Advances in

Casting
Technology
Ken Youssefi Mechanical Engineering Dept., SJSU 1
 Fundamentals of Casting
Casting, one of the oldest manufacturing processes, dates
back to 4000 B.C. when copper arrowheads were made.
Casting processes basically involve the introduction of a
molten metal into a mold cavity, where upon solidification,
the metal takes on the shape of the mold cavity.
Simple and complicated shapes can be made from any
metal that can be melted.
Example of cast parts: frames, structural parts, machine
components, engine blocks, valves, pipes, statues,
ornamental artifacts..
Casting sizes range form few mm (teeth of a zipper) to
10 m (propellers of ocean liners).

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 Processes
Sand Die
Shell Centrifugal
Plaster Squeeze
Ceramic Continuous
Investment Vacuum
Lost foam
Pressure

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 Casting Processes
Preparing a mold cavity of the desired shape with
proper allowance for shrinkage, machining,
contraction etc.
Melting the metal with acceptable quality and temp.
Pouring the metal into the cavity and providing
means for the escape of air or gases.
Solidification process, must be properly designed
and controlled to avoid defects.
Mold removal.
Finishing, cleaning and inspection operations.
Any Special process eg. Machining, surface
hardening etc
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 Melting
Raw material (charge)
scrap, alloying materials
Atmosphere
Air (oxygen), vacuum, inert gas (argon)
Heating
External - electric, gas, oil
Internal - induction, mix fuel with charge
steel making in blast furnace -mix coke with iron
Furnace material
refractory ceramics

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Furnaces
Blast Furnace Basic Oxygen Furnace

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Furnace
Oxygen-Fuel, Oxygen Lance
Electric Arc Furnace Furnace

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 Furnace

Induction Furnace
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Sand Casting

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Sand Casting

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Sand Cast Parts

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 Precision Casting
Plaster Molding
Plaster of Paris (gypsum) is used as the mold material, other
components are added to improve the strength and reduce the
setting time. The pattern is dried at 225 oC and the two halves
are assembled and molten metal is poured into the cavity.
The process produces fine detail with good dimensional
accuracy and surface finish. Used to cast aluminum, zinc and
copper-based alloys (low-melting temp.)

Ceramic Molding
Similar to plaster molding, except it uses ceramic as a mold
which is suitable for high temp. applications. Mixture of
zircon (ZrSiO4), aluminum oxide (Al2O3), silica (SiO2) and
other bounding agents.

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Permanent Mold Casting

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Low Pressure Casting

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 Die Casting
Hot chamber, low-melting Cold chamber, high-melting
alloys; tin, zinc, lead. alloys; aluminum, copper.
Higher pressure needed

High production rates, good strength, good dimensional

accuracy and surface finish, and good quality parts.

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Die Casting Part Example

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 Investment Casting

Ken Youssefi Mechanical Engineering Dept., SJSU 17

 Centrifugal Casting
True centrifugal
casting

Centrifuging

Ken Youssefi Mechanical Engineering Dept., SJSU 18

 Squeeze Casting

Cast parts have good mechanical properties, good dimensional

accuracy, fine microstructure, good surface finish.

Ken Youssefi Mechanical Engineering Dept., SJSU 19

 Latest Trend in Moulding
Continuous mixer / with swing arm:
Keep continuous flow of prepared sand
facilitating moulding of big moulds
without interruption/Layers.
Highly consistent sand quality and
property.
Eliminates human intervention as all the
controls are sensors & PLC controlled.

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Continuous Sand Mixer

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 Latest Trend in Moulding
Mechanical sand reclamation
Sand is a natural raw material . Hence
conservation of sand is very important.
Mechanical reclamation is used for
chemical bonded sand where 70% sand can
be reused.
It reduces sand pollution in foundries

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Mechanical Sand Reclamation

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 Latest Trend in Moulding
Thermal sand reclamation
In Thermal reclamation, the property of the
reclaimed sand is equal/better than the fresh
sand.
It reclaims about 95% of used sand.

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 Latest Trend in Moulding
3D Printing of Moulds
This is most recent development where
highly complicated shapes can be moulded
with resin sand.
It works on principle of layer by layer
printing of sand according to the model
prepared in computer.
The mould can be directly used for pouring

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 Latest trend in Heat Treatment
Sealed Quench Furnaces:
These furnaces work on the principle of
Heating and quenching in oil in a sealed
reducing atmosphere (potentially Carbon)
so that the surface is hardened up to 60 HRc
with enrichment of Carbon while the core
part is through hardened .

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Sealed Quench Furnace

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 Latest trend in Heat Treatment
Vacuum Furnaces
A vacuum furnace is a type of furnace that
can heat materials to very high temperatures
( 1100 to 1500 deg C) and carry out
processes such as brazing, sintering
and heat treatment with high consistency
and low contamination.

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Latest Trend in Castings

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 Continuous casting ref AISI

Steel from the electric or basic oxygen furnace is tapped into a ladle and taken to
the continuous casting machine. The ladle is raised onto a turret that rotates the ladle
into the casting position above the tundish. Referring to Figure 2, liquid steel flows out
of the ladle (1) into the tundish (2), and then into a water-cooled copper mold (3).
Solidification begins in the mold, and continues through the First Zone (4) and Strand Guide (5).
In this configuration, the strand is straightened (6), torch-cut (8), then discharged (12)
for intermediate storage or hot charged for finished rolling.

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Vacuum Casting

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 3D Printing
of Investment cast tooling

Spread Powder Print Selected Area Lower Piston

Layer

Last Layer Printed Completed Parts

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Microcasting of droplets

CMU MIT

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Thank You

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