Identifying Casting Defects

A faulty casting has arrived at your facilitys door. Youre not exactly sure whats wrong with it, but from what
youve heard, youre pretty sure its porosity.!
You call your metalcaster. You tell the "uality control manager youve got porosity. #he wants to $now more.
Youre stumped.
%hat you have on your hands is a cavity&type defect. %hile many $inds of thesedefects exist, most buyers and
designers of castings $now them only as porosity. If you could 'ust give the "uality control manager a more specific
defect name, shed $now its root cause and therefore how to fix it.
(elow are descriptions of defect types and their correct terminology.
). *pon machining, small, narrow cavities appear on your casting faces.
Dispersed Shrinkage
Defect:

Dispersed ShrinkageCharacteristic ofcast iron, these cavities are most often perpendicular to the casting surface,
with depths as great as +., in. -. cm/. 0he casting defect is most commonly caused in iron components by low
carbon content or high nitrogen content in the melt.
.. #everal castings in your shipment are showing thin bits of metal at the parting line.
Defect: Flash1ro'ections at the parting line occur when clearance between the top and bottom of the
metalcasting mold halves is great enough to allow metal to enter and solidify. 0he metalcaster must ta$e more
care in pattern, mold and corema$ing to eliminate flash or remove it in the cleaning room after pouring.
2. 3ne of your iron castings fractures and reveals smooth, slightly curved facets on the fracture face.
Defect4 Conchoidal or Rock Candy Fracture0his defect is characteri5ed by separation along
the grain boundaries of primary crystalli5ation. 0he resulting configuration is often compared to the appearance of
roc$ candy. 0he defect is caused in steel castings by elevated aluminum and nitrogen levels.
6. Your casting has smooth&walled, rounded cavities of various si5es clumped together in one area.
Blowholes/Pinholes
Defect:

Blowholes/Pinholes0he interior walls of blowholes and pinholes can be shiny, more or less oxidi5ed or, in the
case of cast iron, covered with a thin layer of graphite. 0he defects can appear in any region of a casting. 0hey are
caused when gas is trapped in the metal during solidification.
7. Your iron casting has folded, shiny films in its walls.
Defect: Lustrous Caron0hese folded or wrin$led films are distinctly outlined and found within the walls of iron
castings, causing a linear discontinuity in the structure. 8enerally, they are seen only upon fracturing a casting.
0he defects form when materials from mold or core additives and binders volati5e, decompose and become
entrained in the melt.
9ustrous Carbon
:. *pon x&ray, you observe a cavity in the middle of your casting.
Defect: !"ial ShrinkageAll metalshrin$s as it solidifies. Axial -or centerline/ shrin$age, most often plate&li$e in
shape, occurs when the metal at the center of the casting ta$es longer to free5e than the metal surrounding it.
0he defect is partly a function of the section thic$ness designed into the casting, but it also can be influenced by
the metalcasters pouring temperature, alloy purity, riser use and pouring speed.
Axial #hrin$age
;. A protrusion of metal is stic$ing out of a <+&degree corner of one of your castings.
Defect: Fillet #ein0hese types of metallic pro'ections can divide an interior casting angle in half. 0his defect can
occur when too much binder in the sand causes a crevice to form in a mold or core during mold preparation or
casting. 0he metalcaster will reduce or modify its binder usage to alleviate the defect.
,. All your casting dimensions are incorrect in the same proportion.
Defect: $%proper Shrinkage !llowanceAll casting alloys shrin$ as they solidify, but each does so at a different
rate. 0his defect can occur when the patternma$er uses a shrin$ rule -constant/ that differs from the actual
shrin$age of the alloy used. 0he pattern will have to be remade to account for this defect.
<. Your casting is essentially complete except for more or less rounded edges and corners.
Defect: &isrun0his defect can occur with the use of any casting alloy, but in thecase of iron, the surface is
generally shiny and easily cleaned. 0he problem can come about due to a lac$ of alloy fluidity, slow mold filling,
inade"uate venting of the mold and -in permanent molding/ low temperatures.
)+. Your casting has a partial separation in one of its walls.
Defect: Cold ShutCold shuts vary in depth and can extend either partially or all the way through a casting
section. 0his defect may be accompanied by rounded casting edges -also common to misruns, detailed in "uestion
</. Cold shuts generally occur on wide casting surfaces in thin, difficult&to&fill sections, or where two streams of
metal converge in the mold during filling.
)). Your casting has been stored for some time, and when you pull it out for assembly, you notice it has bent out of
specification.
Defect: 'arped CastingDistortion due to warpage can occur over time in a casting that partially or completely
liberates residual stresses. Common practice in iron casting is normali5ing heat treatment to remove residual
stress. In aluminum casting, a straightening between "uench and aging might be re"uired.
).. Your iron casting has branched grooves of various lengths with smooth bottoms and edges.
Defect4 Buckle3ccurring in all ferrous alloys and sometimes in copper&base castings, the defect is caused by the
expansion of silica sand. 0he defect distinguishes itself from a scab -see "uestion ),/ in that it does not allow
penetration of the metal into the ad'acent cavity below.
)2. =ery small grooves -less than +.7 in./ on the surface of your casting are almost covered by a folded edge.
Defect: Rat (ail0his shallow defect occurs in ferrous and nonferrous green sand castings. >at tails most often
extend from the area where the metalcaster gates the casting. >at tails may be accompanied by other pro'ection&
li$e defects. ?etalcasters can alleviate this defect by altering their sand mixture.
)6. Your iron casting has spherical particles coated with oxide inside it. 0he particles are the same chemical
composition as the base metal.
Defect: Cold Shot )Shot &etal*@ot to be confused with a cold shut, this defect occurs when small droplets of
metal fall into a metalcasting mold, solidify and fail to remelt when the remaining metal is introduced to the
mold. 0he defect is caused primarily by faulty pouring practices, but it also can be influenced by misplaced
runners and risers. ?etalcasters can stop the defect from occurring by improving pouring conditions and protecting
the mold openings against metal splashing.
)7. #mall, gray&green, superficial cavities in the form of droplets or shallow spots appear on your iron castings.
Defect: Slag $nclusionsA reaction between the mold and ferrous metals can cause the formation of a low&melting
slag, which can adhere to the casting surface. %hen the inclusions are dislodged during shot&blasting, a rounded
cavity is left behind. 0he defect is especially common in steels with high chromium contents. 0he metalcaster will
reduce pouring temperatures and cool the castings in a reducing atmosphere to correct the problem.
):. Irregular pro'ections crop up on one side of a vertical casting surface near the parting line.
Defect: Ra%o++/Ra%away0his defect is characteri5ed by a thic$ening of the casting in the vicinity of the parting
line or an increase in dimension of a surface parallel to the parting line. It is caused by improper mold creation
-ramming/, which has in turn caused the sand to separate from certain vertical walls of the pattern.
);. 1late&li$e metallic pro'ections with rough surfaces 'ut up parallel to the casting surface.
Defect: ,ish -raphite $nclusions0his ferrous casting defect appears as coarse -not smooth/ porosity, filled with
graphite. It generally becomes visible upon casting machining. 0he defect is caused by an excessive carbon
e"uivalent in the melt, slow cooling or great differences in section thic$ness. A redesign on the part of the casting
end&user may be in order to address this defect.
),. Your iron casting shows local accumulations of coarse graphite. 0he graphite has moved into the shrin$age
cavities.
Expansion Scab
Defect:

."pansion ScaAnother defect caused by the expansion of molding or core sand, expansion scabs can occur in
ferrous or copper&based castings. 0he thin metallic pro'ections with sharp edges are generally parallel to the
surface of the casting and have very rough surfaces. 0hey are usually attached to the casting at only a few points
and are otherwise loose.
)<. %aves of fold mar$ings without discontinuities appear on your casting.
Defect: Sea%s or Scars0his defect, which generally occurs on hori5ontal or convex surfaces of thin castings,
distinguishes itself from a rat tail in that the two edges of each individual groove are at the same level. 0he defect
may appear in con'unction with $ish graphite -detailed in "uestion ),/. #and is not the cause of this defect.
>ather, it is metallurgical.
#eams or #cars