MP1
M2
SHORT NOTES
Carbon Dioxide Moulding:
The common sodium silicate used for the CO2 process in foundries should have a mass ratio varying
from 2.1 to 2.3
The silica oxide obtained from the reaction contain certain number of water molecules, and is called
silica gel
This gel is responsible for giving the necessary strength to the mould.
The reaction proceeds rapidly in the early stages of gasification and the compressive strength of
sand mixture reaches a maximum value when a certain critical amount of gas is passed
The gas can be carried out by a probe having number of holes at the base
The flow rate of the CO2 gas depends on the depth of the penetration desired.
Advantage of CO2 Moulding:
1) It is a fast process of hardening the moulds
2) Removing the pattern is easier since the mould may be hardened before the withdrawal
of the pattern
3) Accurate castings with sharp corners can be mould
4) Surface finish of the casting is good
5) Semi-skilled labour can be used
6) Reducing machining allowances
Limitations of CO2 moulding:
1) The collapsibility of the moulding sand is reduced
2) Difficulty in re-claiming the used sand
3) Bench life of the sand mixtures is much shorter than most other mould and core mixtures
Applications:
This process is used to cast parts of valves, pumps, compressors, machines, engine parts etc.
Shell Moulding: Expendable mould with multiple use pattern
First a pattern is made of metal. The iron pattern is heated to +/-200°C.
The pattern is attached to a dump box and sprayed with a releasing agent; similar to
putting oil in a baking pan.
The dump box contains fine sand mixed with thermo setting resin binder.
The dump box is rotated with the pattern now at the bottom and the sand that was
once at the bottom is now on top.
The sand mixture falls against the pattern and gets heated in this manner, the resin
cures, causing the sand grains to adhere to each other forming sturdy shell that
exactly conforms to the dimensions and shape of the pattern and constitutes half of a
mould.
After a 5mm thick shell is formed, due to melting and solidifying of the thermosetting
binder, the dump box is rotated and the unused sand falls to the bottom.
The pattern and shell are then put in an oven at 350°C –400oC to cure the resin.
The pattern is removed by the ejector pins.
Typically, two pattern shells are used together. A backing material like sand or steel
shot is used and the metal is poured into the mould.
The sand used in shell moulding are dry and fine sand; silica sand and Zircon sand or
combination of the two are used.
The sand is mixed with phenolic resin (phenol formaldehyde) and other additives (to
improve surface finish and avoid thermal cracking during pouring)
The various additives used are (coal dust, manganese dioxide, calcium carbonate,
magnesium silicoflouride, ammonium borofluoride etc. Some lubricants are also
added to increase the flowability of the sand (calcium stearate, zinc stearate)
A silicon-based releasing agent is normally sprayed on the heated metal pattern as
releasing agent
Shell moulding: Resin and Catalyst
Phenol-Formaldehyde Resins
Hexa Catalyst
The measure of resin is 4-6% of sand by weight, the catalysts 14-16% of sand by
weight.
The curing temperature of the resin along with the catalysts is around 150o C and the
time required for complete curing is 50 – 65 seconds.
Advantages:
Better surface finishes are obtained.
Machining of castings are reduced.
The chances of blow holes or pockets are reduced since the holes are highly
permeable.
Shells can be stored for long time.
High dimensional accuracy can be obtained.
Permeability of the shell is high and therefore no gas inclusions occur.
Very small amount of sand needs to be used.
Limitations:
The metal pattern is costlier than the wooden one. The patterns are very expensive
and therefore are economical only if used in large scale production.
The size of the casting obtained by shell moulding is limited. Generally, castings
weighing up to 200 kg can be made, though in smaller quantity. castings up to a
weight of 450 kg were made.
Highly complicated shapes cannot be obtained.
More sophisticated equipment is needed for handling the shell mouldings such as
those required for heated metal patterns. High equipment cost.
High resin cost.
Uneconomical for small production lots.
Investment Casting- lost wax process:
Expendable mould with single use pattern
Investment casting is also known as the lost wax process.
The Egyptians used it in the time of the Pharaohs to make gold jewellery (hence the
name Investment) some 5,000 years ago.
Intricate shapes can be made with high accuracy.
The mould is made by making a pattern using wax or some other material that can be
melted away.
This wax pattern is dipped in refractory slurry, which coats the wax pattern and forms
a skin.
This is dried and the process of dipping in the slurry and drying is repeated until a
robust thickness is achieved.
After this, the entire pattern is placed in an oven and the wax is melted away.
This leads to a mould that can be filled with the molten metal.
Because the mould is formed around a one-piece pattern, (which does not have to be
pulled out from the mould as in a traditional sand-casting process), very intricate parts
and undercuts can be made.
Just before the pour, the mould is pre-heated to about 100-1000 ºC to remove any
residues of wax, harden the binder.
The pour in the pre-heated mould also ensures that the mould will fill completely.
Pouring can be done using gravity, pressure or vacuum conditions.
Attention must be paid to mould permeability when using pressure, to allow the air to
escape as the pour is done.
The types of materials that can be cast are Aluminium alloys, Bronzes, tool steels,
stainless steels, Stellite, and precious metals.
Parts made with investment castings often do not require any further machining,
because of the close tolerances that can be achieved.
Advantages:
High dimensional accuracy.
A very smooth surface can be achieved.
Extremely thin sections, to the extent 0.75mm, can be cast successfully. Very fine
details and thin sections can be produced by this process, because the mould is
heated before pouring.
Complex shapes which are difficult to produce by any other method are possible
since the pattern is withdrawn by melting it.
Suitable for mass production of small sized castings.
Castings produced by this process are ready for use with little or no machining
required. This is particularly useful for those hard-to-machine materials such as
nimonic alloys.
Limitations:
The process is normally limited by the size and mass of the casting. The upper limit on
the mass of a casting may be of the order of 5 kg.
This is a more expensive process because of larger manual labour involved in the
preparation of the pattern and the mould.
Production rate is slow.
Applications:
This process is used for casting of turbine blades and parts of automobile, wave
guides for radars, triggers for firearms, SS valve bodies etc.
Evaporative Pattern Casting or Expendable-Pattern casting:
The evaporative-pattern casting process uses a polystyrene pattern, which
evaporates upon contact with molten metal to form a cavity for the casting; this
process is also known as lost-foam casting and falls under the trade name full-mould
process. It has become one of the more important casting processes for ferrous and
nonferrous metals, particularly for the automotive industry.
In EPC process, pattern is usually made of expandable polystyrene (EPS). The use of a
polystyrene pattern increases dimensional accuracy, and gives improved casting
quality, compared to conventional casting.
In this process, polystyrene beads containing 5 to 8% pentane (a volatile
hydrocarbon) are placed in a preheated die that is usually made of aluminium. The
polystyrene expands and takes the shape of the die cavity. Additional heat is applied
to fuse and bond the beads together. The die is then cooled and opened, and the
polystyrene pattern is removed. Complex patterns also may be made by bonding
various individual pattern sections using hot-melt adhesive.
The pattern is coated with a refractory slurry, dried, and placed in a flask.
The flask is then filled with loose, fine sand, which surrounds and supports the
pattern (Fig) and may be dried or mixed with bonding agents to give it additional
strength.
In this process, the sand mould contains no binder and moisture and hence the
refractoriness of the mould is entirely dependent upon the moulding sand.
Due to high degree of sand recalcination in EPC process, expensive sands such as
zircon or chromites can be used.
The molten metal vaporizes the pattern and fills the mould cavity, completely
replacing the space previously occupied by the polystyrene.
Pattern density and bead size: Density and bead size play important role in
evaporative pattern casting process. A low-density pattern is required to minimize the
amount of gas evolved during vaporization of the pattern. Since the gas must
permeate through the coating, sand and vent into the atmosphere. If the gas forms
faster than it can vent, a defective casting will result. Gas formation is a function of
pattern density and metal pour temperature. If pattern density is increased, more gas
formed at a constant pour temperature.
EPC: ADVANTAGES
In the EPC process, no cores are required making it the most advantageous.
No requirement for binders or other additives, as it is a binder less process.
Complete sand reclamation is possible using very simple and inexpensive techniques.
Sand shakes out is easy as the sand is unbounded.
Since the pattern used in EPC process is one piece, hence no parting line and since
cores are eliminated, hence no core prints. Also, no mismatch, core shift because of
the mentioned reasons
Improved casting quality. Close tolerances are possible.
EPC: DISADVANTAGES
Since every casting requires a new pattern, it is a costly process.
There is a limitation on the minimum section thickness of the pattern.
Quality of the casting fully depends upon the quality of the pattern.
As the sand is unbounded, during pouring, due to the difference in the evaporation
rates of the pattern material and the flow rate of the metal, the sand falls down in the
generated cavity generated, thereby leading to a defective casting.
Plaster- mould Casting:
It is very similar to that of sand casting
The difference is we will be using plaster in place of moulding sand
1) Mould is made of plaster
2) Mixed with water and additives and poured over a pattern
3) After plaster sets, pattern is removed, and the mould is dried at 120 C
Have low permeability- gases cannot escape
Patterns for this type of casting are generally made up of
1) Al alloys
2) Thermosetting plastics
3) Zinc alloys
Gives fine details and good surface finish
The mould must set for about 20 mins before the pattern is taken out and then we bake the
mould for several hours to remove moisture
We should not bake it at very high temperature, it should not be totally dehydrated
One big disadvantage of this process is the permeability
It can be solved in the following ways
1) Evacuating air from the mould cavity before pouring
2) Using a special mould composition and treatment known as the Antioch process, this
process involves using about 50% sand mixed with the plaster, heating the mould in
an autoclave (an oven that uses superheated steam under pressure) and then drying,
the resulting mould has greater permeability
Plaster mould cannot withstand the same high temperatures as sand moulds, they are
therefore limited to the casting of lower-melting-point alloys, such as aluminum,
magnesium, and some copper-base alloys.
Casting sizes range from about 20g to more than 100kg.
Ceramic-mould casting:
Similar to plaster-mould process, the only difference is that ceramic is used instead of
plaster
1) Uses refractory mould materials
2) Suitable for high temperature applications
3) Have good surface finishes and good dimensional accuracy
4) Somewhat expensive to make
Ceramic moulding can be used to cast steels, cast irons, and other high temperature alloys.
It is also called cope-and-drag investment casting
Parts as much as 700kgs can be cast by this process
The slurry is a mixture of fine-grained zircon, aluminium oxide, and fused silica which are
mixed with bonding agents and poured over the pattern
This casting can be performed by two distinct procedures:
1) True ceramic moulding: here, the refractory grain is first bonded with calcium or
ammonium phosphates. The ceramic moulds are generally made by the dry pressing
method.
2) Shaw process: A consistent slurry is made by blending together a mixture of graded
refractory filler, hydrolysed ethyl silicate, and a liquid catalyst, it is then poured in
the pattern and allowed to jell, after this the mould is stripped and heated using a
high-pressure gas torch, it is then cooled and assembled and fired before pouring is
done.
Applications: impellers, complex cutting tools, plastic mould tooling etc.
Permanent-Mould Casting:
1) Die life is less however the accuracy and finish of the casting is very high
2) Extremely costly
3) Mostly used for low temperature alloys like aluminium etc.
4) Die life is less because it comes in contact with high temperature
It consists of the following steps
1) Mould preparation
2) Mould assembly
3) Pouring
4) Cooling
5) Mould opening
6) Trimming
Advantages:
1) Good dimensional control and surface finish
2) More rapid solidification caused by the cold metal mould results in a finer grain
structure, so castings are stronger
Limitations:
1) Generally limited to metals of lower melting point
2) High cost of mould
3) Life is less of the mould
Die Casting
Multi use moulds: Die casting
The term die is used for permanent mould.
In this process the molten metal is forced into the permanent mould (dies) under high
pressure.
The molten metal fills the entire die, including the minute details.
On solidification the casting is taken out.
Thus, High pressure die casting uses a piston to inject the molten metal into the die.
This greatly speeds the process, and therefore increases production.
This results in a more uniform part, generally good surface finish and good
dimensional accuracy, as good as 0.2 % of casting dimension.
For many parts, post-machining can be totally eliminated, or very light machining may
be required to bring dimensions to size.
There are two types of high pressure die casting: hot chamber and cold chamber.
Hot chamber die casting:
The melting unit of the metal forms an integral part of the machine.
The plunger is made up of refractory material.
When the plunger is raised, it uncovers an opening in the cylinder wall, through which
molten metal enters, filling the cylinder.
The molten metal is forced into the die either by hydraulic pressure or by air pressure
applied to the plunger.
As soon as the metal solidifies, the pressure on the metal is relieved and the plunger
travels upwards to its original position.
The casting is ejected from the die by means of ejector pins.
This process is particularly suitable for lead, tin and zinc alloys.
Hot chamber die casting cannot be used for metals having high melting temperatures.
Also, it cannot be used to cast metals like aluminium, copper etc. which will react with
steel at high temperature.
Cold chamber die casting:
In cold chamber die casting the plunger is horizontal and is driven by air or hydraulic
pressure to force the molten metal in to the die.
As soon as the ladle is emptied, plunger moves forward and forces the metal into the
cavity of the die.
After the metal solidifies, the core is withdrawn, and then the die is opened.
Ejector pins are employed to remove the casting automatically from the die.
The cold chamber die casting is particularly suitable for metal such as aluminium
alloys, magnesium, copper, which cannot be cast in hot chamber machines due to
reactivity with molten aluminium and steel.
High melting temperature alloys of non-ferrous type are best die cast in cold chamber
die casting.
Advantages of die casting:
Very high production rates are possible. Typical rate could be 200 pieces per hour
since the process is completely automated.
Because of the use of the movable cores, it is possible to obtain fairly complex
castings.
Fine details may be produced.
Less floor space is required.
Limitations of die casting:
Not economical for small runs. The dies and the machines are very expensive and
therefore, economy in production is possible only when large quantities are
produced.
Only economical for non-ferrous alloys.
Due to high temperature of molten metal, die life decreases.
The air in the die cavity gets trapped inside the casting and is therefore a problem
often with the diecasting.
The maximum size of the casting is limited. The normal sizes are under 4 kg with a
maximum of the order of 15 kg because of the limitation on the machine capacity.
4) Process is continuous in nature. Process is cyclic in nature.
Centrifugal casting: Multi use moulds
Centrifugal casting is of three types:
–True centrifugal casting: long moulds are rotated about a horizontal axis. This can be
used to make long axial parts such as seamless pipes.
–Semi centrifugal casting: Parts with a wide radial part. Parts such as wheels with
spokes can be made with this technique
–Centrifuging: The moulds are placed a distance from the centre of rotation. Thus,
when the poured metal reaches the moulds there is a high pressure available to
completely fill the cavities. The distance from the axis of rotation can be increased to
change the properties
Centrifugal casting (True centrifugal casting)
A mould is set up and rotated along an inclined or horizontal (200-1000 rpm) axis.
The mould is coated with a refractory coating.
While rotating molten metal is poured in.
The metal that is poured in will then distribute itself over the rotating wall.
During cooling lower density impurities will tend to rise towards the centre of
rotation.
After the part has solidified, it is removed and finished.
Advantages:
The mechanical properties of centrifugally cast jobs are better compared to other
processes, because the inclusions such as slag and oxides gets segregated towards
the centre and can be easily removed by machining. Also, the pressure acting on the
metal throughout the solidification, causes the porosity to be eliminated giving rise to
dense metal.
Good uniform metal properties
No sprues/gates to remove
The outside of the casting is at the required dimensions
Lower material usage
No cores are required for making concentric holes in the case of true centrifugal
casting.
Disadvantages:
Extra equipment needed to spin mould
The inner metal of the part contains impurities.
Only certain shapes which are axis-symmetric and having concentric holes are
suitable for true centrifugal casting.
The equipment is expensive and thus is suitable only for large quantity production.
Centrifugal casting (Semi centrifugal casting)
In this method, centrifugal force is used to produce solid castings, as in Figure, rather
than tubular parts. The rotation speed in semi-centrifugal casting is usually set so that
G-factors of around 15 are obtained, and the moulds are designed with risers at the
centre to supply feed metal. Density of metal in the final casting is greater in the
outer sections than at the centre of rotation. The process is often used on parts in
which the centre of the casting is machined away, thus eliminating the portion of the
casting where the quality is lowest. Wheels and pulleys are examples of castings that
can be made by this process.
Centrifugal casting (Centrifuging)
In centrifuge casting, the mould is designed with part cavities located away from the
axis of rotation, so that the molten metal poured into the mould is distributed to
these cavities by centrifugal force. The process is used for smaller parts, and radial
symmetry of the part is not a requirement as it is for the other two centrifugal casting
methods.
6) Rotated at Higher speed Rotated at Lower speed
Multi use moulds: Continuous casting
The traditional method of making Steel and Aluminium includes making ingots from
molten metal.
However, continuous casting has become very popular for productivity reasons.
Continuous steel casting produces higher quality steel and aluminium at reduced cost;
this is because there are:
–No ingots with uneven alloying; giving a better product.
–No moulds from which the ingot must be separated
–Continuous casting commonly takes place in processes where long metal slabs must
be created continuously.
–The process involves a ladle car that delivers molten steel to a tundish. This large
container then allows a continuous flow of steel to exit into two or more container/”
nozzles”.
–Water mist or spray cooling is used to solidify the steel at appropriate rates.
