RESEARCH PAPERS

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF LOST FOAM CASTING

By
T. SIVA PRASAD * M. DEVAIAH **

*-** Department of Mechanical Engineering, Geethanjali College of Engineering and Technology, Telangana, India.

Date Received: 02/02/2018 Date Revised: 05/07/2018 Date Accepted: 30/07/2018

ABSTRACT
In lost foam casting process, polystyrene beads are heated to foam and the required pattern is made by polystyrene
foam, which is then coated with refractory and placed in a flask backed up with un-bonded sand. The molten metal
poured, takes the shape of foam pattern by evaporative action of foam. Whereas in conventional sand casting, a
wooden pattern is used to create mold cavity and the cavity is filled with molten metal to get the final shape of casting. In
this paper, an experimental analysis was done on lost foam casting process and compared with sand casting processes. The
main objective of this study is to investigate and compare the physical parameters like dimensional accuracy, surface finish,
and quality of the final product obtained from lost foam casting process and sand casting process. The results from both the
processes are observed and compared to find the accurate and precise process among the two processes.
Keywords: Lost Foam Casting (LFC), Expandable Polystyrene (EPS), Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA), Polyalkylene
Carbonate (PAC) Permeability, Pyrolysis, Synthetic Mullite (3Al2O3, 2Si02).

INTRODUCTION castings. The expandable polystyrene can be molded

Lost foam casting is one of the modern and hybrid casting
processes, which aims to minimize the production cost. It
is capable of producing intricate shapes with less effort in
pattern making. Lost foam casting method is additionally
illustrious by a range of generic and proprietary names
like, lost foam casting, phase change pattern casting,
cavity less casting, full mould casting, and phase change
foam casting. It makes use of patterns made of phase
change materials like foam. The pattern material gets
gaseous to the warmth of liquified metal because it gets
stuffed. In foam castings phase change phenylethylene is
employed to organize the entire pattern, as well as the
gates and risers. The pattern is more embedded in free
silica sand. The liquified metal is poured through the
sprue, whereas the pattern remains within the mould. The
warmth of the liquified metal is comfortable enough to
gasify the pattern and also the gates displaced by it. For
exploitation of free silica sand and expandable
phenylethylene pattern, the Lost Foam Casting (LFC)
method could be a terribly economical methodology in
manufacturing advanced and closed tolerance
into numerous complex and rigid shapes and it is
basically a thermoplastic material. In the LFC process,
expandable polystyrene patterns are attached to an
expandable polystyrene gating system. A refractory
coating is applied to the entire assembly, once the
coating gets dried; the entire foam pattern assembly is
kept on loose dry sand in a vented flask. The flask is then
vibrated and additional sand is added to it until the
pattern assembly gets completely embedded in sand.
Subsequently, molten metal is poured into the sprue,
which further reprises the foam polystyrene. As liquid
metal enters, the entered metal solidifies and reproduces
the scale and foam of the used pattern entirely to
produce the specified casting during this method. The
foam patterns were initial proprietary by Shroyer (1958) for
metal castings way back in the year 1958. A similar
method is termed as full mould process, whereby the
pattern is machined from Expanded Polystyrene (EPS)
blocks and bonded sand will be used for supporting the
pattern during pouring process. This method is primarily
used to create giant castings.

46 i-manager’s Journal on Future Engineering & Technology, Vol. 13 ·

No. 4 ·
May - July 2018