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Materials Today: Proceedings 3 (2016) 3726–3733 www.materialstoday.com/proceedings

ICMRA 2016

Influence of process parameters on quality of Al7SiMg alloy casting

using statistical techniques
M. Viquar Mohiuddina,*, A. Krishnaiahb, S. Ferhathullah Hussainyc, P. Laxminarayanad
a
Muffakham Jah College of Engineering & Technology, Hyderabad, India
c
Muffakham Jah College of Engineering & Technology, Hyderabad, India
b,d
Osmania University, Hyderabad, India

Abstract

Manufacturing industry is considered to be the backbone of the economy of a country. As a result of globalization, there is a stiff
competition in the industry for producing quality products with reduced cost. The key element for achieving high quality and low
cost product is parameter design. Through parameter design, optimum level of process parameters are obtained and controlled to
improve the quality of both the process and the product. Sand mould casting process is considered to be the most unpredictable
manufacturing process as it is associated with huge number of inter-dependant process parameters. In this study Taguchi’s
method of design of experiments is applied to investigate the effect of process parameters on Al7SiMg alloy casting. The
influence of three types of sand mould viz. dry sand, sodium silicate sand and air set sand along with pouring temperature,
amount of degasser and holding time are studied. Experimental result revealed that amount of degasser is the most significant
factor for improving density and quality index in Al7SiMg alloy castings. Based on the experimental results recommendations
are made to help producing low cost quality castings.

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of International conference on materials research and applications-2016.

Keywords: Sand moulds; Al7SiMg alloy; Quality; Taguchi technique; ANOVA analysis.

1. Introduction

There are many of ways to define the quality of net shape castings, but the one most generally used was first
proposed by French foundry men, Drouzy et al. who noticed a linear relationship existing between ultimate tensile
strength and elongation to fracture and came up with the concept of quality index for better interpretation of
mechanical properties of Aluminium-Silicon alloy castings [1].
Al–Si alloys are the widely used cast aluminium alloys having broad range of applications, especially in the
transport field, due to their excellent cast-ability, corrosion resistance and high strength-to-weight ratio. In
particular, the automotive industry has taken a giant step forward in reducing the weight of cars by replacing cast

2214-7853 © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of International conference on materials research and applications-2016.
 M. Viquar Mohiuddin et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 3 (2016) 3726–3733 3727

and malleable iron automotive components with aluminium casting, for example cylinders heads, engines blocks,
pistons, brake callipers, and providing affordable improvements in fuel efficiency [2]. Hypoeutectic Al-Si-Mg
casting alloys are used in an extremely wide spectrum in different industrial domains, such as car manufacturing,
aerial, defence or military industries [3].
In the present competitive environment, it is most important to maintain the quality of castings and to aim at
products with zero defects. If the casting process is not being managed properly, the problems may intensify further
resulting in defects which leave the products weak and of low quality, thus, making them unfit for use. To overcome
the defects in castings, optimization of process parameters should be done and is required right from the stage of
selecting the sand to the removal of casting from the sand mould.
A number of automotive suppliers have achieved quality and cost improvement through Taguchi’s robust
design. These applications include improvement in metal casting, injection moulding of plastic parts, etc. [4].
Taguchi has introduced several statistical tools and concepts of quality improvement that depend heavily on the
statistical theory of experimental design [5].

2. Experimental Design

Based on the critical review of literature sand casting processes parameters, that influence the quality of
aluminium alloy castings, are grouped into following categories:
Moulding sand based variables: type of sand, grain size, grain shape, size distribution.
Mould based variables: type of mould, moisture content, binder content, number of strokes.
Gating based variables: casting design, gating & risering, pouring height, pouring time.
Melting based variables: pouring temperature, holding time, metal composition, degassing.

Fig.1. Cause and effect diagram of quality characteristics of sand mould castings

In order to identify the process parameters that affect the quality of the castings, an Ishikawa’s cause and effect
diagram was constructed [6] as shown in the Figure 1. To assess the quality of the final casting, four parameters -
pouring temperature, amount of degasser, holding time, and type of mould were selected keeping the other
parameters constant. The range or levels of processes parameters are decided on the basis of previous literature
available and tabulated as shown in the Table 1.
3728 M. Viquar Mohiuddin et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 3 (2016) 3726–3733

Table 1. Process parameters and their values at different levels

Process Parameters Designation Range Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
Pouring Temperature P.T. 690 – 750 690 720 750
Amount of Degasser AoD. 0.5 – 1.5 0.5% 1.0% 1.5%
Holding Time H.T. 2–6 2 4 6
Type of Mould ToM. 3 types S.S. D.S. A.S.
*Where S.S.- Sodium Silicate Sand Mould, D.S.- Dry Sand Mould, A.S.- Air-Set Sand Mould.

The objective of present study is to identify the most influencing process parameters of Al7%SiMg alloy sand
castings and to optimize them for improved Quality characteristics. Taguchi Design of Experiment is applied to
assess the influence of parameters using multiple performance characteristics [7], density and quality index. Taguchi
has introduced several statistical tools and concepts of quality improvement that depend heavily on the statistical
theory of experimental design. Taguchi’s philosophy is founded on the following three very simple and fundamental
concepts [8, 9]:

i. Quality should be designed into the product and not inspect into it.
ii. Quality is best achieved by minimizing the deviations from the target. The product or process should be so
designed that it is immune to controllable environmental variables.
iii. The cost of quality should be measured as a function of deviation from the standard and the losses should be
measured system-wide.

Taguchi recommends three stage processes in his off-line strategy of quality improvement: System design,
Parameter design and Tolerance design [9].
Based on four parameters each at three levels, the number of experiments required was 3 4= 81 under Full
Factorial Method. Using Taguchi’s Orthogonal Array Technique number of experiments is reduced to nine. These
nine experiments were conducted using L9 Orthogonal Array as shown in the Table 2.
To determine the influence of parameters on the response variables, the signal-to-noise ratio has to be calculated
for each experiment conducted. Taguchi defines it by three categories of quality characteristics: Smaller-the-better
(STB), Larger-the-better (LTB) and Nominal-the-best (NTB). For the present study Density and Quality Index are
selected as response variables, both comes under the category of LTB quality characteristics. The objective function
is to be maximized by using the S/N ratio as given in the equation (1). Where ‘n’ is trial number, ‘y’ is response and
‘i’ is experiment number.
1 n
1 
S / N  10 log10  y  (1)
 
2
n i 1 i

Table 2 Standard Orthogonal Array L9 (34) with response

Expt. run Parameters trail conditions
order
P.T.
1 1
2 1
3 1
4 2
5 2
6 2
7 3
8 3
9 3
Signal to
Responses
noise ratio
AoD H.T. ToM R1 (db)
1 1 1 Y1 S/N(1)
2 2 2 Y2 S/N(2)
3 3 3 Y3 S/N(3)
1 2 3 Y4 S/N(4)
2 3 1 Y5 S/N(5)
3 1 2 Y6 S/N(6)
1 3 2 Y7 S/N(7)
2 1 3 Y8 S/N(8)
3 2 1 Y9 S/N(9)
 M. Viquar Mohiuddin et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 3 (2016) 3726–3733 3729

3. Experimental Procedure

3.1 Preparation of sand moulds: Two solid square cross-section single piece wooden patterns of dimensions 30mm
x 30mm x 160mm are prepared to make mould cavities for pouring molten metal to produce test castings which are
later machined to prepare test specimens.

Three types of moulding sands are used prepare nine moulds:

3.1.1 Dry sand mould (D.S.): Is prepared using silica sand (SiO2), bentonite powder (binder) – 6% of sand, Water
(moisture) - 7% of sand and left to dry for 48 to 72 hours.

3.1.2 Air-set sand mould (A.S.): Is prepared using silica sand and fast curing chemical mixture in three parts. Part A
(alkyd resin binder)- 2% of sand, Part B (Accelerator) - 3 to 8% of Part A, and Part C (cross link agent) - 15 to 20%
of Part A. Required quantity of Part A & Part B are premixed, added to the sand and mulled for 2 to 4 minutes. Then
Part C is added and mulled again for 2 minutes and mould is made immediately.

3.1.3 Sodium-silicate sand mould (S.S.): Is prepared by a mixture of silica sand and 1.5 to 6% of sodium-silicate
solution (water-glass, or silica-gel) which acts as binder. The mould is prepared and hardened by blowing CO2 gas at
a pressure of 1.5 Kg/cm2 for few seconds.
Na2O (SiO2) + CO2 → Na2CO3 + SiO2 + Heat (2)

3.2 Preparation of test castings: Nine moulds are prepared as per the experimental design table; aluminium alloy is
melted in lift out crucible type coke fired pit furnace for pouring. After melting degassing is done using Hexa-
chloro-ethane (C2Cl6) tablets which are added to the molten metal which liberates chlorine gas to flush out the
dissolved hydrogen by creating partial pressure over the melt. To protect the molten charge from getting oxidized,
coveral-36 is used as a flux powder which covers the molten metal from atmospheric gases [10]. Thermocouples
with digital temperature indicator (DTI) are used to measure the temperature. All moulds are poured and allowed to
solidify. After solidification moulds are broken to get the castings.

3.3 Material composition: The chemical composition of aluminium alloy used for the purpose of preparing test
castings was known using Optical emission spectrometer using test reference ASTM E1251-07. The alloy
specification or grade was identified to be A356: LM25, its breakup is given in the Table 3.

Table 3. Chemical Composition of aluminium LM25 alloy

Elements Si Cu Mg Fe Zn Mn Sn Ti Pb Ni Al
% 7.42 0.005 0.568 0.22 0.019 0.003 0.002 0.007 0.012 0.001 Rem.

3.4 Tensile strength testing: The produced castings are machined on CNC machine to prepare test specimen as per
ASTM A370 standard - 12.5mm round tension test specimen with 50mm gauge length [11] and grip distance of
160mm, for measuring tensile strength and percentage elongation using Universal Testing Machine.

3.5 Density measurement: The density of the castings is determined by Archimedes principle (by weighing test samples
in air and in water) using the expression given in the equation (3). Where, m is density of casting (gm/cm3); w is
density of water (gm/cm3); Wm-a is weight of casting in air (gm); and W m-w is weight of casting in water (gm).
 W 
m   ma
  w (4)

 ma Wm w 
W

3.6 Quality Index: The quality of an aluminium alloy is considered to be one of the most critical factors controlling
the selection of an alloy for a specific casting application. Mechanical properties of cast aluminium alloys, such as
tensile strength, elongation and fatigue life, are affected to a great extent by initial melt quality and process design.
3730 M. Viquar Mohiuddin et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 3 (2016) 3726–3733

Therefore it is necessary to measure mechanical properties for quality assurance purposes. Most of the non-
destructive evaluation techniques are not sensitive enough to detect most serious defects and degrade mechanical
properties significantly.
Drouzy et al. in 1980 noticed a linear relationship between σ uts and log10(ef) and came up with the concept of
quality index for better interpretation of mechanical properties. This was the first Quality Index which was defined
using numerical values correlated to the mechanical properties of the alloy. The proposed quality index was
represented as given in the equation (5). Where Q is the quality index in MPa; σuts refers to the ultimate tensile
strength in MPa; ef is elongation to fracture in percentage; and k is a material constant. For A356 aluminum alloy k-
value is equivalent to 150 MPa. [1,12,13]
Q = σuts + k log (ef) (5)
4. Results and discussions

Two test samples are prepared for each experiment run order, and average value of samples are taken to
minimize the error. The results obtained are listed against each experiment run order as shown in the Table 4.

Table 4. Experimental design table and test results

Process Parameters Average test variables
Expt.
run order P.T. AoD. H.T. ToM. Wm-a Wm-w
σuts (MPa) ef (%)
(oC) (%) (min.) (gm) (gm)
1 690 0.5 2 S.S. 102.6 62.6 90.1215 5.02
2 690 1.0 4 D.S. 105 65.4 90.028 4.9
3 690 1.5 6 A.S. 104.7 64.6 56.163 3.08
4 720 0.5 4 A.S. 101.3 61.8 89.723 3.36
5 720 1.0 6 S.S. 104.9 64.9 84.047 3.5
6 720 1.5 2 D.S. 105 64.8 55.9515 3.25
7 750 0.5 6 D.S. 102.2 62.2 91.837 3.39
8 750 1.0 2 A.S. 104.3 64.6 90.453 4.8
9 750 1.5 4 S.S. 102.2 62.9 49.205 2.67

Using S/N ratio as given in the equation (1), the objective function is to be maximized. The response
variables obtained are presented in the table 5.

Table 5. Response variables raw data and S/N data

Expt. Density (m) Quality Index (QI)
run order Raw data (g/cc) S/N data (db) Raw data S/N data (db)
1 2.565 8.182 195.23 45.8108
2 2.651 8.468 193.56 45.7362
3 2.611 8.336 129.45 42.2417
4 2.564 8.178 168.67 44.5410
5 2.622 8.373 165.66 44.3842
6 2.612 8.339 132.73 42.4596
7 2.555 8.148 171.37 44.6785
8 2.627 8.389 192.64 45.6949
9 2.600 8.299 113.18 41.0755
Total 23.407 1462.48

Average S/N ratio for factor A at level 1 = S/NA,1 = (Y1+Y2+Y3) / 3

Similarly the average S/N values for each process parameter and each level are calculated for responses
density and quality index and tabulated as shown in the Table 6.
 M. Viquar Mohiuddin et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 3 (2016) 3726–3733 3731

From the S/N ratio response table, the response curves are drawn for density and quality index and
represented below in the Figure 2 and Figure 3 respectively.

Table 6. S/N ratio response table for density and quality index
Density Quality Index
LEVEL
P.T. AoD H.T. ToM P.T. AoD H.T. ToM
1 8.329 8.169 8.303 8.285 44.60 45.01 44.66 44.16
2 8.297 8.411 8.316 8.318 43.79 45.27 43.78 44.29
3 8.279 8.326 8.286 8.301 43.82 41.93 43.77 43.76
Range 0.050 0.242 0.030 0.033 0.80 3.35 0.89 0.53
Opt. level 1 2 2 2 1 2 1 2
Rank 2 1 4 3 3 1 2 4

Main Effects Plot for SN ratios for Density Main Effects Plot for SN ratios of Quality Index
P.T. AoD P.T. AoD
8.40 45
8.35
44
8.30
8.25 43
Mean of SN ratios

Mean of SN ratios

8.20
42
690 720 750 0.5 1.0 1.5 690 720 750 0.5 1.0 1.5
H.T. ToM H.T. ToM
8.40
45
8.35
8.30 44

8.25 43
8.20
42
2 4 6 S.S. D.S. A.S. 2 4 6 S.S. D.S. A.S.
Signal-to-noise: Larger is better Signal-to-noise: Larger is better

Fig. 2. Response curves for density Fig. 3. Response curves for quality index

In order to study the significance of process parameters for density and quality index, analysis of variance
(ANOVA) was performed. The pooled versions for ANOVA analysis for both density and quality index are given in
the Table 7 and Table 8, respectively.

Table 7. ANOVA for density

Source Pool S DOF Variance F-ratio S' P%
-3 -3 -3
P.T. - 0.3473x10 2 0.17365 x10 2.4458 0.2053x10 2.38
-3 -3 -3
AoD. - 7.9900x10 2 3.995x10 56.2684 7.848x10 91.04%
-3 -3
H.T. Yes 0.12333x10 2 0.061665x10 - - -
-3 -3
ToM. Yes 0.160666x10 2 0.80333x10 - - -
-3 -3 -3
Pooled error - 0.283996x10 4 0.070999x10 1.0000 0.56799x10 6.59
-3 -3
Total - 8.62129x10 8 - - 8.62129x10 100.01

Table 8. ANOVA for quality index

Source Pool S DOF Variance F-ratio S' P%
P.T. Yes 489.68 2 244.84 - - -
AoD. - 6333.19 2 3166.59 21.553 6039.35 80.71
H.T. - 561.21 2 280.60 1.910 267.37 3.57
ToM. Yes 98.01 2 49.00 - - -
Pooled error - 587.69 4 146.92 1.00 1175.37 15.71
Total - 7482.09 8 - - 7482.09 99.99
 3732 M. Viquar Mohiuddin et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 3 (2016) 3726–3733

It is clear from the ANOVA tables that Amount of degasser is the most important parameter affecting both
density and quality index of Al7SiMg alloy sand casting. The experiments conducted have shown that the selected
process parameters have significant influence on response variables. The optimum levels for process parameters are
pouring temperature of 690oC, amount of degasser is 1% of amount of metal used for melting and type of mould is
the dry sand mould. The Amount of Degasser is found to be the most influencing and the major contributing process
parameter among the selected parameters for improving both the density and quality index of aluminum alloy sand
casting. From the ANOVA analysis, it is also observed that the amount of degasser is contributing 91.4% and
80.71% for density and quality index respectively.

Degassing is done to flush out the absorbed hydrogen gas from the molten metal by creating partial pressure in
the metal [14]. Hexa-chloro-ethane (C2Cl6) tablets are added to the molten metal for the purpose of degassing.
Absorption of hydrogen gas in the molten aluminium is shown in the equation-6.
2 Al  3H 2O  Al2O3  6 H  (6)
The hydrogen gas thus liberated in the reaction occupies the interstitial spaces of metal leading to porosity if not
removed completely [15]. Equation-7 shows the chemical reaction that liberates stable chlorine gas, thus flushing
hydrogen from the molten metal [16].
C2Cl6  2C  3Cl2  (7)
Hence amount of degasser added to the melt plays an important role in removing the hydrogen gas. Any
increase or decrease in the amount of degasser leads to defect (porosity) formation which affects the density and
quality of the produced castings. From the study it is observed that the optimum amount of degasser used for
degassing of Al7SiMg alloy castings is 1% of the amount of metal used for melting. This leads to the production of
castings which are dense having good mechanical properties and high quality.

5. Conclusions

Quality has to be designed into castings and not to be inspected into it, good or bad is already there in casting,
and inspection does not improve the quality of cast product. Quality improvement has to be done by designing or
optimizing the process parameters. Taguchi method is best suitable for designing and optimizing the parameters for
sand mould castings process. On the basis of experiments conducted and analysis carried out in this study, it is
concluded that the application of Taguchi method in optimizing the parameters of sand mould casting process will
improve the quality of produce castings. Identifying the best level of process parameters and controlling the
significant factors leads to high quality product and reduced percentage rejections in foundries. Result of this study
opens more opportunities for further research. In the present work only tablet degassing method was considered, the
other degassing methods such as ultrasonic degassing, argon degassing, vacuum degassing, or rotary degassing can
be experimented for further studies.

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