Table Of ContentFoseco Non-Ferrous Foundryman’s Handbook
Foseco Non-Ferrous
Foundryman’s Handbook
Eleventh edition
Revised and edited by
John R. Brown
OXFORD AUCKLAND BOSTON JOHANNESBURG MELBOURNE NEW DELHI
Preface
The last edition of the Handbookwas published in 1994 and like all the earlier
editions, it aimed to provide a practical reference book for all those involved
in making castings in any of the commonly used alloys by any of the usual
moulding methods. In order to keep the Handbookto a reasonable size, it was
not possible to deal with all the common casting alloys in detail. Since 1994
the technology of casting has continued to develop and has become more
specialised so that it has been decided to publish the 11th edition of the
Handbook in three separate volumes:
Non-ferrous dealing with aluminium, copper and magnesium casting
alloys
Iron dealing with grey, ductile and special purpose cast
irons
Steel dealing with carbon, low alloy and high alloy steels
Certain chapters (with slight modifications) are common to all three
volumes: these chapters include tables and general data, sands and sand
bonding systems, resin bonded sand, sodium silicate bonded sand and
feeding systems. The remaining chapters have been written specifically for
each volume.
The Handbookrefers to many Foseco products. Not all of the products are
available in every country and in a few cases, product names may vary.
Users should always contact their local Foseco company to check whether a
particular product or its equivalent is available.
The Foseco logo and all product names appearing in capital letters are
trademarks of the Foseco group of companies, used under licence.
John R. Brown
........................................................................Preface
...............................A..c..k..n..o...w..l.e..d...g.ements
1 Tables and general data......................................... 1
SI units and their relation to other units................................... 1
SI, metric, non-SI and non-metric conversions........................ 2
Conversion table of stress values............................................ 5
Areas and volumes of circles, spheres, cylinders etc.............. 6
The physical properties of metals............................................ 7
The physical properties of metals (Continued)........................ 8
Densities of casting alloys....................................................... 9
Approximate bulk densities of common materials................... 10
Patternmakers contraction allowances................................... 11
Volume shrinkage of principal casting alloys........................... 13
Comparison of sieve sizes....................................................... 14
Calculation of average grain size............................................ 15
Calculation of AFS grain fineness number.............................. 16
Recommended standard colours for patterns......................... 17
Dust control in foundries.......................................................... 18
Buoyancy forces on cores....................................................... 18
Core print support.................................................................... 19
Opening forces on moulds....................................................... 19
Dimensional tolerances and consistency achieved in
castings................................................................................... 21
.....2.. .A...l.u..m...i.n..i.u...m... .c..a..s..t.i.n..g alloys
............................................................................I.n.troduction
Casting alloys.......................................................................... 25
Casting processes................................................................... 39
The effect of alloying elements................................................ 39
Heat treatment of aluminium alloys......................................... 42
.......3.. .M...e..l.t.i.n..g.. .a..l.u...m...i.n..i.u..m. alloys
............................................................................I.n.troduction
Raw materials.......................................................................... 47
Melting furnaces...................................................................... 47
Corundum growth.................................................................... 54
Choice of melting unit.............................................................. 55
.....................................................................4. Fluxes
Applicati.o..n.. .o..f. .C...O..V...E..R...A..L.. .p..o..w..der fluxes
Granular COVERAL fluxes...................................................... 61
5 INSURAL refractory for ladles and metal
...................................................................t.r.ansport
Ladle liners.............................................................................. 65
6 Treatment of alu..m...i.n...i.u..m... .a..l.l.o.y melts
Hydrogen ga..s.. .p..i.c.k..-.u..p.. .i.n.. .a..l.u..m...i.n.ium melts
Degassing aluminium alloys.................................................... 72
Grain refinement of aluminium alloys...................................... 77
Modification of aluminium alloys.............................................. 79
Sodium modification................................................................ 81
Strontium modification............................................................. 82
Permanent modification........................................................... 83
Sand, gravity die and low pressure diecasting........................ 83
Medium silicon alloys, 4 7% Si................................................ 84
Eutectic silicon alloys, 12% Si................................................. 84
Treatment of hypereutectic Al Si alloys (over 16% Si)........... 85
Melting and treatment of aluminium magnesium alloys (
4 10% Mg).............................................................................. 86
Special requirements for gravity diecasting............................. 87
Treatment of alloys for pressure diecasting............................. 87
7 Running, gating and feeding aluminium
castings...................................................................... 75
Gating without filters................................................................ 90
Gating with filters..................................................................... 93
Feeding mechanisms in Al alloy and other non- ferrous
castings................................................................................... 94
Simulation modelling............................................................... 98
8 Filtration of alumini.u...m... .a..l.l.o..y.. .c.astings
SIVEX FC filters....................................................................... 100
Use of filters in conventional running systems........................ 101
Direct pouring of aluminium alloy castings.............................. 104
KALPUR combined sleeve and SIVEX FC filter for
aluminium castings.................................................................. 105
Direct pouring into metal dies.................................................. 107
9 Pressure diecasting of alu..m....i.n..i.u..m. alloys
................................................................................Die design
Process control........................................................................ 111
Modification of the diecasting process..................................... 113
Applications of diecastings...................................................... 114
The diecasting foundry............................................................ 114
Die coating............................................................................... 116
10 Low pressure and g..r.a..v..i.t..y.. .d..i.e.casting
....................................L..o..w.. .p..r..e..s.s..u..r.e.. .diecasting
Gravity diecasting.................................................................... 124
Die coatings for gravity and low pressure diecasting.............. 127
.....1..1.. .S...a..n..d.. .c..a..s..t.i.n...g.. .p..r.o..cesses
Green sand.............................................................................. 136
Moulding machines.................................................................. 137
Core assembly sand processes.............................................. 140
The Lost Foam process........................................................... 144
12 Sands and sa.n..d.. .b..o..n...d..i.n..g.. .s.ystems
Propertie.s. .o..f. .s..i.l.i.c.a.. .s..a..n..d.. .f.o..r. .f.o..undry use
Typical silica foundry sand properties..................................... 151
Safe handling of silica sand..................................................... 152
Segregation of sand................................................................ 153
Measurement of sand properties............................................. 153
Thermal characteristics of silica sand...................................... 153
Zircon, ZrSiO4......................................................................... 154
Chromite, FeCr2O4................................................................. 156
Olivine, Mg2SiO4..................................................................... 156
Green sand additives............................................................... 157
The green sand system........................................................... 160
Green sand properties............................................................. 163
Control of green sand systems................................................ 164
Sand testing............................................................................. 165
Control graphs......................................................................... 165
Parting agents......................................................................... 166
Special moulding materials, LUTRON..................................... 166
......................1..3.. .R...e..s..i.n.. .b..o..n...d..ed sand
..................................C..h..e..m...i.c..a..l.l.y. .b..o..n.ded sand
Self-hardening process (also known as self-set, no- bake
....................................o..r. .c..o..l.d..-. .s..e..t.t.i.n..g process)
Testing chemically bonded, self-hardening sands................... 169
Mixers...................................................................................... 171
Sand quality............................................................................. 172
Pattern equipment................................................................... 172
Curing temperature.................................................................. 173
Design of moulds using self-hardening sand........................... 173
Foundry layout......................................................................... 173
Sand reclamation..................................................................... 175
Typical usage of sand reclamation.......................................... 178
Furanes................................................................................... 180
Phenolic-isocyanates (phenolic-urethanes)............................. 182
Alkaline phenolic resin, ester hardened................................... 183
Heat triggered processes........................................................ 185
Gas triggered systems............................................................. 186
The shell or Croning process................................................... 187
Hot-box process...................................................................... 189
Warm-box process.................................................................. 190
Oil sand................................................................................... 191
Phenolic-urethane-amine gassed (cold-box) process............. 193
ECOLOTEC process (alkaline phenolic resin gassed with
CO2)........................................................................................ 195
The SO2 process..................................................................... 196
SO2- cured epoxy resin........................................................... 198
Ester-cured alkaline phenolic system...................................... 198
Review of resin core-making processes.................................. 199
14 Sodi.u...m... .s..i.l.i.c..a..t.e.. .b..o..n...d..ed sand
................................................................S...o..d..i.um silicate
CO2 silicate process ( basic process)..................................... 205
Gassing CO2 cores and moulds.............................................. 207
Improvements to the CO2 silicate process.............................. 208
The CARSIL range of silicate binders..................................... 209
SOLOSIL................................................................................. 209
Self-setting sodium silicate processes..................................... 210
Ester silicate process............................................................... 210
Adhesives and sealants........................................................... 215
CORSEAL sealants................................................................. 215
TAK sealant............................................................................. 215
.....................1..5.. .M...a..g..n..e..s..i.u...m... casting
....................................................................C...a..s.ting alloys
The melting, treatment and casting of magnesium alloys....... 218
16 Copper and c.o..p..p..e..r.. .a..l.l.o..y.. .c.astings
The main copper allo..y..s. .a..n..d.. .t.h..e..i.r. .a..p.plications
Specifications for copper-based alloys.................................... 226
Colour code for ingots............................................................. 227
Melting copper and copper-based alloys................................. 232
Melting and treatment of high conductivity copper.................. 238
Copper-silver........................................................................... 242
Copper cadmium.................................................................... 243
Copper chromium................................................................... 243
Commercial copper................................................................. 243
Melting and treatment of brasses, copper zinc alloys............. 244
Melting bronzes and gunmetals............................................... 248
Melting aluminium bronze........................................................ 250
Melting manganese bronze..................................................... 250
Melting high lead bronze......................................................... 250
Melting copper nickel alloys.................................................... 251
Filtration of copper-based alloys.............................................. 251
..............................1..7.. .F..e..e..d...i.n..g.. .s.ystems
................................................................N..a..t.u..r.al feeders
Aided feeders.......................................................................... 253
Feeding systems..................................................................... 254
The calculation of feeder dimensions...................................... 257
Steel, malleable iron, white irons, light alloys and copper-
based alloy castings................................................................ 262
Grey and ductile irons.............................................................. 266
Introduction.............................................................................. 268
Range of feeder products........................................................ 269
Breaker cores.......................................................................... 279
The application of feeder sleeves............................................ 280
Williams Cores......................................................................... 283
FERRUX anti-piping compounds for iron and steel
castings................................................................................... 284
Metal-producing top surface covers........................................ 285
FEEDOL anti-piping compounds for all non-ferrous alloys...... 286
Aids ot the calculation of FEEDER requirements.................... 286
Nomograms............................................................................. 287
FEEDERCALC........................................................................ 287
Calculating feeder sizes for aluminium alloy castings............. 288
........................................................................... Index
