CASTING DEFECTS

By: yaser elkelawy

From: united company for
foundries.

General Origin of Defects

in Casting
1. Casting Design.
2. Technique of Manufacture
(Method).
3. Application of Technique
(Workmanship).

Defects Grouped According

to their Origin
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Shaping faults arising in pouring.

Inclusions and sand defects.
Gas defects.
Shrinkage defects.
Contraction defects.
Dimensional errors.
Compositional errors and segregation.

Shaping faults arising in

pouring.
The liquid metal should satisfactorily
fill the mould cavity and develop a
smooth skin through intimate contact
with the mould surface.
The type of defects that might arise
if this requirement is not met are:
Misrun; Shortrun; Cold laps; Cold shuts.

Shaping faults arising in

pouring.
Misrun or Shortrun: the metal
solidifies prematurely and some limb
or section of the casting is missing.
Cold Laps: a less severe manifestation
of misrun.
Cold shuts: the discontinuity extends
through the casting member.

Shaping faults arising in

pouring.
These defects appear due to the following reasons:
Low metal temperature.
Excessive chilling from the mould face.
Too high moisture content in green sand.
A method developed for dry sand used in
conjunction with green sand.
Occurrence of rounded corners and edges and a
general lack of definition of sharp features and
fine mould detail.

Shrinkage Defects
Shrinkage defects arise from failure to
compensate for liquid and solidification
contraction so their occurrence is usually a
symptom of inadequate gating and risering
techniques.
Types of shrinkage defects:
o Major shrinkage cavity.
o Discrete porosity:
o Sinks and surface punctures.

Shrinkage Defects
Major Shrinkage Cavities
Appear in those alloys of short freezing range i.e.
solidify by skin formation.
Discrete Porosity
The longer freezing range alloys are subjected to
scattered porosity, susceptible alloys include:
bronzes, gun metals, and numerous light alloys and
phosphorous containing cast irons.
Chilling by inserting chills in the moulding material
is used to combat surface porosity in these alloys.

Shrinkage Defects
Sinks and surface punctures:
The solidified skins deform under
atmospheric pressure due to the
occurrence of low pressure conditions
within the casting.
This defect can be avoided by ensuring
access of atmospheric pressure to the
liquid metal in the feeder head.

Contraction Defects
Contraction occurs upon cooling from the solidus to room
temperature. Unlike the liquid and solidification
shrinkages, which can be compensated by by influx of
liquid, solid contraction affects all linear dimensions of
the casting, hence standard pattern allowances are made.
However, under practical cooling conditions, castings
usually have thin and thick sections, so they do not
contract freely and the metal develops cohesive strength
to overcome significant resistance or hindrance to
contraction which is offered by the mould or other parts
of the casting itself which vary in their thickness.

Contraction Defects
Hot Tears:
Hot tears or pulls are one form of this type of defect
often located at junctions where changes in section
occur, as the thin part cools more rapidly then the
thick part and when the thick parts cool and start to
contract they cannot contract freely because the
thin section has cooled enough to become hard and
rigid so the material tears at the junction separating
the thin part from the thick part.

Gas Defects
Defects of this type take the form
of internal blow holes, surface blows,
airlocks, surface or subcutaneous
pinholes or intergranular cavities.

Gas Defects
They result from:
Entrapment of air during pouring.
Evolution of water vapour on contact
between liquid metal and moulding material.
Precipitation during solidification as a
result of chemical reaction or change in
solubility.

Gas Defects
Gases enter liquid metal during melting as
temperature increases the solubility of
gases in the liquid increases, and vice versa.
The sources of gases are either:
mould gases,
Gases evolving from the metal upon
solidification.

Gas Defects
The preventive measures are:
Melting precautions:
preheating of charge materials to evaporate
surface moisture, also preheating any
material added to the liquid bath during
melting.
Fast melting.
Using protective fluxes.

Follow Melting
Precautions:
Following proper melt treatment: oxidationdeoxidation reactions.
Maintaining the metal temperature as low as
possible.
Drying and preheating all spouts, ladles, shanks,
and furnace tools.
Vacuum melting if justifiable.
Degasing molten metal: gas scavenging by argon,
nitrogen, or chlorine, or by vacuum degasing for
non-ferrous metals.

Inclusions and Sand

Defects
Non-Metallic inclusions in castings may be
considered in two Min groups:
Indigenous arising from reactions within
the melt (may not be regarded as defects).
Exogenous resulting from entrainment of
non-metallics during pouring (dross, slag,
flux residues, or moulding material).

Inclusions and Sand

Defects
Inclusions are frequently concentrated at
or immediately below the upper surfaces
of castings, where they are revealed on
machining or after scaling in heat
treatment. It is advisable that the most
important faces be placed downwards.
Increased machining allowances are
usually made on top surfaces of castings.

Inclusions and Sand

Defects
The types of these defects are:
Erosion scabs: A rough projection on the
casting as sand is washed away.
Expansion defect: results from penetration of
liquid meatal behind the surface layer of the
sand.
Rat tail: Surface fissure or line defect.
Surface roughness and sand adherence.

Dimensional Errors
Such errors can occur in pattern
making, moulding, and casting, or
fettling.
Principal causes are misalignment of
mould parts and cores, mould
distortion, anomalous contraction and
distortion in cooling.

Compositional Errors and

Segregation
The main causes for variation in composition from
desired one are:
Melting losses.
Incorrect furnace charge.
Careful melting practice is essential.
Segregation is unavoided (macro or micro) in cast
alloys.
Homogenisation treatment is necessary for
castings and it eliminates concentration gradients
by diffusion.

SPHERICAL HOLES

CO-gas Defects

Gas holes on top surface only, revealed by

machining.

Form: on the top surface, revealed during machining sometimes discovered underneath a core.
Causes:
Low pouring temperature
High Mn and S contents
Dirty ladles, lacks of skimming, poor refractory quality

More severe type of the gas hole defects shown

in previous figure with inclusion of slag
particles.

SPHERICAL HOLES

Hydrogen Pinholing

Small, spherical holes with shiny surface occurring

just below casting surface

Form: small spherical holes on all faces of the casting adjacent to the mould with shiny surfaces.
Causes:
Contamination of iron with Al.
Form:
- Scrap
- Inoculates
Too high moisture content in sand
Too long runner system

Shiny graphite film appearing on surface of

defect type shown in previous figures.

SPHERICAL HOLES

Nitrogen Defects
Occurrence of small spherical holes adjacent to core,
often revealed immediately after knockout

Form: small spherical holes (sometimes more elongated) adjacent to cores

Causes:
Nitrogen containing binders
Too much addition of resin
Too high N2-content in resin

ROUNDED HOLES

Shrinkage Defects
Surface depression occurring at hot spot

Form: surface sink often with exuded bead of metal inside them or small depressions at hot spots with associated subsurface hole
Causes:
too low mold rigidity causes yielding under ferostatic or solidification pressures
too high pouring temperature
too low carbon content

ROUNDED HOLES

Gas Blowholes from Cores, Molds, or Inserts

Blowholes in plate casting

Causes:
Excessive moisture content of sand
Vents of cores are blocked
Cores are underbaked or with excessive binder content
Rusty or contaminated chills (denseners) or chaplets

Blowholes in cored casting resulting from

metal entering core vent. The metal extracted
from the core vent is also shown.

IRREGULAR HOLES

Shrinkage Defects
Micrograph illustrating dendritic form of
internal porosity

Form:
open metal, often interconnected areas
has a dendritic form
generally occurs in the heavier sections or hot spots such as positions adjacent to ingates or risers
Causes:
lack of mold rigidity
high pouring temperature
over inoculation
high phosphorous content

IRREGULAR HOLES

Gas Defects from Molten Iron

Larger, isolated fissure defects

Widely dispersed fissure defects
Form: discrete fissures rather than areas of interconnected open metal may be widely dispersed or more isolated
Causes:
Too much gas content in molten iron
The more widely dispersed holes are due to N2
The more isolated cavities are due to high H2 - content