Chapter 10:

Fundamentals of Metal Casting

Rizwan M. Gul
NWFP UET
FUNDAMENTALS OF METAL
CASTING
1. Overview of Casting Technology
2. Heating and Pouring
3. Solidification and Cooling
Solidification Processes

 Starting work material is either a liquid or is in a highly plastic

condition, and a part is created through solidification of the
material
 Solidification processes can be classified according to
engineering material processed:
 Metals
 Ceramics, specifically glasses
 Polymers and polymer matrix composites (PMCs)
Figure 10.1 - Classification of solidification processes
Casting
 Casting is a process in which molten metal flows by gravity or other force
into a mold where it solidifies in the shape of the mold cavity
 The term casting also applies to the part made in the process
 Steps in casting seem simple:
1. Melt the metal
2. Pour it into a mold
3. Let it freeze
 However, many factors and variables must be considered to accomplish
successful casting operation
 Ingot and Shape Casting

 The term ingot is usually associated with the primary metal industries; it
describes large casting that is simple in shape and intended for subsequent
reshaping by processes such as rolling or forging
 Shape casting involves the production of more complex geometries that are
much closer to the final desired shape of the part or product
 Parts produced by casting?
Parts Made by Casting

 Big parts: engine blocks and heads for automotive vehicles, wood
burning stoves, machine frames, railway wheels, pipes, church
bells, and pump housings
 Small parts: dental crowns, jewelry, small statues, and frying pans
 All varieties of metals can be cast, ferrous and nonferrous
 Advantages and disadvantages of casting?
Capabilities and Advantages of
Casting
 Can create complex part geometries
 Can create both external and internal shapes
 Some casting processes are net shape; others are near net shape
 Can produce very large parts
 Some casting methods are suited to mass production
 Can be performed on any metal that can be heated to a liquid
state
Disadvantages of Casting

 Different disadvantages for different casting processes:

 Limitations on mechanical properties (due to the presence of defects
and porosity)
 Poor dimensional accuracy and surface finish for some processes;
e.g., sand casting
 Safety hazards to workers due to hot molten metals
 Environmental problems
Overview of Casting Technology
 Casting is usually performed in a foundry
Foundry = factory equipped for making molds, melting and handling molten
metal, performing the casting process, and cleaning the finished casting
 Workers who perform casting are called foundrymen
 The casting process begins with the forming of mold
 Then molten metal is poured in the mold which cools down and solidify
 Further processing such as trimming, cleaning, heat treatment and machining
may be required
The Mold in Casting
 The mold contains cavity whose geometry determines the shape of cast part
 Actual size and shape of cavity must be slightly oversized to allow for shrinkage of
metal during solidification and cooling
 Molds are made of a variety of materials, including sand, plaster, ceramic, and
metal

(a) open mold ;simply a

container in the shape of the
desired part
(b) closed mold, in which the
mold geometry is more
complex and requires a
gating system (passageway)
leading into the cavity
Two Categories of Casting Process
1. Expendable mold processes – uses an expendable mold which
must be destroyed to remove casting
 Mold materials: sand, plaster, and similar materials, plus
binders
2. Permanent mold processes – uses a permanent mold which can
be used many times to produce many castings
 Made of metal (or, less commonly, a ceramic refractory
material)
 Relative advantages and disadvantages:
 More intricate geometries are possible with expendable mold processes
 Part shapes in permanent mold processes are limited by the need to open
mold
 Permanent mold processes are more economic in high production
operations
Sand Casting Mold Terms
Sand Casting Mold Terms

 Mold consists of two halves:

 Cope = upper half of mold
 Drag = bottom half
 Mold halves are contained in a box, called a flask
 The two halves separate at the parting line
 Pattern
 Gating system
 Sprue
 Runner
 Pouring cup
 Riser
Forming the Mold Cavity-Pattern

 Mold cavity is formed by packing sand around a pattern, which

has the shape of the part, and is made of wood, metal, or plastic
 When the pattern is removed, the remaining cavity has desired
shape of cast part
 The pattern is usually oversized to allow for shrinkage of metal as
it solidifies and cools
 Sand for the mold is moist and contains a binder to maintain
shape
Cores in the Mold Cavity

 The mold cavity provides the external surfaces of the cast part
 In addition, a casting may have internal surfaces, determined by a
core, placed inside the mold cavity to define the interior
geometry of part
 In sand casting, cores are generally made of sand
Gating System

 Channel through which molten metal flows into cavity from

outside of mold
 Consists of a downsprue (or simply sprue), through which metal
enters a runner leading to the main cavity
 At top of downsprue, a pouring cup is often used to minimize
splash and turbulence as the metal flows into downsprue
Riser
 Reservoir in the mold which is a source of liquid metal to compensate for
shrinkage during solidification
 The riser must be designed to freeze after the main casting in order to satisfy
its function

 In a sand mold the air present in empty mold escapes through the natural
porosity of the sand mold, while in mold of other materials small vent holes
are drilled in the mold or machined in the parting line to remove air and gases
HEATING and POURING
1. Heating the Metal
 Heating furnaces are used to heat the metal to temperature somewhat above
its melting point sufficient for casting
 The heat required is the sum of:
1. Heat to raise temperature to melting point
2. Heat of fusion to convert from solid to liquid
3. Heat to raise molten metal to desired temperature for pouring
 H = V  Cs(Tm-To) + Hf + Cl (Tp-Tm) 
 The above analysis, however, normally leads to a values of limited
importance due to several errors
Example 10.1
One cubic meter of a certain eutectic alloy will be heated in a crucible from
room temperature to 100oC above its melting point for casting. Density=7.5
g/cm3; melting point=800oC; specific heat of the metal=0.33 J/g-oC in the solid
state and 0.29 J/g-oC in the liquid state; and heat of fusion=160 J/g. How much
heat energy must be added to accomplish the heating, assuming no losses?
 2. Pouring the Molten Metal

 For this step to be successful, metal must flow into all regions of the mold,
most importantly the main cavity, before solidifying
 Factors that determine success:
 Pouring temperature
 Superheat: Temperature difference between pouring and freezing temperature
 Pouring rate: quick to achieve full filling , slow to avoid turbulence
 Turbulence  Mold Erosion
Example 10.2

A certain mold has a sprue whose length is 20 cm and the cross-

sectional area at the base of the sprue is 2.5 cm 2. The sprue feeds
a horizontal runner leading into a mold cavity whose volume is
150 cm3. Determine: (a) velocity of the molten metal at the base
of the sprue, (b) volume rate of flow, and (c) time to fill the mold
Solidification of Metals
 Transformation of molten metal back into solid state
 Solidification differs depending on whether the metal is a pure element or an
alloy
 A pure metal solidifies at a constant temperature equal to its freezing point
(same as melting point)

Figure 10.4 ‑ Cooling

curve for a pure metal
during casting
Solidification of Pure Metals
 Due to chilling action of mold wall, a thin skin of solid metal is formed at the
interface immediately after pouring
 Skin thickness increases to form a shell around the molten metal as
solidification progresses
 Rate of freezing depends on heat transfer into mold, as well as thermal
properties of the metal

Figure 10.5 ‑ Characteristic

grain structure in a casting of a
pure metal, showing randomly
oriented grains of small size
near the mold wall, and large
columnar grains oriented
toward the center of the casting
 Most alloys freeze over a temperature range rather
than at a single temperature

Figure 10.6 ‑ (a) Phase diagram for a copper‑nickel alloy system and (b)
associated cooling curve for a 50%Ni‑50%Cu composition during
casting
Figure 10.7 ‑ Characteristic grain structure in an alloy casting, showing
segregation of alloying components in center of casting
Solidification Time
 Solidification takes time
 Total solidification time TST = time required for casting to solidify after
pouring
 TST depends on size and shape of casting by relationship known as
Chvorinov's Rule

n
V 
 Chvorinov's Rule
TST  Cm  
 A
where TST = total solidification time; V = volume of the casting; A = surface
area of casting; n = exponent usually taken to have a value = 2; and Cm is mold
constant
Mold Constant in Chvorinov's
Rule
 Cm depends on mold material, thermal properties of casting metal,
and pouring temperature relative to melting point
 Value of Cm for a given casting operation can be based on
experimental data from previous operations carried out using
same mold material, metal, and pouring temperature, even though
the shape of the part may be quite different
What Chvorinov's Rule Tells Us

 A casting with a higher volume‑to‑surface area ratio cools and

solidifies more slowly than one with a lower ratio
 To feed molten metal to main cavity, TST for riser must greater than
TST for main casting
 Since riser and casting mold constants will be equal, design the
riser to have a larger volume‑to‑area ratio so that the main casting
solidifies first
 This minimizes the effects of shrinkage
 Shrinkage

Figure 10.8 ‑ Shrinkage of a cylindrical casting during solidification and

cooling: (0) starting level of molten metal immediately after pouring;
(1) reduction in level caused by liquid contraction during cooling
(dimensional reductions are exaggerated for clarity in sketches)
Figure 10.8 ‑ (2) reduction in height and formation of shrinkage cavity
(pipe) caused by solidification shrinkage; (3) further reduction in height
and diameter due to thermal contraction during cooling of the solid
metal (dimensional reductions are exaggerated for clarity in our
sketches)
Solidification Shrinkage

 Occurs in nearly all metals because the solid phase has a higher
density than the liquid phase
 Thus, solidification causes a reduction in volume per unit weight
of metal
 Exception: cast iron with high C content
 Graphitization during final stages of freezing causes expansion that
counteracts volumetric decrease associated with phase change
Shrinkage Allowance

 Patternmakers account for solidification shrinkage and thermal

contraction by making mold cavity oversized
 Amount by which mold is made larger relative to final casting
size is called pattern shrinkage allowance
 Casting dimensions are expressed linearly, so allowances are
applied accordingly
Directional Solidification

 To minimize damaging effects of shrinkage, it is desirable for

regions of the casting most distant from the liquid metal supply to
freeze first and for solidification to progress from these remote
regions toward the riser(s)
 Thus, molten metal is continually available from risers to prevent
shrinkage voids
 The term directional solidification describes this aspect of freezing
and methods by which it is controlled
Achieving Directional
Solidification
 Desired directional solidification is achieved using Chvorinov's
Rule to design the casting itself, its orientation in the mold, and
the riser system that feeds it
 Locate sections of the casting with lower V/A ratios away from
riser, so freezing occurs first in these regions, and the liquid metal
supply for the rest of the casting remains open
 Chills ‑ internal or external heat sinks that cause rapid freezing in
certain regions of the casting
 Figure 10.9 ‑ (a) External chill to encourage rapid freezing of the
molten metal in a thin section of the casting; and (b) the likely result
if the external chill were not used
Riser Design

 Riser is waste metal that is separated from the casting and

remelted to make more castings
 To minimize waste in the unit operation, it is desirable for the
volume of metal in the riser to be a minimum
 Since the geometry of the riser is normally selected to maximize
the V/A ratio, this allows reduction of riser volume as much as
possible
 Riser can be open riser (exposed to the outside) or blind riser
(entirely enclosed within the mold)
Example 10.3
A cylindrical riser must be designed for a sand-casting mold. The casting itself
is a steel rectangular plate with dimensions 7.5 cm x 12.5 cm x 2.0 cm.
Previous observations have indicated that the total solidification time (TST)
for this casting = 1.6 min. The cylinder for the riser will have a diameter-to-
height ratio = 1.0. Determine the dimensions of the riser so that its TST = 2.0
min.