Gating System and Design: Ume 505: Manufacturing Technology

26-07-2020
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UME 505: MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
GATING SYSTEM AND

DESIGN
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Elements of a Gating System

Pouring Basin
Pouring Basin
Pouring-basin proportions
Sprue
Sprue designs: (a) Straight (b) Tapered

Sprue Base Well

A general guideline is that the sprue-
base-well area should be five times
that of the sprue choke area, and the
well depth should be equal to that of
the runner. For a narrow and deep
runner, the well diameter should be
2.5 times the width of the runner in a
two-runner system, and twice its
width in a one-runner system.
Runner
• It is generally located in the parting plane, which connects the sprue to its in-
gates, thus allowing the metal to enter the mould cavity.
• The runners are normally made trapezoidal in cross section.
• It is a general practice for ferrous metals to cut the runners in the cope and the
in-gates in the drag.
• The main reason for this is to trap the slag and dross, which are lighter and
thus trapped in the upper portion of the runners. For effective trapping of the
slag, runners should flow full.
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In-gates
Top gate Bottom gate Step Gate

Riser
• Most foundry alloys shrink during solidification. As a result of this volumetric
shrinkage during solidification, voids are likely to form in the castings.
• A reservoir of molten metal is to be maintained from which the metal can flow
readily into the casting when the need arises. These reservoirs are called
risers.
• The risers should be designed keeping the following in mind that the metal in
the riser should solidify in the end and riser volume should be sufficient for
compensating the shrinkage in the casting.
• The risers are normally top risers or blind risers or internal risers.
Gating Design
• The liquid metal that runs through the various channels in the mould
obeys Bernoulli’s theorem, which states that the total energy head
remains constant at any section.
• The same stated in the equation form ignoring frictional losses is,
where h = potential head, m; P = pressure, Pa; V = liquid velocity, m/s; w =

specific weight of liquid, N/m3; g = gravitational constant on Earth, 9.81
m/s2
• Though quantitatively Bernoulli’s theorem may not be applied, it helps to
understand the metal flow in the sand mould qualitatively.
• As the metal enters the pouring basin, it has the highest potential energy
with no kinetic or pressure energies.
• But as the metal moves through the gating system, a loss of energy occurs
because of the friction between the molten metal and the mould walls.
• Also, heat is continuously lost through the mould material though it is not
represented in the Bernoulli’s equation. This lets the casting solidify.
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• Another law of fluid mechanics, which is useful in understanding the

gating-system behavior, is the law of continuity.
• It says that the volume of metal flowing at any section in the mould is
constant. The same in equation form can be
where Q = rate of flow, m3/s; A = area of cross section, m2; V = velocity of

metal flow, m/s
• It was suggested earlier that sprues are tapered to reduce the aspiration of
air due to the increased velocity as the metal flows down the sprue.
• This conclusion was drawn by applying the above equation of continuity
along with Bernoulli’s equation.
Pouring Time
• One of the objectives for the gating-system design is to fill the mould in the
smallest time. The time for complete filling of a mould is termed pouring time,
which is a very important criterion for design.
• Too long a pouring time requires a higher pouring temperature and too less a
pouring time means turbulent flow in the mould, which makes the casting
defect-prone.
• The pouring time depends on the casting materials, complexity of the casting,
section thickness and casting size.
• For nonferrous materials, a longer pouring time would be beneficial since they
lose heat slowly and also tend to form dross if metal is poured too quickly.
• The thickness of casting is effected by the ratio of surface area to volume of the
casting.
• Normally, while considering the mass of the casting, we do not consider the
mass of the gating system because the gating system is completely filled before
metal starts entering the mould cavity.
• However, if the gating systems are in comparable size to the actual casting, it
may be desirable to include them for the calculation.
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Grey Cast Iron, Mass less than 450 kg
T = average section thickness, mm; W = mass of the casting, kg
Grey Cast Iron, Mass greater than 450 kg
Steel Castings
Shell-moulded Ductile Iron (vertical pouring)
where K1 = 2.080 for thinner sections; K1 = 2.670 for sections 10 to

25 mm thick; K1 = 2.970 for heavier sections
Copper Alloy Castings
K2 is a constant given by:

Top gating = 1.30
Bottom gating = 1.80
Brass = 1.90
Tin bronze = 2.80
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Intricately Shaped Thin-walled Castings of

Mass up to 450 kg
where W’ = mass of the casting with gates and risers, kg and K3 = a constant
as given below
T (mm) K3
1.5 to 2.5 1.62
2.5 to 3.5 1.68
3.5 to 8.0 1.85
8.0 to 15.0 2.20
For Castings above 450 kg and up to 1000 kg
T (mm) K4
up to 10 1.00
10 to 20 1.35
20 to 40 1.50
above 40 1.70
Choke Area
• After calculating the optimum pouring time, it is now required to
establish the main control area which controls the metal flow into the
mould cavity, so that the mould is completely filled within the
calculated pouring time.
• This controlling area is called choke area and normally, the choke area
happens to be at the bottom of the sprue.
• The choke area can be calculated using Bernoulli’s equation as
A = choke area, mm2; W = casting mass, kg; t = pouring time, s; d = mass

density of the molten metal, kg/mm3; g = acceleration due to gravity,
mm/s2; H = effective metal head (sprue height), mm ; C = efficiency factor
which is a function of the gating system used given in table below
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The effective sprue height H, of a mould depends on the

casting dimensions and the type of gating used. The effective
sprue heads can be calculated using the following relations.
Top Gate: ; Bottom gate: ; Parting gate:
Top Gate Bottom gate Parting gate
Gating Ratios
• The gating ratio refer to the proportion of the cross-sectional areas
between the sprue, runner and in-gates, and is generally denoted as
sprue area, runner area, and in-gate area.
• Nonpressurised gating system has choke at the bottom of the sprue
base, and have total runner area and in-gate areas higher than the sprue
area.
• In this system, there is no pressure existing in the metal-flow system and
thus it helps to reduce turbulence.
• This is particularly useful for casting drossy alloys such as aluminium
and magnesium alloys.
• These have tapered sprues, sprue-base wells and pouring basins. When
the metal enters the mould cavity through multiple in-gates, the cross
section of the runner should accordingly be reduced at each runner
break up, to allow equal distribution of metal through all the in-gates.
• The gating ratio of a typical example is Sprue : runner : in-gate :: 1 : 4 : 4.
• Casting yield gets reduced because of the large metal involved in the
runners and gates.
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• In Pressurized gating system, the in-gate

area is the smallest, thus maintaining a back
pressure throughout the gating system. GATING RATIOS USED IN PRACTICE
• Because of this back pressure in the gating Aluminium 1:2:1
system, the metal is more turbulent and 1:3:3
generally flows full and thereby, minimizes 1:4:4
the air aspiration even when a straight sprue Brass 1:1:1
is used. 1:1:3
1.6:1.3:1
• When multiple gates are used, this system
allows all the gates to flow full. Copper 2:8:1
3:9:1
• These systems generally provide a higher
casting yield, since the volume of metal used Ductile iron 1.15:1.1:1
1.25:1.13:1
up in the runners and gates is reduced.
• Because of the turbulence and the associated Grey Cast Iron 2:1.5:1
2:3:1
dross formation, this type of gating system is
not used for light alloys but can be Magnesium 1:2:2
1:4:4
advantageously used for ferrous castings.
• Gating ratio of a typical pressurized gating Steels 1:1:7
1:2:1
system is sprue: runner : in-gate :: 1 : 2 : 1
1:2:1.5
Slag-Trap Systems
• In order to obtain sound casting quality, it is essential that the slag and other
impurities be removed from the molten metal fully, before it enters the mould
cavity.
• To do this, foundries employ a number of methods. Apart from the use of
pouring basins and strainer cores, one of the methods used to trap the slag is
described below.
Whirl Gate
• This method is employed successfully to trap the slag
from entering steel castings.
• This utilises the principle of centrifugal action to throw
the dense metal to the periphery and retain the lighter
slag to be retained at the centre.
• In order to achieve this action, it is necessary that entry
area should be at least 1.5 times the exit area so that the
metal is built up at the centre quickly.
• Also, the metal should revolve 270° before reaching the
exit gate, so as to gain enough time for separating the
impurities.
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• Rao, P.N., Manufacturing Technology Volume 1, McGraw Hill

Education (India) Private Ltd.
• Groover, M.P., Principles of Modern Manufacturing, John Wiley
and Sons (2011).
THANK YOU

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UME 505: MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY