Metal Casting

Brake rotors, engine blocks, and machine tool beds are made of gray cast iron. Learn its microstructure, grades, properties, and why this low-cost material is still used everywhere.

Wheels, engine blocks, and gearbox housings are often made by aluminum casting. Learn the methods, casting alloys, process steps, and how to prevent common defects.

Aluminum alloys are aluminum mixed with elements such as copper, manganese, magnesium, silicon, or zinc to raise its strength. They are grouped into series 1xxx to 7xxx for wrought products and three-digit series for castings.

Malleable cast iron is made by annealing white cast iron until its carbides break down into clusters of graphite. The result is a cast iron that is ductile, easy to machine, and resistant to impact.

Most of the world’s castings are poured into sand. Here are the sands used, the parts of a sand mold, the properties that matter, and how a mold is made step by step.

casting leaves the mold covered in sand and scale. Shot blasting cleans it in minutes. Here is how the process works, which machine and media to choose, and what Sa 2.5 means.

A riser that is too small leaves a shrinkage cavity, and one that is too large wastes metal. Follow a step-by-step riser calculation with the modulus method.

Why does one metal fill a thin mold easily while another stops halfway? The answer is fluidity.

Brass is easy to cast, but its zinc boils off easily. Learn the cast brass types, pouring temperatures, process steps, common defects, and how to prevent them.

Annealing is the heat treatment that makes metal soft and workable again. Here are its stages, its main types, and the temperatures used for common metals.