Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2017) 90:3301–3315
DOI 10.1007/s00170-016-9614-0
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Bayesian inference-based investment-casting defect analysis
system for industrial application
Amit Sata 1 & B. Ravi 2
Received: 11 January 2015 / Accepted: 13 October 2016 / Published online: 4 November 2016
# Springer-Verlag London 2016
Abstract In spite of the best efforts of foundry engineers,
many castings contain defects and need to be rejected,
repaired, or recycled (remelted). This leads to an unnecessary
wastage of production resources, reduced productivity, and
delayed supply of parts to customers. The defects can be sig-
nificantly reduced by identifying and controlling the relevant
parameters (related to process and composition), through the
application of comprehensive domain knowledge. This is,
however, a challenging task since the above parameters vary
within a wide range, and it is difficult to determine the specific
range of values that should be avoided to prevent the defects.
In this paper, we present a Bayesian inference-based method-
ology for analysis and reduction of casting defects. The data
related to process parameters and chemical composition of
alloy, as well as the number of defective castings, is collected
from a foundry. The values of posterior probability of each
input parameter are computed using Bayesian inference to
identify the most influencing parameters and the avoidable
range of their values. The system was successfully tested on
real-life data obtained from an industrial investment-casting
foundry, leading to significant reduction in rejection rate of
cast parts. The proposed methodology, implemented using
Microsoft Excel, was found to be easy to use by practicing
* Amit Sata
ameet_sata2000@yahoo.com
B. Ravi
b.ravi@iitb.ac.in
1
Mechanical Engineering Department, B H Gardi College of
Engineering and Technology, Kalawad Road, Anandpar,
Rajkot 361162, India
2
Mechanical Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology
Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400076, India
engineers, without any training or customizing, and can there-
fore be applied to any investment-casting foundry.
Keywords Bayesian inference . Casting . Defect analysis .
Investment casting
1 Introduction
The modern investment-casting process is widely used for
producing near-net shape industrial parts of ferrous and non-
ferrous alloys used in automobile, aerospace, biomedical,
chemical, electrical, food processing, machine tool, and many
other industries. It generally involves the following three ma-
jor sub-processes: wax pattern fabrication, ceramic shell prep-
aration, and metal pouring [12].
The industrial wax (usually composition of wax (30–
70 %), resins (20–60 %), plastic (0–20 %), and other additives
(0–5 %)) is injected into accurately machined dies (generally
made of aluminum alloys) to prepare wax patterns [20].
Unwanted material at parting line (flash) of wax pattern is
removed, and material is filled into minor surface irregularities
(frazing) to provide a smooth surface. The patterns are cleaned
and assembled to gating systems (sprue, runner, and gate) to
obtain a tree. The assembled tree is then transferred to an
environmentally controlled room for ceramic shell making.
Ceramic shell making starts with dipping the wax pattern
assembly (generally by hand) into slurry, referred as primary
coating, which governs the surface finish of the final casting.
This is carried out in controlled environmental conditions,
with temperature maintained at 18–25 °C and relative humid-
ity at 70–90 %. The slurry is usually a mixture of 300–400-
mesh-sized zircon flour (typically 75 %) and hydrolyzed ethyl
silicate or colloidal silica (typically 25 %) as a binder. The wet
tree is sprayed with fine particles of 150–200-mesh-sized sand
3302 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2017) 90:3301–3315

(usually zircon) to secure the primary coating over the wax

pattern. Then, the shell is alternately dipped in slurry and
sprayed with coarse particles of 30–80-mesh-sized sand to
obtain 5–8 layers of secondary coating. The ceramic mold is
then dried in a controlled environment for 4–8 h, followed by
heating in an autoclave to melt out the wax, referred to as
dewaxing.
The dewaxed molds are baked (usually at 1000 to
1100 °C for 30–45 min) in baking furnace (usually oil
fired) [12]. This burns out any residual wax, strengthens
the mold, and prevents cracking during pouring of mol-
ten metal. The cast metal/alloy is simultaneously melted
in a furnace (usually induction), poured in the pre-
heated ceramic molds, and allowed to solidify. After
the mold cools down, the ceramic shell material is bro-
ken (usually with the help of vibrating machine). The
castings are cut away from the gating system, grounded,
and shot blasted. The castings are sent for inspection,
heat treatment (if needed), and then dispatched.
It is generally observed in industry that about 5–10 %
of the parts produced by investment-casting process con-
tain defects (Fig. 1). The defects include flash (projection
of excess metal perpendicular to surface of casting),
misrun (mold cavity unoccupied by molten metal), ce-
ramic inclusion (entrapment of ceramic particles on sur-
face or sub-surface of casting), slag inclusion (projection
of metal mixed with investment material on surface of
casting), shrinkage (small sponge-liked cavities in the
last solidified section), sweating (irregular metallic pro-
jection on surface of casting), distortion (with respect to
the original shape of casting), and crack (localized dis-
continuity developed from concentrated stress during so-
lidification). The defects, if not detected, influence the Fig. 1 Various defects in investment casting
performance of casting and its service life [18]. Repair
or recycling of the defective castings adds to manufactur-
ing cost and represents wastage of foundry resources. the linear dimensional accuracy (expansion or shrinkage)
The occurrence of casting defects can be prevented by of the ceramic shell, in turn affecting the geometric fidel-
identifying the parameters responsible. This is, however, a ity of castings [5]. Misrun is caused due to low fluidity of
challenging task since several parameters are involved, molten metal, which depends on process parameters relat-
generally related to the material and process for wax pat- ed to ceramic shell making and melting [23]. The param-
tern, ceramic shell, and casting alloy, as listed in Table 1. eters vary in a wide range and are not easy to control.
For example, improper flow of wax pattern in the die Hence, there is a need to identify the most critical param-
causes flash defect in wax pattern, which is exaggerated eters that influence the occurrence of defects, as well as
by primary coating room temperature and humidity [11]. the range of their values to avoid during the process, so
Poor adhesion of ceramic particles in ceramic coating can that the defects are minimized. The approach must be easy
cause inclusions. The coating itself depends on the shell- to implement in industrial practice.
making parameters, such as viscosity, pH, environmental In this work, a casting defect analysis system based
condition (temperature and humidity), duration of coating, on Bayesian inference was developed to analyze and
and final weight of coating. Non-uniform expansion dur- prevent defects in investment castings, by identifying
ing shell backing of the ceramic shell causes cracking, responsible parameters and the avoidable range of their
which is driven by the environmental conditions tuned values. Previous research work in the area of defect
during ceramic shell-making process [27]. The process analysis is presented next, followed by the proposed
parameters related to various sub-processes also affect system and its testing in an industrial foundry.