1

EXPENDABLE POLYSTYRENE PATTERN CASTING PROCESS: A REVOLUTION IN FOUNDRY TECHNOLOGY.

Professor Okay Ekpe Okorafor Federal University of Technology, Owerri 17th March, 2004

1.0

INTRODUCTION

The numerous and varied application of metal castings demand for but one ultimate concern of the foundry metallurgist, namely, to produce sound castings which meet the requirements of certain specified set of physical and mechanical properties with minimum rejections. To achieve this objective, usually, the foundry employs control over raw materials, composition of the charge according to specifications and melting conditions, superheat, pre-treatments of melt, pouring temperature, proper designing of mold and molding material, etc., so that the feeding of the casting and its controlled solidification are assured. Attention has been given to virtually all the stages of processing aluminum alloy castings. In many instances, the effects obtained have been quite significant but, as yet, the search for improved casting methods and techniques is still a continuing activity by foundrymen. From available information, one thing is clear, and that is, that fast freezing leads to improved structure and, it is believed, better properties. Since solidification basically is a phase transformation that can be described in terms of two rate parameters, nucleation and growth, it is useful to attempt to relate the structure produced by solidification and hence properties to the rate of nucleation of grains and their subsequent rate of growth. Both the rate of nucleation and the rate of growth depend upon the temperature at which the transformation occurs. Consequently, a rationalization of cast structure and properties in terms of the kinetics must include a description of the effect of the casting process on the thermal conditions during freezing. In general, for conventional casting, an alloy is heated above its melting point, poured into mold and allowed to solidify there. The process depends on heat extraction into and through the mold, which, it is clear, imposes severe limitations on the rate at which solidification occurs. But other possibilities exist, of which some are being exploited and others are under consideration. For example, there are various continuous casting processes in many of which heat extraction is designed to provide rapid production, but have the advantages of directionally controlling the solidification process and causing it to occur at high speed. Such processes, however, can at best provide ingots or the equivalent of some later stage of the progression from ingot to sheet, bar or wire. The question then is whether it is possible to remove latent heat by means other than conduction into the mold. It is, of course, a fact that whereas heat can be added uniformly to a body, for instance, by high frequency or resistance heating, it can be extracted only at the surface. Bearing this in mind, two possibilities arise; one is that the liquid should be supercooled before it enters the mold, so that part of the latent heat is used to heat the melt to the melting point. Any such possible supercooling obtained within reasonable limits would

2 allow the solidification of a good proportion of the melt without the extraction of any heat. Further, in the cases where solidification from large undercoolings gives very fine grained materials, the details of the structure and properties of alloys studied in this manner have not been elucidated. Severe technical difficulties in applying this procedure should be that even a single nucleant particle would cause the whole mass to solidify. Another possible technique would be to pour a slurry of solid and liquid, the slurry preferably being a dispersion of small crystals such as would be formed by violent stirring of a melt in which solidification has started. This procedure, which would require very close control of time and temperature, might avoid macro-segregation and would produce a fine grained, finely dendritic structure. The present work, in this context, was a program to produce aluminum alloy castings by the expendable polystyrene pattern casting process. The growth of interest in aluminum alloys as materials for light castings rendered it desirable that a careful investigation into the metallurgical aspects of these castings, when prepared under controlled conditions, should be made in order to arrive at an independent standard of what may be expected of the alloys. Since experience with most casting processes show that both structure and properties of castings are process dependent, a comprehensive investigation has been carried into the process and modification effects on structure and properties of expendable polystyrene pattern castings. The problem of fuming, fading and uncertainty of recovery in sodium modification during founding, together with the growing interest in strontium as a modifier with little or no fading made it desirable to use both elements for the purpose of comparison and documentation of their modifying effects and characteristics for this particular casting process. On the basis of the foregoing, the report which follows has attempted to provide a critical study of the relationship between the fundamental principles of solidification and experimental observations bearing on the results of the process and modification effects with respect to the thermal history, structure and properties of expendable polystyrene pattern aluminum alloy castings. Due to lack of information on this subject, some of the account presented is qualitative in nature, however, quantitative description has been supplied where necessary for clarity and comparison, in the hope that the material may elicit the interest and constructive criticism of those engaged in expendable polystyrene pattern casting, so that future definitions of research problems in this field may be closely allied to topics of interest to the industry. 1.1 THE BASIC CONPECT OF EXPENDABLE POLYSTYRENE CASTING PROCESS.

The expendable polystyrene pattern, also known as full mold, cavity-less, evaporative, lost foam or gasifiable pattern casting process has been applied to the casting of a wide variety of metallic alloys, and present commercial practice is capable of turning out highly satisfactory castings in ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. In its present stage of development, the process offers most attraction for use for the one or few off type of work. Further developments are bound to include small quantity and mass production techniques to widen the scope of the process. The process has been fully described in the literature.1-3 It is therefore not the intention here to offer guidance on the process but to present a brief description of the process. The basic concept of the process is very simple. The principle considered is that a pattern made of foam

3 plastic is embedded in unbonded sand and replaced by molten metal (Fig.1). The metal replaces the foam pattern and a metal duplicate of the pattern is the result. The claim put forward for this process is that, owing to the chemistry of the process, the cast metal tends to be free of shrinkage porosity; and free from unsoundness, blow-holes and non-metallic inclusions whether the molten metal is degassed or not, provided it is cast under proper pouring conditions. At the present time the process offers many advantages to the foundryman and yet is by no means developed to its full potential. The advantages of the process as compared to conventional bonded sand techniques are numerous and include features such as no cores, reusable sand, no binders or additives, inexpensive flasks and so on. The principal disadvantage to the manufacture of expendable polystyrene pattern castings in unbonded sand is the comparatively overwhelming inertia of the more established methods. These methods have been tried and proven over a period of several years and foundrymen who have developed satisfactory ways of making castings are understandably reluctant to change overnight to a method which still requires experimental work for perfection. However, the fact that a separate pattern is required for each casting is considered to be a major disadvantage of the expendable polystyrene pattern casting process. 2.0 SOLIDIFICATION PROCESSING The pouring of molten metal into a relatively cool mold initiates the processes of solidification, during which stage the cast form develops cohesion and acquires lasting structural characteristics. The properties of the solidified metal or alloy are determined to a considerable extent by the phenomena associated with this transition; these may produce various consequences, although all metals and alloys consist essentially of crystals which fall into one or other of a few types. Despite this similarity of the fundamental unit of the solid materials, very great variations in their grouping and arrangement may be induced by alteration in the mode of transition from the liquid to the solid state. The mode of freezing exercises a two fold influence upon the final properties of a casting. The normal metallographic structure determines many of the properties inherently available from the cast metal. This structure the grain size, shape and orientation and the distribution of alloying elements as well as the underlying crystal structure and its imperfections is largely determined during crystallization from the melt. Even in those cases where the as cast structure is modified by subsequent treatments it still exerts a residual influence upon the final structure. The properties and service performance of an individual casting are, however, also a function of its soundness the degree of true metallic continuity. This too is established during solidification, since the volume shrinkage accompanying the change of state must be fully compensated by liquid feed if internal voids are to be prevented. Structure and soundness being dependent upon the mechanism of solidification, are influenced by many factors, including the constitution and physical properties of alloy. Other important factors are the melt history and prior treatment, the pouring conditions, the thermal conditions in mold and sometimes the mold material itself; and it is with the manipulation of these conditions to achieve full control of the pattern of freezing that much of the technique of founding is concerned.

Principles underlying the solidification behavior and other metallurgical aspects of expendable polystyrene pattern aluminum alloy castings are nonexistent in the literature. The present section therefore reviews in a general term the phenomena associated with the solidification, modification and properties of aluminum alloys. 2.1 SOLIDIFICATION: GENERAL PRINCIPLES.

The process of solidification of a metal or alloy presents a complex phenomenon, whose course is characterized by four inherent aspects: (a) (b) (c) (d) Solidification, as applied to metals and alloys (but not to glasses) is a discontinuous process. The volume of the solid is almost always different from that of the liquid. Latent heat of fusion is generated in proportion to the amount of solid formed. The composition of a solid alloy is usually different from that of the liquid from which it is forming.

As a result of these unavoidable characteristics, certain limitations are imposed on the process. In the first place, the discontinuous nature of solidification implies that there is no state intermediate between the crystalline and the liquid; a partially solidified metal or alloy, therefore, is a mixture of solid and liquid. Any given atom is either in the liquid, in a crystal or in the interface where crystal and liquid are in contact. From this standpoint, therefore, solidification has two stages, of which the first, known as nucleation is the formation of new crystals in the liquid. The second stage is the growth of these crystals by the addition of atoms to them. The structure of a liquid alloy 4,5 assumes great importance when consideration is given to how nucleation takes place. X-ray diffraction shows that there is no long range order in the arrangement of these atoms, but the evidence is clear that there is a considerable amount of short range order. That is, many atoms are members of very small clusters that are structurally similar to crystals.6 These clusters are very shortlived, as atoms join them and leave them with great rapidity. At any given temperature there is a maximum size of cluster that is likely to occur. At the melting point, such a cluster is much too small to survive and grow into a crystal. At lower temperatures the clusters become much larger, until at some temperature, the largest clusters reach the critical size beyond which they are more likely to grow into crystals than to revert to liquid. In practice, however, the above outlined process does not occur. This is because heterogeneous nucleation always takes place as a result of large quantities of impurities together with other preferred sites. As soon as nucleation has occurred, and the new crystals have started to grow, the evolution of latent heat by the growing crystal tends to raise the temperature and to inhibit the nucleation of more crystals. Since the number of crystals that are formed at this stage may control the number present in the final casting, and therefore its grain size and some if its properties, a consideration of how the nucleation process is affected by the conditions under which solidification takes place, that is, the rate of heat extraction from the liquid is useful. Heterogeneous nucleation occurs when the temperature of the liquid in contact with a nucleant reaches the necessary supercooling. The time required for nucleation to occur is then very short, but finite. The number of crystals that form cannot, therefore, be greater than the number of nucleant particles that are present; but it may be much less, because the evolution

5 of latent heat may maintain some of the liquid at a temperature that is above that required for nucleation. A high cooling rate, on the other hand, is accompanied by a lowering of the crystallization temperature, thus increasing the possibility of more heterogeneous nuclei precipitating out from the liquid alloy.7 The effect of the composition of the alloy on the process of solidification merits consideration. It is very generally, but not quite always true that a solid and a liquid alloy that are in equilibrium with each other have different compositions. In the majority of cases, the solid contains less solute than liquid.8 When such a solid is being formed from liquid, solute is rejected and so the liquid in the immediate vicinity of the solidliquid interface is enriched in alloying elements or impurities. This causes the temperature at which solidification occurs to be depressed (because the solute enriched liquid has a lower liquidus temperature) and it means that, for continuous solidification to occur, solute must diffuse away from the interface. Since diffusion is inherently a much slower process than conduction of heat, this means that the rate of growth of the crystal is much slower for an alloy, therefore, the temperature at which solidification occurs is depressed, substantially more than would be expected from the composition of the bulk liquid; and growth takes place more slowly than for a pure metal. Both these effects are conducive to the nucleation of more crystals; and conversely, the most effective conditions for suppressing nucleation are slow heat extraction and high purity.7 The fact that the removal of latent heat and solute by conduction and diffusion respectively, takes place more efficiently from points than from regions of lesser curvature accounts for the fact that crystal growth in an alloy is usually dendritic,9 that is, the crystals grow initially as a skeleton of spikes or plates that present a tree-like appearance as a result of manifold branching. The interstices between the branches are filled with liquid which becomes enriched with solutes and subsequently freezes. The temperature at which solidification takes place depends, as noted above, on composition of the layers of liquid that is actually solidifying, and this depends on how fast the process occurs in relation to the rate at which the solute is able to diffuse away. The depression of the actual growth temperature increases with the speed of growth,10 and so an alloy that would, under conditions of slow growth, be unable to nucleate any new grains after the start of freezing might, with faster heat extraction, maintain a temperature at which frequent nucleation is possible. The speed of solidification that is required depends on the potency of the nucleants that are present and on the quantity and kind of solute that is present. A further unavoidable result of the solidification conditions outlined above is the highly heterogeneous distribution of solutes in the casting. There are basically two types of segregation; there is, almost inevitably, short range or microsegregation as a result of the movement, by diffusion, of solute that is rejected during growth.11 This can be avoided only in the very rare cases in which the liquid solidifies congruently, including of course, pure metals. The second type is long range, or macrosegregation, which is caused by motion of solute enriched liquid away from the region in which solute rejection is taking place. The motion may be due to convection (resulting from density gradients either thermal or compositional in origin) or to fluid motion that persists from the time the metal entered the mold. Short range segregation is often most pronounced at the grain boundaries where it may cause brittle phases to occur that would not exist in equilibrium. These phases frequently have a high content of impurities which, if distributed uniformly throughout the solid, would be in solution and therefore harmless or even beneficial. The presence of these weak or brittle

6 layers is to a large extent responsible for the poor ductility that is sometime regarded as being characteristic of castings. In a closely analogous way, the shrinkage that accompanies the transition from liquid to crystal has its long range and its short range effects. Long range, or macroscopic shrinkage includes the obvious effects such as pipe formation and the less obvious, but equally gross and much dangerous internal shrinkage cavities. Short range shrinkage effects take the form of micro-porosity, that is, fine pores that occur in interdendritic regions because the interdendritic channels are so thin and tortuous that the liquid does not have time to flow in them to the extent that would be required to compensate for local shrinkage. The rejection of gas, which, like most solutes, concentrates in the liquid, can occur by the formation of bubbles. These are formed most readily in regions of low pressure; an actual void may therefore be the combined effect of shrinkage and gas evolution. However, the higher the gas content, the sooner are bubbles formed; and if they are formed relatively early in the solidification process, they tend to grow large. In the absence of gas, on the other hand, the pores are very small and numerous. In general, it is clear that microsegregation and microporosity are bound to occur whenever solidification takes place dendritically;12 dendritic growth takes place wherever the relationship between the rate of solidification and temperature gradients in the liquid exceeds a critical condition;13 dendritic growth can be avoided only by a combination of slow advance of the solid-liquid interface with a steep temperature gradient in the liquid. The conditions are progressively more difficult to meet as the solute content increases, especially if the solutes have a strong tendency to be rejected during solidification. 2.1.1 Effect of Fluid Motion

Two effects of motion of the liquid have been mentioned; occurrence of segregation and of shrinkage at a substantial distance from the place where most of the rejection of solute and volume change occur; a third effect of motion of the liquid is less well understood, but its importance is evident. When liquid flows across the advancing front of a dendritically growing crystal, a dramatic increase in the number of crystals may take place, without the occurrence of actual nucleation in the strict sense implied above. The conditions that are required for this dynamic multiplication process are not clear, but it is probable that the liquid must not be much above its liquidus temperature, and it must be moving at more than some limiting velocity with respect to the crystal. It is not certain whether temperature fluctuations actually participate in melting off the tips of growing crystals, but it has been shown that a crystal can grow dendritically at a temperature substantially below the liquidus, and then melt locally as a result of the rise of temperature when growth slows down.14 On the other hand, it is also possible to induce nucleation by subjecting the liquid metal to dynamic stimuli. There are few reliable data concerning true dynamic nucleation. Walker,15 and Frawley and Childs16 have all shown how mechanical vibrations can cause nucleation to occur at lower supercooling than normally required. A hypothesis advanced by Vonnegut,17 stated that positive pressure wave generated by the collapse of an internal cavity in the liquid could be large enough to raise the melting point for metals which contract on freezing by an amount sufficient to increase the effective supercooling of the melt and thus to produce nucleation. Nucleation in systems which expand on freezing would be affected similarly by the rarefaction following the initial pressure pulse.

7 2.1.2 Supercooling and Solidification Supercooling or undercooling is a well known phenomenon in pure metals and certain alloys. Most of what is reported in the literature on this subject has dealt with homogeneous nucleation in small isolated droplets of clean metals. Supercooling of about 18 percent of the absolute melting point has been observed under such conditions.18 Nucleation then occurs, the droplets solidify liberating the latent heat of fusion and temperature rises to approach the liquidus temperature, i.e., recalescence occurs. A number of work has also been done on supercooling of bulk sample of liquid metals in which large effects were observed. The work of Iyer and Youdelis19,20 shows that; (1) the degree of supercooling increase with cooling rate, (2) the degree of primary supercooling is dependent on the composition of the alloy from which the primary phase grows, and (3) the degree of supercooling may increase or decrease with solute concentration depending on the specific nucleation and crystal growth rates for a particular alloy concentration. Other authors21,22 in determining nucleation catalysis by monitoring the undercooling of bulk sample as a function of the sample composition report that the difficulty of certain solid solution dendrites to nucleate a second phase readily accounts for a subsequent undercooling below the eutectic temperature. Crystal multiplication and grain refinement by dendrite fragmentation resulting from undercooling below the liquidus has been reported by McLeod and Hogan23 for Cu-2%Sn alloy. In these studies, the addition of various grain refining agents tends to eliminate or reduce the supercooling effect.24 Turnbull,18 has put forward a nice description of the theory of homogeneous nucleation and supercooling. Unfortunately, the theory of heterogeneous nucleation, which is more important in the freezing of casting is rather ill-defined. Chalmers and his associates25 have investigated the interaction of heterogeneous nuclei and supercooling. The constitutional supercooling concepts have been given a rather detailed theoretical exposition in treating the interaction of thermal gradients, heterogeneous nuclei and diffusion barriers to freezing. The interaction of supercooling with nucleation or grain refinement processes in commercial practice remains rather vague. The magnitude of the effects which may occur, their relation to the final grain diameter of the casting and supercooling necessary or sufficient to allow the use of a given grain refinement agent is generally unspecified. The degree of supercooling and the cooling rate on the occasion of solidification of molten alloys are powerful factors to influence the solidified structures during the process of founding. The degree of supercooling depends on kinds and numbers of the nucleation catalysts such as the inside surface of the vessel and small particles suspended in the molten metals as insoluble impurities and oxides formed by superheating and other treatments of the liquid. On the other hand, the cooling rate is regarded as one of the other factors controlling the degree of supercooling, but it has not yet been satisfactorily explained. Turnbull,18 however, has noted that the rate of nucleation is sensitive to the interface energy and to the degree of undercooling and that the rate of nucleation is as such dependent on the size of the system under investigation. As a result of this dependence on the interface energy, there exists a region of temperature below the equilibrium melting temperature over which crystal nuclei do not form at perceptible rate and is schematically shown in Fig.2. Supercooling of liquidus is an obvious manifestation of the metastability of the liquid phase. Since the mobility of atoms is high in this zone, there is no restriction to the growth and crystals once nucleated can grow readily. In many nonmetallic melts, a zone of high viscosity is reached at higher values of supercooling where nucleation is again inhibited. Below the metasable zone,

8 however, the rate of nucleation is so fast that physical transportation of the nuclei by convective fluid flow may play a dominant role in the solidification at lower degree of supercooling. Kurfman,26 has explained the cause of supercooling in terms of the heat balance associated with the growth of suitable nuclei, and the various barriers to the growth of such nuclei. In pure metals and dilute alloys, crystallite growth rates can be extremely high. The growth of a few grains, perhaps initiated at the crucible wall, is sufficiently fast to liberate latent heat as fast as the sample is cooled. However, for higher concentration alloys, freezing tends to take place below the equilibrium temperature. Solute is rejected, according to phase diagram relationships, around the growing crystals. This depresses the melting point, and if freezing is to proceed it must occur at a temperature of this solute-rich region. This can allow the bulk liquid to undercool sufficiently for fresh nuclei to begin growing.4 If enough nuclei grow, they can liberate latent heat faster than the sample is cooled and the temperature may actually rise, approaching the equilibrium liquidus. On the other hand, the failure to observe supercooling in dilute alloys is attributed to the failure to achieve stable diffusion boundaries. In grain refined melts, enough growth sites are available with nominal supercooling to balance the rate of heat removal and permit freezing to proceed smoothly with no recalescence effect. 2.2 SOLIDIFICATION OF Al - Si ALLOYS.

Al-Si alloys considered here include additions of copper up to 4% and/or magnesium up to 0.3%. Addition of silicon to aluminum in proper amounts provides desirable casting characteristics such as fluidity, reduced hot tearing and sounder castings. These effects have contributed in making silicon the most common alloying element in the commercial aluminum casting alloys. Review of the solidification processes in pure binary or ternary alloys is not an objective here. Instead, freezing mechanism of commercial alloy compositions in relationship to principles are the area of interest in this review. In this respect, casting aluminum alloys containing silicon are classified into three groups: (1) the hypoeutectic alloys containing less than 9% silicon; (2) the near-eutectic and eutectic alloys (10-14% Si); and (3) the hypereutectic alloys with silicon contents ranging up to 25 percent. 2.2.1 Normal Eutectic Solidification

The so-called normal eutectic microstructure in the aluminum-silicon alloys, is a product of a slow solidification of the eutectic with a coarse microstructure consisting of large plateshaped particles of Si in the Al matrix. The mechanism of freezing of Al-Si eutectic alloys has been reviewed by Chadwick.27 However, the consensus of many reports,28 views normal eutectic or near eutectic solidification as occurring as follows: (1) Nucleation and subsequent growth of the proeutectic constituent (aluminum in the hypoeutectic alloys or silicon in hypereutectic alloys). Nucleation begins and growth continues from the liquidus temperature down to the eutectic start temperature. Only one solid phase is present at these temperatures.

9 (2) Nucleation of the second phase of the eutectic at the proeutectic phase-liquid interface. This is usually accompanied by some supercooling below the eutectic start temperature followed by recalescence. Growth of the plate silicon-aluminum eutectic occurs with the plates in direct contact with the melt.29 Growth occurs as a eutectic colony or cell. Completion of eutectic solidification over a temperature range by growth of the eutectic cells. The advancing solid front of aluminum and silicon in the cell proceeds so that liquid is in contact with both phases. Branching of the silicon plates may occur at the points where the plate is in contact with the melt. Branching leads to interconnection of many of the plates in a cell. Solidification is completed over the eutectic freezing temperature range by impingement of the cells. Segregation occurs between cells.

(3)

Certain key features are clear in the above solidification mechanism. First, nucleation of the silicon is encouraged on proeutectic aluminum -solid solution because of Si segregation at the -liquid interface. The upper limit of eutectic Si nucleation in pure alloys of the Al - Si system is said to be 578C. However, eutectic start and arrest temperatures up to 585C are found in commercial alloys containing 0.25% Fe or more and other impurities. Since eutectic solidification may commence and proceed over the range cited, the result is usually endogenous solidification. 2.2.2 Undercooled Eutectic Solidification Undercooling of normal eutectic may readily occur. In Al-Si alloys, undercooling may suppress the eutectic nucleation and growth temperature from 585C down to 580C. Undercooling allows the proeutectic -dendrites to grow larger. When the silicon nucleates and grows, it therefore appears interdendritic, grows more rapidly, and is finer. Further undercooling to temperatures of 580C and below causes the development of the modified Ai-Si eutectic. Undercooled eutectic Si may develop as a result of Na addition or without any additions if the solidification rate is chosen to produce mainly normal eutectic with isolated patches of undercooled eutectic. Normal eutectic undercooling occurs most easily in near-eutectic compositions in the Al-Si alloys. Eutectic and slightly hypereutectic (12 to 15%) Si-Al alloys almost always have much undercooled silicon plates in their structure. In both cases, change to a definitely hypoeutectic composition (less than 11.5% Si) makes it possible to eliminate undercooling and mixed structures, especially if modification is practiced. Change to a strongly hypereutectic composition can accomplish the same effect. Thus, the proeutectic constituent serves to assist nucleation of normal eutectic toward the upper limit of the eutectic temperature range. 2.2.3 Modified Eutectic Solidification Undercooling of the Al-Si eutectic below 580C by chilling or from chemical treatment of the melt produces the modified Al-Si eutectic. For example, the addition of a few hundredths percent sodium is capable of producing a modified structure. The silicon particles in the modified eutectic are very fine and truly globular in shape. In this way they differ from coarse or fine plates in the normal or undercooled eutectic. An essential feature of modified eutectic solidification is that polyhedral silicon or coarse silicon plates do not nucleate on the

10 -solid solution dendrites at the highest temperature in the eutectic range. Instead, the eutectic freezes by nucleation at the cooled surface and growth of a shell toward the center (exogenous solidification). Significant features of this type of solidification are the absence of normal eutectic or polyhedral silicon nucleation within the unsolidified core and the -front which precedes the thickening solidified shell and pinches off or encases the silicon particles. New silicon particles must nucleate at the -front as it proceeds toward the center of the section. Continued heat removal with a falling temperature seems to be needed to complete solidification according to the exogenous mechanism. Chill casting is the method of accomplishing this without sodium treatment. The -front sometimes produces wave-like patterns in the completely solidified eutectic. Whereas exogenous solidification is common for the modified eutectic, it can approach the endogenous mechanism if under-or overmodification occurs or the heat transfer mechanism is unfavorable. 2.3 THE MODIFICATION EFFECT The aluminum-silicon alloys are of industrial importance largely because of properties which can be obtained as a result of modification. The structure of cast Al-Si alloys is remarkably altered by the addition of modifying agents before casting. Sodium, in particular, reduces the size of the silicon particles during eutectic solidification and tends to change their shapes from plates to nearly rounded grains. This reduction in particles size, termed modification, results in an improvement in mechanical properties. Similar effects can be attained by rapid solidification. Consideration, therefore, of the control of the solidified structure and thus the properties of these alloys requires an assessment of their modification aspects. The aluminum-silicon alloys of general usefulness are those containing from 5 to 25 percent silicon. Throughout this range of composition the structure can be refined and physical properties materially improved by the modifying process. Both the degree of improvement and the actual properties reach a maximum, however, near the eutectic composition, at about 13 percent silicon. In addition to the profound reduction in the practical size of silicon and the great refinement of the structure of the eutectic as a result of sodium addition, other significant experimental observations are: 30 (1) Both primary silicon and primary aluminum appear in the microsturcture in modified hypereutectic alloys. Modification by the addition of sodium results in the lowering of the freezing point of the eutectic. The melting point of the eutectic is not changed. This lowering of the eutectic freezing point is not the usual supercooling phenomenon, since the temperature does not rise again once eutectic solidification starts. There is a shifting of the apparent eutectic composition toward a higher silicon content.

(2)

(3)

2.3.1 Theory of Modification Over the years the nature of the change brought about by treating Al-Si alloys with sodium has been a fascinating subject for study. The nature of this change is at first glance quite puzzling. Numerous theories or hypotheses have been advanced to explain modification, but

11 none yet has received universal acceptance or completely explained the principles of the phenomenon. One general trend taken by these theories is that the growth of the silicon crystals is restricted by the appearance during eutectic solidification of sodium-rich liquid phase which, enveloping the silicon, retards its further growth. This has been expressed in many and varied forms. Edwards and Archer31 have postulated that liquid sodium separates out when the melt is cooled and is present in the melt as a finely dispersed colloid. This mist of sodium, they suggested, obstructs the growth of silicon crystals by being adsorbed on them. Other investigators32 believe the liquid causing the obstruction to be a sodium-rich composition [NaAlSi1.25] or [NaAlSi1.33]. Thall and Chalmers,33 advanced a second theory in 1950, which assumes that the presence of a concentration of sodium in the aluminum surrounding the silicon crystals decreases the surface energy and interfacial surface tension between the solid aluminum and the solid solution. With this lower interfacial tension, Thall and Chalmers predicted that, the solidifying aluminum would extend around the silicon crystals and block their further growth. The work of Davies and West34 supports this hypothesis. Other investigators27,28,35 have proposed that sodium removes or poisons nuclei, such as hydrogen (or hydrides) and non-metallic inclusions (e.g., AlP), and alters the nucleation pattern for the eutectic crystallization of silicon. 2.4 SODIUM MODIFICATION PROCESS. With the introduction of the modification process, it was discovered that if an Al-Si alloy is allowed to stand in the molten condition for too long a time after the flux treatment, the modification effect is gradually lost, and that if a properly modified cast alloy is remelted and again cast without further treatment, it reverts almost entirely to the normal condition. The discovery of the metallic sodium method of modifying indicated that this reversion to the normal condition on standing in the molten state or on remelting is due to the loss of sodium. Subsequent experiences have demonstrated as a practical certainty that the actual loss of sodium is the dominant factor in this reversion, although it is conceivable that there is some effect due to a change in the distribution of sodium. The reversion from the modified to the normal condition is gradual rather than abrupt. By pouring at various intervals of time after the proper execution of the fluxing treatment, it is possible to obtain castings varying continuously in structure and properties from the completely modified to the normal. Furthermore, it was early recognized that when insufficient quantities of flux are used the castings obtained are only partly modified. The usual recommendation called for an amount of flux equal to about 3 percent by weight of metal treated. The flux contains two part NaF to one part NaCl. The fact that poor modification results from the use of too much sodium as well as from too little sodium, whether sodium be derived from the salt flux or added directly as metallic sodium has also been established. As a matter of fact, it is possible, by the use of too much sodium, to make the properties of the modified alloys inferior to those of the normal alloys.

12 2.4.1 Amount of Sodium Required Probably the most important requirement for successful modification is that the molten alloy contain the proper amount of sodium well distributed at the time of casting. The amount of sodium required to produce the best results appears to be definite for a given alloy and for given casting conditions. The sodium requirement varies over a wide range with the composition of the alloy, particularly the silicon content. For a given alloy, the sodium requirement also varies with the rate of solidification, the general rule being that less sodium is required as the rate of solidification increases. From the standpoint of this review, it is thus probable that somewhat larger quantities of sodium should be used where heavy section castings predominate, but this factor has not yet had a systematic investigation. No simple and accurate method of determining the amount of sodium actually present in a modified casting has been developed. Such information, though interesting, would perhaps not be of much practical use unless there were also some means of determining the sodium content of the molten alloy before casting. From the practical aspects, the thing of interest is the quantity of sodium which must be added to the molten metal. If the conditions of the modifying process are kept constant, then the quantities of sodium present in the modified castings should be definitely related to the quantities added although not necessarily directly proportional thereto. The amount of sodium in the metal at the time of casting will be determined by (1) the quantity added; (2) the efficiency of the addition; and (3) the loss before pouring into castings. 2.4.2 Sodium Reversion on Standing It is advantageous to allow the molten alloy to stand quietly for some time after the addition of sodium. The function of this holding period is partly to allow the escape of air and dross stirred into the melt with the sodium. The actual benefit, however, is the possibility that during this period there is a diffusion of sodium through the alloy, and an escape of the larger particles of undissolved sodium by rising to the surface. Good modification has been obtained by the addition of a small amount of sodium and casting immediately afterwards. More consistent maximum properties, however, seem to be obtained by adding an excess of sodium and allowing the melt to stand quietly for a certain period; this period varying between about 10 to 20 minutes. Sodium is both highly volatile and readily oxidized at metal treating temperatures. Its vapor pressure is high at the normal modification temperature, and recovery is only about 20-30 percent of the addition. Subsequently, the sodium is lost gradually through oxidation by the atmosphere at the melt surface during the holding period. The rate of this loss will obviously vary with conditions, such as the temperature of the melt and the size and shape of the container. It has been found, as would be expected, that the loss increases with metal temperature, although no quantitative relations have developed. The problem is one whose solution is easier by empirical than by analytical methods. The rate of loss is believed to be reduced by leaving the modifying flux on the surface of the melt or by lowering the iron or silicon content to a certain extent.

13 2.5 PERMANENT MODIFICATION AND MODIFYING ELEMENTS. It has been stated 28 that the effect of a modifying element, is: to eliminate, first, coarse polyhedral silicon; secondly, coarse plate silicon and, finally to increase the percentage of modified eutectic in the microstructure. To our knowledge, sodium is a highly efficient modifying element. It refines much more easily when the melt cools faster. Then again a drop in silicon (hypoeutectic alloys) facilitates the modification. To maintain refinement in a melt it is necessary to renew the sodium inoculation about every half hour. This is not very convenient. Now, it is interesting for production casting to obtain persistent refining. This problem of sodium reversion is a very big setback in such casting processes as the low pressure casting where, by the nature of the process molten metal may have to stand for a length of time. The effect of a number of elements on the modification of the Al-Si alloy system has been observed. The observations suggest that nucleation of the silicon phase in modified structures appears to be influenced by some factor related to the periodic properties of the chemical element and that Group IA elements, with the exception of lithium, would effect modification, with sodium being most effective for a given addition. The modifying element must be such that it has a greatly different k value36 in the two phases, so that when the lamellae try to grow side-by-side the build up of solute at the interface of each will be different, such that the phase with the smaller k value for comparable liquidus slopes, will be retarded with respect to the lamella of the other phase. On the other hand it has been observed that the following elements, Be, Ti, Li, Mg, and Pb are not effective for stabilizing Na; and that additions of Te, Sr, K, Ca, S, B, U, and Th as modifying elements showed no interesting results. However, Sr, had an effect analogous to sodium and addition of 0.2%Sb. to the hypoeutectic alloys (chill or permanent mold cast) assured permanent refining. In the presence of Na, Sb and Na tend to neutralize each other, perhaps to form an Na3Sb compound. The modification of hypoeutectic Al-Si alloys by the use of rare earth metal halides has also been reported. The authors37 observed that, alloys containing 6-13 percent Si can be modified with a mixture of REM halides, which convert the acicular Si crystals into fine particles, but the improvement in mechanical properties is relatively minor and the alloy becomes less sound; moreover, its fluidity in the molten state is poorer. In addition, they point out that the structure and properties of aluminum alloys can be significantly improved by introducing relatively small amounts of the transition metals Mo, Cr, Ti, Zr and V. 2.5.1 Strontium Modification For some time now, Sr has been known to be an effective modifying agent for the Al-Si constituent in hypoeutectic Al-Si alloys. However, the early work involved the addition of element Sr or Sr salts, and difficulties were encountered in getting the desired amount of Sr in solution. The high cost of Sr metal was also a disadvantage. An Al-10%Sr master alloy has been available for some time, but this, too, was rather costly. Recently, an Al-16%Si-10%Sr master alloy has been put on the market, which is less costly, making the addition of Sr practical from an economic standpoint. This major breakthrough, combined with the major problems with sodium modification, namely, fume generation and poor and uncertain recovery plus the tendency of Na to come to the top of the melt and burn during addition, has aroused recent interests in Sr as a modifier for the Al-Si constituent in hypoeutectic Al-Si

14 alloys. In foundry evaluations, additions of Sr master alloy affected improvements in mechanical properties, namely a 20-100% increase in elongation and significant increases in tensile and yield strengths of separately cast and machined test bars. Strontium maintained high mechanical properties in the Al-Si alloys over prolonged holding periods, whereas the effects of treatment with sodium or sodium salts were largely lost within the first 30 minutes after treatment.38 Considering all types of Sr master alloys and other Sr compounds, Al-16%Si-10%Sr master alloy is the most convenient and economical form of adding Sr. The most suitable amounts of Sr content, when added as Sr master alloy, are in the range of 0.04 to 0.1%,40 the optimum amount being about 0.05 to 0.06 percent Sr.39,41 An evaluation of strontium modification made by Hess and Blackmun38shows that addition was convenient and recovery was satisfactory, though a somewhat greater initial content of Sr was required than for Na. However, there is a continual loss of Sr during holding. Despite this continual loss, investigateors38,40,42have reported the degree of modification actually improved with holding time, provided a minimum amount of Sr remained in the alloy. In other words, an initial incubation period is required for maximum modification effects. It appeared from the reports that a retained Sr content greater than 0.008% is required for acceptable modification regardless of holding time or remelting. 2.6 SOLIDIFICATION AND CASTING SOUNDNESS Increased demand for quality castings has made it essential to produce castings free from unsoundness. The lack of uniformity in castings is due in part to differences in freezing rates. In order to produce a sound casting these differences must be established. The situation is, however, clear when the mechanisms for freezing and feeding in alloy compositions for foundry use are examined closely. 2.6.1 Feeding Process While the phase change from liquid to solid takes place, an important fact occurs on the liquid side of the casting, that is to say, the mushy zone is fed by liquid metal in order to compensate its volumetric contraction.43 The feeding process can be divided into two stages; in the former stage of solidification there is a mass feeding. Mass feeding is associated with the movement of liquid, carrying even solid particles, normally under the influence of atmospheric pressure or gravity, and is operative during the greater fraction of the solidification process. In other words, there is the movement of a liquid-solid pasty mass, while the dendrites are growing. When in the casting there takes place a solid network infiltrated by liquid (in this stage there is a close resemblance between the casting and a sponge saturated with water), freezing proceeds from the dendritic branches to the liquid surrounding them. One reaches the most critical stage of freezing, that is to say, the stage when it is necessary to compensate the volumetric contraction of the dendrites by the flow of feeding liquid through the already formed system of small channels. The movement of remaining liquid during the final stage of solidification therefore, takes place down tortuous channels between the freezing dendrites, producing a strong tendency to microporosity.

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2.6.2 Elimination of Unsoundness in Castings In the final stage of solidification it is comprehensible that feeding takes place less readily than in the initial stage, and its effectiveness increases when the zone to be fed is small. Both these factors depend upon the casting temperature; the higher the temperature gradient is, the more favorable the conditions of a good feeding in the last and main stage.43 In the event, as an inadequate feeding provokes matrix continuity, so even the casting physical and tensile properties depend on the temperature gradient. The process of obtaining sound castings from an alloy with a wide freezing range is bond to the possibility of defining a sufficiently high temperature gradient between casting and feeder, especially during the latter feeding stage. The greater or smaller tendency of solidifying with microshrinkage is expressed by Stonebrook27 in these terms: An alloy which solidifies with a freezing range, is susceptible to the best feeding possibilities if it has an eutectic residue of 40-80 percent. Of course, it is always necessary to create thermal conditions fit to a limitation of the pasty zone. In any case, the alloy is more subjected to microporosity when there is a scarce eutectic quantity. It can also be noted that when the crossing speed of the solidification range is high the quantity of eutectic residue is larger. Therefore, high cooling rate affects microporosities in a double way - it reduces the extent of the pasty zone and increases the eutectic residue. Although feeding behavior is largely a function of alloy constitution, the problem of shrinkage porosity is in some cases diminished by grain refining techniques, since a suspension of fine crystals flows more freely during the mass feeding stage than does an interlocking structure of coarse dendritic grains. 2.6.3 Gas Porosity A further contributing factor to unsoundness in Al-alloy castings is the precipitation of dissolved gases (H2 in particular) due to changes in gas-metal equilibria on freezing. This form of porosity (pin-hole porosity) is noted for its spasmodic occurrence, which is usually attributed to variations in atmospheric humidity, but could also be due to variations in foundry processes. It is well known that certain variations of these processes increase the possibility of pinhole porosity. For instance, certain aluminum alloys, and foundry processes, e.g. thin section castings made in green sand, are more prone than others to pinhole porosity. This suggests that not only must the gas content of the alloy be considered, but also the chemical composition, section thickness and type of mold material. These considerations suggest that some reaction in the alloy which is forming gas holes is operative/non-operative depending on variations in atmospheric humidity, or foundry process. Hydrogen is probably the most troublesome gas in aluminum founding. Mold materials which contain even a small percentage of moisture must be regarded as potential sources of hydrogen. Furthermore, high hydrogen levels occur in aluminum at times of high humidity, when outbreaks of pinhole porosity occur. In general, the driving forces for the creation of pores can be either gas or solidification shrinkage or both. On the other hand, increased soundness could be obtained by chilling or

16 artificial nucleation to promote mass feeding, after proper degasification of the melt has been carried out to minimize the hydrogen content.44 2.7 MOLD MATERIAL EFFECT ON SOLIDIFICATION. A better understanding of the scientific aspects of the production of quality casting has attracted a good deal of attention in recent years. The casting quality is dependent on such variables as, the nature of the metal or alloy cast, properties of mold materials employed, and the casting techniques. In any case, the thermal properties of mold materials will determine to a large extent the rate of heat extraction for a given casting and thus the influence of mold material on quality of the casting. A knowledge of the influence of mold materials on solidification time of expendable polystyrene pattern castings is extremely useful for the production of quality castings and in the efficient design of the gating and risering system. Dieter45 has reported that expanded polystyrene patterns can be molded in green sand, CO2 sand, furan sand, or in some cases in dry unbonded fluid sand. There is, however, no mention of the effect of such molding materials on the solidification mode or casting properties. In the past several years several investigators have studied the influence of mold material properties on the casting characteristics of pure metals and alloys. The results of the experiments conducted by the technical sub-committee of the IBF46 on cast iron, regarding the effect of mold materials on its cooling rate and physical properties, showed that increased mold density increased tensile strength in castings, as a result of increased cooling power, provided other variables are kept constant. Lee and Volkmar47 have reported that for dry sand molds, relatively coarse sand will increase heat transfer characteristic and mold density as well as minimize the use of binder. It is noted also, that for a given casting shape and a given metal or alloy, the cooling conditions may be more or less favorable by changing the mold materials. In the various reports48 there is agreement on, the improvement in mechanical properties of castings with increased mold density; and the solidification time of castings is influenced by the volumetric heat capacity of the molds. EFFECT OF SOLIDIFICATION STRUCTURE ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES. The importance of structure in cast alloys lies mainly in the structure-sensitive properties which can be utilized in engineering. The properties are determined primarily by the influence of the microstructure on the behavior of dislocations in the lattices of the individual crystals. Unlike wrought materials, in which further opportunities exist for changing both structure and dislocation density, the initial microstructure is frequently the main vehicle for the control of properties, although subsequent heat treatment plays this role in some cast alloys. The two most significant variables affecting cast structure are alloy composition and cooling rate, and their effects on tensile properties for a series of aluminum alloys have been reported by Watkins and Kondic.49 The search for factors responsible for low mechanical properties of cast aluminum alloys led directly to studies of alloy solidification. Of particular interest were the compounded ill-effects of dissolved hydrogen, solidification shrinkage, and unfavorable mechanism of freezing on size, shape, and distribution of microporosity in cast structures. A review of the literature50 suggests some of the factors which lower mechanical properties of cast aluminum alloys as follows: 2.8

17 (1) Interdendritic porosity resulting from hydrogen evolution during solidification. (2) Interdendritic porosity resulting from shrinkage during mushy or pasty type solidification. (3) Weak or brittle materials present at grain boundaries (intermetallic compounds or dross). (4) Grain size. Gas porosity has often been designated as the chief cause of low mechanical properties of cast aluminum alloys. The high solubility of hydrogen in molten aluminum and very low solubility in solid aluminum cause gas evolution during solidification.50 Further, the mushy type solidification traps the gas interdendritically, resulting in small voids sometimes invisible even on a machined surface. These small voids are extremely damaging to mechanical properties. The high thermal conductivity and wide temperature range of solidification in aluminum alloys result in a mushy type solidification. The extent of progressive solidification in aluminum alloy casting is limited. In general, nucleation occurs nearly simultaneously over large portions of the casting and growth continues until isolated interdendritic pools exist throughout the casting. The liqiuid-soild shrinkage of these pools leads to interdendritic voids, and the pressure of gas serves to enlarge these voids. Any techniques which reduce the mushy zone during solidification will benefit mechanical properties. The most important condition for achieving this is a high temperature gradient during solidification. An extensive survey on the effect of temperature gradients within a solidifying plate casting on the strength of Al-4.5%Cu alloy has been published by Ruddle.51 Ruddle was able to show a definite correlation between temperature gradients and tensile properties. He also observes, a marked drop in tensile properties occurred for pouring temperatures greater than 700C. A high thermal gradient within a solidifying casting usually means high freezing rate. It has been shown 9 that fineness of the dendritic structure within grains of an aluminum alloy casting is dependent on cooling rate. When solidification results in finer grains, not only is the grain size uniform throughout the cross-section but the casting has reduced risk of hot tearing or cracking in the mold. The tendency towards shrinkage is also reduced as a result of the better feeding characteristics when solidification proceeds simultaneously from a very large number of nucleation centers. In an aluminum alloy containing insoluble impurity elements, the solidification process leads to grain boundary and interdendritic segregation of a brittle intermetallic phase. The combination of a brittle constituent and voids reduces mechanical properties. High cooling rates or grain refining treatment tend to produce fine dendritic structures and, therefore, give relatively fine distribution of brittle intermetallic phase. The fine distribution of brittle constituent resulting from high cooling rates or addition of grain refiners has been advanced as a reason for improved mechanical properties with high rates of freezing52or nucleation.53 Ordinarily, in most aluminum alloys the cast grain size is markedly coarsened particularly by substantially superheating the melts or by prolonged holding above liquidus temperature. The grain size is, however, relatively independent of the superheat and the pouring temperatures in melts which have been specially rendered capable of solidifying into intrinsically fine grains but are otherwise of similar composition. Mechanical properties of cast Al-Si alloy can also be markedly affected by modification. Modification increases strength and ductility. The improved properties resulting from modified structure is due to the grain refinement of the silicon phase. Commercially, modification of castings may be obtained by addition of modifying agents such as sodium or sodium salt and strontium.

18 In summary, it should be emphasized that fine grain size is usually beneficial to mechanical and foundry properties. Within the individual grains, both dendrite and eutectic substructure are significant and often outweigh even grain size in importance.29 In dendritic structures, dendrite cell size and secondary arm spacing frequently determine the form and distribution of second phase constituents and the pitch of the composition fluctuations due to microsegregation, so exercising the function in other cases of the primary grain size. 3.0 THE FOUNDRY INDUSTRY The scope of the foundry industry encompasses a major segment of any industrialized economy. In the USA it had been described, over four decades ago, as an 8.5 billion dollar industry, employing directly and indirectly 475,000 people; one which produces about 14 to 18 percent of all ferrous production annually and feeds castings into 90 percent of all machine shops, produces about 18 million tons of salable casting annually, and itself sustains the subsidiary businesses of foundry equipment and material supplies. The industrys product, castings, enters into every field in which metals serve man. Castings are used in transportation, communication, construction, agriculture, power generators, in aerospace and atomic energy applications, and in other activities too numerous to describe. Because of their widespread use, castings are produced almost everywhere that manufacturing occurs. 3.1 FOUNDRY AND NIGERIAS INDUSTRIALIZATION Castings in iron, brass, aluminum or other metals are an essential part of most engineering products and a foundry in which to make them is needed by any developing industrial society. It goes without saying that foundry is a necessary antidote to the perennial lack of industrial spares to keep our industries running. This is so because foundry creates both the forward and backward linkages necessary for the industrial development in both the manufacturing and consumer good industries. Moreover, it helps to save or conserve the foreign exchange which could be channeled into other sectors of the economy. The present low level of foundry activities in Nigeria is also responsible for our technological backwardness. As a result there have been persistent calls for the establishment of more foundries. Several technical and opinion papers have been presented to this effect at different fora. Considering the interplay of economic forces, it must be noted that, the world which left Nigeria and other third world countries with economies burdened with huge foreign debts, high inflation rates, high unemployment rates, import dependency, etc., are in no hurry to change the scenario. Consequently, these third world countries have no alternative than to initiate programmes and policies that will be geared towards industrialization. The metallurgical industry may be defined as the productive practice of arts and sciences of extracting metals from their ores, of blending metals with both metals and nonmetals in various percentage combinations to form alloys and of working, machining and fabricating metals and alloys. The development of the metallurgical industry has been the basis of mans civilization, from the golden to the silver and the bronze ages. The importance of the metallurgical industry in the cultural and technological evolution of man has been universally accepted down the ages. Even now the technological achievements of the nuclear age are based on the development of new materials, for which the metallurgical industry can rightly claim credit also. Although the production of castings on a large scale is a sophisticated and capitalintensive venture, there is need for small-scale foundries producing castings for building and domestic products, machinery parts and spare parts for other equipment. It is obvious that our developmental problem stems from our inability to

19 exploit the abundant natural resources and talents within the confines of our borders, and to recognize the principle of self-reliance by creating modalities for creation of basic core industries. 3.1.1 Foundry Plants in Nigeria Though foundry in Nigeria is very recent, it has attracted so much interest in the industrial sector. Presently, there is an estimated total capacity of 16,500 tonnes/year which is held between an estimated 50 operational foundries, majority of which are cottage-level industries. A broad classification is as follows: Estimated Total Capacity 16,500 tonnes/year 8,500 tonnes/year 46,100 tonnes/year

Present operational Foundries Foundries under construction Foundries on the drawing board Of these, the major ones include:

Estimated capacity 1. Delta Steel Company Limited 1,200 tonnes/year 2. Castings (Nigeria) Ltd, Otta 8000 tonnes/year 3. Nigeria Foundries Ltd, Ilupeju 3,000 tonnes/year 4. Nigeria Railway Corporation Foundry, Lagos 5,000 tonnes/year 5. Adebowale Foundries and Machine shop, Otta 4,500 tonnes/year Of the existing 16,500 tonnes/year capacity, about 62% is under private sector control, while the government sector controls about 38%. Castings requirements of industries are enormous and inexhaustive. Types of castings required by some listed industries are shown in Table 1 Table 1* INDUSTRY REQUIRED TYPE OF CASTINGS CEMENT INDUSTRIES Step liners, manhold surrounds, collar gratt plates, impellers, joint preces (thicker conveyor and pot packet) machinery spares, crusher balls. TEXTILE INDUSTRIES Pulleys, gears, reed frames, spinning mules, spindle rails, spinning drive cylinders, sewing machine parts, tricot beams. MANUFACTURERS OF CUSTOMER DURABLES Electric iron base, dishwasher housings, food mixer housings, lawn mower housings, refrigerator and freezer evaporators, stove/gas cooker parts, ceiling and table fan parts. AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY Crankshafts, gears, pinions, rollers slide, steering knuckes, disc brake

20 calipers, rocker arms, brake drums, carburetors, brake discs or bodies, connecting rod, pistons, fuel pumps, intake manifolds, master cylinder pistons, transmission housings, valve rocker arms, water pump bodies, cylinder heads, flywheel housings, axle housings, crankcases, hubs, spring brackets, engine block, cylinder head. METAL PRESS INDUSTRY Bolsters, punch plates, rings, press plants, Ram body. TOOL INDUSTRY Housings for power drills, chain saws, butting machines, power shears, hydro press form blocks, hydro stretch form dies, jigs and fixtures, machine and table vices. SHIP BUILDING Pumps, housings, gears, valve bodies, propellers, cylinders, engine blocks, blower housings, water jackets, pistons, pulleys, sheaves, generator housings. FURNITURE INDUSTRY Door locks, base for chairs (rotating).

BUILDING & ROAD CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY Manhole covers, grates, pipe fittings, valve street lamp housings, door hangers. ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNERS Ornamental hardware, architectural fittings RAIL-ROAD EQUIPMENT Brake shoes, gratings and stocker parts. ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT Motor frames and heads, refrigerator compressor parts, part for power lines cast resistor grids, electric motor base, change

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over switch bodies, gear switch bodies, gland (ducting). MINING, QUARRYING AND CEMENT MANUFACTURERS These castings require alloying resulting in high chromium and nickel chrome iron casting, e.g, ball mill liner, roll crusher sleeves, dred pump liners, grinding balls, conveyor casting. CERAMIC AND REFRACTORY INDUSTRY Wearing parts for clay mixer, extrusion press dies and impellers, ceramic press arm storepolishing spiral, dies for tiles and bricks.

TEXTILE MACHINERY & MACHINE TOOLS Small machine beds, machine tool parts, small mill rolls, metal forming dies. AGRICULTURAL EQUIPMENT & AGRO-ALLIED Parts for mowers, ploughs and cultivating equipment, corn mills parts & plates, oil expeller parts, water pumps, hand pumps (bore well & for oils) agric. diesel engine parts.

GENERAL Dead weights, weighing machine parts, mooring anchores, conveyor parts, plumber blocks, bearing, housings, laboratory stands for schools. SOURCE* National committee on foundry development (strategies for the development of foundry industry in Nigeria) an unpublished report. 3.2 THE CHALLENGES OF FOUNDRY TECHNOLOGY IN NIGERIA In the early years of our independence, we expanded our basic infrastructure and social services. Our government dashed for modernization, copying but not adapting the Western models. The result was poorly designed public investments in industry, too little attention to agriculture and most importantly, too little effort to set up core industries like the foundry and forges. Consequently, the economy started faltering in the midst of plenty and suddenly went into decline. The result of this is that today most Nigerian families are not better than they were 43 years ago. Even with the introduction of SAP, industrial output has remained low and poor, the rate of real investment has stagnated and the disparities between us and the developed nations

22 have continued to widen. As one economist said, Nigeria had obtained and expended billions of dollars realized over the years in oil revenues that could have been used for investment purposes. Such a sum if properly used could have catapulted Nigeria into the ranks of the industrializing nations of the world. Poor Nigeria! The slow growth of industrial output in the last decade for the country has been attributed to lack of raw materials and spare parts. It is not hidden fact that very little attention has been paid to the development of foundry and allied industries. It is well known all over the world that founding is the basic ingredient for rapid industrialization of any nation. It provides an effective linkage and is essential to the production of basic equipment and machine tools. The manufacture and development of final goods and equipment in the country require the simultaneous growth of the foundry and allied industries. It is therefore very necessary to take stock of what has transpired within the Nigerian Foundry Industry. This paper will try to show how far it has developed and point out the constraints militating against it. 3.2.1 Foundry Industry Outside Nigeria To understand the sordid situation of foundry development in Nigeria, it is important to quickly peep into the foundry industries in some of the developed and developing countries. Fig.3 shows the production of ferrous castings in USA, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Czechoslovakia and Italy, while Fig.4 shows the ferrous castings for China, Brazil and Korea. According to Foundry International Trade Journal of March 1991, Japan has about 1,513 Foundries in 1989, with a total output of 7.81 million tonnes. Thus, in terms of annual castings output per foundry, the product breakdown is indicated as follows: Iron Casting 6,949 tonnes Cast Iron pipes & Fittings 22,678 Malleable Cast Iron 7,346 Steel Castings 3,993 Non-Ferrous Metal Casting 1,219 Die Casting 4,005 Precision Castings 283 The actual number of foundries in USA is not given but total production figure for 1989 is put at 9.544 million tonnes and the breakdown is as follows: Grey Cast Iron 4.241 million tonnes Ductile Iron 2.554 Malleable Iron 0.257 Steel 1.031 Non-Ferrous 1.461 By 1980, according to statistics in the World Foundry Directory, the production figures for casting in India from about 7000 foundries were as follows: Grey Cast Iron Malleable Iron Special Grade Iron Steel Non-ferrous Total This in annual casting output per foundry is equivalent to: 2,350.000 tonnes 21,300 6,900 75,000 60,000 2,513,200

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Grey Cast Iron 3,357 tonnes Malleable Iron 30.4 Special Grade Iron 0.99 Steel 10.71 Non-ferrous 8.57 In comparison with Japan, it follows that there are so many cottage foundries in India even though the rate of industrial development is not as high as in Japan. There is no doubt, therefore, that in terms of the material and technological progress of man, foundry may as well be taken as an index of the state of industrial development or as a barometer of the state of the economy of a society. 3.2.2 Nigerian Situation Now, let us see how Nigeria fits into the production graph. In the first instance there are no past statistical figures, for easy reference. However, a field survey conducted in 1991 by the National Committee on Industrial Development (NCID) project team revealed a total of about mere 50 (fifty) foundries in Nigeria with a total installed capacity of 35,350 tonnes of cast iron; 1350 tonnes of steel and 4,270 tonnes of non-ferrous. These are scattered in 10 (ten) states of the Federation. According to the report of the Strategic Consultative Group on Foundries & Forges, the average capacity utilization of our foundries stands at about 15 percent. Consequently, the annual production of foundry castings in the country is as follows: Grey Cast Iron 5,302 tonnes Steel 202.5 tonnes Non-ferrous 604.5 tonnes In annual casting output per foundry, it is equivalent to: Grey Cast Iron 104 tonnes Steel 4.1 tonnes Non-ferrous 12.8 tonnes This clearly shows that the foundry subsector in the country is still very under-developed. We therefore do not need any other barometer to place us properly in the map of developed, developing and under-developed countries. 3.3 CONSTRAINTS ON FOUNDRY DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA. Although, as has been highlighted there is a great demand for foundry products in Nigeria, and there exists a great potential for the foundry industry, but, the industry has only had a fledgling start and has remained stunted in growth. It becomes necessary to identify the factors which are responsible for the non-development of foundries in Nigeria. Among the factors identified are: (i) High capital required for land acquisition for building, plant and machinery and lack of easy access to venture capital; (ii) Inadequacy of experienced and skilled labour force; (iii) Absence of consulting bodies, able to solve technical problems of the industry, and most especially the small scale foundries in order to enhance product quality and market potential; (iv) Preference of multinationals to imported parts and components, even at prohibitive costs, rather than contract them to local sources;

24 (v) Import duty and Tariffs which favour imported finished foundry products over imported raw materials with which the same products could be made locally; (vi) Rapid and constant change of designs of cast components in various plants operational in Nigeria; (vii) Absence of strong local institution, possessing advanced foundry technological know-how to solve industrial problems and provide the spring board for developing substitutes for imported technology in such vital areas as: (a) mass production facilities and techniques: (b) quality control; and ( c) new product development. (viii) Inadequate technological manpower and know-how in modern Foundry Technology; (ix) Inadequate educational and training facilities for Foundry tradesmen and technicians; (x) Non-exploitation of locally available raw materials for foundry development; and (xi) Inadequate infra-structural base especially around factories that require foundry inputs. 4.0 MY MISSION Expendable polystyrene casting process is a new technique offering numerous advantages and promising possibilities. Despite the advantages and application potential for this process, however, little is known regarding the influence of process variables on the metallurgical and engineering characteristics of the castings produced particularly as it is related to the casting of aluminum alloys. A great deal of research work has been carried out on the pattern material, the moulding sand and on the possibilities of using this process for mass production of castings for the automotive industry. The development of theory in most of these areas, however, still seems to fall behind that of practical engineering. In any case, this is to be anticipated, as most foundry works were originally regarded as art rather than science, and this tendency has been rather extreme in the case of expendable polystyrene pattern casting process. For example, problems relating to the solidification processing and factors affecting the microstructure of castings made by this process are still to be resolved, and, yet, these are critical areas for controlling quality and properties. Consequently, an extensive programme of research was developed and directed at examining a range of aluminum alloys cast by the expendable polystyrene pattern casting process.54-66 4.1 HIGHLIGHTS OF MY CONTRIBUTION Of the many and varied casting techniques, each is characterized by a peculiar freezing mode which in turn controls the solidification pattern, crystal size, degree of segregation, inclusion type and morphology and material soundness. Each of these has an influence on the endproduct properties to various degrees depending on the nature and extent of any subsequent treatments. With regard to these characteristics and effects on aluminum alloys, and bearing in mind the phenomena which take place during the expendable polystyrene pattern casting process are notably different from those which take place in other processes, this section highlights my humble contribution to knowledge with respect to such aspects of the expendable polystyrene pattern casting process as:

25 (i) The influence of casting and solidification processes and variables on microstructures.54-56 (ii) Influence of modification and holding time on solidification structures and properties.57-59 (iii) Structure and porosity 60-63 (iv) Solidification in different molds.64-66 4.1.1 Solidification and Microstructure The results indicate that the expendable polystyrene pattern casting process can be successfully employed in foundry practice for obtaining castings having improved microstructures over the green sand process. In cases where dry unbonded sand was used, the process succeeded because the expendable pattern supports the sand until it is replaced by metal. In the process, unbonded sand is compacted around the pattern essentially by gravity, by vibration and weighting, thus confining the sand to form a rigid structure. As the pattern is replaced by molten metal, the resulting gas pressure, the condensed products of vaporization, the pattern coating and the metal itself all combine to support the sand and maintain the rigid structure of the mould. For green sand and expendable polystyrene pattern casting process, a low pouring temperature, related to a finer microstructure caused by increased cooling rates, Fig.5. Microstructure of expendable polystyrene pattern castings are sensitive to section size. A significant difference in the mode of freezing of Al-4.25 Cu-1.03 Si alloy in green sand and expendable polystyrene pattern molds is a marked degree of undercooling accompanying solidification of casting in expendable polystyrene pattern molds. A result of the marked degree of undercooling was a decrease in solidification time and an increase in cooling rate for expendable polystyrene pattern casting process on the incidence of structure is based on a consideration of what is happening on solidification in the mold and is associated with a violent generation of mold gases and a loss of heat from the solidifying metal to vaporize the foam pattern. The results are: (1) turbulence resulting from gas bubbling and stirring actions, both or each of which will disturb the top layer of the freezing liquid or fragment already growing crystals and cause the accelerated showering of particles, and (2) a marked degree of undercooling and the possibility that the metal may have entered the casting as liquid-solid intermixture or slurry at low pouring temperatures. The benefits of refinement shown by the thin sections and coarser structures consequent on slower cooling were characteristics of the general phenomenon of section sensitivity. This effect of section size is attributed to the cooling rate of the castings through the solidification range to the solidus temperature or the solidification time, and the mass of the castings or the volume to surface area ratio. Apparently, the larger the mass and heat content, the slower will be the cooling rate with resultant coarse dendrite cells in the structure. Invariably, the fineness of the dendrite arm spacing is influenced by alloy composition and by solidification rate, and hence by factors such as mold thermal properties, pouring temperature and section size in as far as they influence solidification rate. A relationship exists of the form Y=0.0017X -1.1 where Y= dendrite arm spacing in inches, and X=solidification rate in F per sec. 4.1.2 Modification and Properties. Results of this study establish that amount of Na or Sr addition to the melt and holding of Al6.5 Si-3.5 Cu after melt treatment directly affect the structure and mechanical properties of

26 this alloy when cast in expandable polystyrene pattern moulds. Examination of the microstructure of the test castings, Fig.6-13, poured at different time intervals shows that the drop in tensile properties is primarily due to a progressive increase in coarse acicular silicon flakes in the modified eutectic structure with prolonged holding. The following conclusions have been derived from the results obtained upon development of this study: (1) The expandable polystyrene pattern casting process is suitable for producing quality Al-6.5Si-3.5 Cu alloy castings of different section sizes. (2) Strontium is as effective as sodium in modifying expendable polystyrene pattern cast Al-6.5 Si-3.5 Cu alloy. Prolonged holding of modified Al-6.5 Si-3.5 Cu alloy in the furnace lowered the tensile properties of the alloy due to volatilization and oxidation losses of Na and Sr and the subsequent reversion to the normal condition. (3) Strontium retained its modifying action longer than sodium in spite of a continual loss during holding. (4) The enhanced loss of the modifiers for these castings is associated with oxidation loss of the modifiers when the pattern decomposition gases ignited and burnt in the presence of oxygen during pouring. (5) Increased section size decreased tensile properties for normal and modified expendable polystyrene pattern cast Al-6.5 Si-3.5 Cu alloy. Such variation in properties were attributed to decreased dendrite interaction area, coarse microstructural features and non-uniform distribution of microconstituents; all of which are associated with slower solidification rates in the thick castings. (6) Modification treatment is deemed to improve tensile properties because it reduces the effective span and stress concentration effect of coarse silicon needles. In general, the results indicated that evaporative pattern cast aluminum-silicon-copper alloys modified by sodium and strontium possess improved mechanical properties by promoting the formation of fine fibrous silicon in a finely dispersed eutectic, thereby eliminating the notch effect of the normal acicular structure. An increase in retained sodium and strontium contents, up to about 0.01% and 0.05% respectively, led to a continuous increase in mechanical properties. A major finding is the increased loss of sodium and strontium in the evaporative-pattern cast alloy, which is attributed to the increased oxidation and volatilization loss of sodium and strontium during pouring when the pattern decomposition products ignited and burnt in the presence of oxygen. 4.1.3 Structure and Porosity. The microstructure of full mould cast Al-4.5 Cu alloy depends greatly on the pouring temperature T, and section thickness d,. At high T and d, irregular and coarse primary particles form, while at low T primary particles form which are nearly spherical, smaller and relatively homogenously distributed in the thick sections. A reduction in the section thickness for all values of T tended to change the morphology of the primary particles from coarse irregular to smaller spherical and to fine rod-like and elongated particles. Three types of porosity can result, depending on pouring temperature T and section size d: fine trapped porosity in the primary particles, coarse trapped porosity at the particle boundary, and fine shrinkage porosity between the particle arms or branches, Fig.14. The main influence of section thickness on the microstructure was a reduction in the particle size and elimination of coarse interparticle constituents and may increase the porosity in some cases, as section

27 thickness d decreases. The effect of pouring temperature on the microstructural features of full mould cast Al-Cu alloys derives mainly from its effect on the pattern decomposition process and the effect of this on the degree of turbulence and stirring action present during the casting process. Again the combined effect of low pouring temperature and small section thickness in reducing solidification time also contribute to the variations in microstructure and porosity observed. (Fig.15) Also as a result of the decrease in specific volume occurring in most commercially used metallic materials during solidification and cooling, a volume deficit arises which can show up in the form of various shrinkage defects in the solidified casting. A decisive factor for the preferential appearance of macroshrinkage in the alloys studied is whether a strong boundary shell forms at an early stage, as is the case in exogenous rough-wall-type and endogenous shell-type solidifications for pure aluminum and the eutectic alloy, respectively. When a yielding boundary shell is formed (in spongy or pasty solidification), however, the casting shows a greater tendency towards surface sinking and internal porosity; as is the case for alloys with silicon contents between about 4 and 8 %. It was apparent also from the results that the feeding process of Al-4.25Cu-1.03Si alloy is very much governed by its nucleation and growth behaviour which in turn depends very much on the thermal conditions during freezing. The incidence of unsoundness in this alloy is a consequence of the basic feeding mechanism, and the feeding sensitivity of the alloy may be increased by using high thermal conductivity chills.

4.1.4 Solidification in Different Moulds. Fig.16 shows the plot of solidification time versus casting modulus. It can be seen that the solidification time ts satisfied the expression; ts= B(V/A)n where B and n are constants depending upon alloy cast and moulding material. The solidification equations for the aluminum alloy plate castings in gasifiable pattern moulds with various moulding materials are: Dry silica sand ts=72(V/A) 0.76 Wet silica sand ts= 51(V/A) 0.90 Dry zircon sand ts=48(V/A) 0.88 A study of Fig.16 indicates that for the aluminum alloy test castings in gasifiable pattern moulds prepared with various moulding materials, the Chvorinovs rule relating solidification time and square of casting modulus is not valid. This implies that the equation ts = B(V/A)2 does not hold good for gasifiable pattern mould system and in fact, the casting technique are radically different from the conventional moulding systems and casting techniques. The fact that the foamed polystyrene pattern is left in the mould and vaporized by the molten metal during pouring introduces other factors with regard to the heat transfer and extraction mechanisms in the system. Notably, heat is obtained from the metal to vaporize the pattern and contact resistance exists for the heat flow from the coat wall to the mould material since the contact between the coat wall and the packed bed of moulding sand is far from perfect. Owing to these factors the relationship between solidification time and casting modulus departs from Chvorinovs rule. The variation of solidification constant M = (V/A) for small and large values t 1/2 and with various moulding materials is given below: Dry zircon sand 0.7(V/A=10mm) 0.60(V/A=25mm) Wet silica sand 0.65(V/A=10mm) 0.57(V/A=25mm) Dry silica sand 0.58(V/A=10mm) 0.53(V/A=25mm)

28 The study indicates that the solidification constant is not really a constant for a gasifiable pattern mould. When a casting of small casting modulus solidifies in gasifiable pattern moulds, the relative ratio of the portion of heat from the solidifying metal utilized to vaporize the pattern is higher than that for vaporizing lager section thickness. Consequently, when a casting of smaller section thickness (or smaller casting modulus) solidifies in gasifiable pattern moulds, the solidification constant of the mould system tends to have a value higher than the solidification constant relating to the particular moulding sand employed. However, for thicker section castings solidifying in gasifiable pattern moulds, because a lower relative ratio of the heat from the solidifying metal is available for vaporizing the pattern, values of solidification constants closer to those relating to the particular moulding sand, are obtained. It is apparent from the results obtained in the present investigation that the larger the casting thickness, the greater is the dependence of solidification time on the thermal characteristics of the moulding material. The effect of mould material upon the structure and properties of the Al-6.5Si-3.5Cu alloy test plate castings is similar in the normal and modified conditions. Since the pouring temperature and degree of superheat were kept constant, any changes in structure and properties are related to changes in cooling rate due to changes in mould material properties. Considering the alloy cast in dry unbonded silica sand, sodium silicate bonded silica sand and dry unbonded zircon sand moulds the structures obtained show that mould materials can exert an appreciable effect upon the dendrite structure, amount and size of eutectic cells, and the size and shape of silicon particles, whether or not the alloy is modified. The explanation of the effect of mould material on the mechanical properties and structure of Al-6.5Si-3.5Cu alloy is associated with the cooling rate of the alloy, which is mainly influenced by differences in the physical, thermal and chemical properties of the moulding material. In effect, the higher cooling power of the dry unbonded zircon sand arises from the higher specific heat and density. In fact, a relationship: D 1/ t2 where D is the mould bulk density (kg/m3) and t, the casting solidification time (mins) was obtained for the dry unbonded sand moulding materials.

5.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENATIONS The scope of the foundry industry encompasses a major segment of any industrialized national economy. The industrys product, castings, enters into every field in which metals serve man. Castings are used in transportation, communication, construction, agriculture, power generators, in aerospace and atomic energy applications, and in other activities too numerous to describe. Because of their widespread use, castings are produced almost everywhere that manufacturing occurs. Foundry is the most basic input industry and stringent demands of quality and quantity are being placed on it with rapid industrialization and growth in other fields of production. Upto-date knowledge of materials and processes for casting is necessary in order to be able to produce sound castings economically. In this paper, an attempt has been made to highlight the results of investigations on the foundry characteristics of a relatively new and revolutionary casting technique, the expendable polystyrene pattern casting process. Also the state of the art and the problems of the foundry industry in Nigeria are examined. The metallurgical and engineering aspects of the expendable polystyrene pattern casting process which affect the microstructure and other casting characteristics of the casting include the large degree of undercooling and turbulence characteristic of the process, as a

29 result of utilization of heat from the metal to decompose the pattern and the copious evolution of gases therefrom. Within the limits of the actual demand for castings used in machine assembly and the level of machining capacities, Nigerias foundry industry thrives within the limits of small and medium scale investments. New foundry capacities will have to proceed integrally with the development of the overall engineering manufacturing industry. In which case, the overall manufacturing engineering base in Nigeria needs to be broadened to create enough challenge and demand to enable the foundry industry expand its scope and capabilities. The challenges of the new millenuim are enormous, so also are the problems facing Nigerias foundry industry, which include lack of foundry inputs, poor development financing, lack of adequate infrastructural facilities, lack of skilled labour, and serious low level of activity in the engineering manufacturing sector. These problems will have to be addressed before there is any meaningful industrialization in Nigeria. The Government should address the issue of the present challenges facing the foundry industry. - the full utilization of and expansion of existing capacities; - new investments in steel and alloy castings for the strategic industries; - the exploitation of market opportunities especially in the West African Subregion. In view of the huge capital investment and the long gestation period associated with the establishment of iron and steel foundries, the author recommends that the Government should take the lead and encourage the establishment of one non-captive medium sized iron foundries. The capacities should not be more than 4,000 tonnes per annum. Something serious should be done to attract the public sector. The Government should review the policy environment and put in place the necessary services, incentives and physical facilities which will encourage private entrepreneurs in building and operating more foundries. It may be necessary to restructure the existing government foundries to be more profit oriented. Above all, the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) should standardize the foundry products and enforce compliance. Government should see to the reduction in the prices of industrial tools and other materials so as to lessen the hardship encountered by the industrialists. This may go a long way in reducing costs of products and consequently in raising the level of demand and rate of refund to management. It is also recommended that at both Federal and State levels government should provide training for small scale entrepreneurs in manpower management and on recruitment and selection of appropriate personnel and how to provide periodical on-the-job training for their employees. Government should take measures to protect the small scale foundries from competition from modern industrial mass production. Finally, the country should evolve a new industrial policy which must be directed towards removing the distortions of the past so that genuine aspirations of the people can be met within a time bound programme of economic development. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Mr. ViceChancellor Sir, this lecture will not be complete if I do not acknowledge those who have contributed in one way or the other to make it possible for me to stand here today to deliver this lecture.

30 I am most indebted to my parents Late chief Ekpe Okorafor and Late Madam Awa Ekpe Okorafor, who brought me to planet earth, loved me, saw me through thick and thin, and taught me never to give up. I am extremely grateful to my elder brother, Professor Apia Ekpe Okorafor, and his wife (Mom), Mrs. Rose Odiolu Okorafor, for always being there for me. They gave me all and I love them and their wonderful children. My younger brothers, Dr. O.E. Okorafor and Mr. N.E. Okorafor, I acknowledge your love and prayers all these years, May the good Lord bless you and your families. My colleagues and students in the department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, I thank you for good comradeship and healthy competition and argumentation. You have always helped sift the chaff from the wheat. I appreciate the entire staff of the Academic Planning and Development Unit of the Office of the Vice-Chancellor. It is fun and challenge working with you. You have been a family. I thank all my teachers, through elementary school to the university. You were my source of inspiration and you taught me hardwork and devotion to duty. You molded my character. For example, I went through the Hope Waddell Training Institution, Calabar, and came out a perfect gentleman and Ill labour night and day to be a pilgrim. My special thanks go to my numerous friends, friends I made through school and to the present time, here in FUTO and beyond. You know yourselves and I know you and I radiate Gods love to you all as I pray for you. You have always assisted me in different ways to help make me what I am. Your love, support, trust, advice, warmth and understanding have continued to be a source of strength and enthusiasm. Your friendship will ever be cherished. In this regard, I appreciate the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. J.E. Njoku. He has continued to be a friends friend May God continue to guide and protect him and his family. I also acknowledge all the past Vice-Chancellors of FUTO for their love and faith in me. I have had a personal relationship with all the Deans of the School of Engineering and Engineering Technology, I cherish them all. I acknowledge my parents in- law Late Chief and Late Madam Uluata Okpo. They loved me and gave me a roommate. Mr. Vice-Chancellor, I have the pleasure to acknowledge my roommate and mother, a woman of great faith and patience, Mrs. Caroline Ada-Okay Okorafor. I cannot appreciate you better than what Proverbs 31:10-31 say of the capable wife like you and you are indeed worth more than jewels! To you our children, Ekpe, Apia, Olihe, Nwanyibekee and Okore, I thank you and I appreciate all your support. Please continue to keep the flag flying and higher still, as you continue to ensure that you dwell in the light and to be a light to others. I love you and pray God to bless you continually. I acknowledge the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria and her various ministers of the gospel and members who have touched my life and those of my family in one way or the other over the years. Your efforts would not be in vain. You left a residue of love and good will. May God bless you richly. I had the opportunity of working with one civilian governor and four military administrators in Abia State. I thank them all for finding me worthy. Finally, let me honour God with the words of Psalm 62 verse 11 and 12, Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this; that power belongs to God; and that to thee, O lord, belongs steadfast love. For thou dost requite a man according to his work. Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God, our Saviour through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and for ever. Amen. REFERENCES

31

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