MEE1007 MANUFACTURING PROCESS

L T P J C
2 0 2 0 3

Dr. Jambeswar Sahu

Assistant Professor (Sr.)
School of Mechanical Engineering,
VIT Vellore, Vellore, TN, India – 632 014.
 Casting Defects

A casting defect is an undesired irregularity in

the metal casting process.

• Some defects can be ignored/tolerated

• Some defects that can be repaired
(welding)
• Severe defect casting is rejected.
Casting Defects

Casting Defects classification: The following are the major defects,

which are likely to occur in sand castings:
Gas defects
Shrinkage cavities
Molding material defects
Pouring metal defects
Metallurgical defects
Mold shift
Casting Defects
Gas Defects

A condition existing in a casting caused by the trapping of gas in the

molten metal or by mold gases evolved during the pouring of the casting. The
defects in this category can be classified into blowholes and open blows,air
inclusion and pinhole porosity. These defects are caused by the lower gas-
passing tendency of the mold which may be due to lower venting, lower
permeability.
Blow Holes and Open Blows:
These are spherical, flattened or elongated cavities present inside the casting
or on the surface. On the surface these are called open blows and inside, they
are called blow holes. These are caused by moisture left in mold and
core.These are also caused by lower venting and lower permeability of the
mold.

Figure: Open blow

Smooth and semi round holes

Blowholes
Casting Defects
Gas Defects

Air Inclusions:

The atmospheric and other gases absorbed by the molten metal

in the furnace, in the laddle, and during the flow in the mold,
when not allowed to escape, would be trapped inside the
casting and weaken it.
Causes: Higher pouring temperatures which increase the
amount of gas absorbed, poor gating design such as straight
sprues in unpressurized gating, abrupt bends and other
turbulance causing practices in the gating, which increases the
air aspiration and the low permeability of the mold.
Remedies: Choose appropriate pouring temperature and
improve gating practices by reducing the turbulence.
Casting Defects
Gas Defects

Pin Hole Porosity:

This is caused by hydrogen in the molten metal. Hydrogen is

picked up in the furnace or by the dissociation of water in the
mold cavity. When molten metal gets solidified, it expels
dissolved gases.The hydrogen while leaving the solidifying metal
would cause very small diameter and long pin holes showing the
path of escape. These series of pin holes cause the leakage of
fluids under high operating pressures.
Causes: High pouring temperature which increases the gas pick-
up.
Remedies: Choose appropriate pouring temperature.
Pin holes porosity
Pin holes porosity
Shrinkage Cavities

Shrinkage Cavities: These are caused by liquid shrinkage occurring during

the solidification of the casting.

To compensate for this, proper feeding of liquid metal is required. For this
reason risers are placed at the appropriate places in the mold.

Sprues may be too thin, too long or not attached in the proper location,
causing shrinkage cavities.

It is recommended to use thick sprues to avoid shrinkage cavities.

Molding Material Defects
These defects are caused because of the characteristics of the molding
materials. The defects in this category are cuts and washes, metal penetration,
fusion, runout, rat tails and buckles, swell and drop.

Fusion/Scab:
This is caused by the fusion of
sand grains with the molten
metal, giving a brittle glassy
appearance on the casting
surface.
Causes: The clay in the molding
sand is of lower refractoriness or
pouring temperature is too high.
Remedies: The choice of an
appropriate type and amount of
bentonite would solve this
defect.
Casting Defects
Molding Material Defects

Metal penetration:
When molten metal enters the gaps between the sand grains, rough
casting surface results.
Causes: Grain size of the sand is too coarse, lack of mold wash, pouring
temperature is high, soft ramming of sand, use of sand with low strength
and high permeability.
Remedies: Choosing proper grain size, compaction, using additives,
pouring at required temperature.
low permeability and hard ramming of sand. Ensure a protective
barrier against metal penetration by coating the surface of molds
with a mold wash.
Rat tails, veins and buckles
Rat tails, or veins, appear as an irregular line
or crack on the casting, when the surface of
the molding sand buckles up. Rat tails usually
occur on the surface of the mold bottom, an
area covered with molten material.
Buckles are a more severe form of rat tails.
Causes and prevention of rat tails and
buckles
Rat tails and buckles occur when excessive
heat of the metal causes the sand to expand.
This may be caused by:
Poor expansion properties of the sand: Add
combustible additives to sand.
A hot pouring temperature: Reduce pouring
temperature of metal.
Poor mold design: Large and flat sections are
more prone to rat tails. The mold also should
not be too hard, as it must allow for proper
expansion.
Flash, also known as casting fin or burrs, is any
unwanted and excess material attached to a
cast. It’s typically a thin sheet of metal that
forms at the parting faces. Flash is a waste
material that turns into dross after being re-
melted.
Remedial:
Moulding sand can be
levelled properly along the
parting line.
 Molding Material Defects
Swell:
Swells are an enlargement of the casting. Swells typically take on the
shape of a slight, smooth bulge on the vertical face of castings.
Under the influence of metallostatic forces, the mold wall may move back
causing a swell in the dimension of the casting.

Remedies: A proper ramming of the mold will correct this defect.

Drop:
Drops occur when pieces of sand from the cope
surface fall into metal casting when it’s still
liquid. Drops appear as an irregularly shaped
projection on the cope (top) surface of a
casting.

Remedies: Proper ramming of cope box.

 Casting Defects
Molding Material Defects

Runout:
A runout is caused when the molten metal leaks out of the mold ,leading to
an incomplete or missing casting.
Causes: Faulty mold making or faulty molding flask.
Hydrostatic pressure lifts the cope.
Prevention
To prevent this casting defect, design the
casting mold with precision. Inspect and
replace any defective molds before
casting.
High temperatures can lead to excess wear
and tear of the mold. Use quality raw
materials for your mold that can resist high
temperatures.
Put some weight above the cope during
pouring.
Molding Material Defects
Cuts and Washes: These appear as rough spots and areas of excess
metal, and are caused by erosion of molding sand by flowing molten
metal.
Causes: Molding sand not having enough strength or molten metal
flowing at high velocity.
Remedies: Proper choice of molding sand and using appropriate molding
method, altering the gating design to reduce the turbulence in the metal.
Pouring Metal Defects
The defects in this category are misruns, cold shuts and
slag inclusions.
Misruns :
A misrun is caused when the metal is unable to fill the mold cavity
completely and thus leaves unfilled cavities.
Causes: A mis-run results when the metal is too cold to flow to the
extremities of the mold cavity before freezing (Less fluidity).
Remedies: Long, thin sections are subject to this defect and should be
avoided in casting design.
Casting Defects
Pouring Metal Defects

Cold Shuts:
A cold shut is caused when two streams while meeting in the mold cavity, do not
fuse together properly thus forming a discontinuity in the casting. When the molten
metal is poured into the mold cavity through more-than-one gate, multiple liquid
fronts will have to flow together and become one solid. If the flowing metal fronts
are too cool, they may not flow together, but will leave a seam in the part.
Remedies: Assuring sufficient superheat in the poured metal and thick enough
walls in the casting design.
Casting Defects
Pouring Metal Defects

Slag inclusions:
slag entering the mold cavity will weaken the casting and spoil the surface of the
casting.
Remedies: Slag trapping methods must be used such as poring basin or runner
extensions must be provided.
Metallurgical Defects
The defects in this category are Hot tears and hot spots.
Hot Tears/Crack
Hot Tears: If the solidifying metal does not have
sufficient strength to resist tensile forces during
solidification, hot tears/cracks will appear.
Causes: They may be produced when the mold is poorly designed and
abrupt sectional changes take place, no proper fillets and corner radii are
provided, and chills are inappropriately placed.
Remedies: Modifying the mold to improve
collapsibility can easily resolve these issues.
 Metallurgical Defects
Hot Spots:

Hot spots are areas on the surface of casting that become very hard because
they cooled more quickly than the surrounding material. This type of defect
can be avoided by proper cooling practices or by changing the chemical
composition of the metal.
Hard spots can interfere with machining and increase tool
wear.
Casting Defects

Figure: Casting Defects

Figure: Casting Defects
 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) Impact test
5) 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
 INSPECTION AND TESTING OF CASTING

A large number of methods have been developed to inspect

castings for defects that may occur during their production. Such
inspections may be in process inspections or finished product
inspections.
VISUAL INSPECTION
1. It consists of inspecting the surface of the casting with naked
eye or sometimes with a magnifying glass or microscope.
2. It can only indicate surface defects such as blow holes, fusion,
swells, external cracks, and mismatch. Almost all castings are
subjected to certain degree of visual inspection.

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 DIMENSIONAL INSPECTION
1. Dimensional inspection is carried out to make sure that the castings
produced have the required overall dimensions including allowances for
machining.
2. It may sometimes be necessary to break a part of the casting to take
measurements of inside dimensions.

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 SOUND TEST:
1. This is a rough test to indicate a flaw or discontinuity in a casting. The
casting is suspended from a suitable support free of all obstructions and
tapped at various places on its surface with a small hammer.
2. Any change in the tone produced indicates the existence of a flaw. The
method cannot indicate the exact location and extent of the discontinuity.

PRESSURE TEST:
1. This test is carried out on castings required to be leak proof. All openings
of the castings are closed and a gas or fluid under pressure is introduced
in it. Castings having porosity leak under this pressure.
2. The leakage may be detected by submerging the casting in a water tank
or using a soap film if the pressure is applied by compressed air.

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 Pressure test Radiography test
Radiography test:
The ability of these waves to penetrate through metal depends also on
the density of the metal and as such they can penetrate more easily in
places where there is less metal that those where more metal is present
leading to a shadow picture formation on the film. Any defects in the
casting can easily be identified from this picture.

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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 reaching the
X-ray film film through the test
object.
= less exposure
= more exposure
Top view of developed film
 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…
Penetrant Testing:
1. This method also is used for detecting very small surface cracks and has the
advantage over the magnetic particle method that it can be used for any
material. The parts to be tested are either dipped into or covered with a
penetrant testing liquid which has very good wetting and penetrating ability. The
liquid is drawn into the cracks or voids by capillary action.

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 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.
 Eddy Current Testing
Coil's
Coil magnetic field

Eddy current's
magnetic field
Eddy
currents

Conductive
material
The presence of defects causes a change in
eddy current and a corresponding change in
phase and amplitude that can be detected by
measuring the impedance changes in the coil,
which is a telltale sign of the presence of
defects.
 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.
 Mind map
Annexure – III
 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
 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.
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