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Title: Sand casting laboratory Objectives: (1) To learn and be more familiar with some basic casting methods. (2) To produce parts by using oil based sand casting method. (3) Examine sources of faults and defects in the process.

Materials and equipment: Oil based sand Molten aluminium Hand rammer Pin Sifter Furnace Molding board Pattern Strike off board Crucible handling tool Drag Cope

Introduction: Sand casting is a process used to create permanent molds. Sand is used as a mold material because it is able to reproduce the desired detail of the object and it also has the ability not to contaminate the molten material . Also sand casting is very economical compared to metal casting. There are six basic requirements to the casting process:

Mold Cavity Melting Process Pouring Technique Solidification Process Removal Process Cleaning and finishing Process

Casting Terminology There is some terminology that is common to the casting process. The casting process starts with the construction of a pattern. In our lab the pattern was a part given to us. The sand in this lab was our molding material. This was packed around our pattern. The flask is the box that contains the molding. In a two-part mold the cope is the name given to the top half of the pattern and the drag is the term given to the bottom half. The mold material and the core together form the mold cavity. A riser is a hole or void created in the mold that will also fill with molten metal. And the sprue is what the metal travels down to get to the mold. Along with a sprue and riser a gating system is need to help deliver the molten metal to the mold cavity. The term casting is used to describe both the process of the molten metal being poured along with the solidification process. Safety Guidelines All labs require all participants to remember that safety comes first. There are many safety factors that need to be addressed in sand casting. But the most important safety factors occur during the pouring process. Sand casting is a very dirty process, all participants were required to were a lab coat or apron to prevent clothes from being embedded with sand. Because we had a gas furnace proper ventilation was necessary in this lab. When pouring the molten metal it was necessary for participants to wear safety equipment. This equipment included gloves, apron, face shield, leg protectors and arm protectors. Design Approach The most important factor in our design approach was time. Another than that, we had to figure out before we started the casting process was how we were going to remove our part from the mold. We had a part with a hole in the middle. Another factor in the design approach was the placement of our pattern. We placed our pattern in the center and placed the sprue and rise diagonally across from one another. This gave us plenty of room to ram the sand.

Procedure : Mold Creation 1) The cope from the drag is separated and place on the pattern board. 2) The pattern is glued to the pattern board. 3) Litle parting dust are sprinkled using a brush onto the pattern. Do not brush the dust onto the pattern; rather, collect some dust on the brush and shake it lightly above the pattern. 4) The pattern is covered with a shallow layer of sand first and pack it tightly around the pattern. Use hands for this first portion so that we can feel that the sand is packed tightly. 5) Once the initial layer is packed, then continue to add sand. The rammer is used to make sure it is packed tightly all the way to the edges of the flask. A special care is took to ensure that there are no voids in the flask. These may cause the mold to sink, move, or fall out completely. 6) The entire cope is filled and strike off the top so that it is perfectly level. Again, do not to leave any voids. 7) The cope is carefully removed from the pattern board and placed upsidedown on a flat surface. . 8) The runner is carved into the bottom of the cope to connect to the sprue and the pattern. Try not to disturb the pattern when doing this and widen the sprue opening in the top of the cope. 9) The drag is placed on the board that has no pattern and packed tightly with sand just as making the cope. 10) When both the cope and the drag are packed, it was ready for pouring the aluminium molten.

Pouring Note: The two people that will be working with the Al during melting and pouring must be wearing the proper safety equipment. This includes a facemask, goggles, coat, apron, gloves, and leggings. Make sure that you are completely covered.

1) Aluminium bars is placed in crucible, and the crucible is placed in the furnace. This takes a while for the furnace to melt the aluminum.

2) The lid is removed when the temperature has risen to the appropriate level (the metal should be at ~1400 F when you pour; the melting point of aluminum is approximately 1220 F). Dross and impurities will rise to the top. The skimmer is used to removed them. 3) The two people who are wearing the appropriate gear removed the crucible from the furnace using the bent handle crucible tongs. The crucible in the furnace is lifted and shaked it lightly to ensure that the crucible is gripped tightly. The crucible is placed into the pourer and clamp it in place. 4) Quickly, the molten aluminum then is poured into the sprue openings. Overflow is being carefully cared.

Post-processing 1) After the aluminum has cooled for about 10 minutes, the cope and drag are saperated over the sand. It was keep in mind that the metal will not yet be completely cool. Gloves is used to empty the flask and tongs to pick up the piece. 2) Any sand is salvage as it has not been burned and return to bucket. When the part is cool and able to be touch, band saw is used to cut the piece from the excess metal. Protective eye gear is wear when using the band saw.

Figure 1: Upper part of pattern.

Figure 2 : Lower part of pattern.

Discussion : After the completion of the lab, we compared the results with that of the piece that we were trying to duplicate. At first we only noticed minor deviations from the original piece, however, once the piece was completely dried and the oxides were rinsed from the surface we noticed a number of defects. Our defects included porosity, shrinkage, hot tears, oxide scale, sand blows, human error, and flash.

Porosity occurs because of shrinkage and/or gases. We could only locate the porous regions on the surface of the casted part. However, if there were porous regions on the surface then, there was also some internal porosity that was not visible to the naked eye. Most of the shrinkage took place during the cooling because of the contraction of the metal when moving from liquid to solid state.

A crack was noticed on the back of our part which we later identified as a hot tear. This hot tear could have occurred because of a number of reasons like: shrinkage, grain size, impurities in the ingots, or grain boundaries. We made only minor corrections to our casted piece. This is because we did not want to mess up the finished product. We wanted to be able to identify the deformities and compare our piece with the original part. As part of our corrections, we filed any flash and scars off of the surface of our piece.

Conclusion : Although we originally thought that sand casting was an easy process, we learned that each step in that process was crucial to the final design and output. Through research, we gained knowledge about the various types of castings, deformities and defects, molten metals, and designs. Appropriately, this knowledge helped us to realize that there are many factors involved in the preparation in any casting process.