Cast Iron Price Guide

As for buyers for cast iron casting products, a price guide is necessary for evaluating the quotations from suppliers. However, cast iron price is a complex issue, because an accurate price is related to many aspects, such as rough casting weight, cast iron material grades, heat treatment, production processes, machining works, surface coating and anti-rust protection, also need to considerate the technical requirements to the material, dimensional tolerance and casting defects. Herein, we try to summarize the composition of an accurate quotation, and all related concerns. This guide can not make you become an price expert, but at least, it could help you to understand the quotations. 1. Cast Iron Material Grades The production costs for different cast iron grades are different. For example:

Ductile iron is more expensive than gray iron Higher material grades are more costly than lower grades

Please refer to our article Cast Iron Grades to learn about the material grades. Tips: Before you place the inquiry, please check if you have denoted the cast iron grades in the inquiry or on the drawings. 2. Casting Production Processes The cast iron casting prices have been seriously affected by production processes. For example:

Shell molding process is the most expensive. Furan resin coated sand casting process is more costly than green sand. Green sand by manual and molding equipments is the cheapest casting process.

As for the difference of these sand casting processes, please refer to our article Sand Casting Process. Tips: Check what casting processes your supplier will be used to produce your parts. Suitable and cheap casting process will be the good choice. 3. Rough Casting Weight and Machining Allowance Some buyers did not care about the unit weight, but the unit weight is very important to prices. The unit weight of rough castings are the base of rough casting prices. The rough weight is also related to the machining allowance. Larger machining allowance will cause larger of rough

weight. Tips: If you know the rough weight or machined weight, you should tell your supplier during quotation, otherwise, their quotation will not be accurate, which may cause your trouble in the future. 4. Machining Tolerance and Costs Higher and tighter machining tolerance will require more complex and high precision machining equipments, so will cause higher machining costs. Tips: Denote as detailed as possible for machining tolerance and surface finish requirements, which will help your suppliers to quote an accurate machining costs. 5. Extra Heat Treatment Requirements As for the low and middle grades of gray iron, ductile iron and carbon steel castings, no need for extra heat treatment, so no need to consider the heat treatment costs either. However, as for the high grades or alloy steel castings, the extra heat treatment costs should be considered. Such as the hardening and tempering, or called as quenching treatment. Tips: Both buyers and suppliers should pay attention to the hardness requirements, which may cause the extra heat treatment costs. 6. Pattern Types and Costs There are several types of patterns used to produce metal castings, such as iron patterns, aluminum patterns, resin pattern (also called as plastic pattern) and wooden patterns. The patterns should be chosen according to the quality requirements, annual demand and production processes. Different patterns will cause very different costs, so need to be paid attention to during quotation. As for the various pattern types and their costs, please refer to our article pattern for casting process. Tips: Ask your supplier to denoted the pattern types in the quotation, then evaluate if they have chosen the suitable patterns. 7. Price Influence of Annual Demand and Unit Weight

Annual demand is small, then their unit price will be higher. Annual demand is large, then their unit price will be lower. Unit weight is small, then their price per kg will be higher. Unit weight is large, then their price per kg will be lower.

Tips: Normally, the casting foundry will not offer you any discount if you increase the annual demand. The annual demand is just an important reference during quotation, but it will not bring you an discount. 8. Complexity of Casting Design More complex casting will mean more moulding work time, and more materials for sand cores, also more higher defective rate. So, the complexity of casting design will cause big difference to prices. 9. Dimensional Tolerance Requirement Both dimensional tolerance requirements to rough castings and machining will be good reference for suppliers to consider the suitable casting production processes, and machining equipments, so they will affect the related casting and machining costs too. Tips: The buyers should clearly denote all dimensional tolerance requirements on the drawings. 10. Extra Requirements to Cast Iron Materials If there are only material grades on the drawings, and requirements, then the material will not be a problem for the suppliers to understand the technical requirements, however, for special application, the cast iron parts may need extra requirements to the materials, such as to the nodularity rate, pearlite content, carbon residue content, hardness etc. These extra requirements will affect the production process, raw iron material or alloy nodulizing agent etc. So, affect the casting prices. Tips: Buyers should clearly denote all material requirements on the drawings or in the requirement documents, and should inform their suppliers if it is necessary. 11. Surface Finish Smoothness to Rough Casting and Machined Surfaces The requirements to the surface finish smoothness degree to rough castings and machined surfaces will cause the selection to the casting process processes and machining works, so affect the prices to the machined parts. As for the comparison of the machined surface finish degrees, please refer to our article Machining surface finish chart, comparator, method, degree, Ra, Rz, RMS. 12. Surface Coating and Anti-Rust Protection As for the normal anti-rust primer painting, normally, the suppliers will be able to consider and include their costs in the quotation. This cost is only about 0.05 USD/kg based on the casting weight. However, if the buyers have the requirements to the special coating and painting, such as finish painting, zinc plating, hop dip galvanizing, anti-heat coating, powder coating, electophoretic coating etc, then the coating cost will be much more higher.

Tips: The buyers should denote the requirements on the drawing or in the inquiry, and notice if the manufacturers have considered these costs in the quotation. 13. Casting Defects Requirements to Outside Surface and Inside Areas As for sand molding castings, casting defects are inevitable. Some on the surfaces, some inside. So, the requirements to the defects are also an important influence factors to the prices. Higher casting defects requirements will cause higher production costs, and will cause the higher defective rate before delivery. Tips: If the buyers have special requirements to the casting defects, you should tell the suppliers in advance. 14. Exchange Rate of Currency Influence As for all metal foundries in China, the production costs and prices were calculated by RMB currency. When they made the quotation, they just change the RMB into USD according to the exchange rate. If the exchange rate has certain change, then the suppliers will request to adjust the price by USD, so it is also a main factor to the prices of castings. Of course, if the change will be benefit to buyers, then the buyers can request to adjust the prices too. Tips: Require your suppliers to denote the exchange rate in the quotation, it will be useful when the price adjustment. Summary All these above factors will affect the final price of castings, so unless the casting is extremely simple, otherwise, it will not be easy to make a accurate price evaluation by buyers. I think, as for buyer, you should denote or inform all necessary requirements, and check if the suppliers have considered them during quotation. On the website of Dandong Foundry, we update the gray iron, ductile iron and cast steel prices timely according to the current production costs.

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and Casting Process - Green Sand, Resin Sand, Shell Molding, Dry Sand
There are many types of casting methods, such as die casting, lost foam casting, permanent mold, continuous mold, lost wax investment casting etc., but sand casting process is still the most common casting process. Sand casting process means the main molding material is "sand". According to the different sand materials, it can be divided into green sand, resin sand, dry sand and shell molding processes. Herein, we will try to elaborate them. 1. Green Sand Green sand casting uses a kind of humid sand mixed with black clay. This sand is cheap, and can be used repeatedly. So, it is suitable for manual molding and automated machine molding. Green sand is the cheapest sand casting process, and is also mostly used casting process in China. This process is suitable to produce iron castings with rough weights less than 100kg.

2. Resin Sand Resin sand casting process uses furan resin sand as the molding material. After burning, the resin sand can become hard sand, so it is also called as hard mold casting process. Resin sand can be used repeatedly either, however, it needs to replenish new furan sand constantly. In 2011, the furan resin material became very costly, so the resin sand castings became more costly. Resin sand casting process is suitable to produce large iron castings with weights from 50kg to 2000kg.

3. Shell Molding Shell molding process uses a kind of yellow phenolic resin sand. This sand is more costly than furan resin sand, and phenolic resin sand can not be used repeatedly, so it is one time molding sand. Therefore, this process is more costly than furan resin sand. However, shell molding process can meet higher requirements to the rough casting surface quality, more complex inside structures, and higher casting dimensional tolerances. So, it is widely used for producing small iron castings with high requirements. In China, we normally do not use shell molding process to produce steel castings, however, in other countries, they do.

4. Dry Sand Dry sand is mixed with water glass. This type of sand has better air permeability, but worse surface smoothness, so it is used for producing middle and large steel castings.

quivalent grades of gray iron, ductile iron, sg iron, nodular graphite iron
This is a comparison table for the gray iron and ductile iron grades of various standards, including ISO, GB, ASTM, DIN, EN, JIS, UNI, NF, BS, IS, UNF, NBN, AS, SS, NS. Country ISO China USA Standard ISO 185 GB 9439 ASTM A48
Equivalent Grades of Gray Iron (Grey Cast Iron)

100 HT100 GG10 EN-GJL100 FC100 G10 100 FGG10 O110 SJG100

150 HT150 NO.20 NO.25 GG15

200 HT200 NO.30 GG20

250 HT250 NO.35 GG25 EN-GJL250 FC250 G25 FGL250 250 FG260 FG25 FGG25 T260 O125 SJG250

300 HT300 NO.40 NO.45 GG30 EN-GJL300 FC300 G30 FGL300 300 FG300 FG30 FGG30 T300 O130 SJG300

350 HT350 NO.50 GG35 EN-GJL350 FC350 G35 FGL350 350 FG350 FG35 FGG35 T350 O135 SJG350

NO.55 NO.60 GG40

Germany DIN 1691 Austria European EN 1561 Japan Italy France UK India Spain Belgium Australia Sweden Norway JIS G5501 UNI 5007 NF A32-101 BS 1452 IS 210 UNF NBN 830-01 AS 1830 SS 14 01 NS11 100

EN-GJL-150 EN-GJL-200 FC150 G15 FGL150 150 FG150 FG15 FGG15 T150 O115 SJG150 FC200 G20 FGL200 200 FG200 FG20 FGG20 T220 O120 SJG200

FGL400 FG400 FGG40 T400 O140

Equivalent Grades of Ductile iron (SG Iron, Nodular Graphite Iron) Country Standard ISO 400-15 ISO 450-10 500-7 600-3 700-2 800-2 900-2 1083 400-18 GB QT400- QT450QT900China QT500-7 QT600-3 QT700-2 QT800-2 1348 18 10 2 ASTM 60-42-10 80-55-06 100-70- 120-90USA 60-40-18 70-50-05 A536 65-45-12 80-60-03 03 02 Germany DIN GGG40 GGG50 GGG60 GGG70 GGG80 Austria 1693 EN-GJSENEN 400-15 EN-GJS- EN-GJS- EN-GJS- EN-GJS- EN-GJSEuropean GJS1563 EN-GJS- 450-10 500-7 600-3 700-2 800-2 900-2 400-18

Japan Italy France UK India Spain Belgium Australia Sweden Norway

JIS FCD400 FCD450 FCD500 FCD600 FCD700 FCD800 G5502 UNI GS370- GS400GS500-7 GS600-2 GS700-2 GS800-2 4544 17 12 NF FGS370- FGS400- FGS500- FGS600- FGS700- FGS800 A32-201 17 12 7 2 2 2 BS 2789 400/17 420/12 500/7 600/7 700/2 800/2 900/2 IS 1865 SG370/17 SG400/12 SG500/7 SG600/3 SG700/2 SG800/2 FGE38- FGE42- FGE50- FGE60- FGE70- FGE80UNF 17 12 7 2 2 2 NBN FNG38- FNG42- FNG50- FNG60- FNG70- FNG80 830-02 17 12 7 2 2 2 300-17 AS 1831 500-7 600-3 700-2 800-2 400-12 SS 14 0717-02 0727-02 0732-03 0737-01 0864-03 07 SJKNS11 400.3 SJK-500 SJK-600 SJK-700 SJK-800 301 SJK-400

Cast Steel Equivalent Standards and Grades

Non-alloy structural steels
EUROPE EN S235JR S235J2 S275JR S275J0 S355J0 S355J2 E295 E335 10SPb20 11SMn30 ITALY UNI Fe 360 BFN Fe 360 D Fe 430 B Fe 430 C Fe 510 C Fe 510 D Fe 490 Fe 590 CF10SPb20 CF9SMn28 CHINA GERMANY FRANCE U.K GB DIN AFNOR B.S. Q235B Q235A Q255A ---Q275 RSt 37-2 1.0038 St 37-3 U 1.0116 St 44-2 1.0044 St 44-3 U 1.0143 St 52-3 U 1.0553 St 52-3 N 1.0553 St 50-2 1.0050 -E 24-4 E 28-2 E 28-3 E 36-3 -A 50-2 A 60-2 10PbF2 S250 S250Pb S300 S300Pb 40 B 40 D 43 B 43 C 50 C 50 D ---RUSSIA USA GOST AISI SAE St3sp St3ps St4ps -St4sp 17G1S St5ps St6ps AS14 -A 414 gA A 283 gD -A 441 A 350 LF2 --11L08 1215 12L15 1214 12L14 ----

HRB335 St 60-2 1.0060 Y12Pb -10SPb20 1.0722 9SMn28 1.0715 9SMnPb28 1.0718 9SMn36 1.0736 9SMnPb36 1.0737 35SPb20 1.0756 36SMn14 1.0764

230M07 ----(AS14) ---

11SMnPb30 CF9SMnPb28 Y15Pb 11SMn37 CF9SMn36 --

11SMnPb37 CF9SMnPb36 -35SPb20 36SMn14 35SPb20 35SMn10 ----

35SPb20 35SPb20 -36SMn14 ---

36SMnPb14 35SMnPb10

36SMnPb14 35MF6Pb -1.0765

(AS35G2) --

46S20 46SPb20

46S20 46SPb20

---

45S20 1.0727 45SPb20 1.0757

45Mf4

46S20

--

(1146)

46SPb20 46SPb20 (AS45G2) 11L46)

Stainless Steel
EUROPE EN ITALY UNI CHINA GB GERMANY FRANC U.K DIN E B.S. AFNOR RUSSIA GOST US A AIS I SA E

X8CrNiS18- X10CrNiS1 Y1Cr18Ni9 9 8-09 X5CrNi1810 X5CrNi18- 0Cr18Ni9 10

X10CrNiS18 Z8CNF18 303S3 12Ch18N10E AIS -9 1.4305 -09 1 I 303 X5CrNi1810 1.4301 Z5CN18- 304S1 07Ch18N10 09 5 AIS I 304 AIS I 316 AIS I 416 AIS I 420 AIS I 430 AIS I 431

X5CrNiMo1 X5CrNiMo 0Cr17Ni12M X5CrNiMo1 Z7CND1 316S3 08Ch17N13 7-12-2 17 12 o2 7-12-2 7-12-02 1 M2 1.4401 X12CrS13 X12CrS13 Y1Cr13 X12CrS13 1.4005 X20Cr13 1.4021 X6Cr17 1.4016 Z11CF13 416S2 -1 Z20C13 420S3 20Ch13 7 430S1 12Ch17 7

X20Cr13

X20Cr13

2Cr13

X6Cr17

X8Cr17

1Cr17

Z8C17

X17CrNi16- X17CrNi16- 1Cr17Ni2 2 2

X17CrNi16- Z15CN16 431S2 17Ch17N2 2 1.4057 -02 9

Case Hardening Steel

EUROPE EN C10E ITALY UNI C10 CHINA GB 10 GERMANY FRANCE U.K DIN AFNOR B.S. Ck10 1.1121 XC10 RUSSIA GOST USA AISI SAE 1010

045M10 10

C15E C16E C16E 16MnCr5 20MnCr5

C15 C15 C20 16MnCr5 20MnCr5

15 15AL 20 15CrMn 20CrMn --

Ck15 1.1141 XC12 C16E 1.1148 XC18 Ck22 1.1151 XC18 16MnCr5 1.7131 20MnCr5 1.7147 16MC5 20MC5

080M15 15 080M15 -070M20 20 590M17 18ChG --20Ch --

1015 1016 1023 5115 5120 -(4317)

17NiCrMo6-4 --

17NiCrMo6-4 -1.6566 --

17NiCrMo6-4 18NiCrMo5 --

18NCD6 815M17 --

20NiCrMo2-2 20NiCrMo2 20CrNiMo 21NiCrMo2 1.6523 16NiCr4 -16NiCr12 16CrNi4 16NiCr4Pb 16NiCr11 -12CrNi3 15CrNi6 1.5919 14NiCr10 1.5732

20NCD2 805M20 20ChGNM 8620 16NC4 16NC11 637M17 12ChN2 ---4320 3415 --

14NiCrMo13- 16NiCrMo12 -4

16NiCrMo12- 16NCD13 -6 1.6782

Carbon Steel for Quenching and Tempering

EUROPE ITALY CHINA GERMANY EN UNI GB DIN C22E C22R C30E C30R C35E C35R C35E C35R C40E C40R C45E C45R C50E C50R C55E C20 C30 C35 C35 C40 C45 C50 C55 20 30 35 -40 45 50 55 Ck22 Cm22 1.1151 1.1149 Ck30 Cm30 1.1178 1.1179 Ck35 Cm35 1.1181 1.1181 Ck35 Cm35 1.1181 1.1180 Ck40 Cm40 1.1186 1.1189 Ck45 Cm45 1.1191 1.1201 Ck50 Cm50 1.1206 1.1241 CK55 1.1203 FRANCE U.K AFNOR B.S. XC18 XC32 RUSSIA USA GOST AISI SAE 1020 1030 1034 1035 1040 1045 1050 1055

070M20 20 080M30 30

XC38H1 080M36 35 XC38H1 080M36 38 XC42H1 080M40 40 XC48H1 080M46 45 -080M50 50

XC55 H1 070M55 --

C60E C60R

C60

60

Ck60 Cm60 1.1221 1.1223

--

070M60 60

1060

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