Chapter(3)

Hard Mold Casting Processes

 Casting in sand molds as described in Chapter(2) gives
sufficient results at lowest cost in many cases.

 Other casting processes that produce more uniformly, more

precisely, or at lower costs in some cases will be described in
this chapter.

 Where metal molds are not adequate, precision casting is

done in plaster and ceramic molds.
Metal mold casting processes
Processes that use metal molds are permanent mold
and die casting. Centrifugal casting is often done with
metal molds.
Casting in metal molds is confined practically to
metals with low to moderate melting temperature.
Some casting of iron and steel (high melting
temperature) is done in refractory metal molds.
Permanent mold casting
When fluid metal is poured into metal molds and
subjected only to hydrostatic pressure, the process is
called permanent mold casting.
The mold separates into two or more pieces to release
the casting when solidified and is held together during
the operation by C-clamps, screws, toggles, or other
mechanisms.
Metals commonly cast in this way are lead, zinc
aluminum, and magnesium alloy certain bronzes, and
cast iron.
Typical products are refrigerator compressor cylinder
blocks, heads, and connecting rods, flat iron sole
plates, washing machine gear blanks of cast iron and
automotive pistons and cylinder heads, kitchenware
and typewriter parts of aluminum.
Most permanent molds are made of a close-grain
alloy cast iron such as Mechanize; that is resistant to
heat and repeated changes in temperature.
Sometimes bronze molds are used for lead, tin and
zinc, and wrought allow steel molds are used for
bronzes.
Cores are usually made of alloy steel.
Mold life may run from 3000 to 10000 iron castings
to as many as 100000 pieces of softer metal.
Permanent mold casting is often done manually but is
readily adaptable to mechanization.
A machine generally transfers the molds through
several stations for ejection of castings, cleaning and
coating the mold, placing of cores, locking, pouring,
cooling and unlocking.
Some or all of the functions may be performed
automatically as needed.
 Low pressure mold casting
Molten metal is forced by gas pressure upward
through a stalk to fill a mold.
The metal cools inwardly in the mold to the stalk and
freezes while the pressure is held.
Then the pressure is released and the still molten
metal in the stalk return to the pot.
The process is used mostly to cast aluminum in
plaster, cast iron and steel molds .
Low pressure casting is at a stage between
hydrostatic casting and high pressure die casting.
It gives moderately thin sections and intermediate
accuracy and surface finish, density .
Equipment & die costs and production rates are in
the middle range.
A form of low pressure casting is called vacuum
casting because the metal is pushed upward from the
pot by atmosphere pressure as vacuum is drawn
through the mold.
Figure: A diagram of low pressure casting
Slush casting
Molten metal is poured into a metal mold.
After the skin has frozen, the mold is turned upside
down or slung to remove the still liquid metal.
The thin shell that is left is called a slush casting.
Toys and ornaments are made in this way from zinc,
lead, or tin alloys.
Die casting
Molten metal is forced under considerable pressure into a
steel mold or die in the die-casting process.
The molten metal is shot through a runner and gate of fill the
die. Vents and overflow wells are provided for escape of air.
The metal is pressed into all the crevices of die and the
pressure is held while the metal freezes to unsure density.
Many dies are water cooled to hasten freezing.
After the metal has solidfied, the die is pulled open, and the
part is ejected by pins actuated by a mechanism in the
manner.
Metals and their allow that are die cast , in the order of their
importance, zinc, aluminum, copper, lead and tin.
 Zinc allow are popular because they have good strength and
ductility and great resistance to shock at normal temperature.
 Aluminum offers a high strength to weight ratio, stability,
service at a wide range of operating temperature, and good
resistance to corrosion in die castings.
 Magnesium allows are light and fairly corrosion resistant but
are badly attacked by humid tropical climate and sea water.
 Brass allows have the most strength and wear and corrosion
resistance but are not often die cast because their high melting
point is damaging to dies.
 Die casting is mainly found in the high-production industries.
 Die cast parts are found in household appliances, business
machines, bathroom hardware, outboard hardware, outboard
motors, clocks, and tools
Die casting machines
The two basic types of die casting machines are the hot
chamber and the cold chamber machines.
The hot chamber machines may be plunger or air injection
operated.

Plunger hot chamber die casting machine

A typical gooseneck plunger operated hot chamber die-
casting machine for zinc and other low melting point alloys.
The gooseneck contains a cylinder and curved passageways
immersed in a pot of molten metal.
When the die is closed, an air cylinder depresses the plunger
and forces the metal through the gooseneck,
nozzle and die passage into the die cavity.
Machines like this are more or less automatics and fast
and produce from 100 to 800 parts / hr. Zinc allow can
be injected satisfactorily at 1500 psi and more than
2000 psi is rarely found necessary.

Plunger hot chamber die casting machine

 Air injection die casting machine
An air injection die- casting machine has a gooseneck
that is lowered into the molten aluminum to receive a
charge when needed. It is then raised and connects to
an air line, which supplies the pressure to inject the
metal into the die.

Air injection die casting machine

 Cold chamber die casting machine
The metal needed for each shot is ladled from a
separate furnace or pot into a cold chamber machine as
indicated in Figure.
A plunger is driven by an air or hydraulic cylinder to force the
change into the die. Pressures are from 3000 to 8000 psi for
aluminum and from there up to 35000 psi for copper alloys.
Average production rates are 175 parts/hr for aluminum alloys,
250 to 300 for magnesium alloys and copper base alloys.
The casting is cooled from its extremity to the gate. When a
skin is frozen, a small inner plunger in charging cylinder is
pushed forward to raise the pressure in the still molten metal to
5000 to 15000 psi.
Cold chamber die casting machine
Centrifugal casting
Centrifugal casting is done pouring molten metal into
a revolving mold.
Centrifugal force creates pressure far in excess of
gravity to cram the metal into the mold.
Centrifugal casting produces good quality and
accurate castings, drives off impurities, and saves
material.
The castings are dense and have a fine-grained
structure with uniform and high physical properties
and are less subject to directional variations than static
castings.
Metal flows readily into thin sections, and castings come
out with fine outside surface detail.
Gases and impurities are squeezed out, particularly near
be periphery.
All the common metals may be centrifugally cast in
either refractory or metal molds.
One method is to introduce a ceramic slurry into the
rotating flask and centrifuge it into a compact lining
before the metal is poured.
Rotation about a vertical axis is fast and easy to do . The
hole inside the fluid metal rotated in that the fluid metal
rotated in that way becomes shape like paraboloid, small
at the bottom.
The centrifugal casting in which a piece is rotated
about an axis is best suited for ring or tube shape
piece with straight walls.
The outside surface may be round ,square,
hexagonal.etc. and should be concentric with the
hole.
Round holes may be formed without cores and that
may be formed without cores, and that may save
appreciable expense for large holes, but holes of
other shapes need to cored.
Centrifugal castings without holes, like the track
wheel in fig3.3 are apt to be porous and weak and
contains inclusions at their centers. In the case
shown a hole is later drilled and bored through the
center of each part.
Parts not symmetrical about any axis of rotation
may be cast in a group of molds arranged in a circle
to balance each other. The set-up is revolved around
the center of the circle to induce pressure in the
molds. This is called centrifuge casting.
Plaster Mold Casting
Disposable or semi permanent plaster molds or
cores for metals molds are from plaster of
Paris(gypsum) with added talc , silica flour, asbestos
fiber, and substance to control setting time and
expansion.
A slurry is poured over a pattern allowed to harden.
The mold is dried to remove water and prevent the
formation of slag upon exposure to hot metal.
Plaster cores are being assembled into a metal mold
in torque conventer casting
The method reputed to give the most porosity is to
add the plaster slurry to an agent that is first beated
to a foam. The mold is dried below 400’F.
Metal commonly cast in plaster molds are yellow
brass, manganese and aluminum ,bronzes,
aluminum, magnesium, and their alloys.
Typical products are aircraft parts, plumbing fixture
fittings, aluminum piston, locks, propellers,
ornaments, and tire and plastic molds.
Plaster molds have low heat conductivity and
provide slow and uniform cooling.
Most commercial plaster mold castings weight from a
few ounces to around 20 lb, but some have weighed
over 100 lb.
Plaster mold casting can give more accuracy,
smoother surfaces, and more faithful reproduction of
detail than sand casting but is more expensive.
In some case, it is the means of eliminating
machining or finishing operations required for sand
casting.
Under some conditions plaster mold casting is
preferable to metal mold casting in many cases not.
Plaster mold casting is of particular advantage for
the nonferrous metals that melt at higher
temperatures and are hard on metal molds.
This explain why metal molds cores, which are even
more exposed to heat than the molds are often made
of plaster.