History of Metal Casting

Presented By:
Hasib Samit
 OUTLINE
1. The Copper Age
2. The Bronze Age
3. The Iron Age
4. Middle Ages to 1800
5. 19th Century
6. Early 20th Century
7. Late 20th Century
 Copper age
• Copper age dates back to 4500 B.C.
• Casting originated in 3200 B.C.in middle east
precisely in India and China
• Both expendable and permanent moulds were used
• Loam and Clay used for expendable moulds
• Stones were used for permanent moulds
• Core was used for making hollow parts
• The main metal used for casting was Copper
Melting Crucible . Dates back to copper
age.

Copper Castings from Copper age

 THE BRONZE AGE

• Bronze age dates back to about 2000 B.C.

• Tin was mixed with Copper to get better
hardness and strength.
Bronze age swords from ancient Europe
( 1700 BC )
The Chinese Piece Mold Technique

1) Model made
2) Mould made of soft clay
3) Mould removed by sectioning
4) Model shaved down to serve as
core
5) Assemble together
6) Pour metal
Wine vessels cast from bronze

Axe used for offering sacrifices

 Ancient Egyptian Bronze Casting

• Lost wax casting was vastly used to make statues, swords, daggers, coins and
jewelry

Painting found from 1430

BC showing different
Casting methodologies
Ancient Egyptian weapons Cast from Bronze

Bronze Casting of Soldier found in a middle

bronze age in Egypt
 THE IRON AGE
1200 B.C.
• Iron was discovered and introduced in the industry by smelting the iron ores
• Earlier Iron had less strength and was blunted easily that’s why a lot of attention was not paid
towards Iron
• Later it was found that Iron could become stronger than Copper and Bronze by cold working
and quenching.
• The process of purifying iron ores was widely spread and iron took over the industry

800-700 B.C.
Chinese started to produce cast iron

645 B.C.
Chinese are found to use sand moulds for casting of iron.

500 A.D.
Steel was used for the first time to make Crucibles in India. But this process got lost again
 MIDDLE AGES TO 1800
• 1455
In Dellinburg Castle in Germany cast iron pipes were used for the first time to transport
water.

• 1480
Vannoccio Biringuccio was born. Known as “The father of Foundry industry”

• 1642
America’s first foundry “ Saugus Industries” was established near Lynn, Massachusetts

• 1730 
Abraham Darby was the first to use coke as fuel in his melting furnace in England.

• 1750 
Benjamin Huntsman reinvents the process of casting steel in England. He completely
melted iron to get uniform composition
 19 TH
CENTURY
• 1809 
Centrifugal casting was developed by A. G. Eckhardt in England
• 1818 
First cast steel was produced in the U.S. at the Valley Forge Foundry
• 1825 
Aluminum was isolated from its ores which is the most common metal in the
earth's crust,
• 1837 
First dependable molding machine was marketed and used by the S. Jarvis Adams
Company in Pittsburg
• 1845 
The open hearth furnace was developed
• 1863 
Metallography, etching, polishing, and microscopic evaluation of metal surfaces, is
developed by Henry C. Sarby in England. It is the first process to physically examine
the surface of castings for quality analysis.
• change

• 1896 
American Foundrymen's Association is formed.
• 1897 
Investment casting (lost wax casting) is rediscovered by B.F. Philbrook. He used it
to cast dental inlays.
 EARLY 20 TH
CENTURY
• 1906  
First electric arc furnace is used in the U.S. at Holcomb Steel Co. in Syracuse, NY
• 1923 
International Committee of Foundry Technical Associations established in Zurich Switzerland
• 1924 
Dr. W.H. Hatfield invents 18/8 stainless steel (18% chromium, 8% nickel)
• 1930
Professors from University of Michigan introduced Spectrography for metal analysis.
• 1930 
First high-frequency coreless electric induction furnace was introduced in the U.S. Installed
in the Lebanon Steel Foundry
• 1965
 The Scanning Electron Microscope is invented by the Cambridge University Engineering
Department in England
• 1968 
The Coldbox process is introduced by L. Toriello and J. Robins for core making aiming at
mass production
 LATE 20 TH
CENTURY
• Early 1970s 
The Semi-Solid Metalworking (SSM) process is conceived of at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. It combines aspects of casting with aspects of forging
• 1971 
The Japanese develop V-Process molding. This method uses unbonded sand and a
vacuum
• 1971 
Rheocasting (hot forging) is developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• 1996 
Cast metal matrix composites are first used in a production model automobile in the
brake rotors
• 1997 
Electromagnetic casting processes developed by Argonne and Inland Steel
Corporation. Electromagnetic edge containment greatly reduces cost and energy
expenditures in steel production. 
THE END

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