LABORATORY REPORT

Course Name Course Code Semester Title of Workshop Date of Workshop Date of Submission Instructors Name Mohamad Hatta Musa Engineering Workshop EPT183 / 2 2 Lab No. SA 2011/12

Mark
Abstract Introduction Methodology Results & Discussions Conclusions Others (Format, Referances, Appendix) TOTAL 10 25 10 35 15 5 100

ABSTRACT
There are two categories of casting process. First, eexpendable mold processes where mold is sacrificed to remove part. The advantage of this process is more complex shapes possible but the production rate is often limited to make mold rather than casting itself. Second, permanent mold processes where mold is made of metal and can be used to make many castings. The advantage of this process is higher production rates its geometries limited by need to open mold. The sand casting is the permanent mold process. Sand casting is most widely used casting process, accounting for a significant majority of total tonnage cast. Nearly all alloys can be sand casted, including metals with high melting temperatures, such as steel, nickel, and titanium. The castings range in size from small to very large.

The figure above is the sand casting mold. Mold consists of two halves that is Cope (upper half of mold) and drag(bottom half). Mold halves are contained in a box, called a flask. The two halves separate at the parting line.

There are some defects occur when doing the casting process sucah as, sand blow, mold erosion, scabs and flash. The defect occur because of error that are made in the experiment. Although sand casting has high production rate, it has longer time to take. There is other method can be used to cast a metal suc h as shell molding, vacuum molding, expanded polystyrene process investment, casting plaster mold and ceramic mold casting. But all of them are expanded mold casting. They have their own advantages and disadvantages.

INTRODUCTION
Sand casting is a technique used to make many metal copies from a master part. It is the most widely used casting process, utilizes expendable sand molds to form complex metal parts that can be made of nearly any alloy. Because the sand mold must be destroyed in order to remove the part, called the casting, sand casting typically has a low production rate. The sand casting process involves the use of a furnace, metal, pattern, and sand mold. The metal is melted in the furnace and then ladled and poured into the cavity of the sand mold, which is formed by the pattern. The sand mold separates along a parting line and the solidified casting can be removed.

Sand casting is used to produce a wide variety of metal components with complex geometries. These parts can vary greatly in size and weight, ranging from a couple ounces to several tons. Some smaller sand cast parts include components as gears, pulleys, crankshafts, connecting rods, and propellers. Larger applications include housings for large equipment and heavy machine bases. Sand casting is also common in producing automobile components, such as engine blocks, engine manifolds, cylinder heads, and transmission cases.

OBJECTIVES
To create a mold for sand casting. To examine sources of faults and defects in the process. To get knowledge on how casting process is made.

METHODOLOGY
Equipment and apparatus Equipment : A set of split sand casting, a set of solid casting for product with core, vernier callipers. Materials : Aluminium bars, parting dust, molding sand

Safety entire : Eye glasses and face shield. Heat resistant gloves, Knee leggings, Bib type aprons.

Procedure Mould preparation Match plate pattern 1. The parts was cleaned from the remaining dirt. At the same time, the sand was prepared by mixing it with water. 2. The parts with drag at the bottom and the cope at the top were assembled. 3. The mold was turned so that the drag side was upward. A thin layer of parting dust was spread on the inside of the drag. The flask was turned and shakes from remaining dust back into container. 4. The sand was rammed layer by layer into the drag. A good pressing along the edges of the pattern is particularly important. The surface was flatten with a strike off bar provided. 5. The mold was carefully turned so that the cope side is upward. Thin layer of parting dust was spread onto the inside surface of the cope as well. Parting dust also was spread onto the sprue and risers before fixing them to place. 6. Step 3 was repeated for the cope. The flask was placed on an even surface. 7. The sprue and risers was removed after that. 8. The mold was split opened and the core was inserted into the middle. 9. Core was prepared by cleaned up the mold from remaining dust and refasten it. 10. The core mold was filled in with sand while holding a steel rod acting as spine to the core by facing the larger opening upward 11. The core mold was carefully opened and the core was lifted and replaced in the middle of the drag. 12. The drag was reclamped and coped. The flask was ready for pouring. :

Split pattern 1. For the split pattern, step 1,2,3 in match plate pattern was repeated but at step 3, the dust was spinkie onto the female pasrt of the pattern. 2. The female part of the pattern was placed onto the drag. The space was provided for placing sprue and runner after. 3. Step 4 and 5 in match plate pattern was repeated. 4. The cope was reassembled into drag. A thin layer of parting dust was spread onto the surface of male part. The male part was mated with the female part. 5. Sprue and risers was arranged to suitable placed. The sand was filled into the cope. 6. The sprue and risers was removed after that. The mold was splits opened. 7. The patterns was removed. 8. The runner was build using scraper to connect the sprue to pattern and pattern to riser. 9. The cope and drag was reclamped and the flask was ready for pouring. The casting ladle with metal was put in the furnace and heat up to max 740c. The safety attire should be worn when pouring the metal into mould.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

In the experiment we had choose a design that we thought suitable for making patern. The design that we choose is like the anchor shape.

We use aluminium as the casting alloy because it is generally considered to be castable. It has low pouring temperatures due to low melting temperature of aluminium.

The product we get after the process is :

From the observation of the product above, there are some defects on the product based on experiment conducted.

Sand Blow A sand blow is a surface cavity that has some sand embedded in it. It is caused by insufficient venting A sand blow is a surface cavity that has some sand embedded in it. It is caused by insufficient venting, lack of permeability, a high percentage of humidity in the molding sand.

Flash This is where the mold somehow separated enough to allow metal between the halves, along the parting line. The causes of this defect include letting the mold dry out; the clay in the sand shrinks resulting in a gap between the halves.

Mold erosion Mold erosion is the wearing away of the mold as the liquid metal fills the mold. This type of defect usually only occurs in sand castings because most other casting processes have more robust molds. The castings produced have rough spots and excess material. The molding sand becomes incorporated into the casting metal and decreases the ductility, fatigue strength, and fracture toughness of the casting. This can be caused by a sand with too little strength or a pouring velocity that is too fast.

Scabs Scabs are a thin layer of metal that sits proud of the casting. They are easy to remove and always reveal a buckle underneath, which is an indentation in the casting surface

When doing the experiment, we realise that there is no bolts and nuts provided for our group, so the flask is no in tightly condition. We ask the members from our group to hold it tightly but this does not work much. As a result from this, the metal that we pour spread over the mold but it can be removed when we do surface finishing process. From theory, we should use 90% sand and 3% water to make the mold but there is no ways to measure it so we make assumption by pour the water to sand slowly and feel the sand whether it is damp enough or to dry. But the is excess water put in the sand make the sand is too damp. This make the sprue and risers were hard to remove after being put in the mold. Other than that there is error when we put the risers. We did not realise that the size of sprue is small at the top that the bottom because the size is cylinder and we thought that it is same from the bottom to top. So, we have problem to remove it. We have to open the flask back at

the middle and push the risers out. This cause come defect to our product as when we push the risers out, the mold also affected. The advantages and disadvantages of Sand Casting

Advantages Can produce very large parts Can form complex shapes Many material options Low tooling and equipment cost Scrap can be recycled Short lead time possible

Disadvantages Poor material strength High porosity possible Poor surface finish and tolerance Secondary machining often required Low production rate High labor cost

CONCLUSION
As a conclusion the sand casting process cand be used as a casting of metal but it has high production can be made but need longer time to produce the product. When making a mold, we should estimate accurately the sand and water portion so that the product after have better surface so the time for doing surface finishing will be less.

Instead of using sand casting, there are many ways to cast a metal. First, using shell molding. Shell molding is a casting process in which the mold is a thin shell of sand held together by thermosetting resin binder. The advantage of this process are smoother cavity surface permits easier flow of molten metal and better surface finish, good dimensional accuracy - machining often not required mold collapsibility minimizes cracks in casting and can be mechanized for mass production. The disadvantages are more expensive metal pattern and difficult to justify for small quantities. Second, vacuum molding that is sand mold held together by vacuum pressure rather than by a chemical binder. The advantages of this are easy recovery of the sand, since no binders, sand does not require mechanical reconditioning done when binders are used. The disadvantages are slow process and not ready available for mechanized.

REFERENCES
Manufacturing Engineering and Technology, Kalpajian Schmid, Prentice Hall, Pearson http://www.custompartnet.com/wu/SandCasting http://www.castwell-castings.com/Sand-Castings-232.html http://www.abymc.com/tmoranwms/Casting_Defects.html