Casting

“Net Shape” or “Near-Net Shape” Process Advantages:

• Product is ~finished right out of mold.
• High complexity with few steps (usually)
• No machining waste

General Casting Disadvantages:

• Expensive and time-consuming patterns/molds/dies
• Solidification issues: shrinkage, porosity, ~low strength, brittleness
• Some methods require many steps (e.g., Investment casting)

Expendable vs. Non-Expendable:

• Patterns
• Molds
Casting: Solidification

• Grains perpendicular to wall shut-off

other grains, so columnar structure
naturally develops perpendicular to mold
wall. Kalpakjian
• Grain boundaries tend to be weak 
columnar castings tend to be brittle (unless
loaded parallel to the column direction, as
in turbine blades).
• Equiaxed structure usually preferred for
strength, can be achieved with
innoculating agents and/or fast cool.

Kalpakjian
Casting Impurities
Slag/dross:
• Metal oxides that form brittle inclusions within casting
• Slag floats, so skim off top and/or pour from bottom of ladle

Porosity: trapped gas. Minimize by these methods:

• Design part and mold to minimize turbulence of molten metal as it enters mold
• Don’t overheat the molten metal (dissolves more gas)
• Melt in a vacuum ($$$)
• Melt in a protective atmosphere ($$)
• Use scavenging agents to collect gas bubbles
• Pour smoothly (sand casting, permanent mold casting, )
• Pressurize the “pour” (die casting)
Casting: Design Practices
• Draft angle (1-3 deg) is needed to allow
removal of pattern from mold (sand casting), or
removal of part from mold (e.g, die casting)
• Upon solidification, thicker sections tend to
form cavities inside unless fed by riser or
directionally solidified.
• Aim for the same wall thickness everywhere or
plan solidification direction carefully.
• Offset intersection of ribs to achieve uniform Kalpakjian
thickness.

Kalpakjian
Kalpakjian
Casting:
Directional Solidification

• Porosity and cavities form when melt

cannot reach solidifying/contracting
regions.
• Chills used to initiate local solidification Kalpakjian
and achieve directional solidification away
from the chill.
• Risers feed melt opposite to
solidification direction.

Schey
Sand Casting: Parts of a Sand Mold (expendable mold)
Key terms:
Flask, Cope, Drag, Sprue, Runner, Gate, Riser, Mold Cavity, Core, Parting Line,
Draft (not shown).

Kalpakjian
Casting: Riser Design

Chvorinov’s Rule
• Solidification time = B * (V/A)n
• B = mold constant
• n = 1.5 – 2.0
• V = volume of casting
• A = surface area of casting

Riser and mold cavity: Schey

• Want riser to supply molten metal to mold cavity as casting solidifies
• Riser must solidify after casting: T-riser = 1.25 * T-casting
• Mold constant is the same for riser and casting
Sand Casting: Patterns

DeGarmo
Shell-Molding Process

DeGarmo
Investment Casting
• aka “Lost-wax” casting
• Unlimited design freedom since
draft angles, cores, parting lines, etc.,
are ~irrelevant
• Accurate parts with good surfaces
• Many steps
• Patterns and molds are expendable
• Expensive

Kalpakjian
 Investment Casting a Turbine Rotor

Kalpakjian/Howmet Corp
Wax pattern Cut-away of Cut-away Finished
of turbine rotor ceramic mold showing turbine rotor,
applied over wax melted near-net shape
over wax pattern out of mold.
(Metal then
poured into mold.)
 Turbine Blade Casting

Kalpakjian
Directional Directional Single-crystal
solidification solidification
blade with a
for single-
crystal blade spiral attached
Single Crystal Silicon “Boule”

Directionally solidified from bottom

to top as a single crystal (no grain
boundaries anywhere).

Silicon wafers cut from the boule,

made into semiconductor devices
(microchips, solar cells, etc.)

Kalpakjian
Permanent Mold Casting
• No pattern is needed, saving time and cost
• Mold is machined directly out of cast-iron (adding time and cost)
• Mold complexity is limited, 2-3 deg draft angles needed
• Molten metal is gravity fed into mold
• Good dimensional accuracy and surface finish
• Castings cool quickly so strength tends to be good
• Molds last 10,000 – 100,000 parts if casting a soft metal (aluminum, zinc)
• Special graphite molds ($$) may be made for casting steel parts (unusual)

www.aurorametals.com

www.offshoresolutions.com
Permanent Mold Casting: Aluminum piston

Risers

As cast After machining

Kalpakjian
Die Casting
• Molten metal is injected under pressure (2000-30000psi) into mold
• Mold machined from tool steel ($$$ and time)
• Molds last ~100,000 parts
• Difficult to modify once made
• Very accurate dimensions, excellent surface finish, intricate details
• Aluminum and zinc most commonly cast (steel would erode mold)
• Aluminum melts at ~1050F, Zinc at ~700F
• Both are ~brittle when diecast
• Part size is limited by injection cylinder size (20 lb max) and clamping force (P*A)
• No risers needed (hi-pressure runners feed metal)
• Slides/cores used to make holes parallel to parting line
• Air is vented along parting line, but porosity is often a problem
• Very fast production rates possible, fastest of any casting method
• Expensive dies/molds and machines: only suitable for mass production
Die Casting Advantages
• High volume at high speed
• Duplicates intricate design details
• No pattern
• Long mold life: ~100,000 cycles
www.incastinc.com

www.aluminum.org
www.kurt.com
Die Casting Limitations
• Complex and large machinery: expensive
• Molds (dies) machined from hardened tool steel: expensive
• Molds cannot take extreme heat so “melt” limited to low-melting point
alloys: zinc, copper, aluminum, and zinc-aluminum alloys.
• Effects of high pressure  limited part size

samkwangprecision.en.ec21.com

www.atplonline.com
Die Casting:
Hot-Chamber
Process:
zinc alloys

Kalpakjian
Die Casting: Cold-Chamber Process: aluminum alloys

Kalpakjian
 Toggle mechanism
- Separating force = Pressure * Area = 400 to 4000 tons (800,000 – 8,000,000 lb)
- As in Vise-grip, toggle multiplies clamp force many times. Double Toggle.
- Keeps die-halves from separating, minimizing “flash”

(a)

Kalpakjian

NADCA
Die (Mold) Design
- alignment pins
- “slides” make holes perpendicular
to die-separation direction.

www.toolingtec.com

www.toolingtec.com

www.toolingtec.com
Die Casting:
part and runners

NADCA
Porosity in Castings

- Turbulent injection entraps air

- Many solutions but still a common problem

NADCA

www.vidisco.com www.eng.ysu.edu
Explosion Risk
Water trapped under hot metal 
Water expands to steam (1500x volume) 
Explosion and spray out of the furnace 
Possible secondary explosion
Avoid water near a casting operation

NADCA
Costs Comparison for Different Casting Processes

Kalpakjian
References

DeGarmo: E.P. DeGarmo et al, Materials and Processes in Manufacturing, Wiley, 2003.
Schey: J.A. Schey, Introduction to Manufacturing Processes, McGraw-Hill, 2000.
Kalpakjian: http://www.nd.edu/~manufact/index3.htm
NADCA: North American Die Casting Association Introduction to Die Casting CD