CHAPTER II

Metal Casting

INTRODUCTION
Casting metals is one of the oldest metal
working processes used by man.
Casting is the process of producing metal
parts of desired shapes by pouring the
molten metal into a prepared mold having
the same shape and then allowing the
metal to cool and solidify.

The essential step are:

1. Melting a metal charge in a furnace;
2. Pouring the melt into a previously prepared
mold;
3. Extraction of heat from the melt and
solidification;
4. Removal and, possible, treatment of
solidified parts

The mold
The mold forms the cavity having the
shape and size of the part to be cast in a
material suitable for holding the molten
metal until it cools
The part made by this process is called a
casting .
In industry, casting are made in a foundry.

Applications

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Casting processes can produce nowadays

variety of products differing in shape, size,
materials and accuracy.
Examples of common castings are:
Frame of machine tools,
Engines parts,
Motors casings,
Pipes,
Steam and water valves,
Flywheels, large gears and products made of
cast iron. Etc.

Advantages
The main advantages of casting processes
are:
Possibility of manufacturing parts of
complex shape or intricate design.
Some alloys and metals cannot be formed
except by casting like cast iron.
Possibility of producing large parts which
may weight several tons.
Possibility of mechanizing and automating
casting operations in foundries.

CASTING METHODS
There are several casting techniques or
methods from the technological point of
view. They may be simply classified as
follows:
1. Sand casting,
2. Die casting,
3. Investment casting,
4. Continuos casting,
5. Centrifugal casting.

 If a sand mold is used, the casting is

known as a sand casting. The sand mold
is produced with the aid of a wooden or
metallic pattern.
If a metallic mold is used the casting is
known as die casting. The metal mold is
machined from metallic block.
Investment casting uses a refractory mold.
It is produced using a pattern made from a
low melting-point materials, usually wax.

 Centrifugal casting involves the casting of

metal into a rapidly rotating mold; this
usually produces a denser and more
homogenous casting than is obtained when
other methods are used.
Ordinary casting processes, as sand
casting, will usually produce inaccurate
castings. Therefore, these casting (semiproducts) are further machined to obtain the
required accuracy. Other special casting
processes, as die casting, investment
casting or centrifugal can produce final
products with acceptable accuracy.

SAND CASTING
Sand was the perhaps the earliest materials
used for mold making and is still the most
widely used material.
The sand may be used in the moist sate. A
mold with moist sand is called a green sand
mold. Or, it may be held together with a
binder and dry, to form a dry sand mold.
A dry sand mold is more costly to produce, but
it turns out a a more accurate castings.

SAND
Sand molds can be used only once as
they must be destroyed to remove the
finished casting.
The molding sand mold is a mixture of
sand grains, clay, water and some
additives.
The essential properties of molding sand
are as follows:

Permeability
The sand must allow the steam and other
gases generated by the heat of casting to
escape freely.
If there is insufficient passage through the
sand, then gases will try to bubble through
the solidifying metal, and will leave holes
in the casting.
Permeability of sand, its ability to permit the
gases to escape.

Refractoriness
The sand should resist the heat of
the molten metal, without fusing.
Impurities, such as metallic oxides,
causes a lowering of the fusion point,
and result in sand fused with metal of
casting surface.
silica has the best refractory
properties, the clay being the first to
fuse.

Cohesion
The sand must be hold together when
the pattern is withdrawn, and the
mold is moved.
Cohesion must be retained when
molten metal enters the mold.

Plasticity
This is the ability of sand to take up an
intricate shape.
Fine-grained sands have better plasticity
than coarse-grained.

SAND MOLD

The sand must posses the following

qualities:
1. Withstand the heat of the molten metal
without breaking Refractoriness.
2. Hold the mold cavity shape while pouring
the metal Strength.
3. Porous enough to permit gases to
escape permeability.

SAND MOLD
The sand mold id made by packing the
sand in a box called a flask, around a
pattern of the shape to be cast.
Hand ramming of sand around the pattern
is rarely used today.
Machines are generally used to pack the
sand in the mold.
To allow for easy removal of the pattern,
the flask is made to separate horizontally
at a point cold parting line.

SAND MOLD
When the pattern has been removed
from the mold and the two mold
halves, called the cope and the
drag, are reassembled, a cavity
remains.
The molten metal reaches the cavity
through the gating system which
consists of :

SAND MOLD
1. Pouring cup or basin
2. Vertical opening called sprue. It should
be tapered, rather than straight, to
minimize vortexing of the metal at the
sprue entrance.
3. Horizontal distribution channels called
runners.
4. Finally gates to the cavity as shown in
Fig. 1

Gate

Pattern
Sprue

Molding board

Figure 1. Details of a two parts sand mold

Riser (Feeder)
Because metals shrink as they
cool, provisions must be made to
supply additional metal to those
parts of the casting that freeze
last, or voids and hollows will
occur in the finished casting.

Molds Cores
Cores are needed if a casting is to have hollow
portions.
A core is a preformed piece of a material that is put
into a mold that the metal will flow around it and
leave an opening in the casting. See Fig. 1.
The core must be supported in the mold, so the
pattern is made with extended pieces which will
leave so impressions in the sand, which the core
can be placed. These impressions are called core
prints

PATTERN
The first step in making a casting is to
prepare a model of the required casting,
known as a pattern.
A pattern is used to make a cavity in the
sand mold into which the molten metal is
poured.
Most patterns are made of wood, which is
inexpensive and can be worked easily.
Patterns are also made of aluminum, brass
or plastic

PATTERN MAKING
If more than 500 parts are to be cast from
one pattern, the pattern should be made of
metal, usually aluminum.
Shrinkage allowance must be made to
compensate metal shrinkage when it cools.
A shrinkage rule which has divisions larger
than that standard scales to save time
needed to compute every dimension of the
pattern. See Figure 2

standard rule
shrinkage rule

Fig. 2 Shrinkage rule

Fig 3 Draft

The
pattern
must
made much longer for
every 1 inch of its
length to allow for
shrinkage of the metal.

Fig. 4 Fillet

PATTERN MAKING
A pattern must have a draft if it is to be
pulled (drawn) from sand without
damaging the mold. Fig. 3
Sharp corners are to be avoided whenever
possible.
When they do occur they may me rounded
off with filets made of wax, leather or
wood. Fig. 4.

TYPES OF PATTERNS
A simple pattern is made of one piece.
Two or more parts pattern is split pattern.
For longer production runs, match plates
patterns, as shown in Fig. 5, are used.
A match plate is a plate of metal on which
the pattern and gating system is split
along the parting line and mounted back
to back to form a single piece pattern.

Sprue
Top or Cope
plate
Bottom or Drag
plate

Fig. 5 Top and bottom parts of a

match plate

The cast

DIE CASTING
We have seen that the great disadvantages
of the sand casting process is that the mold
must be destroyed in order to remove the
casting when it has solidified.
When large quantities of very accurate
castings are required, it is a better plan to
make metal molds or dies.

DIE CASTING
The advantage of these dies is that as soon as
the solidified castings has been removed they
can be immediately used again to produce
another casting, and in this way the rate of
casting production is greatly increased, resulting
in lower-cost product.
This process employs a metallic mold, called a
die, and so produces good accuracy and finish.
There are two methods of die casting: gravity die
casting (permanent die casting) and pressure
die casting or (called simply die casting).

DIE CASTING
Both methods of die casting are suitable
for low and medium melting-point metals
and alloys say, aluminum alloys zinc
alloys, and brass.
Typical items made by die casting
technique are light car parts such as
carburetors and water pump cases, and
small motors hand tools and toys.

Gravity Die-Casting
The gravity die-casting method is very
similar to sand-casting, except that the
mold is made of metal, and is called a die.
Fig.6 shows a typical example of an
aluminum alloy gravity die casting.

Figure 6 Gravity die casting

Pressure Die-Casting
As the name suggests this casting
process uses external pressure to force
liquid metal into suitable metal dies.
There are two basic methods of forcing
the metal into the die. They are called hotchamber and cold-chamber processes.
Figs. 7 and 8 show these processes.

Fig. 7
Hot
chamber
die
casting

Fig. 8
Clod
chamber
die
casting

Fig. 7 Hot chamber die casting

Investment Casting
It is also called the lost-wax process, and was
originally used in ancient Egypt and China.
The investment-casting process is expensive ant
it is used for complex shapes, because the pattern
is made of wax.
It employs an expandable pattern in a mold and
use the pattern to form a mold in an investment
material (refractory materials), the pattern is
melted, burned, or dissolved out leaving a cavity
inside the mold into which the metal is cast.

Investment Casting
It was used in dental work, jewellery making,
gas-turbine parts, and certain motor car engine
parts.
Figure 9 illustrated the stages involved in the
production of a casting by investment-casting.

Wax is injected into

the mold
A multiple cavity
mold

Cluster coated with a primary investment,

e g. Ceramic

Wax patterns are grouped

The mold is
heated

Hot mold is
filled
The mold material is
broken
Figure 9 investment casting

Centrifugal Casting
Centrifugal casting is the process of
rapidly rotating a mold while the molten
metal solidifies.
Thus utilizing centrifugal force to position
the metal in the mold.
This method usually produces a
symmetrical shapes, thin sections, dense
metal structure and more homogenous
casting than is obtained when other
methods are used.

Centrifugal Casting
Centrifugal
casting
machines
are
classified as either horizontal or vertical
depending on the position of axis of
rotation.
Figure 10 illustrate together, the two types
of centrifugal casting, with some of
examples of the shapes which can be
made in this method.

Refractory lining
Casting

Ladle

Pouring basin
Drive motor

Drive wheels

Casting

Machine
table
Drive shaft

Figure 10. Centrifugal casting machine

Equipment for making casting

Steps for making a sand mold

Product

Flask