Sand Casting Essay

Introduction

Sand Casting, a widely used casting process, uses expendable sand moulds to form complex casts that can be made from any alloy. Sand casting is used to produce a wide variety of metal components with complex geometries. These parts can vary largely in size and weight, ranging from a couple ounces to several tons. Some smaller sand cast parts include components like gears, pulleys, crankshafts, connecting rods, and propellers. Larger applications of sand casting include housings for large equipment and heavy machine bases. Sand casting is also commonly used in production of automobile components, such as engine blocks, engine manifolds, cylinder heads, and transmission cases.

Principle First, the mould is made with a pattern kept inbetween the cope and drag. Once the mould has set, the pattern is removed, the cope and drag tied tightly to eachother, and moulten metal is poured throught the riser into the cavity of the mould. The mould is left to cool. After the casting is cooled, the sand is scrapped of the metal surface and the unwanted metal bits are grinded or sawed off, to obtain the final component.

Working

The process of sand casting has 6 major stages:

Mould – making

The first step is to create a mould for casting. A sand mould is formed by filling sand into both the cope and drag. The sand is packed

Shell molding was developed as a manufacturing process during the mid-20th century in Germany. Shell mold casting is particularly suitable for steel castings under 9kg, however almost any metal that can be cast in sand can be cast with the shell molding process. Also much larger parts have been manufactured with shell molding. Shell Mould casting is used to manufacture various types of products like cylinder heads, gears, bushings, connecting rods, camshafts and valve