Casting Design

Considerations & Welding

 Design Considerations
Avoid sharp corners avoided to reduce stress concentrations.
Design Considerations
Location of largest circle inscribed defines shrinkage cavities

Hot spots – lower cooling rate

- develop cavities and porosity

Cavities can be eliminated

With small cores
 Design Considerations

Uniform cross- sections in castings to avoid hot spots and shrinkage cavities
Design Considerations

Eliminate hot spots

Uniform cross-section
and wall thickness
throughout casting
Design Considerations

Eliminate hot spots

Metal paddings in mold
(external chills) increase the
rate of cooling in thick
regions in a casting to avoid
shrinkage cavities
 Design Considerations
Shrinkage Allowance
• 10 mm/m to 20 mm/m

• Parting line –
– along a flat plane,
– Corners or edges of casting
 Design Considerations
Draft
• 5 mm/m to 15 mm/m
• Draft Angle 0.5o to 2o
• Angles on inside are twice this range (casting shrinks
inwards towards the core)
• Draft angle in permanent mold casting is more than sand
casting

Machining Allowance
• Small castings - 2 mm to 5 mm
• Large castings - more than 25 mm
 Design Considerations
Dimensional Tolerances
• Wide as possible
• Small castings ± 0.8 mm
• Large castings ± 6 mm
 Design Considerations
• Geometric simplicity - Avoid unnecessary complexity
• Corners - Avoid sharp corners, generous fillet radius
• Section thickness - Uniform section thickness to avoid
shrinkage cavities and hot spots
• Draft - Facilitate removal of parts from mold. (1 deg. For
sand and 2/3 deg. for permanent)
• Use of cores - minimize the use of core
• Dimensional tolerance and surface finish - proper choice
of casting method
• Machining allowances - For assembly purposes
 Cleaning and Finishing
1. Casting is taken out of the mould by shaking and the
Moulding sand is recycled often with suitable additions.
2. The remaining sand, some of which may be embedded in the
casting, is removed by means of Shot blasting.
3. The excess material in the form of sprue, runners, gates etc.,
along with the flashes formed due to flow of molten metal into
the gaps is broken manually in case of brittle casting or
removed by sawing and grinding in case of ductile grinding.
4. The entire casting is then cleaned by either shot blasting or
chemical pickling.
5. Sometimes castings are heat treated to achieve better
mechanical properties.