Foseco 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 Handbook was 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 Handbook to 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 Handbook refers 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 Acknowledgements 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 Aluminium casting alloys Introduction Casting alloys 25 Casting processes 39 The effect of alloying elements 39 Heat treatment of aluminium alloys 42 3 Melting aluminium alloys Introduction Raw materials 47 Melting furnaces 47 Corundum growth 54 Choice of melting unit 55 4 Fluxes Application of COVERAL powder fluxes Granular COVERAL fluxes 61 5 INSURAL refractory for ladles and metal transport Ladle liners 65 6 Treatment of aluminium alloy melts Hydrogen gas pick-up in aluminium 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 aluminium alloy castings 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 aluminium 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 gravity diecasting Low pressure diecasting Gravity diecasting 124 Die coatings for gravity and low pressure diecasting 127 11 Sand casting processes Green sand 136 Moulding machines 137 Core assembly sand processes 140 The Lost Foam process 144 12 Sands and sand bonding systems Properties of silica sand for foundry 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 13 Resin bonded sand Chemically bonded sand Self-hardening process (also known as self-set, no- bake or cold- setting 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 Sodium silicate bonded sand Sodium 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 15 Magnesium casting Casting alloys The melting, treatment and casting of magnesium alloys 218 16 Copper and copper alloy castings The main copper alloys and their applications 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 17 Feeding systems Natural 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 [...]... coeff.) 1 Btu/ft2h°F Miscellaneous: 1 std.atmos 1 bar 1 cP (centipoise) 1 cSt (centistoke) 1 cycle/s 1 hp = = = = = = 10 1.325 kPa = 760 mm Hg = 1. 013 25 bar 10 0 kPa = 14 .5038 lbf/in2 1 mPa.s 1 mm2/s 1 Hz (Hertz) 745.7 W Useful approximations: 1 Btu = 1 kJ 1 kg 1 ft = 30 cm 1 kgf 1 gal = 41 2 l 1 std atmos 1 ha = 21 2 acre 1 km 1 hp = 3⁄4 kW 1 litre 1 in = 25 mm 1 lbf 1 therm = 10 0 MJ 1 yd = 15 N/mm2 1 tonf/in2... kW Energy, heat, work: 1 Btu = 1. 05506 kJ 1 cal = 4 .18 68 J 1 kWh = 3.6 MJ = 3 412 Btu 1 therm = 10 0 000 Btu = 10 5.506 MJ 1 kJ = 0.277778 W.h Specific heat capacity, heat transfer: 1 cal/g°C = 1 kcal/kg°C = 418 6.8 J/kg.K 1 Btu/lb°F = 418 6.8 J/kg.K 1 Btu/h = 0.2930 71 W 4 Foseco Non-Ferrous Foundryman’s Handbook 1 cal/cm.s°C = 418 .68 W/m.K (thermal conductivity) 1 Btu.in/ft2h°F = 0 .14 4228 W/m.K (thermal... (pint) 1 US gal 1 ft3/min (cfm) 1 ft3/sec = = = = Mass: 1 lb (pound) 1 cwt 1 kg 1 oz 1 ton 1 ton (US) 3 0.453592 kg 50.802 kg 2.20462 lb 28.349 gm 2240 lb = 1. 016 05 t (tonne) = 10 16.05 kg 2000 lb = 907 .18 5 kg = = = = = = 0.5682 61 l 3.785 41 l = 0.832674 gal (imp) 1. 699 m3/h 28. 316 8 l/s Force: 1 kgf = 9.80665 N = 2.20462 lbf = 1 kp (kilopond) 1 lbf = 4.44822 N 1 pdl (poundal) = 0 .13 8255 N Density: 1 kgf/m3... kgf/m3 = 0.062428 lb/ft3 1 lb/ft3 = 16 . 018 5 kg/m3 1 g/cm3 = 10 00 kg/m3 Pressure, stress: 1 kgf/cm2 1 kgf/mm2 1 lbf/in2 (psi) 1 Pa (N/m2 ) 1 in w.g (in H2O) 1 N/mm2 = = = = = = 98.0665 kPa (kN/m2 ) 9.80665 N/mm2 = 14 22.33 lbf/in2 = 0.63497 tonf/in2 6.89476 kPa (kN/m2 ) 0.00 014 5038 lbf/in2 249.089 Pa 1 MPa = 14 5.038 lbf/in2 = 0.06475 tonf/in2 = 0 .10 197 kgf/cm2 Power: 1 kW = 3 412 Btu/hr 1 hp (horsepower) =... 21 2 acre 1 km 1 hp = 3⁄4 kW 1 litre 1 in = 25 mm 1 lbf 1 therm = 10 0 MJ 1 yd = 15 N/mm2 1 tonf/in2 1 psi (lbf/in2 ) = 7 kPa 1 N (newton) = the weight of a small apple! Temperature: °F = 1. 8 ϫ °C + 32 °C = (°F – 32) /1. 8 0°C (Celsius) = 273 .15 K (Kelvin) = = = = = = = 21 4 lb 10 N 1 bar 5 ⁄8 mile 13 ⁄4 pint 41 2 N 0.9 m ... 1 Their accuracy/reliability 2 The use of the product(s) will not infringe third party rights 3 No further safety measures are required to meet local legislation The seller is not authorised to make representations nor contract on behalf of the manufacturer/licensor All sales by the manufacturer/ seller are based on their respective conditions of sale available on request Tables and general data 1 . 4 1 ⁄ 2 l 1 std atmos. = 1bar 1ha = 2 1 ⁄ 2 acre 1 km = 5 ⁄ 8 mile 1hp = 3 ⁄ 4 kW 1 litre = 1 3 ⁄ 4 pint 1 in = 25 mm 1 lbf = 4 1 ⁄ 2 N 1 therm = 10 0 MJ 1 yd = 0.9 m 1 tonf/in 2 = 15 N/mm 2 1 psi. 14 .5038lbf/in 2 1 cP (centipoise) = 1 mPa.s 1 cSt (centistoke) = 1mm 2 /s 1 cycle/s = 1 Hz (Hertz) 1 hp = 745.7 W Useful approximations: 1 Btu = 1 kJ 1 kg = 2 1 ⁄ 4 lb 1 ft = 30cm 1 kgf = 10 N 1 gal = 4 1 ⁄ 2 l. transfer: 1 cal/g°C = 1 kcal/kg°C = 418 6.8 J/kg.K 1 Btu/lb°F = 418 6.8 J/kg.K 1 Btu/h = 0.2930 71 W 4 Foseco Non-Ferrous Foundryman’s Handbook 1 cal/cm.s°C = 418 .68 W/m.K (thermal conductivity) 1 Btu.in/ft 2 h°F