UNIT-3

I. Choosing the right metal casting process

Selecting the right manufacturing process for making a component is an important consideration at
the early stages of product design. Studies have revealed that although the cost of product design is
on average only around 5% of the total product cost, decisions made during the design stage affect 70
to 80 % of the final product cost. Making those early decisions, however, can be a complex and
challenging task.
The following are the main factors affecting the choice of casting process:
1. Material Type: Choosing the most appropriate alloy for a cast component can be a daunting
process given the range of alloys available and their widely varying capabilities and limitations.
The process of elimination usually starts with consideration of various performance indices for
the product such as mass, energy density, and power-to-weight ratio.
The values for these performance indices will depend on three factors: the function of the
product, the geometry and dimensions of the product, and the environment under which the product
needs to work.
. In addition to above, material cost, manufacturing cost, end-product weight, the size of the
product, and the temperature range that the selected material influence the material selection
2. Shape of the Casting: The overall shape of a cast component can exclude some casting processes.
Centrifugal casting, for example, can only cast cylindrical parts or shapes that are symmetrical about
the axis of rotation.
3. The Required Quantity: The quantity required, or production run of a component has a big
influence on the selection of the casting process. Each process will have a different break-even point
that will dictate whether the process is viable at the proposed production quantities.
a. Die design and fabrication costs can account for a significant percentage of the production
cost of a component. This percentage differs from process to process.

 For example, the reusable die design and fabrication cost for die-casting is
considerably more than the production cost for sand casting.
The higher production rates achievable with die casting but sand casting is well suited to
smaller production runs..
4. Geometric Attributes :
a. Size: Size is often a deciding factor in the selection of casting process. For example, it is only
possible to Die Cast a component up to about 500mm but Sand Casting can be used to cast
parts unlimited in size.
b. Part Weight: Each casting process has a range of casting weights that it can produce under
normal conditions. Lighter components can be produced using a wide variety of casting
processes and the decision as to which casting process to use is more likely to be dictated by
other factors. There will be fewer casting options for larger components.
For example, :- Gravity Die Cast of Aluminium and Copper-based alloys up to 110kg, it can
Investment Cast Stainless Steel up to 250kg
but can Sand Cast Carbon Steel up to 4,000kg.
c. Section Thickness: When designing component geometry, consideration must be
given to the minimum section thickness required as this will dictate the casting process
options.
 If Sand Casting is the preferred option for other reasons, then the minimum wall
thickness should be no less than 3 to 5mm (depending on the individual foundry
capabilities).
 If very thin section thickness is a critical requirement then this may dictate that
another process be used. Investment Casting, for example, can achieve minimum
 section thicknesses of just 1.5mm on some features. It should be noted, however,
that section thickness that can be cast depends on the investment casting material,
the surface area and the complexity of the casting.
 For Aluminium and Zinc, the typical wall thickness is 2 to 3 mm. Thicker walls are
needed for castings in Steel or Copper based alloys, usually 3 mm or more, but a
thickness of 2 mm or less can be cast over small areas.
d. Hole Size: Hole size is the minimum or maximum diameter for hole that can be made in the
cast part. Each casting process will have parameters that must be worked within.
 Sand Casting, create these features using cores while other processes can create
internal holes, voids and slots without the use of cores.
 In general terms, holes and slots should be kept as short as possible in relation to
their diameter or width.
 Blind holes should be avoided where possible as these can create casting issues
e. Tolerance: Tolerance is defined as the acceptable variation to the ideal or nominal
dimension. Tighter tolerances than normal will lead to increased cost and lead-time.
 Generally, tolerances depend on the geometry of the part. However, foundries will
generally state the tolerances that can be obtained by using its processes and
provide guidelines to the designer to work towards these tolerances. These
tolerances are called “as cast” tolerances because they are obtained without any
additional processes such as machining.
 Tighter linear tolerance than available in the chosen casting process can, however,
usually be obtained by secondary processes such as machining.
f. Surface Finish: The surface finish of a part determines its appearance, affects the
assembly of the part with other parts and may determine its resistance to corrosion.
 The surface roughness of a part must be specified and controlled because of its
influence on fatigue failure, friction, wear, and assembly with other parts.
 In metal casting processes, each casting process can produce a different surface
finish, depending on the moulding material used.
 Sand casting will usually deliver a rougher “as cast” surface finish while investment
casting will generally produce excellent results, even without additional finishing.
g. Complexity: The complexity of a part refers to its shape, size, and the number of
features that it contains. As the shape of part becomes more complex, the selection of a
suitable process becomes more important. Casting processes are particularly suitable for
intricate and nonsymmetrical shapes but which is selected depends in part on other factors.
Sand Casting can, for example, produce both small and large parts of intricate geometry but
the surface finish and tolerances will not be able to compete with Investment Casting if these
are important factors. Gravity Die Casting is better for producing less complex shapes in
larger quantities.
h. Mechanical Properties Mechanical properties, such as strength and hardness, have
the biggest influence on part size and shape but they also have a bearing on process
selection.
 The type of casting process selected is affected by the quality of the mechanical
properties that the process can deliver and the effect that process has on the
selected alloy.
 As an example, taking a common Aluminium alloy the tensile strength achieved by
various casting processes is as follows:
Sand Casting 160- 190 N/mm2,
Gravity Die Casting 190-230 N/ mm2,
 Pressure Die Casting 280 N/mm2.
II. GENERAL DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS OF CASTINGS :-
1. The shape of the castings should be as simple as possible. That helps to reduce the cost of
patterns, cores and moulds
2. Casting should be made as compact as possible. Large steel castings of complex shape are
divided into two or more castings, they can be joined by welding.
3. To facilitate removal, provision should be made of draft (1/2 to 3 degrees) on the castings
vertical surfaces. The draft is greater for the inside surfaces than for exterior surfaces.
4. Projecting details (bosses, lugs,etc) or undercuts should be avoided or the pattern elements for
them should be made so that they do not hinder the removal of pattern from the mold.

5. Wherever possible, avoid complex parting lines on the pattern, because these increase the cost
of moulding operations. Parting lines should be in a single plane, if practicable

6. Avoid concentration of metals so that no shrinkage cavities are formed. For this reason,
bosses, lugs, pads should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Metal section is too heavy
at bosses which is difficult to feed solid

7. The position of the castings surfaces during metal pouring must be taken into account, since
gas blow holes may form on the castings upper horizontal surfaces. Critical surfaces of
castings should lie at the bottom part of the mold.
8. The thickness of the casting walls is determined depending on the size and mass of the
casting, its material and the casting method. Inner sections of the castings, resulting from
complex cores, cool much slower than outer sections and variation in strength properties
9. Whenever feasible, the castings should be designed with uniform section thickness, because
shrinkage defects( porosities, cracks) may arise in the thickened portions. An abrupt change in
 section and sharp corners act as stress risers in the finished casting, create turbulence during
pouring and hinder proper feeding of the casting

10. The sharp corners are eliminated with a radius at the corner from one-half to one-third of the
section thickness

11. Ribs are used for two purposes:

i) to increase stiffness ii) to reduce weight
• Thickness of the rib should be 0.8 times the casting thickness.
• Ribs should be rounded at edges and correctly filleted.
• Avoid complex ribs. Wide and low ribs are safer than thin and high ones.
When two ribs cross each other, localized heavy cross-sections result. This
indicate hot spot where melt solidifies only after adjacent zones have solidified,
resulting shrinkage cavities. They can be avoided by offsetting the ribs.
• The staggered ribs cause less distortion than the regularly spaced ribs.
Ribs should be used chiefly for static loads. These should be avoided where
impact loads are expected since these increase the rigidity of the parts.

12. Due to the same reasons as for cross ribs, bring or join minimum number of sections together
13. Inside diameter of a cylinder or bushing should be greater than the wall thickness of the
casting. If it is less, it is better to cast solid. Holes can be produced by cheaper and safer
methods such as machining than by coring in casting.
14. Don’t use iron castings for impact and shock loading. For such situation, prefer to use cast
Iron to absorb shocks and vibrations
15. Don’t use cast iron at temperature above 3000C, since its strength decreases after 3000C.

16. A material that has a large solidification shrinkage will result in hot-shortness(hot tears). The
straight arms can result in hot tears, but S-shaped arms can straighten a little to accommodate
the required shortening on and after solidification
17. Provide places where holes are to be drilled, to reinforce the walls of the casting, design (a) is
not good, because the drilled holes should be normal to the surfaces, top and bottom to
eliminate drill breakage.
Design(b) is much more satisfactory because it eliminates drill breakage, reduces drilling time
and saves lot of material.

18. Load the iron castings in compression, as far as possible. Tensile and bending stresses can be
eliminated or minimized by proper design.
19. The casting shape should allow easy cut-off the gating system elements and removal of cores.
20. It is preferable to dispose the entire casting in the drag if the casting construction permits
doing so. This helps rule out mismatch.
21. The mould should have a minimum number of cores or no cores at all, if possible. It is
advisable to use projection cores.
22. The cavities in castings should have extensions roomy enough to receive the core prints of
cores. It is undesirable to support cores with chaplets since they sometimes do not weld
enough with the metal being cast.
23. The casting design should provide for easy removal of core materials and reinforcements and
should make for ease of cleaning and fettling after the shake out operation. In order to remove
core material from internal cavities, special bosses with holes should be provided on the
casting. After the cleaning, the holes are stopped with the plugs. The outer contour of the
casting should be free of deep blind pockets and recesses. The cavities should have openings
of sufficient size of facilitate stripping.
24. Casting drawings should indicate locating surfaces which are to be used in the machining of
the castings and also in the checking of the castings. The locating surfaces should be formed
by the pattern and should lie in the same mould half, so that relative displacements of mould
parts and the cores do not affect accuracy of these surfaces. These locating surfaces are not
needed for part functioning and can be removed after machining when necessary
Examples of locating surfaces are:
a) Centre holes on shafts.
b) Centring recess 1 and end face 2 on the skirt of an automotive engine piston. Fig
(a)
 c) Flats 1 of bosses 2 on cast blanks, provided for their proper loading and clamping.,
Fig (b)
d) Bosses 1 on turbine blade blanks, Fig(c )
e) Two locating holes 1 on housing-type castings. Fig (d)

25. Cooling and solidification of molten metal start at the surface of the mould cavity and crystals
form there first. Then the crystal growth takes place inwards, normal to all surfaces. At the
central plane of the casting, the formations from different sides intersect. The metal in this
plane is weak because the crystals do not join perfectly or even porosity may result there. In a
casting with sharp corners, fig (a), a plane of weakness extends from corner to corner, exactly
where the stresses are apt to be maximum. In castings with corners rounded off, Fig(b)

the plane of weakness runs uniformly through out the centre, where the stresses are extremely
low. Also, the heat flows propagating normally to the corner walls intersect and develop a
‘hot zone’ within the corner inner area. The corner walls here are made 20 to 25% thinner
than those in the areas farther from the corner.
26. The design of a cast part must take into account the casting properties of the alloy being cast.

III. CASTING SIMULATION SOFTWARE

• In this day and age, customers, especially in the automotive industry, would be more likely to
request castings with high quality (Q), quick delivery(D) and at a low cost(C).
Computer simulation of casting solidification of metals and alloys is a complex
phenomenon. The assumptions and constraints used for simulation are considered as a vital
one.
Many computer simulation programs now exist, but some require computers of a
power not generally available to practical foundry men, while others take an unacceptably
long time to obtain meaningful results.
The aim of computer modeling is to predict the pattern of solidification, indicating
where shrinkage cavities and associated defects may arise.
Its secondary aim is to provide a choice of quality levels. Besides, it is used to
simulate solidification with the casting in various positions.
It is used to determine the solidification time and behaviour of different materials
accurately. Hence, it is used to determine the cooling rate influenced by the grain structure of
castings.
 PROCEDURE OF USING CASTING SIMULATION SOFTWARE
I. Build a model of the casting design including the gating system and all other material
used with the casting, such as chills, cores, sleeves etc. This step may be done by using
a CAD system

2. Input required data needed for computation, such as the physical, mechanical and heat
properties of the metal, properties of the mold or die, pouring temperature, pouring
time, pressure, etc.
3. Computation of the simulation , which different casting simulation programs may
have different approaches in simulation the results. Some well known approaches for
example are the numerical simulation approaches (FEM,FDM), the geometrical
approach, the meshless method, etc
4. Simulated results and interpretation of results
The results from the simulation program may be shown in the form of graphs or
colored figures with numerical results depending on what criterion is used, such as the
temperatures in each section of the casting at a given time, solidification times, hot
spots, material density, etc. These results must be translated into useful information to
evaluate if a casting is sound or not, or what must be done to improve the casting
design and start from step 1 once again

LIMITATIONS OF CASTING SIMULATION SOFTWARE

• The most accurate simulation results require that all input parameters be set carefully to
match the real casting, including material, chemical composition, mold material, poring
temperature, pouring time, heat transfer coefficient values, cooling curves, expansion
and shrinkage rates etc.

• Casting simulation software cannot predict all types of defects that may occur in a
casting, such as processing defects, human error, additional chemical elements added to
the molten metal etc.

• A foundry engineer must be able to notice what kinds of defects occur and what causes
them to occur so the problem can be treated as casting simulation software can only
simulate the solidification process.

IV. PRODUCT DESIGN RULES FOR SAND CASTING

1. AVOID SHARP ANGLES AND MULTIPLE SECTION JOINTS
• Solidification of the molten metal begins at the mold face, from which crystals grow into
the casting at right angles.
• A straight section of constant thickness results in uniform cooling which will in turn
produce uniform material properties.
• Sharp angles can cause large temperature variations in the casting, which often lead to
casting defects
2. DESIGN SECTIONS OF UNIFORM THICKNESS
• Designing for uniform thickness also reduces the amount of material in a casting, saving
weight and reducing machining, and results in a stronger casting.
• If larger masses of the metal are unavoidable, the designer should make them accessible
for feeding either directly or with a riser.
• If section thickness are too small, then feeding problems may occur.
• The increased cost of scrap caused by incomplete feeding will normally be higher than
the material savings in a lighter casting.
3.PROPORTION INNER WALL THICKNESS
• Inner sections in a casting cool more slowly than a section exposed to the mold face.
• If a complex geometry is necessary, the designer should reduce the inner section
thickness to 80% of the outer wall thickness.
• Also, core section thicknesses should always be greater than the section thickness of the
surrounding metal.
• If the core is too small, it will become overheated and slow down the solidification rate of
the surrounding metal, leading to the possibility of defects.
4. CONSIDER METAL SHRINKAGES IN DESIGN
• Almost all alloys shrink as they solidify
• While the pattern maker is the one affected by the shrinkage, the designer must still
compensate for it in the design.
• Ina good design, the section thicknesses decrease as the distance from the feed system or
riser increases to account for directional solidification.
• In order to accomplish this, the designer must be familiar enough with the casting process
to be able to visualize how the casting will be fed and adjust the castings dimensions to
assist the metal flow.
The greater the shrinkage of the metal, the more the designer must consider it when
designing the casting

5. USE A SIMPLE PARTING LINE

• A flat plane, known as a straight parting line, separating the two mold halves, results in
more economical casting than a tiered or contoured separating surface.
• More complex parting lines often result in fewer parts per mold, more costly patterns,
less accuracy, and increased scrap.
• The parting line should be positioned so that it has minimal effect on the functional
characteristics of the part.
• Locating the parting line in less critical parts of the casting is desirable for two main
reasons:
• First, dimensions around the parting line are the hardest to control. Additionally flash
occurs at the parting line
• If the surface around the parting line is not critical, then flash removal costs will be
lower.

6. DEFINE APPROPRIATE MACHINING ALLOWANCES

• The machining allowances is material added to the casting to compensate for dimensional
and surface variations in the as-cast part.
• The amount of stock added is a function of the size of the surface to the machined and to
a lesser degree the machining method and the final accuracy required
• Minimal additional material is needed if only flatness, possibly with some un machined
surface areas, is desired.
• A large allowance is required if the full surface is to be machined without any
imperfections
• Normal machining allowances vary from 0.25cm from small castings(<15cm) to as much
as 2.5 cm for larger castings(>250cm).
7. USE ECONOMICAL TOLERANCES
• The tolerances achievable by a foundry vary depending on the types of processes
employed at the facility.
• Tighter tolerances may be obtained by machining, which significantly increases the cost
of the casting
• The most basic tolerance is the linear tolerance. It refers to how precisely the distance
between two points can be produced
• Linear tolerances of +/- 1.0mm are readily achievable for small castings.
• An additional factor of +/- 0.03mm should be added for every centimeter over 15cm for
larger parts.