Industrial Familiarisation Report on

FOUNDRY
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Casting, in simple terms, is the process of obtaining parts of desired geometrical features by solidifying molten metal in suitable moulds. The capability of the process in generating a wide range of materials irrespective of its size or shape has made it inevitable. This is one reason why casting, despite being the oldest of the manufacturing processes man has ever devised still remains to be in the stage of research and further development.

Foundry of HMT Kalamassery is among the bests in India. It has been in operation since 1964 and still making quality castings with astonishing efficiencies. It supplies the raw materials for its two divisions: Priniting Machines and Machine Tools divisions. From small blanks to 6 ton beds for CNC lathes, all are cast here. The foundry at HMT Kalamassery has the following functional sections:

1. Pattern moulding (pattern shop) 2. Sand preparation (sand plant) 3. Moulding/ core making (moulding section) 4. Metal preparation (melting) 5. Pouring 6. Knockout/ de-coring 7. Finishing (Fettling) 8. Inspection (inspection department)

FOUNDRY:PROCESS FLOW CHART

Chief foundry

Fy-Planning

Fy-tech/Pattern Shop
Sand Plant

Lab

Moulding Heavy, Medium, Light

Melting

Knockout

Decoring

Fettling

Priming Inspection

Store/Supplier

CAST IRON
Cast iron is an alloy of iron & carbon. Different grades of cast iron are obtained by varying the components by percentage. The components excluding iron and carbon are silicon, manganese, copper etc.

Grade

Main frequency induction furnace

Medium frequency Induction Furnace

Chemical Properties C Si Mn

Physical Properties

IS210 HMT Heel M.S

Pig

C.I

M.S

Pig

C.I

T.S Min

Hardness(BHN)

Scrap Iron Scrap Scrap Iron Scrap FG 150 FG 200 FG 260 FG 300 G4 30% 30% 20% 20% 40% 30% 30% G3 30% 30% 20% 20% 40% 30% 30% G2 30% 25% 25% 20% 35% 35% 30% G1 30% 20% 30% 20% 30% 40% 30% 3.3- 2.2- 0.63.5 2.5 0.8

150 150-200

3.2- 1.8- 0.63.3 2.2 0.8

200 160-220

3.1- 1.6- 0.63.2 1.8 0.8

260 180-230

2.9- 1.4- 0.63.1 1.6 0.8

300 190-230

ADVANTAGES OF CASTING 1. Shapes difficult & uneconomic to obtain otherwise may be achieved through casting process. 2. A product may be cast as one piece avoiding joining process 3. Very heavy and bulky products can be cast. 4. Metals difficult to shape can be cast.

PATTERNS:

Pattern is a replica of the casting to be made. Different materials used to make a pattern are wood and thermocol. Wood patterns are patterns that can be used more than once. But thermocol patterns are made when only a single cast is only to be made. It cannot be reused. Thermocol patterns are very much cheaper and easily prepared than wooden pattern.

Types of patterns:
1. Single piece patterns 2. Split Patterns 3. Loose piece pattern 4. Match plate pattern 5. Swept Pattern 6. Gated Pattern 7. Skelton pattern

Pattern Allowances:
1. Shrinkage allowance
Almost all cast metals shrinks after solidification and hence the pattern is oversized.

2. Machining allowance
A casting needed machining allowances at certain places and these are provided at pattern.

3. Draft/Taper allowance
Draft allowance is given for the easy removal of the pattern

4. Distortion/Camber allowance

Distortion allowance is provided to the opposite side of expected distortion. It is a negative allowance given to accommodate for increase in mould size due to shake of pattern for removal.

5. Shake or rapping allowance

Gating System:
Gating system is the passage way through which the molten metal passes to enter the mould cavity while trying to avoid erosion and turbulence. It consist of pouring cup or basins, sprue, runner, ingates, flowoffs and risers. Riser is provided to ensure supply of molten metal into the cavities while cooling avoiding waste gases and air cavities. A filled riser means the cavity is already filled. Pouring cup ensures the constant and non-turbulent supply of molten metal into the mould.It also has a filter which would block chunks of solid matter in the molten metal. Sprue is the passage from pouring cup to the gates.Height and diameter of sprue must be carefully calculated to limit the flow velocity and avoid sand washing. Ingates are the portions where the metal enters the functional parts of casting. Preparation of pattern layout: 1) Get the part drawing 2) Draw two views considering the shrinkage allowance 3) Add all the other allowances as specified before 4) Add risers if necessary

Moulding Sand:

1. Unit sand The basic components of unit mould sand are sand, bentonite and water. Bentonite is a binder which gives strength to the sand. But it reduces the permeability of the sand, must be used in an optimum amount. 2. C02 sand CO2 sand contains pure silica, 3- 5 % sodium silicate water base binder. When CO2 is passed through the mixture silica gel is formed which hardens the sand. The chemical reaction is Na2SiO3 + CO2 giving Na2CO3 + SiO2

3. Partial bake sand: This type of sand is baked in the oven after some time alloted for settling.

Desirable properties of Moulding Sand: 1. Moisture content 2. Green strength (compressive, tensile % shear) 3. Dry strength 4. Permeability 5. Refractoriness 6. Flowability 7. Mechanical grading 8. Expansion % Contraction on heating

Sand Preparation:
At HMT, there are three sand mixers and a number of bunkers for storage of sand. There are two sand baking ovens. There are also a number of ramming units. Sand from bunkers are transported to the mixers by means of conveyor belts. The operator adds binder and other elements in their correct proportion and proper mixing is done. Then it is directly filled in the pattern box. The mould is then kept to set with/without baking according to its requirements and sand type.

Mould Preparation:
1. Make cope and drag portions of a mould 2. Clean and apply coatings on mold cavity 3. Mould and cores dried in an oven 4. Assembly cores in drag 5. Clean and close mould by placing cope over drag 6. Put the poring basin over the mould

Types of Moulds:
1. Green sand moulds 2. Dry sand mould 3. C02 mould 4. Partial bake sand mould

Furnaces:
In HMT Kalamassery, two types of furnaces are used to melt the metal for casting. They are the Main frequency induction furnace and the Medium frequency induction furnace. Main frequency furnace operates at line frequency of 50Hz while medium frequency operates at 600Hz. Medium frequency has an operational efficiency almost double as that of main frequency for same amount of material. The capacity for main frequency furnace is 2ton/hr while for medium frequency is 1.5ton/hr. Meanwhile the initial cost of the medium frequency furnace is high due to the electrical systems required to generate the higher frequencies. Despite of this, owing to its higher capacity and efficiency this is preffered over the main frequency furnace.

The inside walls of furnace are made of brick lining over which the induction coils is cemented. As current is passed through this coil, it acts similar to the primary coil of a transformer. The charge (metal,alloying elements) acts as the secondary coil and eddy currents are set up inside it. The eddy currents result in generation of heat in the charge thereby meltng it. The temperature of the molten metal is continously monitored by means of a tehrmo couple and is closely controlled. This is because theres an optimum pouring temperature at which the casting exhibits the most desirable properties. The primary coils are contonuously cooled by water.

There are two types of furnace linings-acidic and basic. Acidic lining is used in the furnaces, here. Pure silica is used for this purpose. A little percentage of boric acid is used as bonding agent. Cement is also added and ramming is done to complete the making of lining. Once the lining is made a plug is put into the furnace and the furnace started at the lowest tap. The temperature is then raised at the rate of about 50 degree centigrade per hour. This is called sintering. After this the furnace is slowly filled with small pieces of metal and this takes about 50 hours. The necessary constituents at desired weights are added to the molten metal to get the alloy of proper composition. The percentage of carbon and silicon in the charge can be obtained by pouring a small amount of molten speciment onto the holder. To increase the percentage of carbon, more pig iron is added and to reduce it more of MS scrap is added to the charge.

Once the charge is completely molten and is at the required temperature, the whole furnace body is tilted and it is poured. In some cases where huge quantity of molten metal is required a cycle of pouringmelting-pouring might be required.

Pouring:
The metal is transported to bucket by tilting the furnace. The bucket with molten metal is transported to the mould by means of overhead cranes. The bucket is slightly tilted and metal is poured into the mold, carefully. Then the mould is set for cooling and may take one or two days depending on the size of the casting.

Knock out/Decoring:
Once solidified, the casting is placed on a vibrating platform so as to remove the moulding sand(breaks off). Cores are removed and the casting is moved for finishing.

Finishing:
The casting is moved into shot blasting units after knock off and sand removal. After shot blasting, the unwanted materials are removed from the casting mainly by means of grinding. This process is called fettling.

Priming and Inspection:

Conclusion:
At the foundry section we were able to learn many new things. Moreover we were able to see how processes like mould preparation, ramming, sand mixing, pouring etc. takes place in real industries, which we have seen only in theory text books. The foundry section set up in the 60s, with two furnaces, as series of sand bunkers, mixers, moulding and mixing machines, still remains competitive with other industries in the field. We wish the section to remain prodcutive as it is and push HMT forth in the highly competitive market.

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