Chapter : 10

Defects in Casting and Quality

Control

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 Chapter Outlines
• Defects in casting
• Types of casting defects
• Causes of casting defects
• Remedial action to be taken avoid defects
• Inspection and method of inspection of
castings
• Destructive and non destructive methods of
casting inspection

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 Defects in Casting
• A casting defect is an irregularity in the 
metal casting process that is undesired.
• Some defects can be tolerated while others can be
repaired otherwise they must be eliminated.
• They are broken down into five main
categories: gas porosity, shrinkage defects, mold
material defects, pouring metal defects,
and metallurgical defects.
• The terms "defect" and "discontinuity" refer to
two specific and separate things in castings.
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 Cont’d
• Defects are defined as conditions in a casting that
must be corrected or removed, or the casting
must be rejected.
• Discontinuities, also known as "imperfections",
are defined as "interruptions in the physical
continuity of the casting".
• Therefore, if the casting is less than perfect, but
still useful and in tolerance, the imperfections
should be deemed "discontinuities"

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Common Causes of Casting Defects

Defects may occur due to one or more of the

following reasons:
• Fault in design of casting pattern
• Fault in design on mold and core
• Fault in design of gating system and riser
• Improper choice of molding materials
• Improper metal composition
• Inadequate melting temperature and rate of
pouring

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  Types of Casting Defects
Shrinkage defects:
• Shrinkage defects occur when feed metal is not available
to compensate for shrinkage as the metal solidifies.
• Shrinkage defects can be split into two different
types: open shrinkage defects and closed shrinkage
defects.
• Open shrinkage defects are open to the atmosphere,
therefore as the shrinkage cavity forms air compensates.
• There are two types of open air defects: 
• pipes and caved surfaces. Pipes form at the surface of the
casting and burrow into the casting, while caved surfaces
are shallow cavities that form across the surface of the
casting.
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 cont’d
• Closed shrinkage defects, also known as shrinkage
porosity, are defects that form within the casting.
• Isolated pools of liquid form inside solidified metal,
which are called hot spots. The shrinkage defect
usually forms at the top of the hot spots.
• They require a nucleation point, so impurities and
dissolved gas can induce closed shrinkage defects.
• The defects are broken up into macroporosity and
microporosity (or microshrinkage), where
macroporosity can be seen by the naked eye and
microporosity cannot.
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 Gas porosity
• Gas porosity is the formation of bubbles within the casting
after it has cooled. This occurs because most liquid
materials can hold a large amount of dissolved gas, but the
solid form of the same material cannot, so the gas forms
bubbles within the material as it cools.
• Gas porosity may present itself on the surface of the
casting as porosity or the pore may be trapped inside the
metal, which reduces strength in that vicinity. 
• Nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen are the most encountered
gases in cases of gas porosity. In aluminum castings,
hydrogen is the only gas that dissolves in significant
quantity, which can result in hydrogen gas porosity.
• To prevent gas porosity the material may be melted in a
vacuum, in an environment of low-solubility gases, such
as argon or carbon dioxide, or under a flux that prevents
contact with the air.
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 Cont’d
• To minimize gas solubility, the superheat temperatures
can be kept low.
• Turbulence from pouring the liquid metal into the mold
can introduce gases, so the molds are often streamlined
to minimize such turbulence.
• Hydrogen is normally produced by the reaction of the
metal with humidity or residual moisture in the mold.
Drying the mold can eliminate this source of hydrogen
formation.
• Gas porosity can sometimes be difficult to distinguish
from microshrinkage because microshrinkage cavities
can contain gases as well.
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 Cont’d
• In general, microporosities will form if the casting is not
properly risered or if a material with a wide solidification
range is cast. If neither of these are the case then most likely
the porosity is due to gas formation.
• Gas porosity is also called internal defects.
• The internal defects found in the castings are mainly due to
trapped gases and dirty metal.
• Gases get trapped due to hard ramming or improper venting.
• These defects also occur when excessive moisture or
excessive gas forming materials are used for mould making.
 Some of internal defects are:
• Blow holes are large spherical shaped gas bubbles
• Porosity indicates a large number of uniformly distributed
tiny holes.
• Pin holes are tiny blow holes appearing just below the
casting surface. 10
 Pouring metal defects
• Pouring metal defects include misruns, cold shuts,
and inclusions.
• A misrun occurs when the liquid metal does not completely
fill the mold cavity, leaving an unfilled portion.
• Cold shuts occur when two fronts of liquid metal do not
fuse properly in the mould cavity, leaving a weak spot.
• Both are caused by either a lack of fluidity in the molten
metal or cross-sections that are too narrow.
• The fluidity can be increased by changing the chemical
composition of the metal or by increasing the pouring
temperature.
• Misruns and cold shuts are closely related and both involve
the material freezing before it completely fills the mold
cavity. These types of defects are serious because the area
surrounding the defect is significantly weaker than
intended. 11
 Cont’d
• The castability and viscosity of the material can be
important factors with these problems.
• Fluidity is affected by the composition of the material,
freezing temperature or range, surface tension of oxide
films, and, most importantly, the pouring temperature. The
higher the pouring temperature, the greater the fluidity;
however, excessive temperatures can be detrimental,
leading to a reaction between the material and the mold; in
casting processes that use a porous mould material the
material may even penetrate the mould material.
• An inclusion is a metal contamination of dross, if solid, or 
slag, if liquid.
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 Cont’d
• These usually are metal oxides, nitrides, carbides, calcides, or
sulfides; they can come from material that is eroded from furnace
or ladle linings, or contaminates from the mold.
• In the specific case of aluminium alloys, it is important to control
the concentration of inclusions by measuring them in the liquid
aluminium and taking actions to keep them to the required level.
• There are a number of ways to reduce the concentration of
inclusions. In order to reduce oxide formation the metal can be
melted with a flux, in a vacuum, or in an inert atmosphere.
• Other ingredients can be added to the mixture to cause the dross to
float to the top where it can be skimmed off before the metal is
poured into the mold.
• If this is not practical, then a special ladle that pours the metal from
the bottom can be used. Another option is to install ceramic filters
into the gating system. 13
 Metallurgical defects
• There are two defects in this category: hot
tears and hot spots.
• Hot tears, also known as hot cracking, are failures in
the casting that occur as the casting cools.
• This happens because the metal is weak when it is hot
and the residual stresses in the material can cause the
casting to fail as it cools.
• Proper mold design prevents this type of defect.
• Hot spots are areas on the surface of casting that
become very hard because they cooled more quickly
than the surrounding material.
• This type of defect can be avoided by proper cooling
practices or by changing the chemical composition of
the metal. 14
 Some of common defects
• Some of common defects are as shown in the following figure:

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 Inspection and Methods of Inspection of castings
• Control of the quality of the product normally begins with the
control of the quality of the pattern, raw materials for moulding
and melting, moulding process and melting process.
• A complete understanding of melt quality is of a great
importance for the control and prediction of actual casting
characteristics.
• A large number of methods have been developed to inspect
castings for defects that may occur during their production.
• Such inspections may be in process inspections or finished
product inspections.
• In process inspections are carried out before a lot of castings
have been completed to detect any flaws that may have occurred
in the process so that corrective measures can be taken to
remove the defect in the remaining units.
• Finished product inspections are carried out after the castings
have all been completed to make sure that the product meets the
requirements specified by the customer. 16
 Inspection of castings
• Inspection procedures for castings are established at
the foundry to ensure conformance with customer
drawings and documents, which are frequently based
on various government, technical society, or
commercial specifications.
• For a foundry to ensure casting quality, inspection
procedures must be efficiently directed toward the
prevention of imperfections, the detection of
unsatisfactory trends, and the conservation of
material, all of which ultimately lead to reduction in
costs.
• The inspection of castings normally involves
checking for shape and dimensions, coupled with
aided and unaided visual inspection for external
discontinuities and surface quality. 17
 Cont’d
• Chemical analyses and tests for mechanical
properties are supplemented by various forms of
destructive and nondestructive inspection, including
leak testing and proof loading, all of which are used
to evaluate the soundness of the casting. These
inspections add to the cost of the product; therefore,
the initial consideration must be to determine the
amount of inspection needed to maintain adequate
control over quality.
• In some cases, this may require full inspection of
each individual casting, but in other cases sampling
procedures may be sufficient.
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 Inspection Methods of castings
• There are various test methods that may be employed
to evaluate the soundness of a casting.
• These can be destructive or non-destructive tests.
• The more common tests employed of non-
destructive methods are magnetic particle inspection,
radiography, dye penetration, ultrasonic, eddy
current, etc and a method of destructive testing where
a part is milled in small layers to reveal defects.
• These inspection methods are employed in some way
on a majority of castings.
• Although care must be taken when specifying the
defect severity levels for each method. Over
specifying will always lead to a more expensive part
than what is needed. 19
 Mechanical (Destructive) testing
• Defective castings may be salvaged or completely
rejected to be re-melted for their material content
depending upon the nature and extent of defect.
• Destructive methods generally relate to sawing or
breaking off of parts of the castings at places where
voids or internal defects are suspected. Castings may
also be damaged during strength tests.
• Destructive tests suffer from the disadvantage that the
saw cuts may miss the flaw or the sample may not
represent the behavior of the entire lot.
• Because of these reasons non-destructive tests are
generally more commonly relied upon than destructive
tests. 20
 Cont’d
• Mechanical testing gives an evaluation of the metal
and the casting to determine whether the properties
are in compliance with the specified mechanical
requirements. Following are common mechanical
tests used in metal casting facilities.
• Hardness testing—the most commonly used
procedure for mechanical property testing, it
provides a numerical value and is nondestructive.
• Hardness values generally relate to an alloy’s
machinability and wear resistance.
• The Brinell hardness test uses a 10-mm diameter
carbide ball to indent a 3,000-kg load. The
impressions are large enough to provide a
dependable average hardness.
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 Cont’d
• Rockwell hardness tests make smaller indented
impressions, which also can be satisfactory if the median
of several values is used.
• Tensile and impact testing—conducted on test
specimens of standardized dimensions, the two most
common types are universal tensile testing and Charpy
impact testing.
• Tensile testing provides ultimate tensile strength, yield
strength, elongation and reduction of area data.
• Charpy impact testing determines the amount of energy
absorbed during fracture and is used to gauge ductility
and strength.
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 Non-Destructive Testing Methods
• Non-destructive testing gives the metal casting facility the
capability of assuring the quality of a casting without destroying
it.
• A metal casting facility may have internal standards regarding
nondestructive testing, but it is up to the customer to specify
specific tests or frequency of testing.
 The most common methods available are described below.
• Visual Inspection:
• Visual inspection is based on the use of the human eye to
identify surface defects, improper filling and molding errors.
• Casting defects that can be detected via visual inspection include
sand holes, excessively rough surface, surface shrinkage,
blowholes, misruns, cold shuts, and surface dross or slag.
• Dimensional Inspection:
• To ensure a part meets dimensional requirements, such as
tolerances, a metal casting facility can check the dimensional
accuracy of a part. 23
Dye Penetrant and Fluorescent Powder Testing
• For tiny cracks, pores or other surface that are hard
to detect by the human eye, dye- penetrant testing is
used for both ferrous and nonferrous materials.
• In this method, a colored dye solution is applied to
the surface of the casting.
• The dye, which is suspended in penetrating oil, will
find its way into the surface defects.
• When a special developer is applied, the defects are
clearly indicated.
• A similar method involves fluorescent powder
suspended in penetrating oil.

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 Cont’d
• Again, the solution penetrates the defects, so when the
casting is dusted or sprayed drying powder, the solution
is drawn from the defect and glows under an ultraviolet
light where defects have occurred.
• Fluorescent powder testing only detects surface cracks
and flaws but is more effective and economical than
radiographic testing.
• In general, dye-penetrant techniques identify defects on
the surface of the casting and do not detect internal
porosity or shrinkage that is not open to the surface. But
it can detect rounded indications for porosity or gas on
the casting surface.
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Dye Penetrant and Fluorescent Powder Testing

Fig. An Illustration of Dye Penetrant Testing

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 Magnetic Particle Inspection
• Magnetic particle inspection is quick, inexpensive and
sensitive to defects, particularly shallow (0.003 in.) surface
cracks and other lineal indications.
• It detects small cracks on or near the surface of ferrous
alloys that can be magnetized (basically any ferrous alloy
except austenitic material). A high-amperage, low-voltage
current is passed through the casting, which establishes a
magnetic field.
• Cracks and defects have magnetic properties different than
those of the surrounding material, so their presence will
interrupt the magnetic field, causing distortion. Small
magnetic particles show the path of the flux line that
spreads out in order to detour around the distortion, thereby
indicating the shape and position of the crack or void.
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 Magnetic Particle Inspection

Fig. An Illustration of the Principle of Magnetic Particle Inspection 28

 Ultrasonic Testing
• Internal defects that are detected by radiography, may
also be detected by sound. Sound waves have been
used by fisherman to locate hot fishing spots and
depth of water and by the U.S. Navy to identify
approaching objects.
• In casting inspection, ultrasonic testing uses high
frequency acoustic energy that is transmitted into a
casting.
• Because ultrasonic testing allows investigation of the
cross-sectional area of a casting, it is considered to be
a volumetric inspection method.
• The high frequency acoustic energy travels through
the casting until it hits the opposite surface or an
interface or defect. 29
Cont’d
• The interface or defect reflects portions of the
energy, which are collected in a receiving unit
and displayed for the analyst to view.
• The pattern of the energy deflection can indicate
the location and size of an internal defect, as well
as wall thickness.
• Ultrasonic testing requires a high knowledge and
experience for an accurate interpretation of the
results, which will affect the cost added to the
part for the inspection.
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 Ultrasonic Testing

Fig. An Illustration of Ultrasonic Flaw Detection

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 Radiographic Inspection
• Another method used to detect internal defects is
radiographic inspection.
• When done correctly, radiographic inspection is the best
non-destructive method for detecting internal defects,
such as shrinkage and inclusions.
• In this method, a casting is exposed to radiation from an
x-ray tube. The casting absorbs part of the radiation, and
the remaining portion of the radiation exposes the
radiographic film.
• Dense material withstands the radiation penetration, so the
film is exposed to a lesser degree in those areas, giving the
film a lighter appearance. Less dense materials allow
more penetration and correlates to darker areas on the
film. Any hole, crack or inclusion that is less dense than
the casting alloy is revealed as a dark area.
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 Cont’d
• When done correctly, radiographic inspection is the best
nondestructive method for detecting internal defects,
such as shrinkage and inclusions, and the radiograph
serves as a permanent record of the casting quality that
can be reviewed by multiple personnel.
• Casting thickness and density will limit the rang of
inspection possible, depending on the energy level of the
radiation.
• Radiographic inspection also can be performed without
film. Instead, the x-ray image is viewed on a video
screen. Computerized axial tomography (CAT scanning)
also is being used to develop 3-D computer imagery to
inspect a casting’s soundness. 33
 Radiographic Inspection

Fig. An illustration of Radiography

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 Eddy Current Inspection
• The eddy current inspection method is applied to the
detection of cracks at or near the surface. An electrically
charged coil carrying an alternate current causes an eddy
current to flow in any nearby metal.
• The eddy current may react on the coil to produce
substantial changes in its reactivity and resistance, and that
reaction is used to pinpoint small cracks or defects.
• Eddy current inspection is accurate for the detection of
small flaws or material changes that may not be detected
with other inspection methods, and the discontinuities in
the casting will give an immediate response on the
monitoring equipment.
• However, it requires a vast amount of knowledge and
experience to properly interpret the results, which will
affect the added cost to the part. The test only can be used
with electrically conductive materials.
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 Eddy Current Inspection

Fig. illustration of Eddy Current Testing

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