Sand Casting Defects

Casting Defects
Defects may occur due to the following reasons:
1) Gas & solidification / cooling defect – Blow holes,
air inclusion, porosity
2) Shrinkage defect
3) Moulding material defects – Swell, drop. Metal
penetration, fusion, cuts and wash, rat tails.
mismatch
4) Pouring (Filling) metal defects – Misrun and cold
shuts, slag inclusion
5) Metallurgical defects – Hot spot, hot tear
 Surface Defects
• Blow is relatively large cavity produced by gases
which displace molten metal from convex
surface.

• Scar is shallow blow generally occurring on a flat

surface.

• A scar covered with a thin layer of metal is called

blister. These are due to improper permeability or
venting. Sometimes excessive gas forming
constituents in moulding sand.

• Drop is an irregularly-shaped projection on the

cope surface caused by dropping of sand.
 Contd…
• A scab when an up heaved sand gets
separated from the mould surface and the
molten metal flows between the displaced
sand and the mold.

• Penetration occurs when the molten metal

flows between the sand particles in the
mould. These defects are due to inadequate
strength of the mold and high temperature of
the molten metal adds on it.

• Buckle is a v-shaped depression on the

surface of a flat casting caused by expansion
of a thin layer of sand at the mould face.
 Contd…
• Blow holes are large spherical shaped gas
bubbles

• Porosity indicates a large number of

uniformly distributed tiny holes.

• Pin holes are tiny blow holes appearing

just below the casting surface.

• Inclusions are the non-metallic particles in

the metal matrix,

• Lighter impurities appearing the casting

surface are dross.
 Visible Defects

• Insufficient mould strength, insufficient metal, low

pouring temperature, and bad design of casting
are some of the common causes.

• Wash is a low projection near the gate caused by

erosion of sand by the flowing metal.

• Rat tail is a long, shallow, angular depression

caused by expansion of the sand.

• Swell is the deformation of vertical mould surface

due to hydrostatic pressure caused by moisture in
the sand.
 Contd…
• Misrun and cold shut are caused by
insufficient superheat provided to the
liquid metal.
• Hot tear is the crack in the casting
caused by high residual stresses.
• Shrinkage is essentially solidification
contraction and occurs due to improper
use of Riser.
• Shift is due to misalignment of two
parts of the mould or incorrect core
location.
 Casting Defects - Blow holes, Honey Combing
Causes Causes
 Hard ramming  Gases like H2, O2 and N2 are
 Excessive moisture in the moulding absorbed and gets dissolved by
sand metals
 Low porosity of molding sand  High moisture content
 Insufficient vent holes
 Low temperature of the mould
 Casting Defects - Hot Tears, Shrinkage

Causes Causes
 Excessive temperature of casting  Poor design of runner & riser
metal  Excessive pouring temperature
 Non uniform cooling of metal
 Casting Defects - Drop, Scab

Causes
 Low green strength
 Low mold hardness
 Insufficient reinforcement of
sand projections in the cope
Causes
 Too fine a sand
 Sand having a low porosity
 High moisture content of sand
 Uneven mold ramming
 Casting Defects - Fins, Mould Shift

Causes Causes
 Incorrect assembly of the mould  Misalignment of cope & drag
 Casting Defects - Misrun, Cold Shut

Causes
 Improper design of the mould cavity
 Low temperature of the molten metal
 Inspection

• To check the acceptability of castings

Visual
Dimensional
Pressure
Metallurgical
Flaw detection by Non destructive test
X-ray radiography
Ultrasonic inspection
Magnetic particle inspection
Fluorescent die penetration
 Casting inspection
• All castings have discontinuities.
• Discontinuities are the interruption in the normal
crystalline lattice structure of the metal.
• There are two types of tests used to inspect weld and
cast
1) Destructive testing
2) Non Destructive testing
 Destructive testing
• Destructive testing are used to determine the
physical properties and to predict the service life of
the casting. Various destructive tests are
1) Tensile strength
2) Compression strength
3) Bend test
4) Nick break test
5) Impact test
6) Hardness test
NDT – Inspect or measure without doing harm

Nondestructive inspection (NDI) or

Nondestructive evaluation (NDE)
– Class of physical and chemical tests that permit
the detection and/or measurement of significant
properties or the detection of defects in a material
without impairing its usefulnes
 NDT Methods
1. Visual
2. Magnetic Particle
3. X-Ray
4. Liquid penetrant
5. Ultrasonic
6. Eddy Current
 Magnetic Particle Method
• The magnetic particle method of nondestructive testing
is used to locate surface and subsurface discontinuities
in ferromagnetic materials
• Magnetic particle inspection is based on the principle
that magnetic lines of force, when present in a
ferromagnetic material, are distorted by changes in
material continuity, such as cracks or inclusions
• Near-surface flaws, such as nonmagnetic inclusions,
cause the same bulging of the lines of force above the
surface. These distorted fields, usually referred to as a
leakage fields, reveals the presence of the discontinuity
when fine magnetic particles are attracted to them during
magnetic particle inspection.
Contd…
 Film Radiography
The part is placed between the
radiation source and a piece of film.
The part will stop some of the radiation.
Thicker and more dense area will stop
more of the radiation.
The film darkness
(density) will vary with
the amount of radiation
X-ray film reaching the film through
the test object.
= less exposure
= more exposure
Top view of developed film
Contd…
 Ultrasonic Methods
• Ultrasonic inspection methods utilize high-frequency
sound waves to inspect the interior of solid parts. Sound
waves are mechanical or elastic disturbances or waves
that propagate in fluid and solid media.

• High frequency sound waves are introduced into a

material and they are reflected back from surfaces or
flaws.
 Contd…

initial
pulse

back surface
echo

crack
0 2 4 6 8 10 plate

Oscilloscope, or
flaw detector
screen
 Eddy Current Testing

Coil's
Coil magnetic field

Eddy current's
magnetic field
Eddy
currents

Conductive
material
Eddy Current Testing
 Annexure - II
Questions
1) Compare destructive and non destructive testing.
2) How to rectify the blow hole defects in sand
casting?
3) List the defects occurring due to moulding materials
4) Compare ultrasonic test with liquid penetrant
testing.
5) Name any four NDT methods.
 Annexure – IV
Summary
Casting defects
Defects may occur due to the following reasons:
1) Gas defect – Blow holes, air inclusion, porosity
2) Shrinkage defect
3) Moulding material defects – Swell, drop. Metal
penetration, fusion, cuts and wash, rat tails.
mismatch
4) Pouring metal defects – Misrun and cold shuts,
slag inclusion
5) Metallurgical defects – Hot spot, hot tear
 Summary
Casting Inspection
• All castings have discontinuities.
• Discontinuities are the interruption in the normal
crystalline lattice structure of the metal.
• There are two types of tests used to inspect castings
1) Destructive testing
2) Non Destructive testing
 Annexure – V
MCQ
1) Which of the following is not a casting defect
a) Shift b) blow holes
c) hot tear d) decarburization
2) Porosity defect occur due to
a) Shrinkage b) gas defect
c) moulding material defect d) pouring metal defect
2) Porosity defect occur due to
a) Shrinkage b) gas defect
c) metallurgical defect d) pouring metal defect
 MCQ
4) Liquid penetrant test is carried out to found
a) surface defects b) internal defects
c) a & b d) non of the above

5) Physical properties of casting are found by

a) tensile testing b) Visual
c) magnetic Particle testing d) X-Ray testing
 Higher order question
Find out the tests to be conducted for cast
iron engine cylinders manufactured by sand
casting process and also list precaution to be
taken to reduce the blow hole defects in
cylinders.