Module 1 (Important Topics)

• Advantages of Casting • Shell molding

• Types of pattern • Precision Investment casting
• Pattern Allowances • Die casting
• Core, coreprints & chaplets • Centrifugal casting
• Elements of gating system • Vacuum Induction Melting
• Electroslag Remelting
• Casting Defects
• Vacuum Arc Remelting
• Design consideration for casting
• Chvorinov's rule of solidification

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 Casting

Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid

material is usually poured into a mold, which
contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and
then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also
known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of
the mold to complete the process.

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Advantages of Casting

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PATTERN ALLOWANCES

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1) Green Strength-
Moulding Sand- Properties
– Adequate strength after mixing, and plasticity for handling
– Molding sand that contains moisture is called green sand
2) Dry Strength-
– After pouring molten metal, adjacent surface loses water content- Dries.
– Dry sand must have enough strength to withstand erosive force & pressure of molten metal
3) Hot Strength-
– Strength at elevated temperature after evaporation of moisture
4) Refractoriness-
– Ability of sand to withstand high temperature
5) Permeability-
– Ability of sand moulds to allow the escape of gases
7) Flowability-
– Ability to flow & fill narrow portions around pattern
8) Collapsibility-
– Allow easy removal of casting from mould
9) Adhesiveness-
– property to adhere to other materials
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 Core, Core Prints & Chaplets
• Cores are placed in the mold to form hollow regions
• Cores are inserts made from sand
• For castings with internal cavities or passages, such as those found in an
automotive engine block or a valve body, cores are utilized
• Cores are placed in the mold cavity to form the interior surfaces of the casting and
are removed from the finished part during shakeout and further processing
• The core is anchored by core prints, which are recesses added to the pattern to
locate and support the core and to provide vents for the escape of gases
• Core print is an added projection on the pattern and it forms a seat in the mould
on which the sand core rests
• To keep the core from shifting, metal supports (chaplets) may be used to anchor
the core in place
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Core, Core Prints & Chaplets

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 Types of Cores

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Horizontal Core
Hanging Core
• Placed horizontally
• Core hangs from the cope and have no support
• Supported at both ends in the drag
• Generally placed at parting line
Balanced Core
Vertical Core • Supported at one end only
• Placed vertically • Requires a long core seat to avoid sag
• Supported at both ends • Core print large to balance weight of core
• Major portion in the drag
Wing Core (Stop off core)
Kiss Core • Used when the recess cannot be cored directly
• Core is held in position between the cope & drag by • Hole or recess is to be obtained either above or
the pressure of the cope below the parting line
• No core prints provided on pattern

Cover Core
• When the entire pattern is rammed in drag and the
core is needed to be suspended from the top of the
mould
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 GATING SYSTEM

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 Gating Ratio
Gating ratios:- It defines the relative cross sectional area of sprue: runner area : ingate area

 Pressurized gating system:-

• Total cross sectional area decreases towards mould cavity
• In this type, the in gate areas are smallest, thus maintaining a back pressure
• Because of this, the metal is more turbulent and flows full with a minimum air aspiration
• This has a higher casting yield
• Mostly useful for ferrous castings
• Example- Sprue : runner : ingate :: 3:2:1

 Non pressurized gating system:-

• Total cross sectional area increases towards mould cavity
• This has a choke at bottom of the sprue having total runner area and in gates area >sprue area.
• This reduces the turbulence.
• This is useful for Al and Mg alloys.
• These have tapered sprue, sprue base well and pouring basin.
• Example- Sprue : runner : ingate :: 1:2:3
• Disadvantages :- Air inspiration, casting yield- less
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Chvorinov’s Rule of Solidification

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Use of chills in casting

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 Chills in casting

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 Casting Defects

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 Casting Defects
• Hot tear is the crack in the casting caused by high residual stresses. Due to hard
ramming, faulty design of casting
• Blow is relatively large cavity produced by gases which displace molten metal from
convex surface. They are large spherical shaped gas bubbles. Due to excess moisture, less
permeability
• Scar is shallow blow generally occurring on a flat surface.
• A scar covered with a thin layer of metal is called blister. These are due to improper
permeability or venting. Sometimes excessive gas forming constituents in moulding sand

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 Casting Defects
Misruns - unfilled region exists
• insufficient fluidity of melt
• low pouring temperature
• slow pouring
• cross-section too thin
Cold shut - Cold shut is an interface in a casting
that lacks complete fusion because of the meeting of
two streams of liquid metal from different gates.
• premature freezing at fusion point. Similar reason as
misrun

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 CASTNG DEFECTS

Porosity indicates a large number of uniformly distributed tiny

holes. Porosity in a casting may be caused by shrinkage,
entrained or dissolved gases, or both.

Pin holes are tiny blow holes appearing just below the casting
surface. Due to high moisture content of sand, faulty metals

Inclusions are the non-metallic foreign particles in the metal of

casting. It may be oxides, slag, dirt.

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 Design Consideration For Casting
 Design of cast parts
 Parting line location
 Gate design and location
 Selecting the casting process
 Establishing good practices

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 Design of cast parts
1. Corners, angles and section thickness
Sharp corners and angles should be avoided to reduce stress concentrations. Otherwise
it may cause cracking and tearing during solidification
Use fillets with small radii ranging from 3 to 25 mm. If fillet radii are too large, the
volume of the material in those regions is also large and consequently the rate of
cooling is lower
Sections changes in castings should be blended smoothly into each other. Because the
cooling rate in regions with large circles is lower, they are called hot spots. These
regions can develop shrinkage cavities and porosity
It is important to maintain uniform cross sections and wall thicknesses throughout the
casting to avoid or minimize shrinkage cavities.
The use of metal padding (chills) to increase the rate of cooling in thick regions in a
casting to avoid shrinkage cavities

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2. Flat areas
 Large flat areas (plain surfaces) should be avoided, since they may warp during cooling because of
temperature gradients, or they develop poor surface finish because of uneven flow of metal
during pouring

3. Shrinkage
To avoid cracking of the casting during cooling, allowances should be made for shrinkage during
solidification
Allowances for shrinkage, known as patternmaker’s shrinkage allowances, usually range from
about 10 to 20 mm/m

4. Draft
 A small draft (taper) typically is provided in sand mold pattern to enable removal of the pattern
without damaging the mold. Drafts generally range from 5 to 15 mm/m
 Draft angles usually range from 0.5 degree to 2 degree
Draft angles on inside surfaces have to be higher (twice) than those for outer surfaces because the
casting shrinks towards the core

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1. Why does porosity have detrimental effects on the mechanical properties of castings?
Would physical properties (such as thermal and electrical conductivity)
also be affected by porosity? Explain.

Ans: Pores are, in effect, internal discontinuities that are prone to propagate under external stresses.
Thus, the toughness of a material, for example, will decrease as a result of porosity. Furthermore, the
presence of pores in a metal part under tension requires that the material around the pores support a
greater load than if no pores were present; thus the strength and elastic modulus are also lowered.
Considering thermal and electrical conductivity, porosity decreases both the thermal and electrical
conductivity because of the presence of a vacuum or air.

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Die Casting

• In Die casting the molten metal is forced to flow into a

permanent metallic mold under moderate to high
pressures, and held under pressure during
solidification

• This high pressure forces the metal into intricate details,

produces smooth surface and excellent dimensional
accuracy

• High pressure causes turbulence and air entrapment. In

order to minimize this larger in-gates are used and in the
beginning, pressure is kept low and is increased gradually
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Hot-Chamber Die Casting
•The melting unit (furnace) of metal forms an integral part of
the machine

•When the plunger is raised, it uncovers an opening in the

cylinder wall through which the molten metal enters, filling the
cylinder

•The molten metal is forced into the die either by hydraulic

pressure or by air pressure applied to plunger

• Typical injection pressures are 7 to 35 MPa.

• The piston is subjected to the melting temperature of the metal

and thus the process is often used for low melting point metals
such as zinc, tin, lead or magnesium alloys.
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Hot Chamber Die Casting

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Hot Chamber Die Casting

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Cold-Chamber Die Casting
• The metal is melted in a furnace & transferred to the cylinder from where it
is forced into the mould by means of plunger

• Typical injection pressures are 14 to 140 MPa.

• Often used for high melting point metal such as aluminum, brass, and magnesium
alloys

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Cold Chamber Casting

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Centrifugal Casting
A family of casting processes in which the mold is rotated at high speed so
centrifugal force distributes molten metal to outer regions of die cavity

- permanent mold (metal or ceramic)

- rotated about its axis at 300 ~ 3000 rpm
- molten metal is poured

• The group includes:

• True centrifugal casting
• Semicentrifugal casting
• Centrifuge casting

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True Centrifugal Casting
• The axis of rotation of the mould & that of casting are same

• The central hole through the casting is produced by centrifugal force without
the use of central core

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True Centrifugal Casting

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Shell mold casting - metal, 2-piece pattern, 175C-370C
- coated with a lubricant (silicone)
- mixture of sand, thermoset resin/epoxy
- cure (baking)
- remove patterns, join half-shells  mold
- pour metal
- solidify (cooling)
- break shell  part

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Shell Mould Casting

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Advantages
• Casting as thin as 1.5 mm can be cast
• Excellent surface finish
• High dimensional accuracy
• Permeability higher than other molds
• Shells can be stored for long time
Disadvantages
• Uneconomical on small scale production, dimensional
limitations
• Resin costs high
• Specialized equipments are to be used
Applications
• Gear housings, cylinder heads, connecting rods, gears, valve
bodies, bushings, camshafts
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 Investment casting (lost wax casting)

(a) Wax pattern (b) Multiple patterns

(injection molding) assembled to wax sprue

(c) Shell built 

(d) dry ceramic immerse into ceramic slurry
melt out the wax  immerse into fine sand
fire ceramic (burn wax) (few layers)

(e) Pour molten metal (gravity)

 cool, solidify (f) Break ceramic shell
[Hollow casting: (vibration or water blasting)
pouring excess metal before solidification

(g) Cut off parts

(high-speed friction saw)
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Steps of the investment casting process

• Production of heat-disposable wax, plastic, or polystyrene patterns

• Assembly of these patterns onto a gating system
• “Investing,” or covering the pattern assembly with refractory slurry
• Melting the pattern assembly to remove the pattern material
• Firing the mold to remove the last traces of the pattern material
• Pouring
• Knockout, cutoff and finishing.

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Advantages
• High dimensional accuracy
• Intricate forms having undercut can be cast easily
• A very smooth surface of casting can be obtained
Disadvantages
• Process is expensive
• Limited to small castings
• Skilled operators required
• Production rate is low
Applications
• Blades for gas turbines, aircraft jet engines, parts of sewing
machine, blades, gears, cams, valves, jewellery, dental
fixtures
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Different Casting Processes

Process Advantages Disadvantages Examples

Sand many metals, sizes, shapes, cheap poor finish & tolerance engine blocks,
cylinder heads
Shell mold better accuracy, finish, higher limited part size connecting rods, gear
production rate housings
Expendable Wide range of metals, sizes, patterns have low cylinder heads, brake
pattern shapes strength components
Plaster mold complex shapes, good surface non-ferrous metals, low prototypes of
finish production rate mechanical parts
Ceramic mold complex shapes, high accuracy, small sizes impellers, injection
good finish mold tooling
Investment complex shapes, excellent finish small parts, expensive jewellery

Permanent good finish, low porosity, high Costly mold, simpler gears, gear housings
mold production rate shapes only
Die Excellent dimensional accuracy, costly dies, small parts, gears, camera bodies,
high production rate non-ferrous metals car wheels
Centrifugal Large cylindrical parts, good Expensive, few shapes pipes, boilers,
quality flywheels
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Superalloy Production Methods

1. Vacuum Induction Melting

2. Electroslag Remelting
3. Vacuum Arc Remelting

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 1. Vacuum Induction Melting (VIM)
• VIM was developed to melt and cast superalloys and high-strength steels,
many of which require vacuum processing because they contain refractory
and reactive elements such as Ti, Nb and Al.
• It can also be used for stainless steels and other metals when a high-quality
initial melt is desired.
• As the name suggests, the process involves melting of a metal under vacuum
conditions.
• Electromagnetic induction is used as the energy source for melting the
metal.
• Induction melting works by inducing electrical eddy currents in the metal.
• The source is the induction coil, which carries an alternating current.
• The eddy currents heat and eventually melt the charge
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 Vacuum Induction Melting
• According to electromagnetic induction law of Faraday, when the metallic object
placed in magnetic field, eddy current will be produced.
• Two opposite direction of flowing current created a large magnitude magnetic
repulsion force between the coil and the metal object (work piece)

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 2. Electro Slag Re-melting (ESR)
• Electric current (generally AC) is passed between the
electrode and the new ingot, which is formed in the
bottom of a water-cooled copper mold
• Due to the high electrical resistance of the slag, the slag
heats up and melts.
• The consumable electrode is immersed in the liquid slag
where the slag heat gradually melts the tip of the
electrode.
• Liquefied steel is dripping from the electrode tip and is
refined when passing through the liquid slag, with oxides
and sulphur being bound in the slag.
• After passing through the slag, the steel cools down and
solidifies again into a remelted ingot
• The mould with the slag pool is moving upwards as the
new ingot is formed.

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 3. Vacuum Arc Re-melting
• VAR is the continuous remelting of a consumable electrode by
means of an arc under vacuum.
• DC power is applied to strike an arc between the electrode and
the baseplate of a copper mold contained in a water jacket.
• The energy necessary for the melt is provided by an electric arc
maintained between the electrode tip (operating as the
cathode) and the top surface of the ingot (operating as the
anode).
• The intense heat that is generated by the electric arc, melts at
the tip of the electrode and a new ingot is progressively formed
in the water-cooled mold.
• A high vacuum is maintained throughout the remelting process
• In order to stabilize the arc, it can be confined with the aid of a
magnetic field created by an external induction coil

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