Type of Inclusion
Type of Inclusion
Type of Inclusion
NADCA Webinar
Thursday February 6, 2014
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Outline
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Introduction
• No castings are perfect. At a high enough
load, every casting will break. Inevitably
that break initiates at a defect. Porosity.
Inclusion. Cold flake.
• Minimizing defects in castings can increase
the service life of the part by raising the
failure load and the fatigue life.
• Inclusions and cold flakes are frequently
found on fracture surfaces of castings.
• Secondary machining operations are
susceptible to premature tool failure when
they hit these defects.
• Control of these defects can largely be
managed by shop floor practices.
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Types of Inclusions
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Types of Inclusions
Fe + 2Mn + 3Cr
(1184F)
(1112F)
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Types of Inclusions
Excess Flux
• Fluxes are used for various functions:
– Cover fluxes protect the melt from oxidation.
– Wall-cleaning fluxes react with wall build-up.
– Degassing fluxes remove hydrogen.
– Drossing or cleaning fluxes assist in partial
removal of oxides and reduction/recovery of
metal from dross.
– Refining fluxes may modify, grain refine, or
remove specific metallic impurities.
• Too much flux gets entrained in the metal.
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Types of Inclusions
Excess Flux
Flux inclusion
Types of Inclusions
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Control of Inclusions
• What we don’t want!
Control of Inclusions
• Dross
– Minimize exposure to air and metal temp.
– Use proper drossing procedures.
– Allow enough time after disturbing
molten metal bath.
Control of Inclusions
• Corundum
– Minimize formation of Al dross.
– Don’t use higher than necessary metal
temperature.
– Allow at least 30 minutes after furnace
cleaning for settling of particles.
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Control of Inclusions
• Refractory particles and sludge
– Use proper furnace cleaning procedures.
– Allow at least 30 minutes after furnace
cleaning for settling of particles.
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Control of Inclusions
• Oxides can be removed by filtering,
fluxing, or by de-gassing the liquid
metal.
• Refractory particles, sludge,
intermetallics can be removed by
filtering.
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Externally Solidified Product
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Externally Solidified Product
ESP Definition
1) A portion of the melt that solidifies
outside the die cavity in a cold
chamber operation.
2) Some of the liquid alloy that solidified
on the shot sleeve wall during the
period when liquid enters and dwells in
the shot sleeve.
• We call the resulting shards that get
into the casting cold flakes, ESP, or pre-
solidified product (PSP).
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Externally Solidified Product
How ESP Forms
• Molten metal solidifies a thin
film at the metal/shot
sleeve interface.
• Advancement of the
plunger tip scrapes off
film into shards/flakes.
• Shards mix with molten
metal and are injected into
the casting.
• The shards are called cold
flakes, ESP or PSP.
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Externally Solidified Product
How The Flakes Travel
• Most of the flakes
remain just ahead of the
plunger tip.
• The flakes enter the
runner during the later
stages of injection.
• The flakes then can May be difficult to see without
enter the cavity and microstructural examination
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Externally Solidified Product
Effects of ESP
• ESP may cause:
– Reduced fluidity
– Restricted flow
– Surface defects: flow lines and cold
shuts
– Porosity
– Pressure tightness in thin sections
– Uneven/irregular gate breakout
– Property degradation
Externally Solidified Product
Flow Lines and Cold Shuts
• Reduced fluidity
and/or restricted flow
at the gate impacts fill
time and flow pattern,
hence quality.
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Externally Solidified Product
Porosity
• ESP flakes collecting at the gate can cause
a pressure drop in the cavity resulting in
more/larger gas and shrinkage pores.
Solid
Mushy Zone
Liquid
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Externally Solidified Product
Porosity
• Percent porosity measured in castings produced with
an unheated and heated shot sleeve (from T99-085).
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Externally Solidified Product
Porosity
• Voids are often seen at the interface
between the ESP and matrix interface.
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Externally Solidified Product
Pressure Tightness
• Large and interconnected cold flakes
can cause leakers in thin sections.
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Externally Solidified Product
Irregular Gate Breakout
• Cold flakes in the gate area can cause
uneven breakout resulting in dimensional
issues.
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Externally Solidified Product
• Tensile strength can be reduced by the
presence of cold flakes.
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Externally Solidified Product
Property Degradation
• Fatigue strength can be reduced by the
defects caused by cold flakes.
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Control of Cold Flakes
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Control of Cold Flakes
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Control of Cold Flakes
Shot Delay Time
• Modeling studies show that solid
fraction increases linearly with time.
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Control of Cold Flakes
Shot Delay Time
• Modeling shows that alloys with higher
latent heat solidify less in the sleeve.
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Control of Cold Flakes
Higher Fill Reduces Heat Loss
Sleeve Temperature
• A safe ID operating temperature ranges from
600oF-1100oF.
• Keep variation in sleeve
less than 90oF.
• Heat or cool as
appropriate.
Cooling lines
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Control of Cold Flakes
Biscuit Thickness Matters
The distribution of cold flakes decreases
from the tip side to the die
side of the biscuit.
DENSITY VS BISCUIT THICKNESS
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APPROXIMATE
0.8
DENSITY
0.6
0.4
0.2
APPROXIMATE
0 DENSITY,
0.1
0.3
0.5
0.7
0.9
1.1
1.3
PERCENT
BISCUIT THICKNESS
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Summary
• Inclusions can cause quality issues.
• Types of inclusions:
– Oxides
– Sludge
– Refractory particles
– Excess flux
• Can control inclusion formation to an
extent.
• Can filter out inclusions.
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Summary
• ESP forms in the shot sleeve.
• The resulting cold flakes can impact casting
quality and degrade properties.
• The impact of cold flakes can be mitigated
by:
– Minimizing shot delay time.
– Minimizing the temperature difference between
the molten metal and shot sleeve.
– Using adequate biscuit thickness.
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Additional Resources
• EC-302 Metal Melting and Handling Course
• EC-201 Magnesium Die Casting Course
• EC-202 Zinc Die Casting Course
• E-515 Die Casting Defects Book
• High Integrity Aluminum Die Casting
(#307)
• Magnesium Die Casting Handbook (#201)
• Zinc Die Casting Process (#202)
• Congress Transactions
• DCE Articles
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Questions?