From:A.P.

Dongrey

To:VRDE (The proposed lecture on foundry techniques)

Pattern: The quality of a casting is influenced by the material from which the pattern is
made, and by how well the pattern maker and the engineer who laid down the gating and risering did their jobs. Pattern quality is usually a compromise between economy and idealism. Patterns can be made from soft wood, hard wood, metal, plaster, plastics. Pattern taper and allowances for contraction, warping and machining also become necessary. The pattern maker uses a contraction scale while constructing the pattern. Pattern Colours: American Foundrymen Society adopts the following: (a) Surfaces (of the casting) to be left unfinished are painted black (b) Surfaces to be machined are painted red (c) Seats of and for loose pieces are red stripes on a yellow background (d) Core prints and seats for loose core prints are painted yellow (e) Stop offs are indicated by diagonal black stripes on a yellow base The pattern code is strictly followed by some foundries and not at all by others.

Preparation of Moulding sands: The oldest, and perhaps the simplest, method
of preparing sand for moulding is by hand shovel. This involves pouring a quantity of water over a heap of used or new sand and systematically working the moisture throughout the mass. Moderate sand mixers or mullers accomplish tempering and mixing together. After mixing the mixed sand can be wheeled wherever it is needed in the shop. To avoid contamination, core sands and moulding sand are usually mixed in separate mixers. Sodium silicate to the extent of 5% of sand (by weight) is mixed to make the CO2 sand. Due to its high hardness after setting, CO2 sand is used to make very big moulds. 4% linseed oil is suitably mixed with sand to make oil sand cores. The plates, on which these green cores are kept, are sent to core baking ovens to effect polymerization to render the requisite hardness and strength to these cores.

Moulding Operation and Core Setting: In making a simple mould, the

bottom board is first laid securely on the bench. The pattern is positioned, the flask is located properly, and the sand is sieved over the pattern with a riddle. The sand employed for this purpose will touch the metal; it is essentially fine and clean variety of sand, called facing sand. Used backing sand may then be shoveled into the flask over the facing sand and the whole rammed securely. Once the flask is rammed securely, a straightedge is drawn across the upper surface to remove excess sand. A second flat board is placed on the flask while the whole is overturned. The original bottom board, which is now on top is removed. This is Drag. Ingate may be cut as needed. The cope is removed from the drag and usually placed aside for any finishing operations required. Cores placed, moulds are closed and clamped.

MELTING OPERATIONS:

Open-hearth furnaces are desirable in large foundries requiring 10-200 tons of molten metal at one time. In smaller jobbing shops, electric arc

furnaces may prove best. Upto 1 ton alloys of different compositions, an induction furnace will give best all-round performance. 1] Initial Cost 2] Average Maintenance 3] Base cost of operations 4] Various fuel cost 5] Melting Speed 6] Degree of control 7] Composition and melting temperature of the metal determine choice of the furnace. Generally, cupolas are used for melting cast iron due to low cost and reasonably good metal control. For nonferrous metals, crucible furnaces with either furnace oil or coal as fuel are used for melting. Now-a-days spectrometers are available for quick chemical analysis of the bath. A small sample is drawn from the furnace and its analysis is displayed virtually within a minute by the spectrometer. Adequate additions can then be made in the metal bath and required metal can be tapped in the moulds. From furnace, metal may be poured in hand ladles, or bull ladles as the case may be. Simple lip pouring ladles or tea spout ladles may be used to pour metal in moulds. Argon purging may be done in the metal to remove dissolved gases from the metal before pouring the metal into moulds. Casting Defects: Casting defect occurs because some step in the manufacturing process is not properly controlled. 1] Surfaces of castings are sometimes rough because the moulding sand is too coarse, or the pouring temperature of the metal is too high. 2] Surface reactions sometimes cause subsurface porosity and pinholes. 3] Buckles and scabs, when present, usually appear in cope surfaces of castings. 4] Entrapped air, dross and slag inclusions are usually found in the cope surfaces of the castings. 5] Sand spots are caused by the metal washing particles from the runner systems to the mold walls. 6] Shrinkage results due to incorrect feeding. 7] Blowholes are the gas holes due to the gases not passing out effectively. After the casting comes out of the sand, it is shot blasted, fettled and shipped to the customer after complying to the requirements. The above steps describe foundry procedures in short. For specific castings, heat treatment may also be necessary. Steps mentioned above, however, have to be followed for all castings in general. A.P.Dongrey, B.Tech.(IIT) (Foundry Consultant) (0241)2421242 9423463642 ap_dongrey@sancharnet.in