MET

Introduction to metal casting

&
melting and solidification of metals

Department of Engineering – University of Perugia

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Metal casting processes

Solid metal Melting (fusion) Underlying idea: liquids take the shape
of the containers they are in
Liquid metal

Pouring (gravity) or
injection (pressure)

Mould
Solid metal

Casting extraction Filling and solidification

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How does it work with metals?

Melting Solidification
Energy is used to increase temperature. Atoms As energy leaves the liquid and the temperature lowers,
vibrate more until the metallic bonds break and vibration decreases and the atoms begin reforming their
the crystalline structure is destroyed metallic bonds. The crystalline structure is reinstated with
atoms in their new positions.

solid liquid solid

While the metal is in liquid form, the atoms are
free to move with respect to each other and will
move obeying to gravity and imposed forces to
fill the container they are poured into (mould)

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Solidification of a pure metal

If you observe, using a microscope, a molten metal while it solidifies, this is what
you will see…
Interlocking
crystals touch each other and
Nucleation Coalescence interlock. the liquid disappears.
crystal seeds / nuclei crystals grow whilst Crystals are now called “grains”
all is liquid … are formed the liquid decreases
Liquid Liquid

Liquid

Solid Solid
Solid

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Final structure of a solidified, pure metal

In general, a pure metal in solid state will not be made

of a single crystal. Instead, it will be made of many
crystals interlocked with each other (aka grains) .

This is called polycrystalline structure of metals.

Example images taken using

a metallographic microscope
Note that the orientation of the unit cells
within each crystal is different, as it
depends on how each crystal seed formed
and coalesced

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Final structure of a solidified, pure metal

Special case!
There exist specialised cooling processes
where we can force the creation of a single
crystal by carefully controlling heat transfer.

The result is a monocrystalline metal, aka

single crystal metal, but it is a special case.

Superior mechanical properties, but much

more difficult to obtain (usually viable only for
small parts).

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Single vs polycrystalline turbine blades

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Solidification of a pure metal

temperature

nucleation
coalescence

interlocking

Tsolid The temperature remains

constant during solidification
(i.e., between nucleation and
liquid + interlocking)
liquid solid
solid

time
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Uniform solidification
This is a particular condition where:
- all the points of a liquid are at the same temperature T for each time instant t,
- temperature T decreases uniformly everywhere.

As a result, the phenomena of nucleation,

coalescence and interlocking will happen
simultaneously everywhere.
T T
If this realistic? Only if we are far T T
from the walls of the container … T T

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Directional solidification
Imagine that a hot liquid (metal)
has just been poured into a
container at ambient
temperature…
liquid here is in the middle of
the container. The liquid
cannot release a lot of heat,
In the figure, the left portion of because it is surrounded by
the cross-section of the Air Wall Liquid neighbouring liquid with
container is shown. You can similar temperatures
see the left wall and can
imagine there is another wall to
the right liquid here can release a lot
of heat to the wall, because
the wall is colder

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Directional solidification
1) Let’s assume that time = 0
when filling is complete,
The blue line represents
temperatures.
Tsol

2) all the liquid is equally hot

and above the solidification
air wall Liquid temperature (> Tsol)

3) the container and the

surrounding air are in
Tamb equilibrium at ambient
temperature Tamb.

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Directional solidification
4) After a few instants, the
liquid closer to the wall has
lost some heat and has cooled
Tsol down a bit. Instead, the liquid
far from the wall has remained
at the same initial temperature.

Air Wall Liquid 5) The air has remained at the

same temperature – there is
so much air that receiving heat
did not raise its temperature.

Tamb 6) Conversely, the wall may be

a little warmer, as the heat is
passing through
x

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Directional solidification
7) After some more time, parts
of the liquid have cooled down
below Tsol, and have become
Tsol solid.

8) Because the temperature is

lower closer to the wall, the
Air Wall Liquid solid has begun forming at the
wall, a solid front is now
proceeding inwards

Tamb Solid front

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Directional solidification
9) As time goes by, the solid
front keeps advancing
Tsol towards the middle of the
container

Air Wall Solid Liquid

Tamb Solid front

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Directional solidification

10) The velocity of the solid front

Tsol depends on the local temperature
gradient. The lesser the gradient,
the slower the front

Air Wall Solid Liquid 11) The faster the solid front, the
faster the cooling rate at that
location

12) In other words, the metal

Tamb Solid front cools much faster closer to the
wall

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Fast vs slow cooling rate

Fast cooling rate Slow cooling rate

Many nuclei Few nuclei

Not much room to coalesce A lot of room to coalesce

When solidification is
complete, many small When solidification is complete,
grains fewer larger grains

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Directional solidification

Solid

Air Wall Liquid

Small and symmetric grains Large and elongated grains far

close to the wall (because of fast from the wall (because of the
cooling rates) slow cooling rates). Elongation is
in the direction of heat transfer

x
Equiaxic structure Columnar structure
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Microstructure of pure metal after solidification

Non-homogeneous Different mechanical properties
structure in the outer and inner parts of the
(different grain shapes and solidified metal.
sizes)

Note: better to have small or large grains?

Isotropy
Inside the grain: strong atomic bonds (metallic bonds)
Between grains: mechanical interlocking between irregular
grain boundaries (weaker than atomic bonds)
Anisotropy Because they are weaker, grain boundaries act as stress
concentrators, this may be good or bad.
If the network of grain boundaries is large, it can help to
uniformly distribute an external load within the material.
However, because boundaries act as concentrators, they
may be where the material breaks first.

Answer? Depends on the application

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Can we change this microstructure?

Normally not. Because of how heat transfer works in
solidification, we are prepared to have small grains in the
external regions, and larger, elongated grains in the internal
regions.

Can we change anything?

- We can change the composition of the alloy by

introducing elements which favour the formation of uniform
grains.

- We can apply thermal treatments to the solid material,

designed to perform recrystallisation, and thus recreate more
uniform grains.

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Solidification of a binary alloy

Consider the hypothetical binary alloy made of elements A and B
The main difference with a pure metal is that temperature is not constant during state change.
Solidification starts at temperature Ts1 and ends at temperature Ts2.
temperatura
Liquid (A+B)
Liquid (A+B)
1) A and B are mixed in the liquid.
Solid (A+B) 2) A and B start to appear in solid state in the nuclei and then in
the coalescing grains.
3) The concentrations of A and B in the grains change as the
Ts1 grain coalesce. This is because A and B do not become solid
at the same temperatures. The concentration of A and B
Ts2 change also in the remaining liquid
Solid (A+B) 4) At interlocking, when the liquid disappears, the grain contain
the same concentration of A and B that was in the original
liquid.

tempo
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Directional solidification of binary alloy

Because solidification temperature is not constant, the solid front becomes a “mushy zone”
temperatura Interdendritic
Liquid (A+B) solid dendrites liquid
Liquid (A+B)

Solid (A+B)

Ts1
Ts2
Solid (A+B)
Air Wall Liquid
Mushy zone: not entirely
solid, not entirely liquid. In
tempo this zone, solid (dendrites)
and liquid (inter-dentritic
In this area there is only
T amb
solid (fully interlocked
liquid) co-exist.
grains).
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Types of dendritic structures

Mushy zone Mushy zone Mushy zone

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Dendrites are temporary…

Cast iron with high carbon
content. Note that the liquid
coexists with the dentrites for a
long time during cooling.

Steels with variable carbon

content. The higher the carbon,
the longer the liquid coexists with
the dendrites. Note also the
differences between a regular
sand mold (refractory) and a metal
mold (transfers heat more
efficiently - chill)

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Solidification of a binary alloy – final result

- Dendrites and interdendritic liquid have disappeared.

- Only fully interlocked grains remain.

- Similar to pure metals, we have small and symmetric

grains at the outer regions, and larger and elongated
grains in the central parts.

- If you see a central region with symmetric grains, it is

because far from the walls we are closer to uniform
cooling conditions. Central regions with symmetric grains
are more common in alloys than in pure metals

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Summary: typical solidification microstructures

i.e. further elements have been

added with the purpose to
promote the growth of
symmetric, uniform grains.

Pure metal Binary alloy Binary alloy with nucleating agents!

Department of Engineering – University of Perugia
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Summary
• How does metal casting work?
– Deconstruction and reconstruction of the crystals
• How does a pure metal solidify?
– Nucleation, coalescence, interlocking
– Polycrystals vs single crystals
– Uniform vs directional solidification
• Directional solidification of a pure metal
– Behaviour of the solid front, size and shape of the final grains
• Directional solidification of a binary alloy
– Behaviour of the solid front, mushy zone, dendrites and interdendritic liquid, size
and shape of the final grains
• Why are grains important for metal casting?

Department of Engineering – University of Perugia

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ENG-ITA dictionary
• Melting fusione
• Pouring colata
• Injection iniezione
• Mould (UK), mold (USA) forma
• Casting (i.e. result of the process) getto
• Casting (i.e. process) processo di fusione / processo di fonderia
• Nuclei / crystal seeds germi di cristallizzazione
• Coalescence coalescenza
• Interlocking interlocking!
• Equiaxic / columnar structures strutture equiassiche / colonnari
• dendrite (la) dendrite
• Interdendritic liquid liquido interdendritico
• Grain grano
• Mushy zone (literally “zona molliccia”), used term: “zona farinosa”
• Polycrystalline / single crystal metal metallo policristallino / monocristallino
• solid front fronte solido / fronte di solidificazione

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