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    Aluminium Casting Defects and How To Treat Them

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    shiv kumar
    The document discusses the 5 main types of defects that can occur in aluminium castings: shrinkage, gas porosity, pouring defects, metallurgical defects, and mould defects. It then outlines how Harrison Castings works to prevent defects through dedicated quality control processes like metal analysis and degassing to remove hydrogen. These efforts have helped reduce defects and improve casting quality.

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    Aluminium Casting Defects and How To Treat Them

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    shiv kumar
    98 views2 pages
    The document discusses the 5 main types of defects that can occur in aluminium castings: shrinkage, gas porosity, pouring defects, metallurgical defects, and mould defects. It then outlines how Harrison Castings works to prevent defects through dedicated quality control processes like metal analysis and degassing to remove hydrogen. These efforts have helped reduce defects and improve casting quality.

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    Aluminium Casting Defects and How to Treat Them

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    The document discusses the 5 main types of defects that can occur in aluminium castings: shrinkage, gas porosity, pouring defects, metallurgical defects, and mould defects. It then outlines how Harrison Castings works to prevent defects through dedicated quality control processes like metal analysis and degassing to remove hydrogen. These efforts have helped reduce defects and improve casting quality.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    98 views2 pages

    Aluminium Casting Defects and How To Treat Them

    Uploaded by

    shiv kumar
    The document discusses the 5 main types of defects that can occur in aluminium castings: shrinkage, gas porosity, pouring defects, metallurgical defects, and mould defects. It then outlines how Harrison Castings works to prevent defects through dedicated quality control processes like metal analysis and degassing to remove hydrogen. These efforts have helped reduce defects and improve casting quality.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    The 5 Types of Aluminium Casting

    Defects and How to Treat Them


    Tuesday 11th February 2020

    It’s not uncommon for defects to arise during the aluminium casting process. Some are so
    small as to be tolerable, and some can be easily repaired. Others, though, are so severe that
    we have no recourse but to throw the casting out and start again.

    Of course, this is far from ideal. Fortunately, we have numerous ways to treat defects.

    Here are the five main types of irregularities found in aluminium castings:

     Shrinkage – Shrinkage defects occur during the solidification process. Open


    shrinkage defects are found on the surface of castings, whereas closed shrinkage
    defects are formed within the casting, when isolated pools of liquid are allowed to
    form within the solidified metal.
     Gas Porosity – Liquid aluminium can hold large volumes of dissolved gas, whereas
    solid aluminium cannot. As a result, the gas can form bubbles within the metal as it
    cools, reducing the overall strength of the casting. Gas porosity is most commonly
    caused by dissolved hydrogen in the molten metal.
     Pouring Metal Defects – A few things can go wrong when pouring molten metal.
    The liquid metal may not fill the entire mould cavity, resulting in an unfilled portion.
    Alternatively, two fronts of metal may not fuse properly within the mould cavity,
    resulting in a weak spot.
     Metallurgical Defects – Sometimes, the chemical composition of the metal does not
    allow for optimum cooling conditions. This can result in hot spots – hard areas on the
    surface of the casting that cooled quicker than the surrounding metal.
     Mould Defects – Metal is weaker when it’s hot. If the mould has been poorly
    designed, it can cause residual stresses in the material as it cools, resulting in hot
    cracking.

    How Do We Treat Casting Defects


    Our approach to treating irregularities in our castings will vary depending on the nature of the
    defect. But as usual, prevention is better than a cure.

    At Harrison Castings, we have a dedicated, onsite laboratory that is committed to ensuring


    that all of our castings have the finest metallurgical properties. In this way, we reduce the
    chances of defects even occurring in the first place.

    We to continuously monitor our mechanical processes, our sand compositions, and our
    alloys. As a result, we have been able to abandon any inefficient processes that have
    historically resulted in lower quality castings, whilst perfecting any processes that lead to
    higher yields and superior metallurgical properties.

    Metal Control
    Our extensive metal control process incorporates spectrographic analysis, density indexing,
    and rotary degassing.

    Rotary degassing involves making use of inert gasses such as nitrogen in order to eliminate
    the presence of hydrogen in the molten aluminium, which singularly serves to reduce the
    risks of both shrinkage and gas porosity defects.

    Gas porosity defects are further reduced through a process called density indexing. We
    subject a sample of molten aluminium to a reduced pressure test (RPT), where it is allowed to
    solidify in a vacuum. The reduced pressure enhances the size of the porosity formed.

    Comparing this sample to a sample that was allowed to solidify under atmospheric pressure
    allows us to calculate the density index of our molten aluminium. We draw from this
    information to improve the efficiency and the effectiveness of the subsequent degassing
    process.

    In short, thanks to our ongoing commitment to quality control, we have greatly reduced the
    chances of defects even occurring in the first place. And should they ever occur, we will
    simply take it as a lesson, and use it to improve our processes even more.

    In this way, you can rest assured to receive nothing but the best from Harrison Castings.

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