Presentation
on
INSPECTION OF
CASTINGS AND
CASTING
DEFECTS
Dr Gurraj Singh
Assistant Professor
Department of Industrial & Production Engineering
Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology
Jalandhar
Email Address : singhg@[Link]
1 2 3 4 5 6
Talk Layout
1 Introduction to Inspection of Casting
2 Casting defects
3 Types of Defects
4 Casting Inspection and Testing
5 Destructive Testing
6 Non Destructive Testing
INSPECTION OF CATINGS
Need
• Every step in the process of metal casting, from pattern-
making to heat treating, is done carefully to avoid
problems with the soundness, surface finish, mechanical
properties, and final dimensions of the finished casting.
• Yet even castings made with diligence should undergo
inspection for quality control.
• Small problems can arise unexpectedly, and many castings
have mechanical requirements that may be undermined by
a hidden defect.
• Inspection allows foundry and clients to feel confident
they have a quality casting.
Dr GurRaj Singh
CASTING DEFECTS
Types
• 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.
• They are broken down into five main categories:
1. Surface defects,
2. Inclusions,
3. Mould material defects,
4. Pouring metal defects,
5. Gas Porosity defects
6. Metallurgical defects
Dr GurRaj Singh
CASTING DEFECTS (SURFACE DEFECTS)
Surface Defects
• Surface defects are visible to an inspector.
• These include very rough or uneven surfaces; “veins” or “rat tails” caused by cracking of the mold at high
temperatures; “elephant skin,” which is puckered due to quick cooling; burned sand; and stripping defects.
• Stripping defects are flakes of metal on the surface caused by gas being trapped in the mold.
Dr GurRaj Singh
CASTING DEFECTS (INCLUSIONS)
Slag Inclusion
• Slag inclusion is a defect where non-metallic materials create pockets
or ribbon-like entrainments in the casting.
• During pouring, the foundry worker must keep slag out of the mold
itself.
• Just before pouring, slag is often skimmed, but not all the slag is be
captured at this stage.
• The sprue or gates of the mold also need to be formed to capture it.
• Failures at any step in this process may allow slag to contaminate the
metal.
• Oxides are not the only slag: carbides, sulfides, or nitrides can also be
at fault.
Dr GurRaj Singh
CASTING DEFECTS (INCLUSIONS)
Sand Inclusion
• Sand inclusion is very common.
• It is expected in small quantities at surface depths for all sand castings.
• However, too much sand inclusion can ruin a casting.
• In this defect, sand from the mold gets trapped in the metal.
If there is a lot of sand inclusion at the surface, it might indicate the
need for a mold wash, or a different molding system.
• Perhaps a better choice would be no-bake molding or an investment
casting.
• This defect may also suggest there was not enough binder, or not the
right kind of binder, to create a strong shell.
• Another possibility is that the sand was insufficiently packed.
Dr GurRaj Singh
CASTING DEFECTS (METAL POURING DEFECTS)
Under pour or misrun defects
• Under pour or misrun defects happen when not
enough molten metal has been introduced to fill
the mold.
• Sometimes, open risers are used to judge when a
mold is full: if they are misplaced, the casting
might be short poured.
• Sometimes, misruns are caused by early freezing
during the pour.
• In misruns, some part of the casting is incomplete,
usually with a rounded edge where the metal
froze before it reached the mold’s wall.
Dr GurRaj Singh
CASTING DEFECTS (METAL POURING DEFECTS)
Cold shuts
• Cold lap or cold shuts happen when the temperature of the mold
or of the molten material is too low.
• Rather than flowing quickly throughout the mold, part of the
stream of metal slows and begins to harden.
• This freezing bulge becomes an obstacle that the rest of the metal
eddies around: like a rock in the river, there is often a disturbance
on the down-stream side of the obstacle.
• The visible round lip of the cold lap creates a permanent
discontinuity in the surface of the casting.
• This defect is visible on the surface.
Dr GurRaj Singh
CASTING DEFECTS (MOLDING DEFECTS)
Mold Shift
• Mold mismatch or mold shift can happen if the cope and drag, or top and bottom of the mold are
misaligned when it is closed.
• The resulting casting is often comical, as the top and bottom parts of the mold are askew.
Dr GurRaj Singh
CASTING DEFECTS (MOLDING DEFECTS)
Flashing
• Flashing at joins is common in castings but must be removed.
• Flashing is a thin skin created when liquid metal seeps between closed joints on the mold.
• If there is instability in the mold, flashing can be bad enough to deform the casting.
Dr GurRaj Singh
CASTING DEFECTS (MOLDING DEFECTS)
Cuts and Washes
• Cuts and washes are areas of excess metal. These appear when
the molten metal erodes the molding sand.
• A cut appears as a low projection along the surface of the drag
face, decreasing in height as it extends from one side of the
casting to the other.
• Cuts and washes can be caused by molten metal flowing at
a high velocity, causing too much metal to flow through the
gate.
• They can be prevented by designing the gating system
properly, improving mold and core strength and adding more
binders to the facing and core sand
Dr GurRaj Singh
CASTING DEFECTS (MOLDING DEFECTS)
Fusion
• Fusion occurs when sand grains fuse with molten metal.
• It appears as a thin crust with a brittle, glassy appearance
firmly adhered to the casting.
• Two main factors can cause fusion are low refractoriness of
clay and sand and high pouring temperature of molten metal.
• Improving the refractoriness of the molding material and/or
reducing the pouring temperature of the molten metal will help
prevent fusion.
• Refractoriness is the ability of the molding material to resist
the temperature of the liquid so it doesn’t fuse with the metal.
Silica sand has the highest refractoriness.
Dr GurRaj Singh
CASTING DEFECTS (MOLDING DEFECTS)
Swells
• Swells are an enlargement of the casting.
• Swells typically take on the shape of a slight, smooth
bulge on the vertical face of castings.
• Swell is usually caused by improper or soft ramming
of the mold or a low strength mold.
• Molds should be built to withstand liquid metal
pressure.
• Otherwise, the mold wall may give way or move back,
causing swelling.
• Using a strong, properly rammed mold prevents swells.
Dr GurRaj Singh
CASTING DEFECTS (MOLDING DEFECTS)
Metal Penetration
• Metal penetration occurs when liquid metal penetrates gaps in the molding
sand.
• The penetration is visible to the naked eye as a rough and uneven surface
finish of the casting.
• Metal penetration is due to use of sand with low strength and high
permeability or use of large or coarse sand grain.
• The coarser the sand grains, the more severe the metal penetration
• They are also caused due to lack of mold wash or soft ramming of sand.
• Use high strength, small grain size, low permeability and hard ramming of
sand. Ensure a protective barrier against metal penetration by coating the
surface of molds with a mold wash.
Dr GurRaj Singh
CASTING DEFECTS (GAS POROSITY DEFECTS)
Pin holes
• Gas porosity occurs when the metal traps gas (most often nitrogen,
oxygen or hydrogen) during casting.
• Pinholes, also sometimes referred to as porosities, are very tiny holes
(about 2 mm) usually found in the cope (upper) part of the mold, in poorly
vented pockets.
• They usually appear in large numbers together, either at the surface or just
below the surface of the casting.
• They are always visible to the naked eye and don’t require equipment to
identify.
Dr GurRaj Singh
CASTING DEFECTS (GAS POROSITY DEFECTS)
Blow holes
• Blowholes, or simply blows, are larger cavities than pinholes.
• They can be open surface as well as sub surface in nature.
• A subsurface blowhole appears on the inside of a cast and usually
isn’t visible until after machining.
• Subsurface blowholes can be difficult to detect before machining,
requiring harmonic, ultrasonic, magnetic or x-ray analysis.
• They are usually caused due to poor venting of mold and cores or
insufficient drying of mold and cores.
Dr GurRaj Singh
CASTING DEFECTS (METALLURGICAL DEFECTS)
Hot Tears
• Cracks appear in the form of irregular crevices in a branched
pattern.
• Some cracks are obvious and easily seen, while others can
require magnification.
• Cracks occur as the casting cools, towards the end of
solidification.
• If the solidifying metal does not have sufficient strength to
resist tensile forces during solidification, hot tears will appear.
• Hot tears are mostly caused by poor mold design. Modifying
the mold to improve collapsibility can easily resolve these
issues.
Dr GurRaj Singh
CASTING DEFECTS (METALLURGICAL DEFECTS)
Hot/Hard Spots
• Hot spots are spots that are harder than the surrounding
area.
• This is because they cooled more quickly than the
surrounding material.
• Hard spots can interfere with machining and increase tool
wear.
• Hot spots are a direct result of improper cooling practices.
• There are two potential solutions if hot spots namely
correction of cooling practice and changing the metal’s
chemical composition.
Dr GurRaj Singh
INSPECTION AND TESTING OF CASTINGS
Types
• Dimensional tolerance or surface finish problems can often be seen with visual inspection and
measurement.
• Tests for mechanical properties can also be done simply.
• Some of the other problems, like porosity and shrinkage cavities, are internal to the casting.
• Testing methods are available to catch internal problems so that a casting doesn’t unexpectedly fail under
load.
• There are two main types of internal tests: destructive and non-destructive.
Dr GurRaj Singh
DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
What it means?
• In every production run, the foundry will choose a few samples and submit them
to destructive testing.
• The casting is cut, and the properties of the metal inspected closely.
• The tester will look for inclusions, porosity, and shrinkage.
• Although destructively testing one casting does not guarantee anything about the
other castings in the run, it does give a sense of the overall quality of the process.
• Radiographic and ultrasonic technologies have decreased the importance of
destructive testing, but it is still used to inspect the quality and make evaluations
about a run.
Dr GurRaj Singh
NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
What it means?
• Non-destructive testing is done by foundry workers, clients, and NDT technicians to verify the internal
and external soundness of a casting without damaging it.
• Its types include:
1. Visual inspection
2. Dimensional Inspection
3. Liquid Dye Penetrant Inspection
4. Magnetic Particle Inspection
5. Ultrasonic Testing
6. Radiographic Inspection
Dr GurRaj Singh
NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
Visual and Dimensional Inspection
• Visual Inspection uses the human eye to identify surface defects, cracks, gas evolution, slag or sand
inclusions, mis-runs, cold shuts, and molding flaws.
• Dimensional Inspection is undertaken to ensure a part meets dimensional requirements/tolerances.
• This can be done manually or with a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) that uses probes to get very
precise measurements.
Dr GurRaj Singh
NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
Liquid Dye Penetrant Inspection
• Liquid Dye Penetrant Inspection (LPI) finds tiny cracks, pores or other surface imperfections in all
types of metal castings which would be hard to see by looking.
• The tester first cleans the casting to remove any particles of grit or dust that may prevent the liquid dye
from going into cracks in the metal.
• Once clean and dry, the tester bathes the casting with a penetrant solution.
• Different types of LPI use different solutions, but generally it’s a brightly dyed oil with high capillary
action and low viscosity, meaning it will run freely into cracks in the casting.
• After sufficient time has passed to allow the liquid to do its job, excess is removed from the surface.
• This is generally done by gently wiping with a damp cloth, making sure not to flood the casting which
could remove the dye in the cracks.
• The tester then applies a special developer and the casting defects become clearly visible.
Dr GurRaj Singh
NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
Liquid Dye Penetrant Inspection
Dr GurRaj Singh
NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
Liquid Dye Penetrant Inspection
Dr GurRaj Singh
NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
Magnetic Particle Inspection
• Magnetic Particle Inspection (MPI) is similar to LPI in that it is used to find small cracks and holes on
the surface or shallow subsurface of a casting.
• However, this process can only be used in castings made of ferromagnetic metal that can create a
magnetic field—metals like iron, cobalt, nickel, and some of their alloys. The casting is magnetized,
usually with electromagnets, to start the test.
• Where there are discontinuities like cracks or holes in the surface or close subsurface of a casting, the
magnetic field induced will be disrupted.
• To find the disruptions, the casting is sprayed with a dust or liquid containing small particles of iron
oxide or other substance that react in a magnetic field.
• This sprayed particulate will cluster near the edges of distortions, outlining places where the magnetic
flux is low.
Dr GurRaj Singh
NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
Magnetic Particle Inspection
Dr GurRaj Singh
NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
Magnetic Particle Inspection
Dr GurRaj Singh
NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
Ultrasonic Testing
• Ultrasonic Testing (UT) finds defects by using high frequency acoustic energy transmitted into a casting,
in a technology similar to the ultrasounds used by medical technicians.
• Sound waves travel through a casting until they hit the opposite surface or an interface or defect.
• Any barrier reflects the sound waves, which bounce back and are recorded for an analyst to look at.
• The pattern of the energy deflection can indicate the location and size of an internal defect.
• This non-destructive test can also be used to examine wall thickness, and the nodule count of ductile iron.
• Extremely small flaws can be found with UT at very large depths, allowing for a great deal of accuracy
and confidence.
• An experienced technician can even make estimates as to the nature of an alloy by looking at the acoustic
signature of an unknown metal.
Dr GurRaj Singh
NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
Ultrasonic Testing
Dr GurRaj Singh
NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
Ultrasonic Testing
Dr GurRaj Singh
NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
Radiographic Inspection (X-Ray)
• Radiographic Inspection (X-Ray) creates images like those in a hospital that show broken bones.
• The ghostly images produced through casting X-Ray show dark spots where there are shrinkage cavities,
the small breaks and crevices of heat cracking, or the pinhole dots of porosity.
• During the radiographic inspection process, a casting is exposed to radiation from an x-ray tube.
• The casting absorbs part of the radiation, and the remaining portion of the radiation exposes the
radiographic film.
• Denser parts of the casting will withstand the radiation penetration, so the film is exposed to a lesser
degree in those areas, giving the film a lighter appearance.
• Less dense parts of the casting allow more radiation penetration, resulting in greater film exposure.
• Every space in the casting therefore casts a “shadow” on the final x-ray, caused by radiation passing more
easily through it, and the x-ray depicts any crack, void or inclusion as a dark area on the film.
Dr GurRaj Singh
NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
Radiographic Inspection (X-Ray)
Dr GurRaj Singh
NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
Radiographic Inspection (X-Ray)
Dr GurRaj Singh
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION TESTING
How to do?
• The performance properties of an alloy are determined to a significant degree by the chemical
composition of the alloy, with minor alloying elements often having a significant effect.
• This has lead to the practice of specifying casting alloys by using ASTM, Society of Automotive
Engineers (SAE) and AMS alloy specifications.
• These alloy specifications provide a commonly accepted chemical composition for a wide range of
different alloys.
• Depending on the sensitivity of a given alloy’s properties to variations in chemical composition,
chemical analysis of the alloy may be called for in a given specification.
• The chemical analysis is commonly done on a sample of molten metal poured into a special mold and
then evaluated by spectrographic atomic absorption or x-ray florescence analysis.
Dr GurRaj Singh
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION TESTING
How to do?
• Modern foundries use x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis machine [spectrometer] in their metallurgy labs.
• Before the metal is poured from the melting pot, a sample of molten metal is poured in to a small
“coupon” mold and the casting quality is evaluated in the spectrometer.
• If needed, minor alloying elements are added to the material to bring the alloy melt into required
specification.
• Then another coupon is tested and certified to ensure proper chemical composition.
• The chemical composition of every alloy melt is tested and recorded in the database.
Dr GurRaj Singh
