Production Processes

Metal Casting
 Brief Description
• Metal or alloy volume is heated to its melting temperature .
• Molten matter is poured in cavity shape.
• Cavity is desired shape and size of product.
• After pouring onto cavity mould, it cooled for solidification.
• Post cooling, solidified material is removed from mould.
 The manufacture of a casting requires
• Preparation of a pattern
• Preparation of a mould with the help of the pattern
• Melting of metal or alloy in a furnace
• Pouring of molten metal into mould cavity
• Breaking the mould to retrieve the casting
• Cleaning the casting and cutting off risers, runners etc., (this operation is
called ‘fettling’)
• Inspection of casting.
 Materials can casted
• Steel
• Cast Iron
• Aluminium
• Copper
• Bronze
• Brass
• alloys
 Applications
• Automobiles
• Machine tools
• ships.
• Intricate shaped jobs in large numbers
• Pipes
Pictures
Important Terms
• Pattern
• Mould
• Mould Sand
• Cores
• Gates
• Runner
• Riser
 Patterns
• Patterns are replicas of the casting required.
• It is similar in shape and size to the final product, but not exactly.
• the mould is prepared in wet sand, to which some binder is added to hold
sand particles together.
• The pattern is then withdrawn from inside the sand mould in such a
manner that the impression cavity made in the mould is not damaged or
broken in anyway.
• Finally molten metal is poured into this cavity and allowed to solidify and
cool down to room temperature.
 Types of Allowance
• Shrinkage allowance
• Machining Allowance
• Draft Allowance
• Fillets on sharp corners
 Shrinkage Allowance
• Most Metals expand in volume when in heated state and shrinks while
solidifying.
• the pattern should be made slightly larger than the size of finished casting.
• This difference in size of the pattern is called shrinkage allowance.
 Machining Allowance
• Amount of allowance depends on materials.
• After casting Process, the work piece is machined to get specified size and
surface finish.
• For this purpose extra layer of 1 to 2 mm material on casting work piece is
provided by default.
• This extra layer is called Machining allowance.
 Draft Allowance
• It facilitates withdrawal of pattern from the mould, usually on vertical
surfaces.
• The idea is to give an inclination of 2–3 degrees to vertical surfaces, so
that while lifting the pattern, the upper surface is wider and withdrawing
the pattern with draft provided will not damage the sand mould.
Types of Pattern
 Single piece Pattern
• Suitable only for very simple castings.
• There is no provision for runners and risers.
 Split Pattern
• Sometimes, It is not practical to have one piece pattern for parts of
complicated shapes, because it would not be possible to withdraw the
pattern from the mould.
• One-half of the impression in the mould will be made by using piece no.1
in one moulding box and the other half of the impression will be made by
using piece no.2 in a second moulding box.
• After withdrawing the pattern halves from the respective moulding boxes,
the two boxes will be assembled and clamped together, so that the
complete impression is available for pouring the metal.
 Loose Piece Pattern
• In some cases, the casting may have small projections or overhanging
portions.
• These projections make it difficult to withdraw the pattern from the
mould.
• When the main pattern is withdrawn from the mould, the loose pieces slip
off and remain behind in the mould.
• After removing the main body of the pattern, the loose pieces are taken
out by first moving them laterally and then lifting them through the space
vacated by the main pattern.
 Match plate casting
• Match plate is a metal plate, usually made of aluminium.
• The two halves of the split pattern are mounted on this match plate one
on either side.
• While fixing them to the match plate, care is taken so that there is no
mismatch. These patterns are used in conjunction with
• mechanically operated moulding machines.
 Sweep Pattern
• It is used to sweep the complete casting by means of a plane sweep. These
are used for generating large shapes which are axi-symmetrical or
prismatic in nature.
• This reduces cost of 3D patterns.
 Skeleton Pattern
• Made up of strips of wood.