MOLDING PROCESS AND

MATERIALS

Classification of casting processes

(1)

Sand casting

a) Green-sand molds

b) Dry-sand molds
c) Core-sand molds
d) Cement-bonded-sand molds
e) Loam molds
f) Shell molding
g) Pit and floor molding
h) All core molding

(2) Permanent-mold casting

(3) Die casting
(4) Centrifugal casting
(5) Plaster-mold casting
(6) Investment casting
(7) Slush casting
(8) Shot casting
(9) Special processes; graphite molds, ceramic
molds.

Categories of casting
Expendable molds:
Made of sand, plaster, ceramics and similar materials
which are generally mixed with various binders or
bonding agents,
The molds are broken up to remove the casting.

Permanent molds:
Used repeatedly and are
Designed in such a way that casting can be easily
removed and
The mold used for the next casting.

Composite Molds
Made of two or more different materials
(such as sand, graphite, and metal)
Combining the advantages of each
material.
Used to improve mold strength,
Cooling rates and
Overall economics of the process.

SAND CASTINGS
Silica sand (Si O2) is used universally for
making casting than any other molding
materials.
It is relatively cheap.
It has good refractoriness.
Bonding agent (usually clay) is mixed or occurs
naturally with the sand;
The mixture is moistened with water
To develop strength and plasticity of the clay and
to make the aggregate suitable for molding.

 The flask is a frame of steel, iron or wood

in which the mold is made.
The cope is the upper and the drag the
lower half of the mold; intermediate
sections, if used, are cheeks.
The rammer is provided with a peen and
butt end for ramming sand around the
edges of the flask and over the pattern
respectively.

 The pattern is the form around which

sand is rammed;
It may be one piece or split Construction,
depending upon size and configuration.
Bottom boards are flat plates of wood or
metal upon which patterns is laid before
ramming the drag.

 The mold cavity is the empty shape left in

sand when the pattern is removed and into
which metal is poured, or cast, to form the
casting.
The mold cavity normally not be left
completely empty;
A core of firmly baked sand may be used to
form the internal shape and dimensions of
the casting.

 Chaplets are metal objects for holding the core in

position against the washing and lifting effect of
molten metal.
Molten metal is introduced into the mold cavity
through the gating system,
A pouring cup or pouring basin is either placed
upon or
Formed into the upper cope surface, connecting to
the down gate, to receive the metal from the ladle .

Green-sand Molding
Molding is often done with green sand.
Green molding sand may be defined as a plastic
mixture of sand grains, clay, water and other
materials
Which can be used for molding and casting
processes.
The sand is called green because of the moisture
present and is thus distinguished from dry sand.

Steps in green sand molding

Preparation of the pattern
Making the mold
Core setting
Closing

Advantages
Greater flexibility as a production process.
Mechanical equipment can be utilized for
performing molding and its allied operations.
Furthermore, green sand can be reused many
times by reconditioning it with water, clay and
other materials.
Usually the most direct route from pattern to
mold ready for pouring is green-sand molding .

 Advantage: Green sand molding is ordinarily

the least costly method of molding

Disadvantages :Thin, long projections of

green sand in a mold cavity
Are washed away by the molten metal or may
not even be moldable.
Cooling fins on air cooled engine cylinder blocks
and heads are an example.
Greater strength is then required of the mold .
Certain metals and some castings develop
defects if poured into mold containing moisture.

Diadvantages
More intricate castings cannot be made
The dimensional accuracy and surface
finish of green-sand castings may not be
adequate.
Large castings require greater mold
strength and resistance to erosion than is
available in green sands.

BASIC STEPS IN MAKING A SAND MOLD

Preparation of the molding sand.
In making a simple mold, the bottom
board is first laid securely on the bench or
floor.
The pattern is positioned, the flask is
located properly, and the sand is sieved
over the pattern with a riddle.
The sand will touch the metal;
It is an especially fine and clean variety of
sand, called facing sand.

 Used backing sand may then be shoveled

into the flask over the facing, and
The whole rammed securely,
Using the peen around the edges and the
butt rammer over the pattern.

 Once the flask is rammed properly a

straightedge, or strike, is drawn across the
upper surface to remove excess sand;
A second flat board is placed upside down
on the mold and flask and clamped or held
in position while the whole is over-turned.
The original bottom board, which is now
on the top, is removed, and the drag half
of the mold is essentially finished.

 It will later be necessary to cut an ingate to

the mold cavity unless one is provided as
part of the pattern, as is the recommended
practice.
It may be necessary to tool the drag
somewhat, i.e., smooth the sand around
the pattern edges or otherwise shape it.

 Parting powder, a white powdery substance,

is dusted over the sand and pattern, and the
cope flask is positioned.
If patterns are provided with down gates ,
these are set in place, as are the patterns
for whatever risers are used.
Down gates are sometimes cut through the
cope with a cylindrical tube after the cope is
finished.

 A layer of facing sand is riddled over the

drag and pattern as before, and backing
sand is added and rammed solidly.
A steel bar is again used to strike off the
upper surface of the cope; sprue and riser
patterns are then drawn.
The cope is removed from the drag and
usually placed aside for any finishing
operations required.

 If split patterns are used one-half will be picked up with

the cope; so the cope is laid upside down on a spare
bottom board.
The patterns are then rapped slightly to loosen them
from the sand and are removed from cope and drag with
a draw spike;
Ingates are cut, the mold is patched as required,
Chaplets and cores are positioned, and mold is closed
by placing the cope again atop the drag.

 Small vent holes are made through the

sand to within a fraction of an inch of the
pattern to insure the escape of gases.
Clamps or weights are placed on the flask
to resist the tendency of the cope to float
or shift as molten metal fills the mold
cavity.

Desirable Mold Properties and

Characteristics
Strength - to maintain shape and resist erosion.
Permeability - to allow hot air and gases to pass
through voids in sand.
Thermal stability - to resist cracking on contact with
molten metal.
Collapsibility - ability to give way and allow casting to
shrink without cracking the casting.
Reusability - can sand from broken mold be reused to
make other molds?

Dry-sand Molds
These molds are made with molding sand
in green condition.
Has good dry strength.
Molding done the same way as greensand molding.
Refractory coating.

 The entire mold is dried in an oven at 300

to 650oF or by circulating heated air
through the mould.
The volume of gas formed when the
casting is poured is much less than with
green moulds.
Casting defects attributable to moisture
should be absent.

 The essential difference between dry sand

and green sand molding
The moisture in the mold sand is removed
prior to pouring the metal.
Dry sand molding is more applicable to
medium and large castings than to small
castings.

 The molds are stronger and more rigid than

green sand molds.
They can withstand more handling and resist the
static pressure of molten metal, which may
cause green sand molds to deform or swell.
In addition, they may be exposed to the
atmosphere for long periods of time without
detrimental effect.
Such exposure may be necessary for placing
and fitting a large number of cores .

Skin-dried Moulds
The effect of a dry-sand mould may be partially
obtained by drying the mould surface to some
depth, to 1 in.
Skin drying may be performed by torches, a
bank of radiant-heating lamps, or electrical
heating elements directed at the mould surface.
These moulds must be poured shortly after
drying so that moisture from the un-dried sand
will not penetrate the dried skin.

Floor and Pit Molding

Large intricate castings weighing from 1 to
over 100 tons.
The surface finish and dimensional accuracy
of these large castings in ferrous alloys is not
that of smaller ones, dimensional tolerances
of 1/16 to in.
being acceptable unless special experiences
permits closer control.

 The problems of mold construction,

handling, coring, gating, pouring and
cleaning of large castings require much
engineering efforts and control.
The terrific amount of labor, time, and
materials going into making a large
casting makes itcostly.

 When the molds are medium to large in

size, considerable heavy equipment, floor
space and time must be allocated to the
molding operation.
Floor molding is done on the floor of bays
of the foundry set aside for these heavy
molding jobs.
When the pattern being molded is too
large to be handled in flasks, the molding
is done in pits.

 Molding pits are concrete-lined box-shaped

holes in the molding floor.
The pattern is lowered into pit and molding
sand is tucked and rammed under the
pattern and up the side walls to the parting
surface.
The cope of the pit mold is finished off with
cores or with sand rammed in a cope flask.

Dry sand pit mold for stationary

diesel engine

 Such large molds are always dried.

Floor molding: When castings increase in
size, with resultant difficulty in handling,
The work is done on the foundry floor.
This type of molding is used for practically
all medium and large size castings.

 Pit molding: Extremely large castings are

frequently molded in a pit instead of a
flask.
The pit acts as the drag part of the flask
and a separate cope is used above it.
They sides of the pit are brick kind, and on
the bottom there.

Loam Molding
Loam is a molding sand containing about
50 per cent sand grains and 50 per cent
clay.
Loam molding was much used in the past
for making large bronze castings and is
still practiced in some shops,
particularly in making huge manganesebronze propellers.

Cont- In this method a substrate is made of

bricks, wood and other material to the
approximate contour of the casting.
A very viscous slurry of water, clay and
sand is daubed over the framework and
worked to proper shape with sweeps.
The mold is dried by forced hot air or
torches.

 No pattern is required, as sheet-steel

sweeps are so shaped that they generate
proper casting contour as the sweep arm is
moved back and forth over a fixed spindle.
Such sweeps are used occasionally in
making molds for large rolling-mill rolls
where ordinary molding sand is used
instead of a slurry.

 The chief advantages of this process are

savings in pattern cost and storage;
pattern storage alone is an important and
expensive item in most foundries.
Loam molding is slow and laborious, and
special molders are required;
All work must be done by hand as the
process is very much an art.

Cement-bonded-sand Molds
Cement-bonded molding sand is a mixture
of sand, 8 to 12 per cent high-earlystrength hydraulic cement, and 4 to 6 per
cent water.
This sand develops great hardness and
strength by the setting action of portland
cement.

 Core-sand or Core Molds (All-core Molding)

Some large castings are made entirely of
cores;
hundreds of large and small individual core
sections are fitted together in a pit
and finally rammed securely in position with
molding sand or pressed together with
suitable clamps.

 This method is chosen where design is

such that standard patterns could not be
drawn from regular molds.
In place of patterns, core boxes are used
for making all parts of the mold.
The cores are being fitted together to
make the mold, being located by
alignment bosses and holes.

 Core sands usually consist of mixtures of

sand grains and organic binders which
develop great strength after baking at 300 to
450 F.
The strength after baking makes it possible
to cast metal around thin sand projections
without having them break or erode
because of the hot metal action.
.

 The baking operation and the core-sand binders

plus difficulties in reusing the sand make the
process more costly.
However, this is usually justified in intricate
castings made in core-sand molds.
Core-sand molds are also sometimes made with
dry molding sands or cement-bonded sands
where the great strength and heat resistance of a
dry-sand mixture is required, as in large castings

 Shell Molding
Shell molding is a special form of sand
casting.
Skilled molders are not required, and
process can be highly mechanized.

 The sand used for shell molding consists

of a mixture of the following ingredients:
Dry sand grains, AFS fineness 90 to 140,
distributed over 4 to 5 screens. Sands for
shell molding are always washed and
graded for best results; fine sands can be
used, as permeability of the thin shell is
not a problem.

 2) Synthetic-resin binder, 3 to 10 per cent

by weight.
Resins which may be used are the phenol
formaldehydes, urea formaldehydes,
alkyds and polyesters.

 The resin must be a thermosetting plastic

since the strength developed by the mold
depends entirely on the strength of the
plastic binder after the mold has been
heated.
Dry powder and sand are mixed intimately
in a muller or other suitable device, or sand
may be purchased pre-coated with resin.

 ii) The shell, still on the pattern, can then

be cured by heating it to 550 to 650 F for 3
to 1 minute.
Stripping the shell from the mold presents
a problem since the shell is very strong and
grips the mold tightly. A mold release agent
or parting agent is necessary so that the
ejector pins can push the shell off the
patterns.

 Silicone parting solutions sprayed on the

pattern have been found satisfactory.
The shell halves may then be assembled
and poured.

 Advantages claimed for shell molding are

exceptionally good surface finish and
dimensional accuracy, 0.003 to 0.010 in.
per in. variation being obtained in some
castings.
Hence, the elimination of some machining
operations, decreased casting-weight
variation, and less cleaning cost are
thought to be available.

 Castings can be made of any metal/alloy.

Mold collapsibility usually avoids cracks in
casting.
Can be mechanized for mass production.
Disadvantages:
More expensive metal pattern.
Difficult to justify for small quantities.

 The extremely high temperatures of casting

and consequent mold attrition make
permanent molds unsuitable for most steel
castings.
The process is limited to volume production
and usually requires a continuous cycle of
mold preparation, pouring and casting
ejection.

 This is necessary so that all steps can be

timed and the mold thus kept within a fixed
operating-temperature range at the start of
the pour.
Operating temperature of the mold is one
of the most important factors in successful
permanent-mold casting.

PERMANENT MOLDS
Molds which can be reused are made of
metal, usually grey cast iron or steel,
though sometimes of bronze, graphite or
aluminum.
The mold cavity (or die cavity) in a
permanent mold is often cast to its rough
contour and then is machined to its finished
dimensions. The gating system as well as
mold cavities are machined.

 The machined mold makes it possible to

obtain very good surface finish and
dimensional accuracy in the castings.
Aluminum, magnesium, zinc, lead,
copper-base alloys and cast irons are the
principal alloys so cast

 Automatic machines have been developed to

obtain a continuous cycle.
Coating of mold cavity.
Carbon soot, deposited from an acetylene
torch, is used for iron castings.
Refractory suspensions.
Metal or sand cores may be set in the mold
before it is closed.

 The metal is usually fed into the mold only

by gravity (gravity casting), but in some
cases air pressure, 3 to 10 psi, is used on
the sprue after the casting is poured.

Figure: Permanent Mold

Casting

 The sequence of operations includes:

Cleaning the mold by brushing or blasting
with warm air, and maintaining them at
proper casting temperature by a gas or oil
flame; the correct operating temperature
can be determined only by experience and
varies with the casting;
.

 Painting or spraying the mold surface with a thin

refractory wash, or blacking it by depositing carbon
from a reducing gas or oil flame;
Inserting cores, if used, and closing the mold by
hand or by automatic action;
Pouring the metal from a hand ladle or a bull ladle
suspended on a movable track;
Allowing sufficient time for the casting to solidify; and
Ejecting the casting from the mold automatically or
by hand

Advantages
By means of permanent-mold casting,
dimensional tolerances of 0.010 in. on a
dimension for many castings together with good
surface finish can be obtained.
The chilling action of the mold produces better
metal properties in many alloys.
Holes can be cored and inserts cast into place
more accurately than is possible in sand molds.
Higher production rates than sand casting, but
much slower than die casting.

Limitations
The casting design must be simple
enough and with sufficient draft so that the
ejection from the mold is feasible.
Because of mold cost, the process is
limited to applications where the
advantages named result in an economic
or engineering gain in preference to sand
castings.

 Applications: carburetor bodies,

refrigeration castings, hydraulic-brake
cylinders, connecting rods, washingmachine gears and gear covers, oil pump
bodies, typewriter segments, vacuumpump cylinders, small crankshafts, many
others.

DIE CASTING
The molten metal is forced into the mold cavity
under high pressure, 1000 to 100,000 psi.
Two principal type of die-casting machines are
used.
The hot-chamber machine (gooseneck)
The cold-chamber machine

In submerged hot-chamber-type machine, molten

metal flows into the hot chamber since it is
submerged in the melt and is then forced into the die
cavity at about 1000 to 2000 psi. This machine is used
for casting Zn, Sn, Pb and other low melting alloys.

In gooseneck machine pressure may be applied

directly by metal plunger or by air. The gooseneck
may be filled by hand or it may be actuated by a cam
to alternatively dip into the metal and rotate into the
position against the die opening before pressure is
applied for the shot.

In the cold-chamber process , metal is

ladled into the shot chamber.

Pressure in the cold-chamber machine

may go as high as 30,000 psi.

This machine is used for die-casting Al,

Mg, Cu-base and other high-melting
alloys.

Die Casting in Hot-Chamber

Process

Die Casting in Cold-Chamber

Process


Advantages:
A production rate of 150 to 250 die-cast cycles per hour with up to 500
shots per hour possible.
High dimensional tolerances, 0.001 to 0.003inch.
Thin sections, down to 0.015 in. in small castings, can be cast because
of the pressure involved.
iv) Holes as small as 2 mm dia. may be cored.
v) May cast threads (up to 24 / inch).
vi) Accurate coring and casting of inserts is possible.
vii) Surface finish of many castings is such that they can be buffed
directly.
viii)
Rapid cooling rate produces high strength and quality in many
alloys.

Figure: Sequence of steps of operation of cold-chamber die-casting machine.

(a) The metal is ladled into the chamber, (b) the plunger forces the metal into
the die cavity, the die opens, (d) the casting together with the gate and slug of
excess metal is ejected from the die.

 INVESTMENT CASTING

* Lost-wax Process or Precision Casting or Lost Pattern

The term investment refers to a cloak or special covering apparel,
in this case a refractory mold, surrounding a refractory-covered wax
pattern.
In this process a wax pattern must be made for every casting and
gating system to be cast; i.e., 100 casting require 100 patterns.
The patterns are cast by injection molding.
The basic steps involved in investment casting are as bellow:
A master pattern and die for casting the wax pattern is made. The
die, usually a tin-bismuth alloy, must make allowance for shrinkage
of both wax and later the metal casting, about 0.011 to 0.015 in. per
in. total.

 Wax patterns and gating systems are produced from the metal die.
Wax employed are blends of beeswax, carnauba, ceresin,
Acrawax, paraffin and other resins usually obtained as proprietary
mixtures.

150 to 170 F and 500 to 1000 psi.

Polystyrene plastics ---- 300 to 600 F, 12,000 psi, iron or

steel dies.

Mercury may also be used in place of wax patterns but must be

frozen to retain the shape desired.

Patterns and gating system must be assembled if cast

separately. They can be joined by heating the surfaces to be
attached in the case of wax or moistening with a solvent, carbon
tetrachloride, in case of polystyrene patterns.

 (iii) Pre-coating: The wax assembly is dipped into a

slurry of a refractory coating material. A typical slurry
consists of 325-mesh silica flour suspended in waterethyl silicate solution of suitable viscosity to produce a
uniform coating after drying. After dipping the
assembly is allowed to dry for up to 10 hours.
Sometimes pre-coating is not used and the wax
pattern is directly invested in the molding material. In
this case, the molding mixture must be vacuumed to
remove air bubbles which may lodge next to the
pattern.

 (iv) The coated wax assembly is next invested in the mold.

This is done by inverting the wax assembly on a table,
surrounding it with a paper-lined steel flask, and pouring
the investment-molding mixture around the pattern. The
mold material settles by gravity and completely surrounds
the pattern as the work table is vibrated.

The molding investment is composed of silica or quartz

grains and binders. Two types of investments are used,
one for low-temperature metals cast below 2000 F and
others for metals with high pouring temperatures. The
molds are allowed to air-set for 6 to 8 hours.

 (v) Dewaxing and preheating: Wax is melted out of the

hardened mold by heating it in an inverted position at 200
to 300 F. The wax may be reclaimed and reused. Molds
with polystyrene patterns in them are preferably dried at
140 to 160 F. For burn out and preheating, the molds are
heated at the rate of 100 to 160 F per hour from 1600 to
1900 F for ferrous alloys or 1200 F for aluminum alloys.
The finishing temperature of preheating is controlled so
that the mold is at a temperature desirable for pouring the
particular alloy and casting design. Burnout and
preheating cycle must completely eliminate wax and gasforming material from the mold.

 (vi) Pouring: In case of ferrous castings the mold

is poured with metal from an individual small
melting furnace, arc type, holding the exact
weight required by the mold. When the metal is
at pouring temperature the furnace and mold are
inverted, transferring metal from the former to
the latter. Air pressure may then be applied to
the sprue to force-fill the mold cavity.
(vii) Cleaning operations follow cooling of the
casting.

 Advantages:
Casting high-pouring-temperature alloys to
accurate dimensions. Near net shape, excellent
surface finish, minimum machining.
Castings of great exterior and interior intricacy may
be cast.
Thin sections may be cast even, in the highpouring-temperature alloys, because of the heated
mold. Wires forms down to 0.002 in. in diameter
and 2 in. long have been cast.

 Disadvantages:
High tooling cost (recurring), and labor
cost.
Max. size usually about 5 Kg.
Production rate low (less than 100/hr).

Figure: Investment Casting

Investment Casting
One-piece mold
Dried in the air
Heated to 90 175 C
Held inverted for 12 hrs to melt out wax
The mold is then heated to 650 1150 C for about 4 hrs
depending on the metal to be cast to drive off the water
of crystallization
After the metal has been poured and solidified the mold
is broken up and the cast is removed
A number of patterns can be joined to make one mold
called a tree which increases production rate

 One-piece mold - cont

Small parts
The tree can be inserted on to a flask and filled with slurry investment
The investment is then placed into a chamber and evacuated to remove
air bubbles
Next it is placed in a vacuum drawing machine to produce fine detail

Not a cheap process

Produces fine details
Good surface finish
Few or no finishing operations
Can produce intricate parts from parts weighing 1g 35Kg
Ex : Investment die casting examples

Schematic illustration of
investment casting
1. WAX INJECTION :
Wax replicas of the
desired castings are
produced by injection
molding. These replicas
are called patterns.

3. SHELL BUILDING : The

shell is built by immersing the
assembly in a liquid ceramic
slurry and then into a bed of
extremely fine sand. Up to
eight layers may be applied
in this manner.

2. ASSEMBLY : The
patterns are attached to a
central wax stick, called a
sprue, to form a casting
cluster or assembly.

4. DEWAX : Once the

ceramic is dry, the wax is
melted out, creating a
negative impression of the
assembly within the shell.

 5. CONVENTIONAL CASTING
In the conventional process,
the shell is filled with molten
metal by gravity pouring. As
the metal cools, the parts and
gates, sprue and pouring cup
become one solid casting.
6. KNOCKOUT
When the metal has cooled
and solidified, the ceramic
shell is broken off by vibration
or water blasting.

7. CUT OFF
The parts are cut away from
the central sprue using a
high speed friction saw.
8. FINISHED CASTINGS
After minor finishing
operations, the metal
castings--identical to the
original wax patterns--are
ready for shipment to the
customer.

Figure: Schematic illustration of investment casting (lost-wax

process). Castings by this method can be made with very fine
detail and from a variety of metals.

 PLASTER MOLDS
Casting in plaster molds, or plaster-bonded molds, has
become a useful casting process.
Ag, Au, Mg, Cu,- and Al base alloys may be cast in plaster
molds, but ferrous alloys are not.
Plasters used for molding consist of mixtures of gypsum or
plaster of Paris, CaSO4.H2O, and ingredients such as
talc, asbestos fiber, silica flour, and others to control the
contraction characteristics of the mold and setting time.
The plaster is added to water and is mixed to a consistency
of 140 to 180.

 It is important that the plaster be added to water rather

than water to plaster, and that an optimum rate of mixing
be developed by experience for the particular mixer used;
very rapid mixing develops too much air in the slurry,
which adversely affects mold texture, and mixing too
slowly may permit the slurry to harden (set) prematurely.
Consistency is defined as the pounds of water per 100
pounds of plaster in the mixture.
Dry strength of the plaster depends greatly on the
consistency of the mix, as revealed in the table from R. F.
Dalton.

Dry compression strength,

psi

Consistency,
lb water per 100 lb mix

11,000

30

6,000

37

4,000

47

2,000

68

200

140 - 180

 After mixing, plaster in a creamy condition is poured over

the pattern and retained in a flask. A pattern parting,
stearic acid dissolved in petroleum spirits, for example,
may be used.
Generally metal patterns are necessary because the water
in plaster raises grains on wood patterns and makes them
almost impossible to draw.
Matchplate type patterns.
Copes and drags may be made simultaneously on
separate lines and dried in ovens held at 400 - 800 F (200
- 425 C) until all free and combined moisture is removed.

 Mold sections are very fragile and require care in

assembling.
After setting 20 to 30 minutes the pattern can be
blown off the mold by air.
Permeable (porous) casting plaster can be made by
beating air bubbles into the plaster slurry with a
mechanical mixer.
Setting of the plaster involves hydration of the
gypsum:

CaSO4 . H2O + 3/2 H2O = CaSO4.2H2O + heat

 After setting, the molds are dried at 400 F or higher. For

aluminum castings, 10 to 20 hrs at 400 F is suitable.
The plaster can partially dehydrated at higher drying
temperature, and consequently the mold evolves less
steam when the casting are poured. However, mold
strength is lost with dehydration.
It is obvious that the time required for curing plaster molds
is an undesirable part of this process. However, because
of dimensional accuracy and surface finish, many castings
such as rubber-tier molds, foam-rubber molds, cast
match plates, and the like are molded in this way.

 Antioch Process:
A mixture of sand, gypsum, asbestos, talc, sodium
silicate and water.
Sand is the bulk ingredient and gypsum the binder.
In proportions of 50 parts water to 100 parts dry
ingredients, water is added to dry material
consisting of 50 % silica sand, 40 % gypsum
cement, 8 % talc, and small amount of sodium
silicate, portland cement, and magnesium oxide.
Molding

 In about 7 minutes develops a set strength of about

70 psi in compression.
After standing about 6 hrs, the molds are
assembled and autoclaved in steam at about 2 atm
pressure.
Dry in air for about 12 hrs and finally in oven for 12
to 20 hrs at 450 F.
The autoclaving and drying process produces
permeability, about 25 to 50 AFS permeability.
Ready to pour.

 Advantages:
Non-ferrous castings having intricate and thin sections can be
made with good dimensional accuracy and excellent surface
finish.
Antioch Process ----- mold permeability and the ability to
incorporate chills in the mold
Chills cannot be used as readily in molds of ordinary metal
casting plaster since they tend to expand and crack the brittle
mold during baking.
** Plaster casting is suitable only for non-ferrous castings; the
sulphur of the gypsum reacts chemically with ferrous metals at
high temperature to give very bad casting surfaces.

CENTRIFUGAL CASTING
Centrifugal force is used to distribute the
molten metal in the mold.
Centrifugal casting falls into three
categories:

1. True centrifugal casting

2. Semi-centrifugal casting

3. Centrifuging

 True centrifugal casting: the mold is spun about its

own axis; no risers are required and no central core is
needed since centrifugal force forms the inner
diameter of castings such as pipe naturally.
Semi-centrifugal casting: the object, such as wheel
with spokes, is spun about its own axis, but risers and
cores are needed.
Centrifuged casting: the mold impressions are
grouped around a central downgate, as in static
casting, and centrifugal force is used mainly as a
mold-filling device.

 weighed amount of metal is poured

Mold coating ----- mold wash

Advantages:
Economical for making tubular objects.
No core is needed to form the bore.
Centrifugal pressures ---- force molten metal
quickly into mold to prevent premature freezing.

Centrifugal Casting Process

Figure: Schematic illustration of the

centrifugal casting process. Pipes,
cylinder liners, and similarly shaped
parts can be cast with this process.

Semicentrifugal Casting

Figure: (a) Schematic illustration of the semicentrifugal casting process. Wheels

with spokes can be cast by this process. (b) Schematic illustration of casting by
centrifuging. The molds are placed at the periphery of the machine, and the
molten metal is forced into the molds by centrifugal force.

SLUSH CASTING
Statuary work --- only the external features of
the casting are important.
No core required
Thin skin of the solid metal freezes against
the mold walls.
The mold is then inverted and the unfrozen
metal bled from the casting
It is used only for a limited amount of art and
decorative work.

SHOT CASTING
Metal shots --- made by dropping molten metal
from considerable heights into a pool of water.
The droplets become spherical in shape as they
fall freely through air and freeze in this form upon
striking the water.
Size of shot is regulated by type of metal, pouring
temperature, rate of exit of metal stream, distance
through which the droplets fall, and any air jet or
mechanical device used to disperse the stream as
it exits from the control nozzle.

GRAPHITE MOLDS
Non-ferrous alloys and cast irons.
Blocks of graphite may have mold cavities
machined into them.
Not as durable as metal.
Graphite begins to oxidize above 750 F
and the mold then begins to show wear.
Mold coating of ethyl silicate.

OTHER MOLD MATERIALS

Aluminum --- low temperature casting
alloys.
Silicon carbide --- chilling power much
greater than sand though not so great as
metal

Operation Sequence of Making

a Ceramic Mold