1.

5Solidification time:
During the early stages of solidification, a thin solidified skin begins to form at the cool mold walls and, as time passes, the skin thickens. With flat mold walls, this thickness is proportional to the square root of time. Thus doubling the time will make the skin (2) .! "#.#$ times, or $# percent, thicker. The solidification time is a function of the %olume of a casting and its surface area. Solidification time = C ( volume / surface area)2, (1)

Where & is a constant that reflects mold material, metal properties and temperature. Thus large sphere solidifies and cools to ambient temperature at a much slower rate than dose a smaller sphere. The reason is that the %olume of the sphere is proportional to the cube of its diameter, and the surface area is proportional to the square of its diameter. The effects of mold geometry and elapsed time on skin thickness and shape are shown in 'ig.(. )s illustrated, the un*solidified molten metal has been pored from them the mold at different time inter%als, ranging from ! s to ( min. note that the skin thickness increases with elapsed time but the skin is thinner at internal angles (location ) in 'igure) than at e+ternal angles (location ,). -lower cooling at internal angles than at e+ternal angles causes this latter condition. ) process called slush casting, which is based on this principle, makes hollow ornamental and decorati%e ob.ects.

Fig. ! steel casting solidified s"in. #$e remaining molten metal is poured out at t$e times indicated in t$e figure. %&ample: Solidification times for different s$apes: Three pieces being cast ha%e t$e same volume 'ut different s$apes. /ne is a sp$ere0 one is a cu'e, and the other a c(linder with a height equal to its diameter. )$ic$ piece *ill solidif( t$e fastest and *$ic$ one t$e slo*est+ Solution: The %olume is unity, so we ha%e from equation (#)1 Solidification time The respecti%e surface areas are1 1 / surface area

Sp$ere: )nd Cu'e:

2 " ($34) 5r4, r " (43$ )"$

5)#34,

5r2 "$ 5 (43$ 5)234 " $.6$0

2 " a4, a " #, ) " (a2 " (0

C(linder:

5r4, r " (#32 5)#34, and ) " 2 5r2 7 2 5rb " ( 5r2 " ( 5(#32 5)234 " !.!$

, = 5r2b " 2

Thus the respecti%e solidification time8s t are

sphere

" . $4 &,

cube

" . 26 &, and

cylinder

" . 44 &.

9ence the cube*shaped casting will solidify the faster and the sphere*shaped casting will solidify the slowest.

1. S$rin"age:
,ecause of their thermal e+pansion characteristics, metal shrink (contract) during solidification and cooling. S$rin"age, which causes dimensional changes* and, sometimes, cracking*is t$e result of1 a) &ontraction of the molten metal as it cools prior to its solidification b) &ontraction of the molten metal during phase change from liquid to solid c) &ontraction of the solidified metal (the casting) as its temperature drops to ambient temperature. The largest amount of shrinkage occurs during cooling of the casting. The amount of contraction for %arious metals during solidification is shown in Table 2.#.

#a'le 2.1 Solidification contraction for various cast metals

-etal or allo( !luminum !l14.5. Cu !l112. Si Car'on steel 1. Car'on steel Copper ,olumetric solidification contraction . . .2 2.6 2.512.0 4.0 4.5 -etal or allo( /0. Cu120. 3n 50. Cu110. !l 7ra( 8ron -agnesium )$ite iron 3inc ,olumetric solidification contraction . 4.5 4.0 %&pansion to 2.5 4.2 4.015.5 .5