KYAMBOGO UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL AND PRODUCTION ENGINEERING

BACHELOR OF ENGINNERING IN INDUSTRIAL AND MANAGEMENT.

FOUNDRY TECHNOLOGY

CORE MAKING ASSIGNMENT

GROUP 3

NAMES REGISTRATION NUMBER

LUTWAMA ERNEST SCOFIELD 17/U/9763/IEE/PE

NKUWE KANGAVE MICHEAL 17/U/16644/IEE/PE

MAWANDA JOACKIM NSUBUGA 17/U/9765/IEE/PE

KAGGWA JOSHUA 17/U/9754/IEE/PE

KIIRYA ENOCH 17/U/9760/IEE/PE

NSAMBA JOSEPH 18/U/IEE/17880/PE

SSEMPENJA DERRICK 17/U/9748/IED/PD

NAHWERA LEAH 17/U/9771/IEE/PE

 Core and core making

A core is a pre-prepared shape of the mold which provides internal cavities

recesses or projections in the casting.

It is usually positioned into a mould after pattern removal to form designs that are
difficult to produce by the simple molding.

Some cores are reinforced with low carbon steel wires or even cast iron grids (for
large cores) to ensure stability and resistance to shrinkage

A core is usually made of the best quality sand and is placed into the desired
position in the mould cavity

When the molten metal is poured, I flow around the core and fills the rest of the
mould cavity.

Properties of good core:

1. Green strength:

The core made of green sand should be strong enough to retain the shape it goes
for baking.

2. Dry strength:
A core should have adequate dry strength so that when the core is placed in the
mold, its is able to resist the cast material pressure acting on it during flow and
solidification.

3. Good permeability:

This is the ability of the core to allow easy escape of gases evolved from the melt
and from the mould.

4. Adequate collapsibility:

The core should be able to disintegrate quickly after solidification of the metal is
complete.

5. Good refractoriness:

This is the ability of the core to withstand high temperatures of the molten metal.

6. Erosion resistant:

The core should be strong enough to withstand turbulence force of the molten
metal and hence should be erosion resistant.

Erosion resistance is the ability of a core to stay in its position during molten metal
flow without collapsing.

7. Smooth surface:

It should be smooth so as to provide a good finish to the casing surface in contact

with the core.

8. Minimum gas formation:

Core materials should generate minimum gases while subjecting to molten metal in
casting process.

FUNCTIONS OF CORES.
  They are used to form internal cavities
 Cores are used to form a part of the green sand mould.
 Cores are used to strengthen the mould.
 Core and core forms greatly increase the versatility of molding and casting
operations.
 Before being used for forming recesses and holes in the castings,
 cores are used as a riser core, gates and pouring cups.

CLASSIFICATION OF CORES

1. based on the material nature used for making cores

a) sand cores:

these are made from materials similar to those used for chemically bonded sand
molds.

There cores are formed in core boxes similar to pattern boxes used to make molds

Sand cores are chemically bonded sand of complex shapes and used in all molds
types

 Green sand cores:

These are obtained by the pattern itself during molding

This is used only for those of cavities which permit the withdrawal of the pattern.

Though this is the most economical way of preparing core, the green sand being
low in strength cannot be used for fairly deep holes.
 Dry sand cores:
The simplest way to make these is in the dump core box in which sand is
packed into the box and scraped level with top.

A wood or metal plate is then placed over the box and then the two are
flipped over and the core segments falls out of the core box.

The segments are then baked or hardened

Multiple core segments are then hot glued together.

Rough sports are filed are sanded down

The core is then finally lightly coated with graphite, silica or mica to give a
smoother surface finish and resistance to heat

b) metal cores:
 They are used in permanent mould casting.

Metal cores should be parallel to the mold parting line or can be removed
before the casting is removed from the mold and shaped so that it is readily
freed from the casting.

Metal cores are usually made from cast iron and still.

based on the nature of use:

dispensable (in sand casting)

permanent (used in die casting)

2. based on the shape and position of the core in prepared molds

a) horizontal core
usually in a cylindrical form laid horizontally in the mold

Ends of the core rests in seats provided by the core pint on pattern.

Horizontal core may be made in one piece using a split core box or in two
halves usually half core box as shown below.

b) vertical core:
this is placed along a vertical axis in the mold.
 The ends of the core seats at the top and the bottom provided in the cope and
drag halves if the mold as shown below

c) balanced core:
this is suitable wen the casting has an opening only on one core print is
available in the pattern

core prints in such cases should be sufficiently large to support the weight of
the core which extends into the mold cavity and it should be able to
withstand the form of buoyancy of the melt surrounding it.

To support this core in the mold cavity, chaplets are often inserted as shown
below:

d) hanging core
these are core that hangs from the cope and does not have any support at the
bottom in the drag.
 In this case, it may be necessary to fasten the core with a wire or rod which
extends through the cope to a fastening on the top of the cope as shown
below:

e) ram up core
Sometimes the core is set with the pattern in the mold before the mold is
rammed. Such a core is called a ram up core. It is favored when the core
detail is located in an inaccessible position.
It may be used for both interior and exterior portion of the casting as shown
below:

f) kiss core
This is the core where the pattern is not provided with core print and no seat
is available for resting of the core. The core is held in position between the
cope and the drag simply by the pressure of the cope.
kiss cores are useful when a number of holes are required in the casting.
 Dimensional accuracy with regard to the relative location of the holes is not
important

g) cover core
This one is used when the entire pattern is rammed in the drag and the core
is required to be suspended from the top of the mold.

Unlike the balanced core which extends horizontally in the mold cavity, the
cover core stretches vertically downwards as shown below

h) wring or stop off core

Wring core may be used when a hole or recess is to be obtained in the
casting either above or below the parting line.

Wring core is necessitated when it is not possible to place the pattern in the
mold such that the recess can be cored directly or with the other types.
 Since a part of the core placed in the seat becomes a top off and forms a
surface of casting, it is also referred as stop-off core

It is also known as tail core, chair core and saddle core according to its shape
and position in the mold as shown below

CORE MAKING

Core materials

Composition of core materials are a mixture of sand, binders and other additives.

Core sands are silica, zircon olivine and more others

Core binders are core oils, resins, molasses, dextrin are generally used for
preparation of core materials.

The commonly used core sand is a mixture of the following items

 Core sand
 Carbon dioxide (CO2) and sodium silicate sand
Silica sand and sodium silicate is rammed in the core and then carbon
dioxide gas is passed through sand to make core hard.
Such types of cores are used in very large castings.
These cores don’t need any drying mechanism and hence this becomes the
very quick method of core making.
 Resin sand:
These are thermosetting or thermoplastics binders such as resin, phenol,
urea, furan, formaldehyde are used to obtain good bonds to sand
They are becoming common in use because:
 High strength
 Low gas formation
 Excellent collapsibility
 Resistance to moisture absorption
 Better dimensional accuracy to casting
 Oil sand:
Oil sand can be used for most almost any sand casting applications:
 Sand has 95-96%
 Cereal flour has 1-1.05%
 Core oil has 1-1.5%
 Water has 1-2%
 Bentonite has 0.1-0.3%

Oil sand very widely used in core making applications because;

 They get good strength
 They provide excellent surface finish
 They have better collapsibility after baking
 The backed oil sand cores are very hard and not easily damaged in
handling of mould.
 Core binders

Natural sand has not sufficient binding properties and hence some binders
are used to improve the binding strength of core sand grains together and to
provide better strength to the core.
 The types of binders used are:

 Inorganic binders:
They include fire clay, bentonite, limonite, silica powder, iron oxide.
They are very fine powder and popularly used.
 Organic binders:
These include core oil like petroleum oil, vegetable oils, linseed oil,
corn oil, molasses and dextrin.

Organic binders get harder rapidly and provide good strength.

 Other Core additives

In addition to core sand and core binders, some additives are used to
improve the special properties of the core.

Examples include;

 Kaolin or fire clay to improve stability

 Iron oxide(Fe2O3) and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) to improve hot
strength.
 Zircon flour and pitch flour to improve refractoriness.
 Molasses to improve binding properties.
 Organic additives like saw dust to improve collapsibility.
 Silica powder, paints and graphite bonded with resins are used
to improve the surface finish.

There are various steps involved in core making and these include;

The complete core making procedure consists of the following

eight steps:

1. Mixing of Core Sand

2. Ramming of Core Sand
3. Venting of Core
4. Reinforcing of Core
5. Baking of Core
6. Cleaning and Finishing of Core
7. Sizing of Cores
8. Joining of Cores.]

1. Mixing of Core Sand:

First of all, the tore sand particles are mix thoroughly in order to obtain best
cores. Binders are then mixed with sand before any moisture is added. The
mixture must be homogeneous and uniform. This mixing is performed in
paddle mixtures or mullers.

2. Ramming of Core Sand:

The mixture of core sand is rammed into the core boxes. The surplus sand is
stuck-off with strickles. The ramming may be done with machines or by
manually.

3. Venting of Core:
Because a core is surrounded by molten metal from all sides
during casting, gases have only a small area through which to
escape. Therefore, good permeability is obtained by providing
special vent holes to allow gases to escape easily.
This process is known as venting of core and is shown in below
4. Reinforcing of Core:
Sometimes, cores are reinforced with annealed low-carbon steel wires or
even cast iron grids (in case of heavy cores) to ensure coherence and
stability. Otherwise, the core may shift from its original position when the
molten metal is poured. This is shown in the figure above

5. Baking of Core:
Now, the cores are placed on the baking plates and put into the baking
furnace. During baking, moisture is driven out at 100°C. On further
increasing the temperature of about 200-270°C, some chemical changes also
occur in the core oil and binders which strengthens the core sand. The
baking period of about 3 to 6 hours are quite common. The proper baking of
the core is essential and judged by the brown colour. An under-baking core
will generate a large amount of gases, which produces blow holes in the
casting, while overbaking will burn the binders completely and may collapse
too soon and break before solidification of casting. Oil fired ovens, gas fired
ovens, dielectric bakers or radiant bakers are used for this purpose.

6. Cleaning and Finishing of Core:

After baking of core in oven, the cores are properly finished by following
operations:
 (a) Trimming:
Trimming involves rubbing or filling of cores with emery stone. It
is required to remove the loose pieces and other undesirable sand
projections.
(b) Brushing:
Brushing involves removing of loose sand with the help of smooth wire
brush.
(c) Coating (core dressing):
Coating involves depositing a layer of refractory or protective material
which improves their heating resistance.

These protective materials include silica, finely ground graphite and zircon.

It is applied by spraying or by dipping method.

The coated core surface is dried by using a burner.

(d) Mudding:
Mudding involves localized coating of graphite or red talc to fill up any
cavity, rough spots, joining lines of assembled cores.

Composition of a typical made is made of 94% silica flour, 3% bentonite,

3% dextrin.

7. Sizing of Cores:

Initially while making the core, it can be given a sizing allowance that is to
say cores may be made a little oversized. This little excess material will be
consequently removed during sizing.
Sizing of core involves to checking and correcting the various dimensions by
inserting fixture.

Core shapes and dimensions are checked with the help of templates and
gauges.
 Core size can be corrected by filing, grind and scraping.

8. Joining of Cores (core assembly):

Cores made in two or three piece required joining before use. This may be
achieved by pasting (in case of small work), by bolting (in case of large
work), and leading.

Core pasting uses a mixture of talc, dextrin, flour, molasses, water and other
ingredients, at the surfaces to be joined.

Cores can also be joined by leading which is a process of joining core parts
with molten lead. Lead on freezing makes a strong join which is suitable for
making small core assemblies.

Core prints

Core prints support the core in the molds. They are provided as projections at the
end of the core. They are provided in the mold for locating, positioning and
supporting the core.

Core prints are added to both sides to the pattern to create impressions that allow
the core to be supported and held to both ends.

Core prints forms a seat in the mold on which the sand core rests during pouring in
the metal.

The core print must be of adequate size and shape so that it can support the weight
of the core during casting operation

Types of core prints:

1. Horizontal core print:

 It produces core seats in the horizontal core in the mold.
2. Vertical core print:
It produces seas to support a vertical core in the mold.
3. Balanced core print:
It produces a single seat on one side of the mould.

Core shifting

the cores while containing a metal shift their position due to the turbulent action of
the molten metal.

Also due to upward thrust of the molten metal, thin cores tend to float easily and
shift from the right position.

To avoid shifting, the weight of the core is increased by embedding steel rods, steel
wires and thin pipes during core making I a process called reinforcing of core.

Core chaplets

A metal location peace is inserted in a mould to provide extra support to the core
and prevent shifting from its position.

These are used when the core length is long and the end supports are at high
distance to each other to prevent sagging of the core during pouring of hot molten
metal.

The chaplets melt at its come in contact with the molten metal and forms part of
the cast material.
Chaplets are made of the same metal as the casting metal so as to become an
integral part of the casting

The figure below shows different types of chaplets

CORE BOXES

These are used for making cores

It is a wooden or metallic type of pattern and are made either single or in two parts

They may be classified according to the method of making the core or shape of
core
TYPES OF CORE BOXES

1. Half core boxes:

This is used when a symmetrical core is prepared in two identical halves which are
later on palted or cemented together to form a complete core as shown below:

2. Split core box

It is made in two parts like a split pattern

Both the parts are joined together by means of dowel pins to form the complete
hollow cavity for making the core as shown below:

Dump core box

This is used for making the slab or rectangular shape of core.

In construction it is similar to half core box.

The box is made with side openings

Loose piece core box

It is used for the preparation of core with the provision of boxes or hubs.

This is used when the two halves of the core of which the halves are not identical
in shape and size is to be prepared in the same core boxes as shown below;

Strickle type core box

This is used for making unsymmetrical or irregular shapes of cores.

A strickle core box is used when the core is required to have irregular shape which
cannot be easily rammed by other methods.

The desired irregular shape is achieved by striking off the core from the core box
with a piece of wood called strickle board.
Strickle board is having contour as that of the core