Metal Casting

Metal casting is one of the oldest and most important manufacturing processes in human history. From simple tools in the distant past to high-precision components in today’s automotive and aerospace industries, almost every metal object we use every day goes through casting at some stage of its production. If you are new to metallurgy, this

Once the basics of metal casting are clear, the next question that comes up most often, on the production floor and at the design desk alike, is this: which casting method is best for a particular part? The three methods most widely used in industry, sand casting, die casting, and investment casting, differ greatly in

Most metal casting defects, such as the porosity and hot tearing covered in our casting defect case study, can actually be prevented long before molten metal is poured: at the stage of designing the gating system and risers. Many new practitioners focus on material selection and melting parameters, yet poor gating and riser design is

Alongside porosity and hot tearing, there are two other defects every casting engineer needs to understand: cold shuts and misruns. Unlike porosity, which is related to gas or shrinkage, both of these defects come purely from mold filling problems: the molten metal fails to fill the mold cavity completely before it solidifies. What Is a

Many of the casting defects we have covered, from porosity and hot tearing to cold shuts and misruns, can actually be prevented long before a part reaches the production floor: at the design stage. Design for castability (DFC) is a systematic approach to designing part geometry so it is easy to cast with minimal defects,

Alongside other casting defects such as porosity, hot tearing, cold shuts, and misruns, there is one more category that is often overlooked yet can seriously damage part integrity: inclusions and contamination, meaning foreign material that ends up inside the structure of the cast metal. What Is an Inclusion Defect? An inclusion is a particle of

Before metal can be poured into a mold, it has to be melted, and the choice of melting furnace decides a great deal: energy cost, control of chemical composition, cleanliness of the molten metal, and the emissions produced. As with choosing a casting method, choosing a furnace is about matching the technology to the type

Copper, brass, and bronze each fill a role that iron, steel, and aluminum cannot. This guide compares their properties, typical applications, and the challenges of casting them.

A part fresh out of the mold, whether from sand casting, die casting, or investment casting, is not ready to use yet. Gating, risers, flash, and rough surfaces still need to be removed through a series of finishing processes before the part is ready to ship to a customer or be assembled into a final

Before deciding which casting method to use, there is a more basic question: which material should the part be cast from? The three most common candidates in industry are cast iron, cast steel, and aluminum alloys, each with very different characteristics. Cast Iron: The Workhorse for Vibration Damping and Low Cost Cast iron is an