CASTING DESIGN RULES

Do we need stringent tolerances?

• Requirements for close tolerances
significantly affect the cost and delivery
time of castings.
• Close tolerances could result in the need
for special casting processes.
• Tolerance must always be greater on
dimensions across the parting line …...
In case of sand mould, cope and drag
parting surfaces will not close together
exactly and precisely at all points from
mould to mould.
• In castings, heat transfer and solidification of
the casting are two closely related areas
• Look for those areas in the mould where
heat transfer is delayed due to restricted
surface area.
• These are hot spots in the mould, can cause
a delay in the solidification of the casting in
those areas and thus be a source of casting
defects.
• The hot spots may produce defects visible
on the casting or can set up internal stresses
that could later cause the casting to fail.
Consult a foundryman or patternmaker
1. General design
2. Type of pattern needed
3. Metal shrinkage
4. How the casting is to be moulded
5. Location of parting line
6. Design of a gating system to ensure
proper filling of the mould cavity
7. Placement of risers to provide molten
metal as the casting solidifies
8. Number of castings to be produced in each
mould
9. Feasibility of making on a moulding
machine
10. Accessibility of parts for cleaning
11. Location of machined surfaces
12. Dimensional tolerances which can be held
 Rule 1: Avoid sharp angles and abrupt
section changes:
• Solidification of metal always proceeds from
the mould face
• crystal grains penetrate into the liquid mass
at right angles to the plane of cooling surface

A simple section presents uniform cooling and

a casting free from mechanical weakness.
• When two or more sections conjoin, free
cooling is interrupted at the junction, creating
a “Hot spot”.
Metal structure is also influenced by the
solidification range of the alloy poured.
Rounded corners avoid local
structural weakness.
• Avoid abrupt section changes; eliminate
sharp corners at adjoining sections.
• The difference in the relative thickness of
adjoining sections should not exceed 2:1.
• Where a greater difference is unavoidable,
consider design with detachable parts. For
example, the Guideways of machine tool
beds can be bolted, etc.
• When a change of thickness is less than
2:1, it may take the form of a fillet
• where the difference is greater, the form
recommended is that of a wedge, with a
taper not exceeding 1:4.
Replace sharp angles and corners with radii.

Local structural Local shrink

weakness weakness
Too large a fillet not desirable
Replacing all sharp angles with radii, minimizes
heat and stress concentration.
Avoid acute angles in designing
adjoining sections
Avoid core design which does not
present a cooling surface.
 Rule 2: Fillet all sharp angles
Fillets have three functional purposes:
• To reduce stress concentration in the
casting in service.
• To eliminate cracks, tears and draws at re-
entry angles.
• To make corners more mouldable and to
eliminate hot-spots.
Too large fillet radius, exceeding section
thickness, causes “Hot Spot” at junctions and
tends to cause structural weakness.
Other examples where fillets can
help solve casting problems are
those of V and Y sections.
 Rule 3: Bring the minimum
number of sections together
• A well designed casting brings the
minimum number of sections together
avoiding acute angles.
• Sections are no thicker than necessary to
achieve the desired strength
• Sections are evenly proportioned to avoid
local slow cooling.
Adding too large fillets aggravates defect
Avoid concentration of
metal by staggering
cross-members ribs
Cored hole helps speed up solidification
where a number of sections conjoin

Circular web with adjoining

sections is preferred
 Rule 4: Design all sections as
uniform in thickness as possible.
• Failing this, all heavy sections should be
accessible for feeding by riser.
Designing with uniform section thickness,
saves weight, material, machining costs
and results in a stronger casting.
 Hydraulic coupling

Correct Design
Rule 5:Avoiding shrinkage cavities
Use metal padding/chills to increase the
cooling rate in thick regions and
develop steeper temperature gradient
in a casting to avoid shrinkage cavities.
 Rule 6: Dimensions of Inner walls
should be correctly proportioned
• Inner sections of castings, due to complex
cores, cool much slower than outer sections
and cause variations in strength properties.
Rule:
• Reduce inner sections to 9/10th of the
thickness of the outer wall.
• Avoid rapid section changes and sharp
angles.
• Wherever complex cores must be used,
design for uniformity of section to avoid local
heavy masses of metal.
When the diameter of the core is less than the
section thickness of the metal surrounding it, the
core becomes overheated slowing down the
solidification rate and can cause “Hot Spot”.
Rule 7: Do not use bosses, lugs and
pads unless absolutely necessary

• Bosses, pads and lugs increase metal

thickness creating hot spots.
• When used, they should be blended by
tapering or flattening the fillets.
When several bosses or pads are on one surface, they
should be joined if possible, to facilitate machining.
• This aids in removing possible hot spots and also
allows for moving hole locations.
 Rule 8: Design ribs and brackets
for maximum effectiveness
• Ribs have two basic functions:
1. Improve stiffness, and
2. Reduce weight
• Ribs and brackets when incorrectly used
can create moulding problems, shrink
defects and localized hot spots which can
create localized structural weakness.
• Ribs in compression, in general, offer a
greater factor of safety than ribs in tension
• Thickness of ribs should approximate 0.8 of
the casting thickness.
• Avoid complex ribbing when possible to
simplify moulding procedure and assure
more uniform solidification conditions
• Avoid concentration of heat by providing cored
openings in webs and ribs.

• Use oval shaped cored holes with the longest

dimension in the direction of the stresses.
 When designing gears, flywheels and
spoked wheels:
• Use odd number of curved spokes.

Curved spokes dissipate additional stress.

• Provide for all cross sections to cool as
evenly as possible by avoiding excessive
sectional variation.
• Blend sections of varying sizes carefully.
• A balance between the section size of the
rim, spokes, and hub must be attempted in
order to minimize stress and avoid chances
of cracking.