Rule 1: Good-Quality Melt

Immediately prior to casting, the melt shall be prepared and treated, if necessary, using the best
current practice.

Rule 2: Liquid Front Damage
This is the requirement that the liquid metal front (the meniscus) should not go too fast.
Maximum meniscus velocity is in the range of 0.4 to 0.6 m/s (1.3 to 2.0 ft/s) for most liquid
metals. This maximum velocity may be raised in constrained running systems or thin-section
castings. This requirement also implies that the liquid metal must not be allowed to fall more
than the critical height (which corresponds to the height of a sessile drop of the liquid metal).

Rule 3: Liquid Front Stop
This is the requirement that the liquid metal front should not go too slowly and, more exactly,
should not stop at any point on the front. The advancing liquid metal meniscus must be kept
alive (i.e., moving) and therefore free from thick oxide film that may be incorporated into the
casting. This is achieved by designing the liquid front to progress only uphill in a continuous
uninterrupted upward advance (in the case of gravity-poured casting processes, from the base of
the sprue onward).

Rule 4: Bubble Damage
No bubbles of air entrained by the filling system should pass through the liquid metal in the mold
cavity. This may be achieved by:
_ Use of an offset step pouring basin design of sufficient size to facilitate detrainment of
entrained air and oxides; preferred use of a stopper to aid the filling of the basin; the use of sprue
and runner designed to fill in one pass; avoidance of the use of wells or other volume-increasing
features of filling systems; possible use of ceramic foam filter close to sprue/runner junction;
possible use of bubble traps
_ No interruptions to pouring

Rule 5: Core Blows
_ No bubbles from the outgassing of cores should pass through the liquid metal in the mold
cavity. Cores must be of sufficiently low gas content and/or adequately vented to prevent
bubbles from core blows.
_ No use of clay-based core or mold repair paste (unless demonstrated to be free from the risk of
creating bubbles)

Rule 6: Shrinkage Damage
_ No feeding uphill because of unreliable pressure gradient and complications introduced by
convection
_ Demonstrate good feeding design following all seven feeding rules, by an approved computer
solidification model and test castings
_ Control of the level of flash at mold and core joints, the mold coat thickness, and the
temperatures of metal and mold



Rule 7: Convection Damage
Assess the freezing time in relation to the time for convection to cause damage. Thin and thick-
section castings automatically avoid convection problems. For intermediate sections, either
reduce the problem by avoiding convective loops in the geometry of the casting and rigging, or
eliminate convection by rollover after filling.

Rule 8: Segregation
Predict segregation to be within the specification limits or agree upon out-of-specification
compositional regions with the customer. Avoid channel segregation formation if possible.

Rule 9: Residual Stress
No quenching of certain light-alloy castings into water following solution treatment. (Boiling
water is also not permitted for these castings, but polymer quenching or forced-air quench may
be acceptable if casting stress is shown to be negligible.)

Rule 10: Location Points
All castings are to be provided with agreed upon location points for dimensional reference and
for pickup for machining.