BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

2nd Semester 2017-18

MF F343 Casting and Welding
Report on Casting
Team Members:
1.Aakash Goel 2015ABPS0771H
2.Krishna Mohan Sahay 2015ABPS0545H
3.Pradyumna Chakraborty 2015ABPS0551H
4.Mrunank Bobde 2015ABPS0632H
5.Arpit Gautam 2015ABPS0639H

We were given the task to cast a piece out of aluminium weighing up to 500 grams.
The pattern size was limited due to the availability of materials to make the pattern. Owing to
the above constraints, we came up with a pattern design inspired by and very similar to the 3-
D logo of the popular social networking site Instagram. We also took a few design hints from
pyramids.

Pattern Making:

After deciding on the design to be made the next step to be followed was to make the pattern
itself. The pattern was made of wood. We had to cut and file it to bring it to the dimensions
required and to satisfy the allowances given to the product. The shrinkage allowance given to
the product was 2mm for each 20m. So, according to the dimensions of the product
appropriate shrinkage allowance was given. The taper allowance given to the pattern was 1°.

Mould Sand preparation:

After the preparation of pattern, the next step was to prepare the sand to make the sand mold
for sand casting. To find the Grain Fineness Number (GFN): A representative sample of the
sand is weighed and passed through a series of progressively finer sieves (screens) while
being agitated for a 15-min test cycle. The sand retained on each screen is weighed and the
weights are recorded. The weight retained one ach sieve is divided by the total sample weight
to arrive at the percent retained on each screen. The Calculation for GFN is shown below:

Opening Sand Mass (gm) Sample (%) AFS Multiplier AFS Product

1700 9.91 8.24047896 6 59.46

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 850 13.89 11.5499751 12 166.68
600 10.34 8.59803759 20 206.8
450 11.2 9.31315483 30 336

300 21.56 17.9278231 40 862.4

212 9.82 8.16564111 50 491
150 10.29 8.556461 70 720.3

106 30.3 25.1954099 100 3030

75 2 1.66306336 145 290
53 0.95 0.7899551 200 190

Total 120.26 100 6352.6

= 52.83

Hence, we can see that the GFN number for the sand is 52.83. Now, we move on to the
composition of sand. The sand for making the casting mould is green sand. It is actually not a
type of sand on its own, but is a mixture of Silica Sand(SiO2) upto 75-85%, clay 5-11%,
water 2-4%, inert sludge 3-5% and 0-1% of anthracite. On performing the strength test for the
sand sample with 9% moisture content we get the shear strength to be 320 . The tensile
Strength is 0.8 . The Bending strength is 7 and the compressive strength is 1230 . Next, we
added some water and tried to determine the moisture content in the sand sample. If we added
6ml water the moisture content was 2.5% and if we added 9ml water, it was 3.8%.
Permeability is a property of foundry sand with respect to how well the sand can vent, i.e.
how well gases pass through the sand. And in other words, permeability is the property by
which we can know the ability of material to transmit fluid/gases. The permeability is
commonly tested to see if it is correct for the casting conditions. The absolute permeability
number formula is

where,
• V = volume of air in ml passing through the specimen
• H = Height of the specimen in cm
• A = Cross sectional area of specimen in cm2
• P = Pressure of air in cm of water
• T = Time in minutes
The permeability number from the above equation comes out to be 555.842 (taking V=100
ml, T = 1.45 min) for the foundry sand content with 6% moisture content.

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Sand Casting:
The Pouring temperature for the molten aluminium was 550 Celsius.
Also, the time to fill the mould was known to be 79 seconds.
Hence the casting yield is calculated to be:

Gating system sketch

As per the experiment is concerned, we will choose pressurized system due to the following
advantages:
• It maintains the back pressure throughout the gating system.
• Minimize air aspiration even when straight sprues can be used

Overall Observation:
We had the following defects related to our final product:
• Our casting had rough surface finish, primarily due to the reuse of the sand in
our workshop.
• It also had a lot of pores and air trapped in between.
• There was a shrinkage at the bottom and the surface was depressed inside.

Microstructure and hardness:

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 The picture of the sample’s microstructure is as attached below.

(Sample’s microstructure)

Testing Method for Casting:

Indentation Test for Hardness using Vicker's Hardness Method: Tests Hardness of the
metal according to its ability to resist deformation by a pyramid-shaped indenter made of
diamond, also known as Vicker's Pyramid. The Vickers test can be used for all metals and
has one of the widest scales among hardness tests. The unit of hardness given by the test is
known as the Vickers Pyramid Number (HV) or Diamond Pyramid Hardness (DPH). The
hardness number can be converted into units of pascals. The hardness number is determined
by the load over the surface area of the indentation and not the area normal to the force, and
is therefore not pressure.
These were the readings for the hardness for our experiment:

• D1=146.49 micrometre
D2=136.45 micrometre

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 Hardness Value = 46.3

• D1=140.08 micrometre
D2=138.57 micrometre

Hardness Value = 47.8

• D1=148.28 micrometre
D2=139.47 micrometre

Hardness Value = 47.8

Conclusion:
Thus, in this project, we have successfully constructed a pattern, made a mould from it with
necessary sprue and riser, and have prepared a casted Aluminium shape from it. We have also
studied the material properties of the casted Aluminium.