‫بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬

Manufacturing Processes
0703314

Chapter 2
Solidification and Casting
Processes
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 Objectives
• To understand the basic principles of
casting.
• To study the main characteristics of
molds.
• To study ingot casting and continuous
casting process.
• To understand the effect of the
processing variables in casting processes
on the properties of the product.

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 Introduction
• Casting is the process in which the melt of
liquid metal is poured into a formed mold,
then shaped and allowed to be cooled.
Casting includes pouring and cooling of
the liquid metal.
The Mold Characteristics
The mold must be:
1- strong enough to hold the weight of the
metal.
2- resist the erosive action of the rabidly
flowing metal during pouring. 3
 The Mold Characteristics
3- generate a minimum amount of gas when
filled with the molten metal.
4- constructed so that any gases formed can
pass through the body of the mold it self,
rather than penetrate the metal.
5- refractory enough to withstand the high
temp. of metal and strip away cleanly from
the casting after cooling.
6- easy to collapse enough to permit the
casting to contract after solidification.
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 Major Casting Techniques
1- Ingot Casting
• It is used to produce simple cross sectional
shapes such as 15 cm diameter circles or
rectangles up to 60 cm by 150 cm, in
various lengths.
• Steel ingots are poured in large molds,
which are usually tapered to facilate
removal.
• The molds are made from graphite or blast
furnace iron pig.
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 Major Casting Techniques
1- Ingot Casting
• The most important issue is the control of
imperfections and porosity, which may
occur during solidification due to evolution
of gases, primarily O2, but also H2 and
CO2.
• The degree of gas that evolves result in
four types of steel.

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 1- Ingot Casting

Killed Steel Semi-Killed Steel Rimmed Steel Capped Steel

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 1- Ingot Casting
1- Killed Steel is fully deoxidized prior to
pouring into casting mold. The dissolved
gases react with the deoxidizing agent (Al,
Si, etc.).
Steels containing > 0.3% C are killed.
2- Semi-Killed Steel is partially deoxidized
and thus contains some blowholes, usually
concentrated near the top of the ingot.
Most steels containing 0.15- 0.3% C are
semi killed.
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 1- Ingot Casting
3- Rimmed Steel: sufficient deoxidizers are
added prior to pouring to provide only
minimal control over the gas level.
Steels containing 0.06-0.15% C are rimmed.
4- Capped Steel: the metal is poured into the
mold, the boiling action is allowed to proceed
for about 1 min, then a cap is placed over the
open end of the ingot mold, essentially
stopping the boiling action.
Steels with C content > 0.15 are capped steels.9
 2- Continuous Casting
Process
• It is a process used to produce much
smaller cross sectional shapes.
• The benefit of this process is the
elimination of handling and processing
problems associated with large ingots
(reduction of the size of the required
equipment). 10
2- Continuous Casting Process

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2- Continuous Casting Process
1- The process begins by hoisting a ladle
of the treated liquid steel to top of the
works.
2- The steel is poured into tundish through
nozzle.
3- The steel resides 10 min in the tundish.
This allows empty ladle to be replaced
without stopping the process and helps to
improve the steel quality as impurities
float to the top of the tundish forming a
slag.
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2- Continuous Casting Process
4- The molten metal flows out into a water
cooled copper mold.
5- As the metal passes through the mold,
sufficient heat is removed so that the
periphery of the strand is solidified.
6- After exiting the mold, multiple water jets
play onto strand to solidify its core.
7- When solidification is complete, various
pinch rolls are used to control the
movement of the solid strand.
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2- Continuous Casting Process
8- It is then reheated and cut into lengths
of 6-12 m.
Note: If the primary cooling of the strand by
the mold is inadequate or if the metal is
passes into the mold too quickly, the
outer periphery will not solidify enough to
retain the still liquid core, so the liquid
core can break out due to a substantial
pressure head.
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 Conclusions
• Casting process includes melting, pouring,
shaping, and cooling steps.
• The used mold must have several properties.
• Ingot casting is used to produce simple cross
sectional shapes.
• Steel can be classified depending on the
amount of gas and the carbon content.
• Continuous casting long parts with small cross
sectional area.
• Several processing variables must be
controlled during the process. 15
 Objectives
• To understand the basic concepts of
shaping, sand, permanent, and
investment casting.
• To understand the processing variables
for each process.
• To understand the behavior of pure
metals during solidification step.

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 3- Shaping Casting
• It is used to produce complex items such as
automotive engine blocks, wheels, and
pistons.
• Molten metal is poured into a mold that has
a shape similar to that of the required part.
• After that, cooling process takes place in a
suitable rate of cooling.
• Relatively low capital cost required for some
shape casting techniques and higher
tonnages can be cast economically.
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 4- Sand Casting
1- Molten metal is poured into a mold cavity
formed out of sand (natural or synthetic).
2- It is used to make large parts (Fe, Cu, Al).
3- Na2SiO2.nH2O is added to the sand, then
CO2 is forced to permeate the sand to form
Na2CO3 and a gel of x SiO2.nH2O which
serves as a bonding agent and provides a
firmer sand mold.
4- This process is used to produce simple
and complex shaped parts.
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 5- Permanent Casting
1- The fluid metal is poured into metal molds
and subjected only to hydrostatic pressure.
2- The mold separates into several pieces to
release the solidified casting and is clamped
together during the operation.
3- Metals commonly cast in this way are Pb, Zn,
Al, Mg alloys, etc.
4- Typical products are refrigerator compressor
blocks and automotive pistons, etc.
5- Most molds are made of alloy cast iron.
Bronze molds are used for Pb, Sn, and Zn,
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and steel molds are used for bronze.
6- Investment (Lost Wax) Casting
It is used to
produce parts
with
dimensional
tolerances
and surface
finishes such
as internally
cooled gas
turbine
blades.
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 Solidification of Pure Metal
1- The solidification process requires the
creation of new surfaces that separate the
liquid and solid phases.
2- Energy is required to produce these new
surfaces. Surface energy is the energy
associated with the liquid-solid interface.
3- The energy required to create new surfaces
requires that liquids cool below their
freezing temperature (they are undercooled)
before the solidification begins.
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 Solidification of Pure Metal

4- Solidification will occur more spontaneously if

there is high degree of undercooling which can
be minimized by addition of existing surfaces
(nuclei of solid crystals) such as walls of 22the
cooled mold.
 Solidification of Pure Metal
5- When the liquid is poured into the mold, many small chill
crystals with random crystallographic orientations nucleate along
the mold walls

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 Solidification of Pure Metal

6- The conduction of heat from the liquid

through the chill crystals to the cooler
molds creates a temperature ingredient
with the newly formed solid phase.
7- The latent heat of solidification is
released at the solid-liquid interface
creating the temperature profile.

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Solidification of Pure Metal

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 Solidification of Pure Metal
8- The faster growth rate of the protrusions, due
to the fact that they are surrounded by more
highly undercooled liquid metal, leads to the
transition from the flat interface to a dendritic
structure.

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 Conclusions
• Shaping casting is used to produce complex
items.
• In sand molding, molten metal is poured into
a mold formed out of sand.
• In permanent casting, the fluid metal is
poured into metal molds and subjected
only to hydrostatic pressure.
• Investment casting is used to produce
parts with dimensional tolerances
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 Conclusions
• Solidification of pure metals requires new
surfaces which can be created by under
cooling step or addition of solid nucleus.
• Two types of crystals are produced, chill
and columnar crystals.
• A temperature ingredient is formed at the
liquid-solid interface.
• The faster growth rate of the protrusions
leads to the transition from the flat interface
to a dendritic structure.
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 Objectives

• To understand the solidification process of

alloys.
• To understand volume shrinkage
phenomenon and the methods used to sole
this problem.

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 Solidification of Alloys
1- Alloys solidify over a range of temperatures,
eg. 50 wt% Cu-50 wt% Ni alloy begins to
solidify at 1310 0C and does not become fully
solid until 1260 0C.

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 Solidification of Alloys
2- The temperature range between the
liquidus and solidus lines is referred to
as the mushy zone. Proper control of
heat transfer from the mushy zone to
the casting mold can be difficult. This
increases the number of defects and
difficulty in controlling the solidification
process.

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 Solidification of Alloys
3- Undercooling: (a) Thermal undercooling.
(b) Constitutional undercooling results when
the freezing metal has a composition different
from that of liquid from which it is solidifying.
For example, for 50 wt% Cu-50 wt% Ni alloy,
at 1310 0C the first solid has a composition of
62 wt% Ni but the liquid has 50 wt% Cu. At
temperature above 1260 0C the solidifying
product has a composition of about 50 wt% Cu
while the liquid remaining has 37 wt% Ni.
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 Solidification of Alloys
4- Chill crystals and columnar grains also
develop during casting of alloys. Due to the
effect of thermal and constitutional
undercooling, random oriented equiaxed
grains are formed in the central regions.

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 Solidification of Alloys

5- The addition of grain refiners in most

casting process can completely eliminate
the formation of columnar grains and
produce a uniform equiaxed grain
structure, for example V is a grain refiner
for steel; Ti and Nb are grain refiners for
aluminum, magnesium, and steel.

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Solidification Volume Shrinkage
1- As metal casting solidifies and cools, the
volume decreases. The major contributions
to volume shrinkage are liquid, solidification,
and solid shrinkage.

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Solidification Volume Shrinkage
2- Liquid shrinkage does not cause casting
problems because sufficient metal is
available to fill the shrinkage cavity.
3- The effect of solidification and solid
shrinkage is shown in the following Figure.

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Solidification Volume Shrinkage

Risers are added to

prevent macroporosity
and pipe formation,
because they act as a
source of liquid metal
to compensate for the
solidification shrinkage.

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 Conclusions
• Alloys solidify over a range of temperatures.
• The composition of solidified grains is not
uniform, it depends on temperature and
percentage composition (the phase diagram).
• Three types of crystals are formed, chill,
columnar, and equiaxed crystals.
• Volume shrinkage is the most important
problem associated with solidification step.
• Using a riser and complete insulation may
reduce this problem. 38
 Objectives

• To study the defects occur during the

casting process.
• To understand the methods used to
minimize these defects.
• To study some casting materials.

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Defects Produced During Casting
Macroporosity results from the solidification
volume shrinkage of liquid metal.
Microporosity results due to solidification of
metal between each solid dendrite. As the
metal cools, it shrinks and microporosity
forms.
It can be avoided by:
(a) Ensuring that the liquid velocity in the mold
is high.
(b) Changing the alloy composition by casting
eutectic compositions. 40
Defects Produced During
Casting

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 Defects Produced During
Casting
Gas Porosity occurs due to the absorption
of gas.
Metal + Water→Metal oxide + Hydrogen
The solubility of hydrogen in the liquid
metal (Al) increases with the increase in
temperature.
Degassing the liquid metal by reducing the
pressure above the liquid metal reduces
gas porosity.
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 Defects Produced During
Casting
Sievert’s law:

G  k pg

[G] is the equilibrium solubility of the gas.

k is the equilibrium constant.
Pg is the partial pressure of the gas at the
metal surface. 43
 Defects Produced During
Casting
Aspiration
During the pouring operation of the liquid
metal it is important that the quality of the
metal is not compromised. Molten metal
reacts with oxygen to form metal oxide
which protects the underlying metal from
further oxidation.

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 Defects Produced During
Casting
• If the liquid metal is not poured in a
quiescent manner the metal oxide can be
ingested in the metal and solidified as
nonmetallic inclusions. For instances in
which metal is poured into permeable
molds, atmospheric gases can be
introduced to the metal through aspiration.

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