FOUNDRY SHOP

Practical report

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 Index
Topic Page no.

introduction to casting 3

Advantages & Disadvantages Of Casting 4

Types of patterns used in Casting Process 6

Hand tools used in foundry shop 11

Pattern Materials 18

Basic ingredients moulding sand 21

Casting Defects 22

Job Process 30

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 Introduction To Casting

Casting is a manufacturing process by which a liquid material is usually

poured into a Mould , which contains a hollow cavity of the desired
shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as
a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the
process. Casting materials are usually metals or various cold
setting materials that cure after mixing two or more components
together; for examples are epoxy, concrete, plaster and clay. Casting is
most often used for making complex shapes that would be otherwise
difficult or uneconomical to make by other methods. Casting is a 6000
year old process.

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 Advantages Of Casting

 Molten metal flows into ant small section in molten cavity; hence
any complex shape can be easily produced.
 Practically any type of material can be casted.
 Ideal method is by producing small quantities
 Due to small cooling rate from all directions, the properties of casting
are same in all directions.
 Any size of casting can be produced like up to 200 tonnes.
 Casting is the often cheapest and most direct way of producing a
shape with certain desired mechanical properties.
 Certain metals and alloys such as highly creep resistant metal-based
alloys for gas turbines cannot be worked mechanically and can be
cast only.
 Heavy equipment like machine leads, ship’s propeller etc. can be cast
easily in the required size rather than fabricating them by joining
several small pieces.
 Casting is best suited for composite components requiring different
properties in different direction. These are made by incorporating
preferable inserts in a casting. For example, aluminium conductors
into slots in iron armature for electric motors, wear resistant skins
onto shock resistant components.

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 Disadvantages Of Casting

 With normal sand casting process the dimensional accuracies and

surface finish is less.
 Defects are unavoidable.
 Sand casting is labor intensive.

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Types of patterns used in Casting Process

Different types of patterns:

The common types of patterns are:

(1) Single piece pattern
(2) Split piece pattern
(3) Loose piece pattern
(4) Gated pattern
(5) Match pattern
(6) Sweep pattern
(7) Cope and drag pattern
(8) Skeleton pattern
(9) Shell pattern
(10) Follow board pattern

Figure 1: Single piece, Split, Match-plate, Cope and Drag Pattern

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Single piece pattern:
This is the simplest type of pattern, exactly like the desired casting. For making a mould, the
pattern is accommodated either in cope or drag. Used for producing a few large castings, for
example, stuffing box of steam engine.

Split pattern:
These patterns are split along the parting plane (which may be flat or irregular surface) to
facilitate the extraction of the patternout of the mould before the pouring operation. For a more
complex casting, the pattern may be split in more than two parts.

Loose piece pattern:

When a one piece solid pattern has projections or back drafts which lie above or below the
parting plane, it is impossible to with drawit from the mould. With such patterns, the projections
are made with the help of loose pieces. One drawback of loose feces is that their shifting is
possible during ramming.

Figure: 2 Loose piece pattern

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Gated pattern:

A gated pattern is simply one or more loose patterns having attached gates and runners.
Because of their higher cost, these patterns are used for producing small castings in mass
production systems and on molding machines.

Figure: 3 Gated pattern

Match plate pattern:

A match plate pattern is a split pattern having the cope and drags portions mounted on opposite
sides of a plate (usually metallic), called the "match plate" that conforms to the contour of the
parting surface.The gates and runners are also mounted on the match plate, so that very
little hand work is required. This results in higher productivity. This type of pattern is used for a
large number of castings.Piston rings of I.C. engines are produced by this process.

Sweep pattern:
A sweep is a section or board (wooden) of proper contour that is rotated about one edge to shape
mould cavities having shapes of rotational symmetry. This type of pattern is used when a casting
of large size is to be produced in a short time. Large kettles of C.I. are made by sweep patterns.

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 Figure: 4 Sweep pattern

Cope and drag pattern:

A cope and drag pattern is a split pattern having thecope and drag portions each mounted on
separate match plates. These patterns are used when in the production of large castings; the
complete moulds are too heavy and unwieldy to be handled by a single worker.

Skeleton pattern:
For large castings having simple geometrical shapes, skeleton patterns are used. Just like sweep
patterns, these are simple wooden frames that outline the shape of the part to be cast and are also
used as guides by the molder in the hand shaping of the mould. This type of pattern is also used
in pit or floor molding process.

Figure: 5 Skeleton pattern

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Shell pattern:

Figure: 6 Shell pattern

Follow board pattern:

A follow board is not a pattern but is a device (wooden board) used for various purposes.

Figure :7 Follow board pattern

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 HAND TOOLS USED IN FOUNDRY SHOP
The common hand tools used in foundry shop are fairly numerous. A brief description of the
following foundry tools is given as under.

Hand riddle

It consists of a screen of standard circular wire mesh equipped with circular wooden frame. It is
generally used for cleaning the sand for removing foreign material such as nails, shot metal,
splinters of wood etc. from it. Even power operated riddles are available for riddling large
volume of sand

Shovel
It consists of an steel pan fitted with a long wooden handle. It is used in mixing,
tempering and conditioning the foundry sand by hand. It is also used for moving
and transforming the molding sand to the container and molding box or flask. It
should always be kept clean.

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Rammers
These are required for striking the molding sand mass in the molding box to pack or compact it
uniformly all around the pattern. It is generally made of wood or metal. It is small and one end of
which carries a wedge type construction, called peen and the other end possesses a solid
cylindrical shape known as butt. It is used for ramming the sand in bench molding work.

Vent rod
It is a thin spiked steel rod or wire carrying a pointed edge at one end and a wooden handle or a
bent loop at the other. After ramming and striking off the excess sand it is utilized to pierce
series of small holes in the molding sand in the cope portion. The series of pierced small holes
are called vents holes which allow the exit or escape of steam and gases during pouring mold and
solidifying of the molten metal for getting a sound casting.

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Slicks
They are also recognized as small double ended mold finishing tool which are generally used for
repairing and finishing the mold surfaces and their edges after withdrawal of the pattern. The
commonly used slicks are of the types of heart and leaf, square and heart, spoon and bead and
heart and spoon. The nomenclatures of the slicks are largely due to their shapes.

Gate cutter
Gate cutter is a small shaped piece of sheet metal commonly used to cut runners and feeding
gates for connecting sprue hole with the mold cavity.

Lifter
Lifter is shown in Fig. This is also known as cleaners or finishing tool which are made of thin
sections of steel of various length and width with one end bentat right angle. They are used for
cleaning, repairing and finishing the bottom and sides of deep and narrow openings in mold
cavity after withdrawal of pattern. They are also used for removing loose sand from mold cavity

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Sprue pin
Sprue pin is shown in Fig. It is a tapered rod of wood or iron which is placed or pushed in cope
to join mold cavity while the molding sand in the cope is being rammed. Later its withdrawal
from cope produce a vertical hole in molding sand, called sprue through which the molten metal
is poured into the mould using gating system. It helps to make a passage for pouring molten
metal in mold through gating system.

Strike off bar

Strike off bar is a flat bar having straight edge and is made of wood or iron. It is used to strike off
or remove the excess sand from the top of a molding box after completion of ramming thereby
making its surface plane and smooth. Its one edge is made beveled and the other end is kept
perfectly smooth and plane.

Trowels
They are utilized for finishing flat surfaces and joints and partings lines of the mold. They
consist of metal blade made of iron and are equipped with a wooden handle. The common metal
blade shapes of trowels may be pointed or contoured or rectangular oriented. The trowels are

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basically employed for smoothing or slicking the surfaces of molds. They may also be used to
cut in-gates and repair the mold surfaces.

Mallet
Mallet is similar to a wooden hammer and is generally as used in carpentry or sheet metal shops.
In molding shop, it is used for driving the draw spike into the pattern and then rapping it for
separation from the mould surfaces so that pattern can be easily withdrawn leaving the mold
cavity without damaging the mold surfaces.

Draw spike
It is a tapered steel rod having a loop or ring at its one end and a sharp point at the other. It may
have screw threads on the end to engage metal pattern for it withdrawal from the mold. It is used
for driven into pattern which is embedded in the molding sand and raps the pattern to get
separated from the pattern and finally draws out it from the mold cavity.

Draw spike
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Swab
It is a small hemp fiber brush used for moistening the edges of sand mould, which are in contact
with the pattern surface before withdrawing the pattern. It is used for sweeping away the molding
sand from the mold surface and pattern. It is also used for coating the liquid blacking on the
mold faces in dry sand molds.

Spirit level
Spirit level is used by molder to check whether the sand bed or molding box is horizontal or not.

Bellows
It is hand operated leather made device equipped with compressed air jet to blow or pump air
when operated. It is used to blow away the loose or unwanted sand from the surfaces of mold
cavities.

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Moulding Boxes
Mold boxes are also known as molding flasks. Closed molding boxes which may be made of
wood, cast-iron or steel and consist of two or more parts. The lower part is called the drag, the
upper part the cope and all the intermediate parts, if used, cheeks. All the parts are individually
equipped with suitable means for clamping arrangements during pouring. Wooden Boxes are
generally used in green-sand molding. Dry sand moulds always require metallic boxes because
they are heated for drying. Large and heavy boxes are made from cast iron or steel and carry
handles and grips as they are manipulated by cranes or hoists, etc.

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Pattern Materials
The type of pattern depends upon:

Design of casting.
Number of casting to be produced.
Type of casting and moulded process used.
Degree of accuracy and surface finish required.

Wood:
It is widely used for pattern. The wood as a pattern material has following advantages and
disadvantages:

Advantages

It is cheap
It can be easily worked and shaped.
It can be cut and fabricated into numerous forms.
It is easily plained and sanded to smooth surface and can be pressured for long time.

Disadvantages
Not suitable for repeatition works.
Tendancy to get damaged by constant contact with damp sand.

Metal:
Metallic patterns are preferred when the number of castings required is large enough to justify
their use.

Advantages:
It is cheap
It is easy to file and fit
It is strong
It has good resistance against sand abrasion and Good surface finish

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Disadvantages:
It is heavy
It is brittle and hence it can be easily broken
It may rust

Plastic
Plastics are getting more popularity now a days because the patterns made of these materials are
lighter, stronger, moisture and wear resistant, non sticky to molding sand, durable and they are
not affected by the moisture of the molding sand. Moreover they impart very smooth surface
finish on the pattern surface. These materials are somewhat fragile, less resistant to sudden
loading and their section may need metal reinforcement. The plastics used for this purpose are
thermosetting resins. Phenolic resin plastics are commonly used. These are originally in liquid
form and get solidified when heated to a specified temperature. To prepare a plastic pattern, a
mould in two halves is prepared in plaster of paris with the help of a wooden pattern known as a
master pattern. The phenolic resin is poured into the mould and the mould is subjected to heat.
The resin solidifies giving the plastic pattern. Recently a new material has stepped into the field
of plastic which is known as foam plastic. Foam plastic is now being produced in several forms
and the most common is the expandable polystyrene plastic category. It is made from benzene
and ethyl benzene.

Plaster
This material belongs to gypsum family which can be easily cast and worked with wooden tools
and preferable for producing highly intricate casting. The main advantages of plaster are that it
has high compressive strength and is of high expansion setting type which compensate for the
shrinkage allowance of the casting metal. Plaster of paris pattern can be prepared either by
directly pouring the slurry of plaster and water in moulds prepared earlier from a master pattern
or by sweeping it into desired shape or form by the sweep and strickle method. It is also
preferred for production of small size intricate castings and making core boxes.

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Wax
Patterns made from wax are excellent for investment casting process. The materials used are
blends of several types of waxes, and other additives which act as polymerizing agents,
stabilizers, etc. The commonly used waxes are paraffin wax, shellac wax, bees-wax, cerasin wax,
and micro-crystalline wax. The properties desired in a good wax pattern include low ash content
up to 0.05 per cent, resistant to the primary coat material used for investment, high tensile
strength and hardness, and substantial weld strength. The general practice of making wax pattern
is to inject liquid or semi-liquid wax into a split die. Solid injection is also used to avoid
shrinkage and for better strength. Waxes use helps in imparting a high degree of surface finish
and dimensional accuracy castings. Wax patterns are prepared by pouring heated wax into split
moulds or a pair of dies. The dies after having been cooled down are parted off. Now the wax
pattern is taken out and used for molding. Such patterns need not to be drawn out solid from the
mould. After the mould is ready, the wax is poured out by heating the mould and keeping it
upside down. Such patterns are generally used in the process of investment casting where
accuracy is linked with intricacy of the cast object.

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 Basic ingredients moulding sand
Green sand
These expendable molds are made of wet sands that are used to make the mold's shape. The
name comes from the fact that wet sands are used in the molding process. Green sand is not
green in color, but "green" in the sense that it is used in a wet state (akin to green wood). Unlike
the name suggests, "green sand" is not a type of sand on its own, but is rather a mixture of:

silica sand (SiO2), or chromite sand (FeCr2O), or zircon sand (ZrSiO4), 75 to 85%, or olivine,
or staurolite, or graphite.
bentonite(clay), 5 to 11%
water, 2 to 4%
inert sludge 3 to 5%
anthracite (0 to 1%)

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 Defects in Casting
Surface defects:

Due to design and quality of sand molds and general cause is poor ramming.

Blow:
Blow is relatively large cavity produced by gases which displace molten metal form.

Scar:

Due to improper permeability or venting.A scare is a shallow blow. It generally occurs on flat
surf; whereas a blow occurs on a convex casting surface. A blister is a shallow blow like a scar
with thin layer of metal covering it.

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Scab:
This defect occurs when a portion of the face of a mould lifts or breaks down and the recess thus
made is filled by metal. When the metal is poured into the cavity, gas may be disengaged with
such violence as to break up the sand which is then washed away and the resulting cavity filled
with metal. The reasons can be: - to fine sand, low permeability of sand, high moisture content of
sand and uneven moulds ramming.

Drop:
Drop or crush in a mould is an irregularly shaped projection on the cope surface of a
casting. This defect is caused by the break-away of a part of mould sand as a result of weak
packing of the mould, low strength of the molding sand, malfunctioning of molding equipment,
strong jolts and strikes at the flask when assembling the mould. The loose sand that falls into the
cavity will also cause a dirty casting surface, either on the top or bottom surface of the casting,
depending upon the relative densities of the sand and the liquid.

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Penetration:

It is a strong crust of fused sand on the surface of a casting which results from insufficient
refractoriness of molding materials, a large content of impurities, inadequate mould packing and
poor quality of mould washes. When the molten metal is poured into the mould cavity, at those
places when the sand packing is inadequate, some metal will flow between the sand particles for
a distance into the mould wall and get solidified. When the casting is removed, this lump of
metal remains attached to the casting. Of course, it can be removed afterwards by chipping or
grinding.

Buckle:

A buckle is a long, fairly shallow, broad, vee depression that occurs in the surface of flat
castings. It extends in a fairly straight line across the entire flat surface. It results due to the sand
expansion caused by the heat of the metal, when the sand has insufficient hot deformation. It also
results from poor casting design providing too large a flat surface in the mold cavity. Buckling is
prevented by mixing cereal or wood flour to sand.

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 Internal defects:
Blow holes:
Blow holes, gas holes or gas cavities are well rounded cavities having a clean and smooth
surface. They appear either on the casting surface or in the body of a casting.

These defects occur when an excessive evolved gas is not able to flow through the mould. So, it
collects into a bubble at the high points of a mould cavity ad prevents the liquid metal from
filling that space.

This will result in open blows. Closed, cavities or gas holes are formed when the evolved gases
or the dissolved gases in the molten metal are not able to leave the m ass of the molten metal as it
solidifies and get trapped within the casting.

These defects are caused by :

i) Excessive moisture content (in the case of green sand moulds) or organic content of the sand,
moisture on chills, chaplets or metal inserts,

ii) Inadequate gas permeability of the molding sand (due to fine grain size of sand, high clay
content, hard ramming),

iii) Poor venting of mould, insufficient drying of mould and cores, cores not properly vented,
high gas content of the molten metal,

iv) Low pouring temperature and incorrect feeding of the casting etc.

Pin holes:

Pin holes are small gas holes either at the surface or just below the surface. When these are
present, they occur in large numbers and are fairly uniformly dispersed over the surface. This
defect occurs due to gas dissolved in the alloy and the alloy not properly degassed.

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 Visible defects:
Wash:
A cut or wash is a low; projection on the drag face of a casting that extends along the surface,
decreasing in height as it extends from one side of the casting to the other end. It usually occurs
with bottom gating castings in which the molding sand has insufficient hot strength, and when
too much metal is made to flow through one gate into the mold cavity,

Rat tail:
A rat tail is a long, shallow, angular depression in the surface of a flat rating and resembles a
buckle, except that, it is not shaped like a broad vee. The reasons for this defect are the same for
buckle.

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Hot tear:
Hot tears are hot cracks which appear in the form of irregular crevices with a dark oxidized
fracture surface. They arise when the solidifying met does not have sufficient strength to resist
tensile forces produced during solidification. They are chiefly from an excessively high
temperature of casting metal, increased metal contraction incorrect design of the gating system
and casting on the whole (causing portions of the casting to be restrained from shrinking freely
during cooling which in turn causes excessive high intern resistance stresses), poor deformability
of the cores, and non-uniform cooling which gives rise t internal stresses. This defect can be
avoided by improving the design of the casting and by having a mould of low hot strength and
large hot deformation.

Shrinkage:
A shrinkage cavity is a depression or an internal void in a casting that results from the volume
contraction that occurs during solidification.

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Swell:
A swell is a slight, smooth bulge usually found on vertical faces of castings, resulting from liquid
metal pressure. It may be due to low strength of mould because of too high a water content or
when the mould is not rammed sufficiently.

Shift:
Mold shift refers to a defect caused by a sidewise displacement of the mold cope relative to the
drag, the result of which is a step in the cast product at the parting line.

Core shift is similar to mold shift, but it is the core that is displaced, and (he dis-placement is
usually vertical. Core shift and mold shift are caused by buoyancy of the molten metal

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Procedure involved in making Green
Sand Mould Casting:
Suitable proportions of silica sand (85-92%), bentonite binder (6-12%), water (3-5%) and
additives are mixed together to prepare the green sand mixture.
The pattern is placed on a flat surface with the drag box enclosing it. Parting sand is sprinkled
on the pattern surface to avoid green sand mixture sticking to the pattern.
The drag box is filled with green sand mixture and rammed manually till its top surface. The
drag box is now inverted so that the pattern faces the top. Parting sand is sprinkled over the
mould surface of the drag box.
The cope box is placed on top of the drag box and the sprue and riser pin are placed in suitable
locations. The green sand mixture is rammed to the level of cope box.
The sprue and the riser are removed from the mould. The cope box is lifted and placed aside,
and the pattern in the drag box is withdrawn by rapping it carefully so as to avoid damage to the
mould. Gates are cut using hand tools to provide passage for the flow of molten metal.
The mould cavity is cleaned and finished. Cores, if any are placed in the mould to obtain a
hollow cavity in the casting.
The cope is now placed on the drag box and both are aligned with the help of pins. Vent holes
are made to allow the free escape of gases from the mould during pouring. The mould is made
ready for pouring.

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Job 1

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