Hand-rammed

Hand-ramming of sand depends on operator skill. Accuracy is usually poor, and this is usually countered by generous machining allowances. Repeatability and surface finish are poor.

Sand Casting Process In Fanovo Industries:

1. Foundry sands are usually a blend of silica grains (SiO₂), 5–20% clay or bentonite and water (2–8%).
2. Sand is molded by hand or machined, around a wooden or metal pattern that can be withdrawn to leave a cavity of the required shape in the sand. To facilitate this, the molds are usually split into two or more parts and the patterns tapered (5 mm m^-1). Yields are 40–50%, cast weights range from 100 g to 100 tonnes.
3. Access to the mold cavity for molten metal entry is provided via a pouring basin sprue, runner, riser and in-gate system molded in the top and bottom halves of the mold.
4. Cores are used to form holes in the castings. They are placed in the split molds after pattern removal. Usually, cores are made by dry sand molding techniques. Core sand is mixed with oil, organic bonding material and water. They are molded in core boxes, then removed and baked at 170–230 ˚C. A newer method of making cores is to bind the core by passing CO₂through it.
5. A wide range of productivity is obtainable from machine moldings using apparatus such as hand-operated “jolt-squeeze” to massive industrial plant. Plant and tooling costs are always high.
6. Chemically bonded sands (sodium silicate/CO₂process) produce hard molds with good dimensional accuracy, but which are intolerant of pattern work inaccuracies. The sand is not easily recycled.

Materials:

1. Most metals and alloys (except the reactive and refractory metals such as titanium and tungsten), can be sand cast in air.
2. Cast irons (Fe/1.5–5%C) are cast at 1200–1480 ˚C. Grey cast irons contain flake graphite particles, which give good vibration properties. This is to the detriment of strength and ductility. Much of the ductility can be regained by changing the graphite into a less detrimental globular or spheroidal form. This is achieved by inoculating the melt, just before casting, with a small amount of magnesium.
3. Because of their higher melting point, steels are not favored as casting alloys.
4. The second biggest group of casting alloys in Fanovo foundry are the aluminum based alloys. Aluminum/silicon alloys are the most castable alloys, with the eutectic composition (12% silicon) the most favorable. A major problem with aluminum castings is the relatively high shrinkage that occurs during solidification.
5. Copper-based alloys are sand cast with additions of zinc, tin and lead.
6. When casting cast iron, the molding material has added coal dust; this type of green sand is black. When “natural” sands are used (silica sand deposits containing the clay with which they were found, or sedimentary deposits, the clay acting as its own “natural” binder) other colors are found. For instance, “Bromsgrove Red” is a popular natural molding sand, dug direct from the ground and delivered to the factory. This type of green sand is red.

Design:

1.The size and shape of the pattern must take into account the relative amount of shrinkage and the change in shape that can occur on solidification.

Approximate shrinkages for some casting alloy.