoITPoMS: Dissemination of IT for the Promotion of Materials Science

Wikipedia: Casting

Metal Grains and processing

Engineering Materials and Processes

GLOSSARY
Binders Inclusion
Break Even Investment Casting
Charge Ladle
Cope Lost Foam
Core Parting Line
Draft Pattern
Drag Riser
Feeder Sand Casting
Fettling Shrinkage
Flash Shrink Hole
Gas Porosity Sink Marks
Gate Slag
Green Sand Sprue
Impurity Vacuum Casting

Castings Glossary

Engineering Materials and Processes

QUESTIONS
Moodle XML: Some questions in 10107 Processing

1. Define all the glossary terms.

2. List 2 advantages that casting offers over other manufacturing processes.
3. List in a table the advantages/disadvantages of casting processes: Sand,
investment, gravity die and high pressure die. Include melting point, accuracy,
setup costs, production costs, design limitations.
4. Sand casting pattern and sand mould costs $1900 and each part costs $50 in
labour. Die casting mould (die) costs $25000 and per part is $10. Calculate the
break-even quantity where die-casting becomes cheaper than sand casting.
5. Explain the following casting terms: Flash, porosity, feeder, runner, draft,
ejectors, cores.

Engineering Materials and Processes