UNIT 1

LESSON 8

MANUFACTURING CONSIDERATIONS IN MACHINE DESIGN

It is not sufficient alone to design a product to meet the special requirements and
capable of being manufactured, but for economy a good designer should aim at the
lowest possible cost consistent with a design which is sound from the production
viewpoint.

Important Points to be Observed While Designing for Casting

As far as possible, the following rules should be observed to obtain sound and
economical product by casting:
In order to avoid the liquid shrinkage defects, the various members of the parts should
be shaped and sized such that their thickness increases gradually to one or more
locations where risers can be placed to supply the metal required Fig.1.6

Fig.1.6
It is also important that the various sections be designed as uniform in thickness as
possible.
Further all heavy sectioned parts should be so positioned that they are accessible for
feeding.
It is also important to note that the strength of grey cast iron varies with thickness,
and that the graphite separation is affected by the rate of cooling and the thickness of
the casting. It is therefore obvious that sections of different thickness in one and the
same casting will differ in strength owing to variations in the crystalline structure. It
implies, therefore, that the castings should be designed for maximum uniformity of
thickness throughout
Sharp angles and abrupt section changes should be avoided at adjoining sections. It
may be noted that free cooling of metal s always interrupted at the junction, creating a
hot spot and thus weakening it mechanically. Rounded corners have the advantage in
this respect. As sharp corners also weaken' the product due to stress concentration, all
the sharp angles should be filleted. When the thickness of flanges differs from that of
the body of the casting, the change in thickness should be gradual and tapered
I: 4 .5. It: may be remembered that too large a fillet is also no good as it introduces
shrinkage defect or causes weak metal structure. For good foundry design, R (the
radius of fillet) should be between t/3and t/2 (t=thickness of the section joined)
whereas from stress concentration point of view, R should vary between t and 2t.
Thus the prominence of the two factors will decide the radius of the, fillet to be used.

R=t/3 or t/2
Fig.1.7

Fig.1.8

For good casting design, the difference in the thickness of adjoining sections should
be as less as possible and should not preferably be more than 2: 1 which can be easily
filleted. If the difference is greater than 2: I, then either the design should be changed
to use the detachable parts, or a wedge form having 1: 4 taper in wall thickness may
be employed.

To avoid casting defects, all parts and sections should be designed to cool uniformly.
In this context, the greater mass at the junction point compared to the legs, such as in
case of L, T, Y, X sections should be avoided. . This can be done either by providing
hills to promote faster cooling at Junction, or by staggering cross-members or ribs.

Fig.1.9
 Fig.1.10
The Casting strains due to variation in cooling rates between its different parts should
be avoided. Fig. 1.9 shows the correct and incorrect practice of casting fly wheels.
It will be noted in Fig. 1.10 that the rim of the flywheel is much heavier than he
spokes and thus it will solidify last, and the spokes earlier. This restrained
contraction and cooling of the uneven sections leads the rim to be subjected to tension
strains and spokes and hub to compression forces. To avoid this, arms of sufficient
section [Fig. 1.9] having a cooling rate more nearly equal 10 that of the hub and rim
should be provided. Further to enable the arms to withstand stresses induced, these
should be made curved and not straight [Fig. 1.10] and should be odd in number.
Bosses, lugs and pads should be avoided. If at all these are essential, their thickness
should be less than the thickness of the casting section they adjoin but should be thick
enough to permit machining without touching the casting wall.

Fig.1.11
When there are several lugs and bosses on one surface, they should be joined, if
possible, to facilitate machining.
The walls of a casting should never run obliquely into 'the working surface, but -
should approach it as perpendicularly as possible since otherwise, dimension d will
alter in the course of machining.

Fig.1.12

As there is a striking difference between the compressive strength, the bending

strength, and the tensile strength of cast iron (about 4: 2: 1), the iron castings,
therefore, should be loaded mainly in compression, and the tensile and bending forces
must be eliminated/minimised.
As the curved sections are stronger than flat sections, the castings should, therefore,
as far as possible, be made of cylindrical, conical, and spherical surfaces.
In the design of castings, the effects of following properties of cast iron must be taken
into account:
(a) It has low elasticity, about half of steel. It is, therefore necessary to use
more metal to obtain high rigidity
(b) It should not be subjected to impact loads, as its elongation at fracture is
nearly zero.
(c) Strength of cast iron decreases to a marked extent above 4OO0 C partly
due to internal stresses set up because of big increase in volume and partly due to,
combined carbon decomposing into ferrite and graphite.
(d) Chilled cast iron, having high hardness (200 Brinell) can be used for
applications like crusher jaws, punches, drawing, dies, road rollers etc.
(e) The wear resistance of cast iron, which though dependent on the
crystalline structure is very good. It has also good sliding properties and can,
therefore, be used for bearings, pistons, slide valve etc. It may be noted that it is very
sensitive
(f) Though cast iron is not resistant to rusting in atmospheric moisture, it can
however be avoided by suitable surface treatment.