Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 27 (1) (2013) 191~197

www.springerlink.com/content/1738-494x

DOI 10.1007/s12206-012-1218-5

Effect of process parameters on surface hardness, dimensional accuracy and

surface roughness of investment cast components
Rupinder Singh* and Sunpreet Singh
Department of Production Engineering, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, Punjab, India
(Manuscript Received May 13, 2012; Revised August 20, 2012; Accepted August 28, 2012)
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Abstract
This paper deals with investment casting (IC) application for development of spherical disc of ball valve as a case study. Three controllable factors of the IC process, namely: volume/surface-area (V/A) ratio of components, slurry layers combination (LC) and type of
metal (MT), were studied at three levels by Taguchis parametric approach and single-response optimization was conducted to identify
the main factors controlling surface hardness (SH), surface roughness (Ra) and dimensional accuracy (d). Ceramic shell moulds were
made on wax plate using primary slurry and fused-silica sand as stucco. Castings were produced using Al, M.S and S.S at recommended
arameters by following Taguchi L9 orthogonal array through ceramic shell IC process. The microstructure analysis has been used to
study the surface morphology.
Keywords: Investment casting; Surface hardness; Surface roughness; Dimensional accuracy; Metal type; Volume/surface-area ratio; Slurry layers combination.
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1. Introduction
Spherical disc is the component of the ball valve which controls the flow of fluid through it by rotating at 180 angle. The
mechanical properties of the spherical disc are required of
superior quality in order to avoid any interruption during
working. Investment casting (IC) is a widely used technique
for modern metal casting that provides an economical means
of mass producing shaped metal parts containing complex
features [1-3].
Components are replicated from the precise pattern and
transmitted in turn to the castings. IC allows dimensionally
accurate components to be produced and is a cheaper alternative than forging and machining since waste material is kept to
a minimum [4-7]. The mold is made by surrounding a wax or
plastic replica of the part with ceramic material [2].
After the ceramic material solidifies, the wax replica is
melted out, and metal is poured into the resulting cavity [3, 912]. A special design of the pattern and the riser has been done
to form the plaster mould. The effect of different parameters
like pouring temperature of the metal alloy, firing temperature,
firing time and silica sand of different grain fineness numbers
have been established in IC process [7, 13-16]. This process is
used for the production of numerous equipments like: dental
*

Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9872257575

E-mail address: rupindersingh78@yahoo.com

Recommended by Associate Editor Dae-Cheol Ko

KSME & Springer 2013

Fig. 1. IC Process.

tools, electrical equipment electronics, radar, guns, hand tools,

jewelry, machine tools, material handling equipments, metal
working equipment, agricultural equipment, cameras, pneumatics/hydraulics components, etc. [2-5].
IC involves 10 steps as shown in Fig. 1. This research work
is aimed at the development of spherical disc of ball valve by
IC process as a case study. The ball valve with spherical disc
is shown in Fig. 2.
The sphere has a port or hole through the middle so that
when the port is in line to the ends of the valve, flow will
occur and rotating the port perpendicular to the ends of valve
will block the flow. The 3D view of sphrical disc is shown in
Fig. 3.

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R. Singh and S. Singh / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 27 (1) (2013) 191~197

Fig. 2. Ball valve assembly.

(a)

Fig. 3. 3D drawing of spherical disc.

The dimensions for the different sizes (that is 2, 3 and 4)

of spherical discs are shown in Figs. 4(a)-4(c) respectively.

2. Design of experiments
Before going for the final experimentation, pilot experiments were conducted in order to analyze the contributing
parameters and their levels. For the present study, three parameters were studied in pilot experimentation and their
ranges for best outputs were fixed. Basically, in the pilot experimentation moulds are prepared with 5, 6 and 7 number of
layers. But when the molten metal was poured into the
moulds cavity, breakdown of the mould occurred. This is due
to the fact that the pouring pressure of the metal is nonsustainable to the mould. Finally, when the mould was made
with 8 numbers of layers, castings were prepared safely. So, 8
numbers of layers were fixed for the present work. Further in
the three levels of layer combination, primary and secondary
combinations were kept fixed while the tertiary and the quarter layer combination were varied. The primary coating was
made with the finest refractory followed by coarse one. Al,
S.S and M.S metals were used for the present research work.
These three metals were selected for the present work because the spherical disc is casted commercially with these
metals, and they have industrial applications in marine, petroleum industry and distilled water discharge pipe line respectively. Experiments were conducted under the constraint of
processing parameters and their levels (as shown in Table 1)
by following Taguchi L9 O.A.

(b)

(c)
Fig. 4. (a) Dimensions of 2 spherical disc; (b) Dimensions of 3
spherical disc; (c). Dimensions of 4 spherical disc.

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R. Singh and S. Singh / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 27 (1) (2013) 191~197

Table 1. Different control variable and their level.

Levels
Parameters
V/A ratio (mm)
Layer combination (total no.
of layers fixed to 8)

Table 3. Observation of final experimentation for hardness (HV).

L1

L2

L3

2.74

3.78

4.09

1+1+3+3 1+1+2+4 1+1+4+2

Type of metal

Al

S.S

M.S

[*Note: 1+1+3+3 signifies one primary layer, one secondary layer,

three tertiary layers and three quarter layers. Similarly in case of
1+1+2+4 and 1+1+4+2, tertiary and quarter layer are varied accordingly while primary and secondary layers remains unchanged]
Table 2. Control log for experimentation.
Exp. No.

Variable 1
(V/A ratio)

Variable 2
(LC)

Variable 3
(MT)

2.74 mm

1+1+3+3

Al, 600C

2.74 mm

1+1+2+4

S.S, 1550C

2.74 mm

1+1+4+2

M.S, 1600C

3.78 mm

1+1+3+3

3.78 mm

1+1+2+4

Sr.
No.

V/A
ratio

Layer
combinations

Type of
metal

Vickers hardness
(HV)
L1

L2

L3

2.74 mm

1+1+3+3

Al

42

43

41

2.74 mm

1+1+2+4

S.S

239

237

239

2.74 mm

1+1+4+2

M.S

185

184

182

3.78 mm

1+1+3+3

S.S

239

241

238

3.78 mm

1+1+2+4

M.S

163

167

160

3.78 mm

1+1+4+2

Al

50

54

51

4.09 mm

1+1+3+3

M.S

180

183

178

4.09 mm

1+1+2+4

Al

42

45

43

4.09 mm

1+1+4+2

S.S

248

250

251

Table 4. Variation of S/N ratio and hardness w. r. t. to V/A ratio.

Sr No.

S/N Ratio

Vickers hardness
(HV)

V/A ratio
(mm)

S.S, 1550C

1.

41.75308

154.4444

2.74

M.S, 1600C

2.

42.12057

154

3.78

3.

41.91932

157.7222

4.09

3.78 mm

1+1+4+2

Al, 600C

4.09 mm

1+1+3+3

M.S, 1600C

4.09 mm

1+1+2+4

Al, 600C

4.09 mm

1+1+4+2

S.S, 1550C

3. Experimentation
This research work is aimed at the optimization of surface
hardness, surface roughness and dimensional accuracy of the
selected component (spherical disc). Total 27 numbers of
experiments were conducted under the combinations of different levels of input parameters. Table 2 shows the control log
for experimentation.
Hardness was measured as Vickers hardness (HV). Surface
roughness of the casted components was measured by operating a stylus on the surface profile of the cast components. The
high and low limits are detected and reading was obtained by
mean of a digital output. Whereas the dimensions of the wax
replica and that of the final cast components were measured
with the help of CMM (coordinate measuring machine). The
difference in the dimensions of the wax replica and final
casted components gives the d. d was measured in term of
the outer diameter of the spherical disc (the most critical dimension of the spherical disc).

4. Result and discussions

4.1 Surface hardness results
Hardness of any metal depends upon the rate of cooling
within the re-crystallization zone. Making the mould by coating it with more number of thicker refractory tends to slower
the cooling rate and decreases the hardness of the casted
specimen. Hardness test results for the present work are given
in Table 3. Signal to noise (S/N) is used to represent a re-

Table 5. Variation of S/N ratio and hardness w. r. t. LC.

Sr No.

S/N Ratio

Vickers hardness
(HV)

LC

41.81123

156.4444

1+1+3+3

41.48929

148.0556

1+1+2+4

42.49244

161.6667

1+1+4+2

Fig. 5(a). S/N response and hardness w. r. t. V/A ratio.

sponse or quality characteristics and the largest S/N ratio is

required. Table 4 shows the variation of S/N ratio and hardness w. r. t. to V/A ratio. Fig. 5(a) shows the peak values of
the S/N ratio and hardness w. r. t. V/A ratio of spherical disc
for best setting of the as input parameter.
Table 5 shows the variation of S/N ratio and hardness w. r. t.
to LC. Fig. 5(b) shows the peak value of the S/N ratio and
hardness w. r. t. LC and gives the best setting for hardness.
Table 6 shows the variation of S/N ratio and hardness w. r. t. to
MT. Fig. 5(c) shows the peak value of the S/N ratio and hardness
w. r. t. MT gives the best setting of the surface hardness.

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Table 6. Variation of S/N ratio and hardness w. r. t. to MT.

Table 7. Observation of final experimentation for surface roughness.

Sr No.

S/N Ratio

Vickers hardness (HV)

MT

33.1339

45.61111

Al

47.77328

244.7778

44.88578

175.7778

Surface roughness (um)

Sr No.

V/A ratio

LC

MT

S.S

1.

2.74 mm

1+1+3+3

Al

M.S

2.

2.74 mm

1+1+2+4

S.S

2.42

2.5

2.4

3.

2.74 mm

1+1+4+2

M.S

2.03

2.09

2.12

4.

3.78 mm

1+1+3+3

S.S

2.03

1.95

1.99

5.

3.78 mm

1+1+2+4

M.S

2.7

2.74

2.69

6.

3.78 mm

1+1+4+2

Al

1.55

1.57

1.59

7.

4.09 mm

1+1+3+3

M.S

2.42

2.5

2.4

8.

4.09 mm

1+1+2+4

Al

2.3

2.23

2.27

9.

4.09 mm

1+1+4+2

S.S

2.32

2.35

2.38

L1

L2

L3

1.62

1.65

1.58

Fig. 5(b). S/N response and hardness w. r. t LC.

[*Note: Layer combination 1 signifies 1+1+3+3, 2 signify 1+1+2+4
and 3 signifies 1+1+4+2].
(Exp. No-3)

(Exp. No-5)

(Exp. No-7)

Fig. 7. Microstructures of M.S (X200).

(Exp. No-1)
Fig. 5(c). S/N response and hardness w. r. t MT.
[*Note: Layer combination 600, 1550 and 1600 signifies pouring temperatures of Al, S.S and M.S in C]

(Exp. No-2)

(Exp. No-9)

(Exp. No-4)

Fig. 6. Microstructures of S.S (X200).

The microstructure analysis has been done to study the surface morphology and to support the surface hardness data. In
case of stainless steel IC (Ref. Exp. No-9), it has the maximum
hardness (251 HV) because of the dendrite grains of longer size
as shown in Fig. 6. Dendrites are also formed in Exp. No. 4,
but with slightly smaller grain as compared to Exp. No. 9, so
the hardness is relatively less (241 HV). In Exp. No. 2, microuniformly distributed alloy carbides with inter dendrites segregation are formed having hardness value of 239 HV.
In case of mild steel, surface hardness is maximum in Exp.
No. 3 (that is 185 HV), having uniformly distributed pearliticferritic microstructure with larger grain size shown in Fig. 7.
While in Exp. No. 7 hardness is slightly less (that is 183 HV),

(Exp. No-6)

(Exp. No-8)

Fig. 8. Microstructures of Al (X200).

having non-uniformly distributed pearlitic-ferritic microstructure with variable grain size and inter-dendrite segregation and
further in Exp. No. 5, hardness is minimum (that is 167 HV)
due to smaller grains.
Aluminum has maximum hardness in Exp. No. 6 (that is
54HV) because of larger grains as shown in Fig. 8. In Exp. No.
1 and in Exp. No. 8 hardness is 43 HV and 45 HV.
4.2 Surface roughness results
The result for the surface roughness is shown in Table 7.
Signal to noise (S/N) is used to represent a response or
quality characteristics and the largest S/N ratio is required.
Table 8 shows the variation of S/N ratio and surface
roughness w. r. t. to V/A ratio. Fig. 9(a) shows the peak values
of the S/N ratio and surface roughness w. r. t. V/A ratio of
spherical disc for best setting as input parameter.
Table 9 shows the variation of S/N ratio and surface roughness w. r. t. to LC. Fig. 9(b) shows the peak value of the S/N
ratio and surface roughness w. r. t. LC gives the best setting of
the surface roughness.
Table 10 shows the variation of S/N ratio and surface
roughness w. r. t. to MT. Fig. 9(c) shows the peak value of the

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Table 8. Variation of S/N ratio and surface roughness w. r. t. to V/A

ratio.
S. No.

S/N Ratio

Table 11. Observation of final experimentation for dimensional accuracy (d).

Surface roughness
(um)

V/A Ratio
(mm)

Sr No.

V/A ratio

LC

d (mm)

MT
L1

L2

L3

-6.0952

2.045556

2.74

1.

2.74 mm

1+1+3+3

Al

0.00882

0.0088

0.0087

-6.18545

2.09

3.78

2.

2.74 mm

1+1+2+4

S.S

0.0147

0.015

0.0146

-7.42648

2.352222

4.09

3.

2.74 mm

1+1+4+2

M.S

0.0141

0.0143

0.0139

4.

3.78 mm

1+1+3+3

S.S

0.026

0.03

0.025

5.

3.78 mm

1+1+2+4

M.S

0.0183

0.0185

0.018

0.0104

0.01

0.0103

Table 9. Variation of S/N ratio and surface roughness w. r. t. LC.

S. No

S/N Ratio

Surface Roughness (um)

LC

6.

3.78 mm

1+1+4+2

Al

-5.96705

2.0115

1+1+3+3

7.

4.09 mm

1+1+3+3

M.S

0.0122

0.012

0.0123

-7.83909

2.4772

1+1+2+4

8.

4.09 mm

1+1+2+4

Al

0.0045

0.0048

0.0045

-5.90099

1+1+4+2

9.

4.09 mm

1+1+4+2

S.S

0.0171

0.0172

0.0175

Table 10. Variation of S/N ratio and surface roughness w. r. t. MT.

S. No

S/N Ratio

Surface roughness (um)

MT

-5.0669

0.817778

AL

-7.04974

2.26

S.S

-7.5905

2.41

M.S

Fig. 9(a). S/N response and surface roughness w.r.t. V/A ratio.

Fig. 9(b). S/N response and surface roughness w.r.t. LC.

[Note: Layer combination 1 signifies 1+1+3+3, 2 signify 1+1+2+4 and
3 signifies 1+1+4+2].

S/N ratio and surface roughness w. r. t. MT and gives the best

setting of the surface roughness.
4.3 Dimensional accuracy results
The results of dimensional accuracy are shown in Table 11.

Table 12. Variation of S/N ratio and d w. r. t. to V/A ratio.

S. No.

S/N Ratio

V/A Ratio (mm)

-38.2569

0.012547

2.74

-35.341

0.0185

3.78

-40.1039

0.011344

4.09

Fig. 9(c). S/N response and surface roughness w.r.t. MT.

[*Note: Layer combination 600, 1550 and 1600 signifies pouring temperatures of Al, S.S and M.S in C]

Dimensional accuracy has been measured by subtracting the

original dimension of spherical disc (outer diameter) measured
on the wax replica and the dimension of the casted spherical
disc.
Table 12 shows the variation of S/N ratio and dimensional
accuracy w. r. t. to V/A ratio. Fig. 10(a) shows the peak values
of the S/N ratio and dimensional accuracy w. r. t. V/A ratio of
spherical disc for best setting as input parameter.
Table 13 shows the variation of S/N ratio and dimensional
accuracy w. r. t. to LC. Fig. 10(b) shows the peak value of the
S/N ratio and dimensional accuracy w. r. t. LC gives the best
setting of the surface roughness.
Table 14 shows the variation of S/N ratio and d w. r. t. to
MT. Fig. 10(c) shows the highest value of the S/N ratio and
d w. r. t. MT and gives the best setting of surface roughness.
Figs. 11-13 shows pie charts of percentage contribution for
surface hardness, surface roughness and dimensional accuracy
in present case study of IC.

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R. Singh and S. Singh / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 27 (1) (2013) 191~197

Table 13. Variation of S/N ratio and d w.r.t. LC.

S. No

S/N Ratio

LC

-42.5658

0.007869

1+1+3+3

-34.4415

0.019678

1+1+2+4

-36.6946

0.014844

1+1+4+2

Table 14. Variation of S/N ratio and d w. r. t. MT.

S. No.

S/N Ratio

MT

-36.9622

0.007869

Al

-39.3804

0.019678

S.S

-37.3592

0.014844

M.S

Fig. 11. Pie chart for surface hardness.

Fig. 12. Pie chart for surface roughness.

Fig. 10(a). S/N responses and d w.r.t. V/A ratio.

Fig. 13. Pie chart for dimensional accuracy.

Fig. 10(b). S/N responses and d w.r.t. LC.

[*Note: Layer combination 1 signifies 1+1+3+3, 2 signify 1+1+2+4
and 3 signifies 1+1+4+2]

surface roughness and dimensional accuracy. The step of

building a mathematical model has been bypassed because
macro modeling gives faster and more efficient results. In the
present study some parameters like pouring time, mould initial
temperature etc. were kept fixed. Further studies may also
focused on optimization of these parameters.

5. Conclusions

Fig. 10(c). S/N responses and d w.r.t. MT.

[*Note: Layer combination 600, 1550 and 1600 signifies pouring temperatures of Al, S.S and M.S in C]

In the present case study, effort has been made to develop a

macro model, which is actually applicable in industrial environment, for IC application by optimizing surface hardness,

The following conclusions can be drawn from the study.

(1) From the present case study it is concluded that MT
plays a very significant role in the hardness and reason behind
the contribution of MT to such a great extent is because of the
selection of the input metals that is S.S, M.S and Al. Further, it
is well known that there is a wide range of differences in the
hardness of S.S, M.S and Al. As the difference in the hardness
values of input metals is large, its contribution is more. The
same results are ought to be valid on other MT. For rest of two
output parameters (surface roughness and dimensional accuracy) all three input parameter (MT, LC and V/A ratio) plays a
very significant role.
(2) Surface hardness of Al disc is obtained best at V/A ratio
3.78mm and LC 1+1+4+2. Similarly for S.S, surface hardness
is best at V/A ratio 4.09mm and LC 1+1+4+2. Further for M.S,
best condition for surface hardness is V/A ratio 2.74mm and

R. Singh and S. Singh / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 27 (1) (2013) 191~197

LC 1+1+4+2.
(3) Surface roughness of Al disc is produced best at V/A ratio 3.78mm and LC 1+1+4+2. Further for S.S disc, V/A ratio
3.78mm and LC 1+1+3+3. While in case of M.S disc, best
condition for surface roughness is, V/A ratio is 2.74mm and
LC is 1+1+4+2.
(4) In case of dimensional accuracy of Al disc best condition is V/A ratio 4.09mm and LC 1+1+2+4. For S.S disc, favorable condition is V/A ratio 2.74mm and LC 1+1+2+4. And
for M.S disc, V/A ratio 4.09mm and LC 1+1+3+3 are favorable condition.
(5) The percentage contribution of input parameters in surface hardness is as follows: V/A ratio contributes 0.05%, LC
contributes 0.43% and MT contributes 99.28%. While in the
case of surface roughness, V/A ratio contributes 15.56%, LC
contributes 34.06% and MT is 49.66%. Further, in case of
dimensional accuracy, V/A ratio contributes 23.12%, LC contributes 6.57% and MT contributes 68.38%.

Acknowledgment
The authors are grateful to Saini Precision Casting Pvt. Ltd.
Ludhiana, for providing their facilities and CSIR, Extramural
research division New Delhi for financial support.

Nomenclature-----------------------------------------------------------------------I.C
S.H
Ra
S.S
M.S
d
Al
D.O.E

: Investment casting
: Surface hardness
: Surface roughness
: Stainless steel
: Mild steel
: Dimensional accuracy
: Aluminum
: Design of experiment

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Rupinder Singh is an Associate Professor in the Department of Production

Engineering at Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, India. He
completed his B.Tech in Production
Engineering with Honors and M.Tech
in Production Engineering with Gold
Medal from P.T.U. Jalandhar. He obtained a Ph.D (Engineering) from T.I.E.T. Patiala. He is a
member of ASME, ISTE, ISME, MPAS, ISC and AIE. He
has contributed about 185 research papers at the National and
International level and supervised 58 M.Tech theses. His areas
of interest include rapid prototyping, non-traditional machining, maintenance engineering and welding.