FUNDAMENTALS

METAL CASTING PROCESS

THEORY

Fundamentals of metal casting

Patten making: Definition:- Model of anything, constructed so that it can
be used for forming an impression, called mould, in
suitable material.
When this mould is filled with molten metal and allowed
to solidify, it forms reproduction of pattern, known as
casting.
Requirements:1. Easily worked, shaped and joined.
2. Light in weight.
3. Strong, hard and durable.
4. Repaired and reused.
5. Able to take good surface.
Materials used:1. Wood:- Commonly used
Advantages: Cheap and abundance
Easily shaped
Light in weight
Has long life
Disadvantages: Wears out quickly
Susceptible to moisture
E.g.:- Burma teak

FUNDAMENTALS

METAL CASTING PROCESS

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2. Metals:- Used when large number of castings is to be

made and close dimensional accuracy is required. They
have longer life as compared to wood.
E.g.:- cast iron (specialized patterns), brass (small
patterns) and aluminium (light weight and corrosion
resistant patterns)
3. Plastics:- Used because of low weight, easy formability,
smooth surfaces, durability, resistance to moisture,
strength, dimensional stability, etc.
E.g.:- cold setting epoxy resins
4. Rubber:- Used to form intricate patterns
E.g.:- silicon rubbers
5. Plasters:- POP is generally used as it can be easily cast,
expansion can be controlled, has high compression
strength and also as it expands in solidification.
6. Waxes:- Used in investment castings. For this, die or
mould is made in 2 halves and then heated wax is
poured into it. The die is kept cold by circulating water
around it. As wax sets on cooling, die is separated and
pattern is taken out.
E.g.:- blends of waxes such as paraffin wax, shellac
wax, etc.
Types of pattern:1. Solid or Single piece pattern:a. Simplest pattern of all forms.
b. Made of single piece, i.e. without joints, partings or
any loose pieces in construction.

FUNDAMENTALS

METAL CASTING PROCESS

THEORY

c. Used only when product is very simple and can be

easily withdrawn from mould.

2. Split or 2 piece pattern:a. Used in case of castings of intricate design or

unusual shape or when contour of the casting makes
its withdrawal from mould difficult or when depth of
casting is too high.
b. One part is contained in drag and other in cope.
c. The split surface is same as parting plane of the
mould.
d. Both parts should be aligned properly by using
dowel pins in top half and fitting holes in second.
(Both may or may not be similar)

3. Match plate pattern:a. They are split patterns mounted with one half on
one side and other directly opposite on other side.

FUNDAMENTALS

METAL CASTING PROCESS

THEORY

b. Used when small castings in large quantities are

required in moulding machine which gives accurate
and rapid production.

4. Cope and drag pattern:a. Used in large castings, where complete moulds are
heavy, for easy and efficient operation.
b. They are made in halves, split on convenient joint
line and separate cope and drag patterns are built
and mounted on individual plates or boards.

FUNDAMENTALS

METAL CASTING PROCESS

THEORY

5. Gated pattern:a. They are used for mass production of small castings.
b. For such castings, multi-cavity moulds are prepared.
c. Such patterns are connected to each other with the
help of gate formers, which provide suitable
channels (gates) for feeding the molten metal.
d. A single runner can be used for feeding all cavities.
e. This saves moulding time and uniform feeding of
molten metal.

6. Loose piece pattern:a. Such patterns are usually made with one or more
loose pieces for facilitating their removal from the
moulding box.
b. This type is used when the part is such that pattern
cant be removed in 1 piece.
c. Thus, here main pattern is first removed then
separate pieces are turned or moved before they are
taken out.

FUNDAMENTALS

METAL CASTING PROCESS

THEORY

7. Sweep pattern:a. This type is used in case of large sized symmetrical

patterns.
b. It consists of a board, which contains a sort of cross
section of pattern to be made.
c. Then the board is made to rotate about a central
axis to get the pattern.

8. Skeleton pattern:a. This pattern gives a skeleton which gives a path to

moulding sand.

FUNDAMENTALS

METAL CASTING PROCESS

THEORY

b. It consists of large number of square/rectangular

openings between the ribs. This forms the skeleton
outline of the pattern to be made.
c. It is usually built in 2 parts.(cope and drag)

9. Segmental pattern:a. Applied to circular works such as rings, wheels, rims,

etc.
b. While making mould, moulding sand is rammed
between outside of pattern and inside, excluding
ends of the pattern.
c. This process takes place in sections until entire
mould perimeter has been completed.

FUNDAMENTALS

METAL CASTING PROCESS

THEORY

Pattern allowances: Dimensions of pattern are different from final

dimensions of casting required due to contraction during
solidification, distortion while removing the pattern out
of the mould, etc.
Hence, pattern allowances are provided to take care of
moulding, casting and machining.
1. Shrinkage allowance:a. Most of metals used in casting work during cooling
from pour temperature to room temperature.
b. It takes place in 3 forms, liquid, solidifying and solid
contractions.
c. Hence, to compensate this, patterns are made of a
size greater than final castings.
d. For example, cast iron shrinks 10 mm/meter. Hence
a shrink rule measuring 10 mm longer per meter is
used instead of conventional rule.

2. Machining allowance:a. It is provided to take care of surface finish and

dimensional requirement of cast component.

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METAL CASTING PROCESS

THEORY

b. Sand casting provides a poor finish and accuracy.

Hence when good finish and accuracy is required,
machining is used.
c. Thus, extra material should be provided to those
surfaces to be machined. This compensates the loss
due to removal of material during finishing.
d. Amount of extra material depends on:i. Kind of metal used
ii. Size and shape of casting
iii. Method of moulding
iv.Degree of finish required
e. Larger the size, more the allowance.
f. It varies from 1.5 mm to 16 mm.
3. Draft allowance:a. During removal of a pattern, vertical surfaces remain
in contact with moulding sand which may damage
the surface the surface of cavity.
b. Hence, vertical surfaces are made tapered from
parting line. This is called draft allowance.
c. It varies with complexity of the job. In general,
internal surfaces require more draft than external
surfaces.
d. It is around 10 mm 25 mm per meter for external
surface and from 40 mm 70 mm per meter for
internal surfaces.

FUNDAMENTALS

METAL CASTING PROCESS

THEORY

4. Shake/Rapping allowance:a. When a pattern is to be removed from the mould, it

is rapped or shaked to make it free from adjoining
side wall of mould.
b. Thus, size of mould is slightly increased.
c. In order to compensate this, pattern is made slightly
smaller than actual size. (negative allowance)
5. Distortion allowance:a. Due to size, shape and type of metal, some castings
tend to wrap or distort while cooling.
b. This happens in weaker sections or in a complicated
casting which may have thin and long sections
connected to thick sections.
c. Thus, to compensate this, such parts are given an
equal amount of distortion in the opposite direction.

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FUNDAMENTALS

METAL CASTING PROCESS

THEORY

Properties of moulding sand: Porosity:1. Molten metals mostly contain dissolved gases in it.
2. These gases evolve when poured metal freezes.
3. Thus, if the moulding sand is sufficiently porous, these
gases find a pathway to escape.
4. Even the moulding sand may have water content,
which vaporizes due to the heat of the molten metal,
which escapes from it because of the porous nature of
the sand.
Flowability:1. It is the property due to which sand flows and packs all
around the pattern and takes the required shape.
2. Flowability of the sand is directly proportional to clay
and water content.

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FUNDAMENTALS

METAL CASTING PROCESS

THEORY

Collapsibility:1. Sand in the mould should be collapsed after

solidification of poured metal.
2. This ensures free contraction of the solidified casting.
3. Lack of proper collapsibility may lead to formation of
defects like hot tears.
Adhesiveness:1. The sand particles must be capable of adhering to walls
of moulding boxes.
2. It is due to this property, the sand mass can be
successfully held in moulding box.
Cohesiveness:It is due to this property that the sand particles stick
together firmly
Strength:1. The sand should have adequate strength in green, dry
and hot states.
2. Green strength is the strength of the sand in
green/moist state, which helps to retain its shape.
3. When metal is poured, sand particles adjacent to
molten metal dries and this sand must have adequate
strength to resist erosion and pressure of the metal.
This is called dry strength of moulding sand.
4. Hot strength is the ability of sand to sustain
metallostatic pressure of molten metal, i.e. above
1000C
Refractoriness:-

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FUNDAMENTALS

METAL CASTING PROCESS

THEORY

1. It is the property of the sand to withstand high

temperature condition without getting fused.
2. Low refractoriness sand may burn on casting.
Thermal stability:1. The sand adjacent to the metal is suddenly heated
when molten metal is poured and it expands.
2. The mould metal interface may crack/buckle unless
the moulding sand is dimensionally stable under rapid
heating.

Core boxes: Type of pattern of wood or metal into which sand is

rammed or packed to form a core is called as core box.
Following are the commonly used core boxes.
1. Half box:a. Generally used for symmetrical core.
b. It is prepared in halves and after that they are
shaped to form and baked.
c. The core boxes are pasted together to form a
complete core.

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FUNDAMENTALS

METAL CASTING PROCESS

THEORY

2. Dump core box:a. This type of core box is used to make complete core
in a single piece.
b. It is generally used for a small or medium sized core.
c. As a core is made in a single piece, no pasting is
required.
d. If the shape of core is in shape of a slab, it is called
as rectangular box.

3. Strickle box:a. Regular shaped cores are made by above methods,

but cores of irregular shape can be made by this
method.
b. In this type, the shape of core is produced by striking
off core sand from top of core box with a piece of
stock corresponding to required core.

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FUNDAMENTALS

METAL CASTING PROCESS

THEORY

4. Gang box:a. When mass production of cores is required, gang ox

is used.
b. It contains a number of core cavities so that more
than one core can be rammed at a time.
5. Split box:a. Unlike dump and half core box, split box is made up
of 2 parts.
b. The 2 portions can be aligned and temporarily joined
together during core making.
c. This is most widely used core box in foundry.

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