Name: Mohamed Ahmed Ashraf Abd Elghany Bakr Elgheriany

No.: 335
Section: 8

C asting is a manufacturing process by which a molten material such as metal or

plastic is introduced into a mold, allowed to solidify within the mold, and then ejected or
broken out to make a fabricated part. Casting is used for making parts of complex shape
that would be difficult or uneconomical to make by other methods, such as cutting from
solid material.

Casting may be used to form hot, liquid metals or meltable plastics (called
thermoplastics), or various materials that cold set after mixing of components such as
certain plastic resins such as epoxy, water setting materials such as concrete or plaster,
and materials that become liquid or paste when moist such as clay, which when dry
enough to be rigid is removed from the mold, further dried, and fired in a kiln.

Substitution is always a factor in deciding whether other techniques should be used

instead of casting. Alternatives include parts that can be stamped out on a punch press or
deep-drawn, forged, items that can be manufactured by extrusion or by cold-bending, and
parts that can be made from highly active metals.

The casting process is subdivided into two distinct subgroups: expendable and
nonexpendable mold casting:

Sand casting

Sand casting requires a lead time of days for production at high

output rates (1-20 pieces/hr-mold), and is unsurpassed for
large-part production. Green (moist) sand has almost no
part weight limit, whereas dry sand has a practical part
mass limit of 2300-2700 kg. Minimum part weight ranges
from 0.075-0.1 kg. The sand is bonded together using clays
(as in green sand) or chemical binders, or polymerized oils.
Sand in most operations can be recycled many times and
requires little additional input.

Preparation of the sand mold is fast and requires a pattern which can "stamp" out the
casting template. Typically, sand casting is used for processing low-temperature metals,
such as iron, copper, aluminium, magnesium, and nickel alloys. Sand casting can also be
used for high temperature metals where other means would be unpractical. It is by far the
oldest and best understood of all techniques. Consequently, automation may easily be
adapted to the production process, somewhat less easily to the design and preparation of
forms. These forms must satisfy exacting standards as they are the heart of the sand
casting process - creating the most obvious necessity for human control.

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Name: Mohamed Ahmed Ashraf Abd Elghany Bakr Elgheriany
No.: 335
Section: 8

Lost wax casting

The lost-wax casting process, sometimes known by the French name of cire perdue is an
ancient practice that is still used for artwork today. The process varies from foundry to
foundry, but the steps which are usually used in casting small bronze sculptures in a
modern bronze foundry are as follows:

1. Sculpting. An artist creates an original artwork from wax, clay, or another

material. Wax and oil-based clay are often preferred because these materials
retain their softness.
2. Moldmaking. A mold is made of the original sculpture. Most molds are at least
two pieces, and a shim with keys is placed between the two halves during
construction so that the mold can be put back together accurately. Most molds of
small sculptures are made from plaster, but can also be made of fiberglass or other
materials. To preserve the fine details on the original artwork's surface, there is
usually an inner mold made of latex, vinyl, or silicone which is supported by the
plaster part of the mold. Usually, the original artwork is destroyed during the
making and initial deconstruction of the plaster mold. This is because the
originals are solid, and do not easily bend as the plaster mold is removed. Often
long, thin pieces are cut off of the original and molded separately. Sometimes,
especially in the case of large original (such as life-size) sculptures, many molds
are needed to recreate the original sculpture.
3. Wax. Once the plaster and latex mold is finished, molten wax is poured into it and
swished around until an even coating, usually about 1/8 inches thick, covers the
entire inner surface of the mold. This must be done in several layers until desired
thickness is reached.
4. Removal of wax. This new, hollow wax copy of the original artwork is removed
from the mold. The artist may reuse the mold to make more wax copies, but wear
and tear on the mold limit their number. For small bronze artworks, a common
number of copies today is around 25.
5. Chasing. Each hollow wax copy is then "chased": a heated metal tool is used to
rub out all the marks which show the "parting line" or "flashing" where the pieces
of the mold came together. The wax is then "dressed" to hide any imperfections.
The way the wax looks at this stage, is what it will look like when it is cast. Wax
pieces that were molded separately can be heated and attached; foundries often
use "registration marks" to indicate exactly where they go.
6. Spruing. Once the wax copy looks just like the original artwork, it is "sprued"
with a treelike structure of wax that will eventually provide paths for molten
bronze to flow, while allowing air to escape. The carefully-planned spruing
usually begins at the top with a wax "cup," which is attached by wax cylinders to
various points on the wax copy.
7. Slurry. A "sprued" wax copy is dipped into a slurry of liquid silica, then into a
sand-like "stucco", or dry crystalline silica of a controlled grain size. The slurry

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Name: Mohamed Ahmed Ashraf Abd Elghany Bakr Elgheriany
No.: 335
Section: 8
and grit combination is called "ceramic shell" mold material, although it is not
literally made of ceramic. This shell is allowed to dry, and the process is repeated
until a half-inch thick or thicker dries coating covers the entire piece. The bigger
the piece, the thicker the shell needs to be. Only the inside of the cup is not
coated, and the cup's flat top serves as the base upon which the piece stands
during this process.
8. Burnout. The ceramic shell-coated piece is placed cup-down in a kiln, whose heat
hardens the silica coatings into a shell, and the wax melts and runs out. The
melted wax can be recovered and reused, although often it is simply combusted
by the burnout process. Now all that remains of the original artwork is the
negative space, formerly occupied by the wax, inside the hardened ceramic shell.
The feeder and vent tubes and cup are now hollow, also.
9. Testing. The ceramic shell is allowed to cool, then is tested to see if water will
flow through the feeder and vent tubes as necessary. Cracks or leaks can be
patched with thick refractory paste. To test the thickness, holes can be drilled into
the shell, then patched.
10. Pouring. The shell is reheated in the kiln to harden the patches, then placed cup-
upwards into a tub filled with sand. Bronze is melted in a crucible in a furnace,
then poured carefully into the shell. If the shell were not hot, the temperature
difference would shatter it. The bronze-filled shells are allowed to cool.
11. Release. The shell is hammered or sand-blasted away, releasing the rough bronze.
The spruing, which are also faithfully recreated in metal, are cut off, to be reused
in another casting.
12. Metal-chasing. Just as the wax copies were
"chased," the bronze copies are worked until the
telltale signs of casting are removed, and the
sculptures again look like the original artwork.
Pits left by air bubbles in the molten bronze are
filled, and the stubs of spruing filed down and
polished.
13. Patinating. The bronze is colored to the artist's
preference, using chemicals applied to heated or
cooled metal. Using heat is probably the most
predicatable method, and allows the artist to have
the most control over the process. This coloring is
called patina, and is often green, black, white or
brownish to simulate the surfaces of ancient
bronze sculptures. (Ancient bronzes gained their
patinas from oxidisation and other effects of being
on Earth for many years.) However, with current
artistic trends in the United States, many artists
prefer that their bronzes have brighter, more
stylized patinas. Patinas can be applied to replicate marble or stone. Depending on
how the metal is prepared, either sandblasted or polished, the finish can be either
opaque or transparent. After the patina is applied, a coating of wax, which is the

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Name: Mohamed Ahmed Ashraf Abd Elghany Bakr Elgheriany
No.: 335
Section: 8
most traditional type of sealer, is usually applied to protect the surface. Many
artists prefer to use lacquer as a sealer on some of the more unstable patinas. This
protects the piece more from ultraviolet rays. Some patinas change color over
time because of oxidiation, and the wax layer slows this down somewhat.

In the opposite example of a lost-wax process mold, and on the right is the resulting
bronze sculpture.

The lost-wax process can also be used with any material that can burn, melt, or evaporate
to leave a mold cavity. Some automobile manufacturers use a lost-foam technique to
make engine blocks. The model in this case is made of polystyrene foam, which is then
placed into a casting flask, consisting of a cope and drag, which is then filled with casting
sand. The foam supports the sand, allowing shapes to be made which would not be
possible if the process had to rely on the sand alone to hold its shape. The metal is then
poured in, and the heat of the metal vaporizes the foam as the metal enters the mold.

Nonexpendable mold casting

Nonexpendable mold casting differs from expendable processes in that the mold need not
be reformed after each production cycle. This technique includes at least four different
methods: permanent, die, centrifugal, and continuous casting.

Permanent mold casting

Permanent mold casting (typically for non-ferrous metals) requires a set-up time on the
order of weeks to prepare a steel tool, after which production rates of 5-50 pieces/hr-mold
are achieved with an upper mass limit of 9 kg per iron alloy item (cf., up to 135 kg for
many nonferrous metal parts) and a lower limit of about 0.1 kg. Steel cavities are coated
with refractory wash of acetylene soot before processing to allow easy removal of the

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Name: Mohamed Ahmed Ashraf Abd Elghany Bakr Elgheriany
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Section: 8
workpiece and promote longer tool life. Permanent molds have a life which varies
depending on maintenance of after which they require refinishing or replacement. Cast
parts from a permanent mold generally show 20% increase in tensile strength and 30%
increase in elongation as compared to the products of sand casting.

The only necessary input is the coating applied regularly. Typically, permanent mold
casting is used in forming iron-, aluminium-, magnesium-, and copper-based alloys. The
process is highly automated.

Die casting

Die casting is the process of forcing molten metal under high pressure into the cavities of
steel moulds. The moulds are called dies. Dies range in complexity to produce any non-
ferrous metal parts (that need not be as strong, hard or heat-resistant as steel) from sink
faucets to engine blocks (including hardware, component parts of machinery, toy cars,
etc). In fact, the process lends itself to making any metal part that:

• must be precise (dimensions plus or minus as little as 50 µm--over short

distances),
• must have a very smooth surface that can be bright plated without prior polishing
and buffing,
• has very thin sections (like sheet metal--as little as 1.2 mm),
• must be produced much more economically than parts primarily machined
(multicavity die casting moulds operating at high speed are much more productive
than machine tools or even stamping presses),
• must be very flexible in design; a single die casting may have all the features of a
complex assembly.

If several machining operations would be required or assembly of several parts would be

required (to make a finished part), die casting is probably far more economical. This level
of versatility has placed die castings among the highest volume products made in the
metalworking industry.

Common metals used in die casting include zinc and aluminum. These are usually not
pure metals; rather are alloys which have better physical characteristics.

In recent years, injection-molded plastic parts have replaced some die castings because
they are usually cheaper (and lighter--important especially for automotive parts since the
fuel-economy standards). Plastic parts are practical (particularly now that plating of
plastics has become possible) if hardness is not required and if parts can be redesigned to
have the necessary strength.

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Name: Mohamed Ahmed Ashraf Abd Elghany Bakr Elgheriany
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Section: 8
Equipment

The die must fulfill four primary purposes. First, it must hold molten metal in the shape
of the final casting. The die must also provide a path for the molten metal to reach the
casting cavity. Third, the die is designed to remove heat from the casting. Finally, a die
must be able to eject the solidified casting.

Because die sets open and shut along a parting line of the casting, design features such as
undercuts cannot be cast without the addition of movable slides in the die set. Otherwise
these features must be added (more expensively) by secondary machining operations.

Die casting machines are rated by how much clamping force they can apply. Typical
sizes range from 100 to 4,000 tons. Along with size there are two main categories that die
casting machines fall into. They are hot chamber machines for zinc and lower melting-
point metals. Or cold chamber machines for aluminum and higher melting-point metals.
A die casting machine automatically opens and closes the mold and injects the liquid
metal, all under high pressure and as rapidly as possible, in the case of zinc up to several
hundred times an hour. (However the very smallest zinc machines may cycle thousands
of time an hour.) Sometimes means are provided to automatically remove the shot and re-
cycle the machine. The largest machines are as big as a car.

Often there is a secondary operation to separate the castings from the scrap; this is often
done using a trim die in a power press or hydraulic press. An older method is separating
by hand or by sawing, which case grinding may be necessary to smooth the gate mark
where molten metal entered or left the cavity. Finally, a less labor-intensive method is to
tumble shots if gates are thin and easily broken. Separation must follow.

Most die casters perform other secondary operations to produce features not readily
castable. Most common is tapping a hole (to receive a screw).

Or the surface may be improved; for example, polishing and buffing. Or plating or
painting.

Process

There are four major steps in the die casting process. First, the mould is sprayed with
lubricant and closed. The lubricant both helps control the temperature of the die and it
also assists in the removal of the casting. Molten metal is then injected into the die under
high pressure. The high pressure assures a casting as precise and as smooth as the mold.
Typically it is around 100 MPa (1000 bar). Once the cavity is filled then the pressure is
maintained until the casting has become solid (though this period is usually made short as
possible by water cooling the mold). Finally, the die is opened and the casting is ejected.

Equally important as high-pressure injection is high-speed injection--required so the

entire cavity fills before any part of the casting solidifies. In this way, discontinuities

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Name: Mohamed Ahmed Ashraf Abd Elghany Bakr Elgheriany
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Section: 8
(spoiling the finish and even weakening the casting) are avoided even if the design
requires difficult-to-fill very thin sections.

Before the cycle can be started the die must be installed in the die casting machine (set
up) and brought to operating temperature. This set-up requires 1-2 hours after which a
cycle can take anywhere between a few seconds to a few minutes depending on the size
of the casting. Maximum mass limits for magnesium, zinc, and aluminium parts are
roughly 4.5 kg, 18 kg, and 45 kg, respectively. A typical die set will last 500,000 shots
during its lifetime with lifetime being heavily influenced by the melting temperature of
the metal or alloy being used. Aluminum and its alloys typically shorten die life due to
the high temperature of the liquid metal resulting in deterioration of the steel mold
cavities. Molds for die casting zinc last almost indefinitely due to the lower temperature
of the zinc. Molds for die casting brass are the shortest-lived of all. This is despite, in all
cases, making the mold cavities out of the finest "hot work" alloy steel available.

A shot occurs every time the die is filled with metal. Shots are different from castings
because there can be multiple cavities in a die, yielding multiple castings per shot. Also
the shot consists not only of the individual castings but also the "scrap" (which, unlike in
the case of scrap from machining, is not sold cheaply; it is remelted) that consists of the
metal that has hardened in the channels leading into and out of the cavities. This includes,
for example, the sprue, runners and overflows. Also there is usually some unplanned-for
thin scrap called flash, the result of molds

Centrifugal casting

Centrifugal casting is both gravity- and pressure-independent since it creates its own
force feed using a temporary sand mold held in
a spinning chamber at up to 90 g (882.9 m/s²).
Lead time varies with the application. Semi- and
true-centrifugal processing permit 30-50
pieces/hr-mold to be produced, with a practical
limit for batch processing of approximately
9000 kg total mass with a typical per-item limit
of 2.3-4.5 kg.

Industrially, the centrifugal casting of railway

wheels was an early application of the method
developed by German industrial company
Krupp and this capability enabled the rapid
growth of the enterprise.

Small art pieces such as jewelry are often cast by this method using the lost wax process,
as the forces enable the rather viscous liquid metals to flow through very small passages
and into fine details such as leaves and petals. This effect is similar to the benefits from
vacuum casting, also applied to jewelry casting.

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Name: Mohamed Ahmed Ashraf Abd Elghany Bakr Elgheriany
No.: 335
Section: 8
Continuous casting

Continuous casting is a refinement of the casting process for the continuous, high-volume
production of metal sections with a constant cross-section. Molten metal is poured into an
open-ended, water-cooled copper mould, which allows a 'skin' of solid metal to form over
the still-liquid centre. The strand, as it is now called, is withdrawn from the mould and
passed into a chamber of rollers and water sprays; the rollers support the thin skin of the
strand while the sprays remove heat from the strand, gradually solidifying the strand from
the outside in. After solidification, predetermined lengths of the strand are cut off by
either mechanical shears or travelling oxyacetylene torches and transferred to further
forming processes, or to a stockpile. Cast sizes can range from strip (a few millimetres
thick by about five metres wide) to billets (90 to 160 mm square) to slabs (1.25 m wide
by 230 mm thick). Sometimes, the strand may undergo an initial hot rolling process
before being cut.

Continuous casting provides better quality product as it allows finer control over the
casting process, along with the obvious advantages inherent in a continuous forming
process. Metals such as steel, copper and aluminium are continuously cast, with the
largest tonnage poured being steel.

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