Objective

The objective of this experiment is to have a general understanding of some common casting
defects, such as oxide film, porosity, and residual stresses and to understand the causes of
occurrence of casting defects and the ways to prevent their formation during casting and the
methods of removing them.

Introduction

There are several types of defects in casting some of those are segregation, porosity, oxide films,
hot tearing etc. Some casting defects are apparent which can be detected by naked eye inspection.
These are mostly surface defects. On the other hand, some defects are latent type which can’t be
detected before machining the casting. These are not surface defects. In Casting process which
carries risk of failure occurrence during all the process of accomplishment of the finished product.
Hence necessary action should be taken while manufacturing of cast product so that defect free
parts are obtained. A casting defect is an undesired irregularity in a metal casting process. Some
defects can be tolerated while others can be repaired, otherwise they must be eliminated. Mostly
casting defects are concerned with process parameters. Hence one has to control the process
parameter to achieve zero defect parts. For controlling process parameter, one must have
knowledge about effect of process parameter on casting and their influence on defect. To obtain
this all knowledge about casting defect, their causes, and defect remedies one has to be analyze
casting defects. Casting defect analysis is the process of finding root causes of occurrence of
defects in the rejection of casting and taking necessary step to reduce the defects and to improve
the casting yield.

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Pattern

i. Round plate.
ii. 3-bar frame.

Alloy Composition

i. Aluminum alloy

Flux

i. Degaser

Experimental Procedure

Method for Oxide Film

1. Greensand moulds was prepared for casting of two round bars.

2. A dirty master alloy composition was prepared by repeated (at least 10 times) melting and
freezing of aluminium alloy.
3. Dirty aluminium was melted and cast to prepare two round bars.
4. Another two round test bars were prepared using fresh aluminium alloys using the same
greensand moulding system.

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 5. The presence of any casting defects (oxide films, porosity, etc.) were observed on the
surface of the round bars.
6. Tensile test bars were prepared and tensile tests was conducted. The yield/0.2% proof
strength, tensile strength and elongation at failure of the sample was determined. The
presence of any casting defects (oxide films, porosity, etc.) on the broken surface of the
tensile test pieces was observed.
7. The broken tensile test pieces were used to prepare four cylindrical test blocks to measure density
and percentage porosity of the sample. 2.67 g/cc value was used as the theoretical density for the
aluminium alloy.
8. Data sheet was completed using these data.

Method for Residual Stress Test

1. Two bottom-poured, greensand moulds were prepared for residual stresses test.
2. Pure aluminium (E = 70 GPa) was melted and poured into a mould at 850 C.
3. The remaining melt was cooled to 700 C, and poured into the remaining mould.
4. The moulds were broken giving an equal cooling time from pouring for each mould.
5. The castings were removed carefully from gating systems and cleaned.
6. Two lines on the thick bar were scribed and their spacing was measured very accurately
using a micrometer. The distance was indicated as L1.
7. Thick bar was cut between the lines and the distance between the lines was measured again.
The new distance was indicated as L2.
8. Data sheet was completed using these data.

Calculation

We can extract Yield strength and elongation from the stress strain curve. As aluminum shows no
exact yield point .2% proof load is used to determine the yield strength of the sample.

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Figure 1: Stress-strain curve for Dirty Aluminum sample.

Figure 2: Stress-strain curve for Pure Aluminum sample.

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Density and porosity calculation:

𝑔
Theoretical density for Al alloy, 𝜌0 = 2.67 𝑐𝑐

Alloy Weight, (M) Height, (H) Diameter, (D) Density, ρ % Porosity

Composition gm mm Mm (gm/cc) 𝜌0 − 𝜌
= ∗ 100
4𝑀 𝜌0
𝜌=
𝜋𝐷2 𝐻
Fresh Al 11.5114 13.95 15.42 2.58 3.37
Dirty Al 12.7210 20.25 20.17 2.57 3.74

Result

Data Sheet for Mechanical Properties:

Alloy Yield/Proof Tensile Elongation, Density, Porosity. %

Condition Strength, Strength, MPa % g/cc
MPa
Fresh Al 16.27 70. 4421 45 2.58 3.29
Dirty Al 8.09 62.5895 9.6 2.57 3.67

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Data Sheet for Residual Stress Test:

Pouring L1 L2 Strain Residual Stress

Temperature, mm mm 𝜀 = (𝐿2 − 𝐿1 )⁄𝐿1 = 𝛼∆𝑇 𝜎 = 𝜀𝐸, 𝑀𝑃𝑎
℃
700 135 136 7.4𝑋10−3 518
850 125 126 8.0𝑋10−3 560

Here,

α = coefficient of thermal expansion of the alloy,

∆𝑇 = temperature difference during casting (i.e., pouring temperature – room temperature).

Discussion

1. Effect of melt quality on the quality of cast product:

Form our obtained data we can observe that the dirty Aluminum sample has lower Yield strength,
Tensile strength, %Elongation, Density, than that of pure aluminum sample. And the dirty
aluminum sample has higher porosity than that of pure aluminum sample. Dirty aluminum sample
contains higher level of oxide films, inclusion, dross, dissolved gas like hydrogen, nitrogen,
oxygen etc. These elements are very detrimental for the mechanical property of aluminum. For
example, oxide films serve as a nucleation site for the porosity and dissolved hydrogen in the melt
helps in the growth of the porosity. After crossing a certain length this porosity can act like a crack
and will fail below the normal tensile strength of pure aluminum sample. Due to formation of hard
brittle compound or supersaturated with hydrogen may reduce the ductility of the dirty sample.

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So, we can conclude that the mechanical property of the dirty sample deteriorated due the presence
of impurities in it.

Effect of composition on the quality of cast product

The composition of pure and dirty sample is not equal. Commercially pure aluminum (LM0)
contains almost pure aluminum with little amount of Mg and Cu. On the other hand, dirty
aluminum is not pure aluminum it contains several dissolved gases like oxygen, hydrogen,
nitrogen, inclusion etc. These change in composition has a marked effect on the quality of cast
product. For example, dirty sample contains lots of surface and bult porosity, microstructural
observation shows the presence of oxide films and inclusion in the cast product. Due to the
presence of these defects the mechanical property of dirty aluminum is not as good as like pure
aluminum.

Methods to eliminate oxide film in casting

1. Using filter in the running system so that the oxide films trapped in it and can’t enter in the
mould cavity.
2. Reducing the height of the falling stream which will reduce the turbulence. As turbulence
is one of the main reasons for oxide formation in the liquid so if we can reduce turbulence
we will be able to reduce oxide films in the liquid.
3. Keeping the maximum velocity of the liquid in the running system below a critical value
(about 0.5m/s). Because above this critical value turbulence will occur which will introduce
oxide film in the liquid metal.
𝑣 2 𝜌𝑟
4. Designing the gating system properly so that the Weber number ( 𝑊𝑒 = ) is kept well
𝛾

below 100. So, surface turbulence will not be introduced.

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5. Designing the gating system (bottom pouring system, no use of sprue well, keeping the
height of the runner close to the sessile drop of the liquid etc) in a way so that minimum
turbulence is introduced in the liquied.
6. For ferrous alloy swirl gate can be used to remove oxides and other lighter impurities. One
thing should be remembered swirl trap can’t be used for light alloy. It will worsen the
situation.

Methods to eliminate porosity in casting

1. Reducing moisture content in the charge, furnace lining, tools etc.

2. Melting and pouring liquid metal at lower temperature. Because at high temperature liquid
metal can dissolve more gas, this dissolved gas may introduce porosity in the product in
the later stage.
3. Using adequate metal head pressure. Because high metal head pressure will suppress the
nucleation and growth of the gas pore.
4. Pouring the liquid metal inside the mould at a low pressure it will help to eliminate the gas
bubble, but then raising the pressure during solidification it will help to suppress the
formation of gas bubble.
5. Poring the liquid metal without any interruption.
6. Venting the mould properly.
7. Modifying the metal composition to improve the fluidity.
8. Ensuring the moulds are adequately preheated.

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 2.

Residual Stress VS Pouring Temperature

570

560
Residual Stress (MPa)
550

540

530

520

510

500

490
700 850
Pouring Temperature (℃)

Figure 3: Effect of Pouring Temperature on the Residual stress.

• Effect of mould materials and cooling rate on residual stress:

Cooling rate in metal mould is higher than that of sand mould. With increasing cooling rate residual
stress will be increased. Because higher cooling rate increases the amount of fine precipitates, for
this reason tensile strength and yield strength increases. Thus, increases residual stress with the
increasing of plastic strain and degree of inhomogeneous plastic deformation. For this reason,
residual stress is high in metal mould than that of sand mould.

• Effect of clay and moisture content in sand mould

With increasing the moisture and clay content hardness and strength of the mould increases up to
a certain limit. So, if we use more clay and moisture to make a mould then we will get a mould
with higher hardness and strength. When solidification starts liquid metal start to solidify from the
mould wall. Liquid metal solidify and shrink freely at the mould wall. In later stage when the liquid
in the bulk start to solidify it experience solid contraction. But the contraction is opposed by the

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already solidified metal at the mould wall which is very hard and strong. So, the central portion of
the casting will be under tensile stress. The higher will be the value of mould hardness and strength
the greater will be the residual stress.

• Effect of pouring temperature:

From figure_3 we can observe that the residual stress is increasing with the increasing in pouring
temperature. With increase in pouring temperature liquid contraction of the melt increases. With
increasing in the shrinkage will require a more liquid supply to compensate the shrinkage. If
adequate supply of liquid metal is not available then obviously residual stress will develop.

• Effect of casting dimension:

Residual stress is related to casting dimension. With increasing in dimension, casting requires more
supply of liquid metal to compensate the shrinkage. Because shrinkage or requirement of liquid
metal is large for big casting. If the supply of the liquid metal is not adequate then residual stress
will be generated due to the shrinkage of the casting. On the other hand, shrinkage is lower in
smaller casting and adequate supply of liquid metal is available (from runner, ingate etc.) to
compensate this shrinkage. As a result, lower residual stress will develop in the smaller casting.

Residual Stress minimization

1. Heat treatment: Slowly heating the casting to a prescribed temperature. Then holding the
casting to that temperature for a while, so that the casting can achieve a uniform
temperature. Then slowly cooling the casting to the room temperature. It will reduce the
residual stress introduced in the casting. While cooling the casting it should not be very
fast. If we cool the casting in a faster rate then residual stress will be reintroduced.

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 2. Mechanical treatment: we can introduce some sort of
compressive strength in the casting surface as shown in the
figure_4 to counter the surface residual tensile stress.
Several methods are available some of these methods are
shot peening, leaser peening, surface rolling etc. This
process is very efficient to reduce residual stress. Shot
peening typically uses a metal or glass material; laser
peening uses high intensity beams of light to introduce a
shock wave that propagates deep into the material Figure 4: Shot peening.

Conclusion

In this experiment we have done some test to determine the effect of several impurities (oxide film,
porosity) on the mechanical property of the casting. We also tried to identify the reasons how these
impurities were introduced into the casting and how we can minimize the introduction of these
impurities in the casting. Finally, we observed the effect of pouring temperature on the residual
stress. From the experimental data it is seen that the dirty casting sample which contains lots of
impurities have a much lower mechanical property than that of pure aluminum sample and with
increasing the pouring temperature the residual stress also increased.

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