CHAPTER 1

FOUNDRY METALLURGY
Oxidation and Dissolution of Gases In liquid metals
Gases are almost universally more soluble in liquid metals than in solid metals.
As metals cool, and particularly as they freeze, dissolved gases tend to be expelled from
solution to form gas holes. The gas holes may be in the form of large blowholes, finer
pinholes, or still finer micro porosity, depending on the amount of gas present and the
manner in which the metal or alloy freezes. These gas holes in their various forms can be
quite detrimental to mechanical properties, to pressure tightness, and the surface finish of
machined or cast surfaces. All efforts should be made in the foundry to ensure that molten
metal is free of all dissolved gases before it is cast.
Gases dissolve in metals not as molecules such as H2, CO2, etc but as elements such as
H, O, C. etc. On solidification, the elements may recombine to form molecular gases, and
in turn form gas holes. Table 1.1 shows elements that dissolve in some common foundry
metals or their alloys and subsequently combine to form gases.
Hydrogen is the most common of the element, it is soluble in all metals to a greater or
lesser extent. Figure 1.1 indicates the behavior of hydrogen in various metals, it is typical
of many other gases. The gas is quite soluble at high temperatures in the liquid alloy. As
the temperature decreases, the gas solubility also decreases until the solidification
temperature is reached.

Fig.1.1. Effect of temperature on solubility of hydrogen in various metals.

Metal
Mg
Al
Cu
Fe

TABLE 1.1
Summary of Elements That Dissolve in Various Metals, and
Precipitate on Solidification to Form Voids
Elements
Gases Evolved on
Dissolved
Solidification
H
H2
H
H2
H. C, O. S
SO, SO2, H2, H2O. CO, CO2,
H, O, N, C
H2O, CO2, CO, N2, H2.

Gases are absorbed in molten metals under flowing conditions (1) in the furnace from
the atmosphere and from wet charges, (2) in the furnace or ladles from incompletely dried
linings or wet tools, (3 ) in passing through air from furnace to ladle or from ladle to
mold, and (4) in the mold from moist atmosphere or excess moisture, or volatile
hydrocarbons in mold materials
In order to prevent gas absorption some precautions must be taken care (1) melt under
slags or protective atmospheres or in a vacuum, (2) reduce chances for absorption of gas
by keeping all items that must come in contact with the metal dry, (3) melt and pour at
temperatures as low as possible to minimize gas solubility, and (4). Handle, the metal as
little as possible.
It is usually impractical to prevent gas absorption entirely. For example, some hydrogen
gas is always present in molten metals unless they are melted in vacuum, hydrogen
reacts with oxygen, usually present as an oxide of the metal or of one of its alloying
elements, to form water vapor. It is suspected that water vapor, hydrogen, and oxides of
carbon (CO and CO2) are responsible for most pinholes, in castings.
Methods of Degasing
When it is not possible to prevent gas absorption, the hazards of dissolved gases may be
reduced by (1) removing the gas or gases, or (2) removing or isolating one or more of the
components of the gas.
One example of the first method of removal depends on the fact that gases are least
soluble in cold, solid metal. Thus gases may be removed by a sequence of melting,
freezing, and re-melting. Except in special cases, however, this method is too expensive
and time-consuming to be used in practice. More common techniques of gas removal rely
on the fact that the amount of gas dissolved in a molten metal depends on the pressure of
that gas above and around the metal. In the case of diatomic gases such as H2 O2 or N2,
the amount dissolved at any particular temperature may be expressed by the equation:

V = KP -------------

(1)

where V is the volume of diatomic gas dissolved, K is a constant, and P is the pressure of
the gas above and around the metal. The equation shows that, if hydrogen is completely
removed from the atmosphere around a melt, any hydrogen gas dissolved will tend to
escape. Thus melting and pouring under a vacuum is one method, but a very-expensive

one for obtaining gas-free castings. Vacuum degassing is an attempt to combine the
advantages of vacuum melting with the economy of air melting. Here the metal is melted
in air and then placed in an evacuated chamber (for degassing) before pouring; pouring
takes place in the open atmosphere. Flushing with an inert gas is the most common
method of removing gas employing the principle described above. In this method, the
inert gas is bubbled directly through the metal; the pressure of the dissolved gas (usually
hydrogen) within each inert gas bubble is zero, and any dissolved gas migrates readily to
the bubble where it collects and is flushed from the metal baths.
Inert gases such as chlorine, nitrogen, or argon are used in practice for degassing metals,
especially aluminum and magnesium alloys. The gases are simply piped from storage
tanks through graphite tubes directly into the metal baths. Sometimes solid de-gassers are
also used as a source of the inert gas; here a solid compound (such as C 2Cl6) held beneath
the melt surface decomposes to give the flushing action. In steelmaking practice, the CO
from the carbon boil (FeO + C = CO) acts as an inert gas to flush hydrogen from the
metal. Figure 1.2 illustrates several of the degassing techniques described above.
Gas porosity is also minimized by removing or isolating one of the components of the
gas. Thus in steelmaking, after the carbon boil has progressed to the point desired it is
blocked by adding silicon or aluminum to the bath to tie up one of the reagents of the CO
gas (3FeO + 2A1 Al2O3 + 3Fe). Another example is the addition of phosphor-copper to
copper-base alloys to tie up dissolved oxygen. The phosphorus combines with dissolved
oxygen to form a solid, P2O5, which floats out of the bath, and prevents the oxygen from
combining with any dissolved hydrogen to form water vapor.

Fig. 1.2. Methods for degassing metals

Fluidity
When a mould is to be filled through a gating system, or when the mould has thin
sections, it is often found that the metal fails to fill the mould completely, owing to
solidification in narrow channels in the gating system or in the mould. This difficulty is
attributed to lack of fluidity.
Fluidity is defined as the ability of a liquid metal to flow readily, as measured by the
length of a standard spiral casting.
Factors affecting the fluidity
Fluidity is the characteristic of a molten alloy that enables mold filling. Different alloys
have different fluidities, and therefore different abilities to provide definition of detail and
integrity in thin sections.
Fluidity depends on two major factors: the intrinsic fluid properties of the molten metal,
and casting conditions. The properties usually thought to influence fluidity are viscosity,
surface tension, the character of the surface oxide film, inclusion content, and manner in
which the particular alloy solidifies.
Casting conditions that influence fluidity include part configuration; physical measures of
the fluid dynamics of the system, such as liquidstatic pressure drops, casting head, and
velocities; mold material; mold surface characteristics; heat flux; rate of pouring; and
degree of superheat.

Fluidity Test
Correlation between fluidity test results, usually of the spiral or variable-dimension type
and foundry experience has been poor. No accepted method for the determination or
prediction of fluidity, with relevance to the casting process, has been developed. But even
though fluidity spiral is in practice Fig 1.3 illustrates standard fluidity spiral, widely used
for cast steel. The fluidity of the alloy is rated as the distance, in inches that the metal
runs in the spiral channel

Fig 1.3. Fluidity spiral

Hot tearing

Takes place in alloys that have an extended freezing range (for example, off eutectic
composition). When solid and liquid coexist over a wide range of temperatures, contraction of the
solid around the rigid mold surface can initiate rupture in partially solidified regions. The
methods used to avoid hot tearing in squeeze cast products include reducing the pouring
temperature, reducing the die temperature, increasing the pressurization time, and increasing the
draft angles on the casting.,
A less obvious defect resulting from imperfect feeding is internal hot tearing. Internal hot tears
are radially disposed discontinuities inside castings, more commonly steel castings, which can be
disclosed non- destructively only by radiography. The discontinuities resemble external hot tears,
except that they are radial rather than roughly parallel as shown in fig. 1.4. The tears emanate
from a low density area, giving the radiograph an octopus -like appearance. It is usual to associate
any form of hot tears with contraction stresses and to correct the fault by measures to give mold
relief. The cure for internal hot tears is improved feeding. It has been found very difficult to tear a
sound casting internally by stresses developed in normal casting procedure.

Fig 1.4. Appearance of external and internal hot tears on radiograph film.

Shrinkage of Liquids and Metals

When metals or alloys solidify and cool, they always contract in volume. Cast metals
shrink in three distinctly different steps; they undergo liquid contraction as they cool
from the pouring temperature to the solidification temperature, solidification contraction
as they freeze, and solid contraction as the solid casting cools to room temperature.

Fig. 1.5. The change in specific volume of solidifying and cooling steel.
Figure 1.5 is a graph of the approximate shrinkages occurring as a mass of molten lowcarbon steel cools and freezes. Figure 1.6 is a schematic interpretation of this same
information, designed to show the effects of liquid, solidification, and solid contraction
on the volume and external shape of a casting. The metal in the imaginary flask, or
mould, which is cooled so slowly that no metal freezes to the sidewalls, sinks from Lo to
Lt as it cools to the point of solidification; this is the liquid shrinkage period when the
metal gives up its superheat to its surrounding and cools to the freezing point.

Fig. 1.6. Schematic representation of shrinkage.

For any given mass, cooling slowly and uniformly throughout, there would then be
sudden solidification shrinkage and the metal would drop to level L2. The liquid
shrinkage for steel would be about 0.9 per cent per 380C and solidification shrinkage
would be about 3 per cent. These values are approximately correct for most other metals.
In a pure metal, the solidification contraction occurs at a single temperature, the melting
point. In a nearly pure metal such as the low-carbon steel alloy described, the
solidification contraction takes place over a very narrow temperature range. As the solid
casting cools to room temperature, it continues to contract and the casting shrinks to a
size smaller than the container.
As we will see more clearly later, it is the first two contractions, liquid and solidification,
with which we are concerned in risering; of the two, the solidification contraction is by
far the most important. The last contraction (solid) results in a casting slightly smaller
than the mold cavity, and so patterns must be made slightly larger in size than the desired
casting; this is the so-called "pattern maker's shrinkage". Solid shrinkage, improperly
controlled, also results in internal stresses which may cause warping or hot tearing.