1. IE 337: Materials & Manufacturing Processes
IE 337 Lecture 4: Metal Casting 1
IE 337: Materials & Manufacturing Processes
Lectures 7&8: Introduction to Metal Casting
Chapters 10 & 6
S.V. Atre

2. Assignment HW 2 due today CH 21,22 and 24 Problems
In Assignments folder

3. This Time Basic Process Casting Terminology Heating Pouring
Phase diagrams
Solidification

4. Common process attributes:
Casting
Common process attributes:
Flow of Molten Liquid Requires Heating
Heat Transfer of Liquid in Mold Cavity During and After Pouring
Solidification into Component

5. Metal Casting Processes Categories
Expendable mold processes - mold is sacrificed to remove part
Advantage: more complex shapes possible
Disadvantage: production rates often limited by time to make mold rather than casting itself
Permanent mold processes - mold is made of metal and can be used to make many castings
Advantage: higher production rates
Disadvantage: geometries limited by need to open mold

6. Overview of Sand Casting
Most widely used casting process, accounting for a significant majority of total tonnage cast
Nearly all alloys can be sand cast, including metals with high melting temperatures, such as steel, nickel, and titanium
Parts ranging in size from small to very large
Production quantities from one to millions

7. Sand Casting
Sand casting mold

8. Gating System
Channel through which molten metal flows into cavity from outside of mold
Consists of a downsprue, through which metal enters a runner leading to the main cavity
At top of downsprue, a pouring cup is often used to minimize splash and turbulence as the metal flows into downsprue

9. Riser
Reservoir in the mold which is a source of liquid metal to compensate for shrinkage during solidification
The riser must be designed to freeze after the main casting in order to satisfy its function

10. Heating the Metal
Heating furnaces are used to heat the metal to molten temperature sufficient for casting
The heat required is the sum of:
Heat to raise temperature to melting point
Heat of fusion to convert from solid to liquid
Heat to raise molten metal to desired temperature for pouring

11. Heating the Metal Heat to melting point: rVCs(Tm-To)
Heat of fusion to convert from solid to liquid: rVHf
Heat molten metal to pouring temp.: rVCl(Tp-Tm)
r = density, V = volume, Cs = specific heat,
Hf = latent heat of fusion, T = temperature
Properties vary with temperature and phase
Melting may occur over a temperature range
Heat loss to the ambient

12. Pouring the Molten Metal
For this step to be successful, metal must flow into all regions of the mold, most importantly the main cavity, before solidifying
Factors that determine success:
Pouring temperature
Pouring rate
Turbulence

13. Pouring Calculations 1 Minimum mold filling time, MFT MFT =V/Q
Q: volumetric flow rate, cm3/s
V: mold cavity volume, cm3

14. Pouring Calculations 2 Volumetric flow rate remains constant
Q =v1A1 = v2A2
Q: volume rate of flow cm3/s
v: velocity of the liquid metal
A: cross-sectional area, cm2
CONTINUITY EQUATION
Increase in area results in decrease in velocity

15. Pouring Calculations 3
Flow of liquid metal through gating system & mold
v = (2gh)1/2
v: velocity of the liquid metal at base of sprue
g = gravitational acceleration, 981 cm/s2
h = height of sprue, cm

16. Example 1
The downsprue leading into the runner of a certain mold has a length = 175 mm.
The cross-sectional area at the base of the sprue is 400 mm2.
The mold cavity has a volume = m3.
Determine: (a) the velocity of the molten metal flowing through the base of the downsprue, (b) the volumetric flow rate, and (c) the time required to fill the mold cavity.

17. Example 1: Solution (a) Velocity v = (2gh)0.5 = (2 x 9810 x 175)0.5
= 1853 mm/s
(b) Volume flow rate Q = vA
= 1853 x 400
= 741,200 mm3/s
(c) Time to fill cavity MFT = V/Q

18. Solidification of Pure Metals
A pure metal solidifies at a constant temperature equal to its freezing point (same as melting point)

19. Solidification and Cooling
Figure Shrinkage of a cylindrical casting during solidification and cooling: (0) starting level of molten metal immediately after pouring; (1) reduction in level caused by liquid contraction during cooling (dimensional reductions are exaggerated for clarity).

20. Microstructure: I
Characteristic grain structure in a casting of a pure metal, showing randomly oriented grains of small size near the mold wall, and large columnar grains oriented toward the center of the casting

21. Solidification of Alloys
Most alloys freeze over a temperature range rather than at a single temperature

22. Microstructure: II Micro-segregation
Characteristic grain structure in an alloy casting, showing segregation of alloying components in center of casting

23. Microstructure: II Macro-segregation
Characteristic grain structure in an alloy casting, showing segregation of alloying components in center of casting

24. Phase Diagrams
A graphical means of representing the phases of a metal alloy system as a function of composition and temperature
A phase diagram for an alloy system consisting of two elements at atmospheric pressure is called a binary phase diagram
Other forms of phase diagrams are discussed in texts on metallurgy and materials science

25. Phase Diagrams
Composition is plotted on the horizontal axis and temperature on the vertical axis
Any point in the diagram indicates the overall composition and the phase or phases present at the given temperature under equilibrium conditions

26. Copper-Nickel Phase Diagram
Figure 6.2 Phase diagram for the copper‑nickel alloy system.

27. Copper‑Nickel (Cu-Ni) Alloy System
Solid solution alloy throughout entire range of compositions below the solidus
No intermediate solid phases in this alloy system
However, there is a mixture of phases (solid + liquid) in the region bounded by the solidus and liquidus

28. Chemical Compositions of Phases
The overall composition of the alloy is given by its position along the horizontal axis
However, the compositions of liquid and solid phases are not the same
These compositions can be found by drawing a horizontal line at the temperature of interest
Where the line intersects the solidus and liquidus indicates the compositions of solid and liquid phases, respectively

29. Example
Determine compositions of liquid and solid phases in the Cu-Ni system at an aggregate composition of 50% nickel and a temperature of 1316oC (2400oF)

30. Inverse Lever Rule – Step 1
The phase diagram can be used to determine the amounts of each phase present at a given temperature
Using the horizontal line that indicates overall composition at a given temperature, measure the distances between the aggregate composition and the intersection points with the liquidus and solidus, identifying the distances as CL and CS, respectively

31. Inverse Lever Rule – Step 2
The proportion of liquid phase present is given by
L phase proportion =
And the proportion of solid phase present is given by
S phase proportion =

32. Applications of the Inverse Lever Rule
Methods for determining chemical composition of phases and amounts of each phase are applicable to the solid region of the phase diagram as well as the liquidus‑solidus region
Wherever there are regions in which two phases are present, these methods can be utilized
When only one phase is present, the composition of the phase is its aggregate composition under equilibrium conditions, and the inverse lever rule does not apply

33. Tin-Lead Phase Diagram
Figure 6.3 Phase diagram for the tin‑lead alloy system.

34. Effect of Solidification Rate
Mechanical properties of 2 identical composition samples with different cooling rates

35. Solidification Time Solidification takes time
Total solidification time TST = time required for casting to solidify after pouring
TST depends on size and shape of casting by relationship known as Chvorinov's Rule

36. Chvorinov's Rule where TST = total solidification time;
V = volume of the casting;
A = surface area of casting;
n = exponent usually taken to have a value = 2; and
Cm is mold constant

37. Mold Constant in Chvorinov's Rule
Cm depends on mold material, thermal properties of casting metal, and pouring temperature relative to melting point
Value of Cm for a given casting operation can be based on experimental data from previous operations carried out using same mold material, metal, and pouring temperature, even though the shape of the part may be quite different

38. Example 1
In casting experiments performed using a titanium alloy and a zircon sand mold, it took s for a cube-shaped casting to solidify. The cube was 50 mm on a side.
If the same alloy and mold type were used, find the total solidification time for a cylindrical casting in which the diameter = 30 mm and length = 50 mm.

39. Example 1: Solution Cube Volume V Cylinder Volume V Cube Area A
= (50)3
= 125,000 mm3
Cube Area A
= 6 x (50)2
= 15,000 mm2
Cube (V/A)
= 125,000/15,000
= 8.33 mm
Cm = TST/(V/A)2
= 155/(8.33)2
= 2.23 s/mm2
Cylinder Volume V
= pD2L/4 = p(30)2(50)/4
= 35,343 mm3
Cylinder Area A
= 2pD2/4 + pDL
= p(30)2/2 + p(30)(50)
= 6126 mm2
Cylinder (V/A)
= 35,343/6126
= 5.77 mm
TST = Cm(V/A)2
= 2.23 (5.77)2 = 74.3 s

40. What Chvorinov's Rule Tells Us
A casting with a higher volume‑to‑surface area ratio cools and solidifies more slowly than one with a lower ratio
Since riser and casting mold constants will be equal, design the riser to have a larger volume‑to‑area ratio so that the main casting solidifies first

41. Shrinkage in Solidification and Cooling
Figure Shrinkage of a cylindrical casting during solidification and cooling: (0) starting level of molten metal immediately after pouring; (1) reduction in level caused by liquid contraction during cooling (dimensional reductions are exaggerated for clarity).

42. Shrinkage in Solidification and Cooling
Figure (2) reduction in height and formation of shrinkage cavity caused by solidification shrinkage; (3) further reduction in height and diameter due to thermal contraction during cooling of solid metal (dimensional reductions are exaggerated for clarity).

43. Solidification Shrinkage
Occurs in nearly all metals because the solid phase has a higher density than the liquid phase
Thus, solidification causes a reduction in volume per unit weight of metal
Exception: cast iron with high C content
Graphitization during final stages of freezing causes expansion that counteracts volumetric decrease associated with phase change

44. Shrinkage Allowance
Patternmakers account for solidification shrinkage and thermal contraction by making mold cavity oversized (See Table 10.1)
Amount by which mold is made larger relative to final casting size is called pattern shrinkage allowance

45. IE 337 Lecture 4: Metal Casting 1
Example 2
A mold cavity has the shape of a cube, 100 mm on a side. Determine the volume and dimensions of the final cube after cooling to room temperature if the cast metal is copper.
Assume that the mold is full at the start of solidification and that shrinkage occurs uniformly in all directions.
For copper, solidification shrinkage is 4.9%, solid contraction during cooling is 7.5%.
S.V. Atre

46. Example 2: Solution Volume of cavity V = (100)3 = 106 mm3
Volume of casting V
= 106( )( )
= 879,675 mm3
Dimension on each side of cube
= (879,675)0.333
= mm

47. You should have learned
Basic Process
Sand Casting Terminology
Heating
Pouring
Phase diagrams
Solidification

48. Next Class
Casting Continued
Chapter 11